The Spirit of the Lake is a 1921 American silent short Western drama film produced by Cyrus J. Williams and distributed by Pathé Exchange. It was directed by Robert North Bradbury and stars Tom Santschi, Bessie Love, and Ruth Stonehouse.
Tom Santschi
Bessie Love
Ruth Stonehouse
Edward Hearn
This part-talkie (17 minutes of dialogue in its 83-minute running time) tells the tale of Christina, the daughter of Dutch toymaker Niklaas. Much to her dad's dismay, Christina falls in love with sideshow huckster Jan. Likewise disapproving of the romance is Jan's jealous employer Mme. Bosman, who frames the young man on an embezzlement charge.
To help secret serviceman Bill Parsons in pursuit of the thieving Benson gang wealthy criminologist Henry Avery sends his assistant Blinky to cover the waterfront while he attends a reception at the home of Mrs. Cornelius Westervelt. At the soiree he meets gang member Alice Carter while also discover the gang’s cache hidden there. Captured Parsons is saved by Blinky, and the pair foil the gang’s attempt to rob Mrs. Westervelt and her guests.
Ruby Blackwell, typical young girl of Arizona, lives with her brother Tom, and their widowed mother in a cabin in the mountains. One day Tom takes Ruby on a lion hunt. They track a puma, or mountain lion. Tom shoots the beast, which, wounded, bounds into the canyon. Tom instructs Ruby to proceed to the ridge and await him there, while he follows the puma up the mountainside. Ruby discovers the cubs belonging to the puma which Tom has shot, and she immediately becomes so engrossed in playing with the huge kittens that she forgets the rendezvous her brother had appointed. Tom finally locates her. The cubs are taken home. They grow up around Ruby like friendly dogs. Pete Lopez, a bad Mexican, who admires Ruby very much, tries to steal one of them at night, after Ruby has refused to sell the animal to him, and the baby puma defends itself vigorously until Tom and Ruby rush to its rescue...
Colorado lawyer Bill Brent, falsely accused and imprisoned for a murder committed by his partner, escapes to Canada with his cellmate where they become wealthy in the trapping business. When out of a trapping expedition the pair rescue Nita, the only survivor of a boating accident. In time Bill and she fall in love and marry then Bill makes the unwise decision to try to return to see his elderly mother.
Madame Gerve is a famous opera singer at the prime donna at the Opera Comique in Paris. When the French Prime Minister proposes marriage, however, she refuses and then sings at a benefit for war orphans. It's there that she encounters two men from her past--Karl Wertz, the German ambassador to France whom she knew during the war when he was a German officer and his unit occupied her village, and Phillippe Sardonia, a Frenchman who is her former lover. Both men try to rekindle their past relationships with her, but she has a secret that she doesn't want either man to know about. A lost film.
Some valuable pearls are stolen in China and transported to San Francisco. Jane Hampton learns that her father is the smuggler, and that police are on his trail. Under pressure, she takes the pearls to a Chinese man named Woo Fong.
Mildred Manning is the spoiled daughter of wealthy parents. She has a host of admirers, but does not permit them to become serious. Jimmie Blake, who frequents the household more than anybody else, is a rattle-brained young chap who fancies that he is in love with Mildred and insists that he wants her to marry him. Mildred jokes him and refuses to take him seriously.
Professor Duane, an ethnologist, and his assistant, Roscoe Harding, plan a journey into the wilds of Hindustan. Harding is in love with Lydia, the daughter of Professor Duane, and they are engaged to be married. Lieutenant Tavish, a British army officer, is attracted to Lydia and plans to take her away from Harding by fair means or foul.
When young Eva Stanley comes home from college, she finds that her mother is deeply involved in the movement to rescue "wayward" girls. Eva's boyfriend John Gilbert is sent west on a government job, and Eva finds herself lonely and neglected. She is lured onto the yacht of lecherous Leo Spencer, the dissolute brother of the district attorney.
Jessie Ridgley desires more opportunities than her small-town life with her blind mother and protective father offers. Jessie feels misunderstood and yearns for the city, while her father tries to keep her at home. Her mother, sensing the tension, realizes she couldn't survive without her daughter.
The green-eyed monster takes hold of Homer Withington, a successful businessman due to his judicious use of intellect in business and a lack of it in his role as a husband. As a result, his wife, Helen, suffers a terrible existence fueled by jealous fears, and their young daughter Beatrice lives amidst turmoil and suspicion.
Millionaire Billy Carrington is informed by his doctor that he has a terminal illness and only four months to live.
Goodnatured J. P. Fippany loses his home and takes to the road on a chicken-wagon with his wife and daughter. The wagon is wrecked in an automobile collision involving Jimmy Pickett, who falls in love with daughter Aida, and through a misunderstanding involving Marseillaise, Fippany's racehorse, his wife Josephine and Aida go to live with relatives. The disconsolate Fippany sells Marseillaise to Jimmy's father, sends the money to his wife, then disappears. Meanwhile, Jimmy finds Aida and convinces her of his love. Marseillaise, badly driven in a race, loses a heat, but Fippany emerges and rides her to victory, following which there is a reconciliation between husband and wife.
Reporter Jane Randall, who works for the Herald and Phil Norton of the Times, are competing to get the story on the Thomas Syndicate regarding when funds will be released to prevent a panic. Both head to the estate of Marsden Thomas who oversees the Syndicate. Through coercion Norton worms the info from Marsden’s son but attempts to hold up the report to do some insider trading. However, Jane with the help of her fiancé Jimmy telegraphs the Herald, gets the scoop and thwarts Nelson.
A girl marries a wealthy pawnbroker in order to get money for her poor lover, who is an artist. When the pawnbroker dies, his son forces the girl to marry him, but he is killed and she marries the artist. Various problems arise after their marriage, but eventually they are happy together.
Henry Egbert Xerxes' big chance as a cub reporter comes when he is assigned to track down a gang of counterfeiters which gathers regularly at the Red Dog Inn. As he leaves the office, Henry witnesses a girl being dragged into a cab -- the same girl he had seen that morning passing counterfeit money. Henry follows, but on overtaking the cab, he finds it empty. At the Red Dog Inn, he discovers that the girl is being held captive. After a series of rough and tumble adventures with the resident thugs, he and the girl escape, after which he rushes home to write up the story. When it fails to appear in print, Henry storms into the city room only to discover that the entire business was a hoax, intended to test his reporter's instincts.
Driven by her ambition to become an operatic star, Elsa successfully auditions for a small role with the company performing at Carl's theater. As she becomes a celebrated performer she also falls in love with Carl while also being wooed by the wealthy but disreputable Brown. She is torn until a fire breaks out during a performance and Carl steps in to save her.
Louis and August Siever, the twins sons of a German father and American mother, are traveling in Europe when war breaks out. August joins the Kaiser's army, but Louis, a supporter of the United States, is practically made a prisoner in Berlin for a year while he tries to prove his American citizenship. After a violent confrontation with Louis, August steals his brother's passport and leaves for New York with Gerda Anderson, a German spy.
After Fred, an orphan raised by his wealthy Uncle Oliver marries Clara over his uncle's objections, the two men become estranged. When Fred and Clara's child Paul is six years old, Fred insists that his uncle pay them a visit over Christmas. Uncle Oliver, a very lonely old man, begrudgingly accepts but refuses to behave amicably towards Clara or Paul.