Ernest Shields

Alice, the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, falls in love with Tony Kirby, but his wealthy banker father and snobbish mother strongly disapprove of the match. When the Kirbys are invited to dinner to become better acquainted with their future in-laws, things don't turn out the way Alice had hoped.

In the 1840s, Ramsey MacKay, the driver for the struggling Wells Fargo mail and freight company, will secure an important contract if he delivers fresh oysters to Buffalo from New York City. When he rescues Justine Pryor and her mother, who are stranded in a broken wagon on his route, he doesn't let them slow him down and gives the ladies an exhilirating ride into Buffalo. He arrives in time to obtain the contract and is then sent by company president Henry Wells to St. Louis to establish a branch office.

A 17th-century witch returns to wreak havoc in the life of a descendant of the Puritan witch hunter who burned her, but runs afoul of her father when she discovers that her mischief might have found her true love.

Charlie Mason and Rusty Fleming are star reporters on a Chicago tabloid who are romantically involved as well. Although skilled in ferreting out great stories, they often behave in an unprofessional and immature manner. After their shenanigans cause their frustrated city editor to resign, the publisher promotes Charlie to the job, a decision based on the premise that only a slacker would be able crack down on other shirkers and underachievers. His pomposity soon alienates most of his co-workers and causes Rusty to move to New York. Charlie resigns and along with gangster friend Smiles Benson tries to win Rusty back before she marries a stuffy society author.

In Jedda, Persia, American consul George Gage, known as a woman hater, is shocked when his newly arrived assistant, "Billie Baxter," whom he assumes will be a man, turns out to be an attractive woman. Despite his formerly anti-female leanings, George finds himself falling in love with Billie and is jealous when his womanizing friend, Brad Wilson, arrives in Jedda and makes a play for her. At the same time, when the ruling Pasha, Abdul Mustapha, meets Billie, he also becomes smitten and tries to have her brought to his harem. Despite their rivalry, George and Brad join forces and save Billie from the Pasha, after which she decides that George is the man she loves and wants to marry. Considered a lost film.

A train engineer and his fireman are best friends until the engineer breaks up a romance between his pal and a trampy girl he knows is no good for him, which also breaks up their friendship.

Chick Crandall, half owner of the Flying A Ranch, returns home after a five-year absence and, because he is suspicious of his foreman Sam Curtis' activities, decides to proceed incognito. Disguised as Harold Montague, his partner's son, Chick works among the ranch hands and discovers that Curtis is rustling cattle and is responsible for driving Barbara Hampton and her aunt from their home.

Billy Porter sells his ranch and travels to San Francisco to try his hand in the business world. But he's barely off the ferryboat before he gets waylaid by a little newsboy and the boy's pugilist father, "Knockout" McClusky.

A salmon taster enlists and is put to work passing out salmon to the troops. When he is assigned to take the salmon in the lines he gets absent minded and throws hand grenades over to the hungry buddies. With the aid of a battalion of chorus-girls dressed like Anzacs and who appear for no reason at all, the recruit captures a company of Germans and is decorated by the Colonel.

After his defeat at the hands of "Spider" Flynn, the welterweight champion of Europe, boxer Jimmie Dolan and his trainer, Thomas Jefferson Jones, leave for a principality near Paris. Having lost all their money on the fight, Jimmie accepts Count Conrad's offer to impersonate Prince Frederick in return for a large sum of money.

A remake of Frank Capra's Submarine (1928), Devil's Playground is a snappy Columbia "B plus" picture starring Richard Dix and Chester Morris. Submarine officers Dorgan (Dix) and Mason (Morris) battle on land for the affections of dance-hall girl Carmen (Dolores del Rio). She marries Dorgan but makes a play for Mason when her husband is on duty. The romantic rivalry is forgotten when Dorgan must rescue Mason and his crew from a sunken sub.

