John and Irene Emerson's marriage begins well enough, but it is not long before John becomes less attentive. Feeling neglected, Irene spends more time with her girl friends, and John, consequently, falls prey to the vamping wiles of his secretary, Jean Ralston. When John comes home from the theater smelling of Jean's perfume, Irene procures a divorce; John then marries Jean.
For Husbands and Lovers, John M Stahl pairs devoted wife Florence Vidor with ungrateful husband Lewis Stone for a splendidly nuanced marital comedy that proves his versatility as a filmmaker. When Vidor’s hausfrau transforms into an elegant lady of leisure with an expensive makeover, the quintessentially caddish Lew Cody takes lascivious notice but Stone can only grouse about the bill. A gentle rebuke of a husband’s bad manners and a salute to a wife’s sweet revenge, Husbands and Lovers was a favorite in the trade press. “Here is a comedy-drama that fairly scintillates with humor,” said Exhibitors News, “and then when the laugh is over, salty tears rush unbidden to the eyes. Chided by her husband, James, for not putting effort into her looks, Grace goes for a surprising makeover and lets James struggle to dress himself without her help. Her new look draws James' disdain and the eye of his best friend, Rex.
Married for 22 years, Mary Emerson treats her husband, John, more like a son than a husband. He is stung by her rebuffs and, therefore, succumbs to the youthful charms of Gloria Sanderson, whom he meets on a business trip. But just after he mails a letter to Mary telling her that he will not return, John finds Gloria in the arms of her fiancé.
Believing she's responsible for the death of her would-be seducer, a young woman flees to North Vancouver.
A rousing fusion of satire, mystery and action. Aristrocrat Ambrose Applejohn is aching for excitement. He gets more than he bargained for when two Russian thieves, Anna Valeska and her partner Borolsky, arrive at the mansion one dark night.
Jonathan Swift, stern Cape Cod businessman, has ambitions for his children, Emily and Noah, which are thwarted when they take romantic interests in Capt. Joe Cradlebow and Becky Keeler, respectively. Not realizing that Becky expects a child and has been promised marriage, Swift has Noah shanghaied, while Becky stows away on Cradlebow's vessel. There is a terrific storm; but Cradlebow rescues Noah, and the fleet returns safely to shore--thanks to lighthouse keeper Bijonah Keeler, Becky's father, who sets his house afire to give the sailors light. Realizing his foolishness Swift relents allowing his children marry whom they please.
Hilda and Berta Nordstrom, although identical in appearance, are opposites in temperament. Berta weds naval engineer Robert Hallowell, deserts him in Europe, and travels to the Orient in search of the gay life where she becomes a notorious courtesan known as The Yellow Typhoon.
Gritzko, a prince of pre-World War I Russia, is the ultimate ladies' man. Women fall at his feet -- all except for a young but cold British widow, Tamara Loraine. While she's spurning his advances, Tamara is growing ever more fascinated with Gritzko.
Wealthy Anne Wilmot vacationing along with her aunt Katherine at her fiancé Leon Morse's (Hull) Arizona mountain lodge discovers his plot to destroy a nearby hydroelectric engineering project in order to obtain the land for his railway. She thwarts the sabotage but find herself in a life and death struggle.
After the death of her benefactress, Mrs. Beresford, Alice Lambert is evicted by Ruth, Mrs. Beresford's jealous niece; and in despair Alice seeks employment as a model. Her refusal to accept the attentions of Monsieur Armand ends in her dismissal
A woman abandons her husband and baby to look for a better life in the big city. Years later, as an elderly woman, she finds her son living in the big city and tries to make amends by moving in with him without revealing her secret identity.
Mary Regan is the daughter of a gentleman crook and an heiress. Although she has received a good upbringing, she refuses to marry Robert Clifford for fear of damaging his career as a city official. Some old associates of her father, Peter Loveman and Jim Bradley, want her to help them in their blackmailing schemes. She won't, and escapes from her trying situation by going to the mountains for a rest.
An outcast who runs a road house of ill repute leads his mother to believe him dead. His only friend, a doctor, falls for a married woman.
A Spanish soldier seduces and falls in love with the young wife of a smuggler.
A woman who works in a night club starts having obsessive thoughts, beginning to lose her hold on reality.
Marie, a hotel maid, falls in love with millionaire's son Roger, but Roger cannot marry her because of her inferior station and his unwillingness to make his family unhappy thereby. They separate. When next they meet, Roger discovers that Marie is actually a princess. Now their renewed romance cannot continue because Roger is a mere commoner. But the Bolshevik revolution provides complication and at last resolution to their dilemma.
The orphan Bernice (Stewart) is raised almost to womanhood by the good sisters in an Italian convent. Worshiping a picture of the Madonna and Child, she is seized by a great desire to have a child she can call her own. Running away to America, where she has been told babies are plentiful, she is taken in by Robert Bruce, an artist whose wife has refused to divorce him, and poses for his projected masterpiece, a Madonna. Bernice falls in love with the baby borrowed for this posing and is filled with sorrow when the child is taken away. Robert, who has become sincerely but honorably in love with the girl, adopts a baby for her. His wife meets Bernice and the baby, believes the worst, and insults her. Bernice takes the child and leaves the house, becoming lost in the city and finally finding refuge in a hospital where the child dies. Robert learns from his wife the reason for Bernice's departure, locates the girl, and, after divorcing his wife, marries her.
A young woman fights to keep her Wyoming sheep ranch from being overrun and destroyed by cattle ranchers.
When Rosamond, a convent girl, discovers that her mother is Baby Brabant, a notorious queen of Petworth's gambling house, her ideals are shattered and she denounces her mother's life.
