The Soul Market

The Merediths, in reality much in love, have quarreled and agreed to separate but cannot agree as to the disposition of their little daughter Beryl. All this is opportune for the plans of Spider, a notorious kidnapper and his gang, who plot to steal Beryl while her nurse flirts in the park with one of their pals.

A girl known as "Boots," who keeps house for a band of crooks led by her kind guardian, Uncle Ben, called "The Lion," demands that she be allowed to accompany them on a burglary. Dressed in boy's clothes, Boots is caught by Mrs. Kathryn Sylvester, a rich society widow, who, upon learning that Boots is a girl, resolves to avenge herself on James Graham, who refused to marry her stating that he wanted no stain on his lineage.

Mrs. Force, a social parasite, with a beautiful daughter, is so closely pressed by her creditors, that she uses her beautiful child as an asset, urging her to accept the offer of the hand of an aged banker, Black, old enough to be her grandfather.

Justina Howland lives in Mexico near the U.S. border with her uncle Miguel and his son, Luis Alvarez. The uncle plans to have Justina marry Luis in order to get the money which she will inherit. Matters come to a climax when Miguel sends for a priest and announces the marriage will take place at once. Justina escapes on the mule that brought the padre to marry her and crosses the border, where she is given shelter by the soldiers under command of Lieutenant Morton.

The film is perhaps the only remaining example of silent era cinema from a Chinese-American production company, and was co-written, co-directed (with Francis J. Grandon) and produced by James B. Leong, who changed his name from Leong But-jung after emigrating from Shanghai in 1913. Of the seven reels that originally comprised 'Lotus Blossom,' only one (the fifth, running for 12 minutes at 20fps) is known to survive. This remaining reel of film is now available on Disc 2 of the DVD Collection "More Treasures from the American Film Archives," and was preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

During the Civil War, a father living in a border state leaves to join the Union Army. After he leaves, Confederate troops forage on his property, where a soldier encounters one of his daughters. The father himself is wounded on a hazardous mission and must run for his life, pursued by Confederate soldiers.

An elderly carpenter is told by a doctor that his wife is seriously ill. Soon afterwards, an insensitive shop foreman lays him off from his job because of his age. Unable to find work, and with his wife's condition getting worse, he soon becomes desperate.

A raft carrying a little girl and a dead woman drifts in from a shipwreck to Devil's Island. There, a band of thieves and smugglers name the girl Rose Marie, though she grows up as "nobody's girl."

In the opening of this subject we find the callow youth as he points towards the city's spires, exclaiming to his dear old mother, "Mother, there in the big city is my sphere. There will I turn the world over." Off he goes cityward, ambitious and presumptuous, and perhaps we may add reckless. Alas, the city's whirl is quite a change from the simple quiet life in the country and the youth falls a victim to the snares that beset the unsophisticated.

During the Civil War a young soldier loses his nerve in battle and runs away to his home to hide; his sister puts on his uniform, takes her brother's place in the battle, and is killed. Their mother, not wanting the shameful truth to become known, closes all the shutters (hence the film's title) and keeps her son's presence a secret for many years, though two boyhood chums stumble upon the truth...

A young maiden is seduced by a charming traveling peddler who persuades her to steal from her host family in order to repay his gambling debts.

In the Kingdom of Never-Never Land there live a great Lord and Lady, each presiding over their own domain. This great Lord goes for a stroll through his estate and coming to the border of his own land he is struck by the entrancing beauty of the contiguous estate, so like his own, that the inclination to intrude is irresistible. His peregrination is halted by the appearance of the great Lady, who is indeed as fair as the flowers that clothe her land. He introduces himself and invites her to stroll with him in his gardens. She is in like manner entranced by the beauty of his possessions. How alike in beauty are they; a veritable fairyland. If they were only one, for it seems they should be. This thought is mutual, and the Lord proposes a way, a marriage, and so a betrothal of convenience ensues. They know nothing of love and so are content in the anticipation of being Lord and Lady of all Never-Never Land.

After her mother's death, Ruth struggles to support herself as a seamstress. While Ruth delivers shirts to the factory owner, the owner's son steals some money and Ruth is accused of the crime. She flees the ghetto of New York's Lower East Side and hides in the country where she meets a young farmer.

A rich nobleman steals a perfume merchant's wife just prior to the French Revolution, in which the perfumer is a leader of the peasants. His priest made him swear an oath to leave vengeance to God, however.

Julian loves his cousin and foster sister Camilla, who is wooed and won by Lionel, his friend and rival. He is a witness to their marriage and after the ceremony he departs heartbroken to his own house. Utopian was the existence of Lionel and Camilla, until some time later Camilla is seized with a serious illness, and Lionel's grief knew no bounds when he heard "That low knell tolling his lady dead." "She had lain three days without a pulse all that look'd on her had pronounced her dead, So they bore her, for in Julian's land they never nail a dumb head up in elm, bore her free-faced to the free airs of heaven, and laid her in the vault of her own kin." Julian learns of the death of Camilla, and hastens to the house, arriving in time to see the funeral cortège moving slowly towards the sepulcher. Following in its wake he exclaims, "Now, now, will 1 go down into the grave; I will be all alone with all I love."

A disfigured young woman with two beautiful sisters is courted by a blind man. Will he still love her when his sight is restored?