Band leader Jack Conrad is impressed by prison inmate Ray Ferrera on saxophone. Conrad hires Ray to join his band and tour upon his release. Ray hooks up with Jean, a dancer in the show, and the two become a successful dance act. However, when an ex-inmate buddy of Ray's robs the tour bus, Ray is suspected of wrongdoing by Jack and the others in the group. After a gang of thugs hijacks the tour bus, Ray tries to use his street smarts to redeem his reputation.

A small-town newspaper publisher finds himself in opposition to the local banker on the return to town of a lad jailed possibly wrongly for a theft from the bank.

The blissful marriage of Homer and Marcia Bigelow is disrupted when Marcia hosts a party for one J. Hugh Ramsay, author of the bestselling book, "Marriage—The Living Death".

An aging star finally recognizes the truth when she is replaced in her new movie by a girl from the chorus.

Three bachelor buddies, David Clark (Jack Conway), Dick Porter (Richard LeReno), and Jerry Mathers (George Webb) adopt three Belgian children who have been orphaned by the war. David winds up with Rene Lescere (Ella Hall), who -- much to his dismay -- comes with a pet goat and chicken. But Rene comes to love her foster father and vice versa. In fact, she's determined to find him a wife who will also serve as a foster mom for her.

When, after three years of active service, ace detective Jerry Brennon is ordered by his doctor to take a rest, Senator Reed, Jerry's staunch supporter since he arrested two crooks burglarizing the Reed home, prevails upon the detective to stay at his cabin in the mountains. Warned that the cabin is haunted, Jerry's suspicion is aroused when a bullet whizzes past his head.

Restored by the George Eastman House in 2001, this 1928 serial was considered a “last hurrah” for the silent-era serial, and brought together some of the biggest names of the era: director J.P. McGowan, actors Francis Ford and Joe Bonomo (a carnival strongman-turned-actor), producer Trem Carr (who would later help found Monogram Pictures), and a slew of silent-era supporting icons such as Ruth Hiatt, Grace Cunard, and more. Chapter names like “The Clutching Claw,” “The Devil’s Dice, “Galloping Fury,” and “The Invisible Hand” offer all one needs to know of the film’s concerns: to promise and deliver as much action and suspense as possible, and move our intrepid hero and heroine from one perilous situation to another. One of the biggest stars of the early silent era and a successful serials director in his own right, Francis Ford was the brother of director John Ford.

Peter Stalton, retiring as a bank cashier, is anxious that his nephew Richard Twing should succeed him. The directors, however, appoint Arthur Barnes, engaged to Helen Wilbur, the president's daughter. Being highly superstitious, Helen makes Arthur promise to cross back under a ladder under which he has walked earlier in the day. In doing so, he is accused of robbing a house and is pursued by the police. Passing the bank in which he works, he sees two robbers making a getaway just as the president and Helen arrive. Arthur pursues the bandits in their car, accompanied by Helen. They are arrested and accused of robbing Stalton's house and the bank, but Arthur is cleared by Sam, the Negro janitor, who exposes Richard Twing as the culprit. Arthur is freed and is happily reunited with his fiancée.

15 chapter adventure serial: 1. The Escape 2. Fighting Back 3. Within the Noose 4. Tearing Through 5. Blotted Out 6. The Hidden Blow 7. Dynamite Doom 8. The Crusher 9. Into the Jaws 10. Blades of Horror 11. Shot Into Space 12. Facing Eternity 13. A Human Pendulum 14. The Lakes of Fire 15. The Final Trump

Mina Rogers (Mary MacLaren) is unfairly cast out into the cruel, cruel world by her crotchety old uncle. She searches for a new home, resorting to deception so that she will be taken in. Along the way she meets a doctor, certain mysteries surrounding her are solved, and the doctor asks her to marry him.

A movie serial directed by Francis Ford.

William Newman, a notorious shyster lawyer, in return for a cut of the jewels, agrees to take the case of Morris, a man convicted of stealing diamonds. After gaining possession of the gems, Newman appropriates all of them and then refuses to carry out his share of the deal. Subsequently, Newman, who is attracted to Georgianna, a maid at his boardinghouse, frames the girl on charges of theft and then arranges for her freedom, thus appearing to be her savior.