The Lash of Power

Jane Croft is the subject of cruel gossip in Silver Creek, Arizona, in 1880, and is nicknamed "The Sage Hen." The Home Purity League drives her out of town with her son, John. She sends him back to town on a horse when they are attacked by Indians. There he is adopted by the Rudds; and when they move away, Jane loses contact with her son for 20 years. In the meantime, she becomes housekeeper to George Sanson and a "mother" to his daughter, Stella. A gold rush brings John back as a lieutenant of cavalry. He falls in love with Stella, but Craney, a gambler, threatens to expose Jane's past unless she gives Stella to him. The father is killed, but John saves his mother and Stella from further jeopardy. Jane confesses her past to her son and is able to find happiness after years of sorrow.

A young man's parents refuse to accept his new wife, but a reconciliation is eventually brought about.

A jealous mother is envious of the affection shown toward her future daughter-in-law by her husband.

A society woman gambles at cards.

A man arrives home late and drunk as usual. His wife reminds him that he's supposed to take their daughter out to a play. While watching the play, he's faced with his own drinking evils and how his life would be without them.

Two lovers elope and expect to be pursued by her father. But the clever father has tricked them into running off, and celebrates their wedding when they return home.

Lady Florence hides her lover, a Prussian spy, from the French troops who are hunting for him. One of her other suitors, a French officer, discovers the hiding place and threatens to kill the spy.

The central figure is an old miser, a Harpagon of sorts, who, like Frosine, stashes his ill-gotten money in a secret cellar. While the miser is at the bank, exchanging stolen notes for gold coin, a couple of thugs witness the transaction and see their opportunity-- It seems avarice grips the hearts of all those who'd possess the bag.

A contest is being held in Cremona for the best violin, with Giannina's hand in marriage as the prize. Filippo is secretly in love with her, but is also ashamed of being a cripple, so he switches his superior violin with that of another apprentice, Sandro, whom Giannina loves.

A man leaves his wife and two daughters for work in a carpentry shop. At work, he initially refuses a beer with lunch, then gives in. After work, two friends take a little while to convince him to go for a refreshing malt beverage, then to have another and another....

An upper class drawing room. A gentleman breaks the curtain pole and goes in search of a replacement, but he stops into a pub first. He buys a very long pole, and causes havoc everywhere he passes, accumulating an ever-growing entourage chasing him, until he escapes them through a bit of movie magic, only to discover that the pole has already been replaced.

Two miners are fighting over a woman, and one is about to murder the other in his sleep. At the critical moment, the woman introduces her fiancé from the city.

A Greek woman marries a struggling sculptor. When he can't support her and their baby, she offers to sell herself as a slave to allow them to buy food.

Antonine, a worthless, good-for-nothing scoundrel, demands money of his cousin Galora, an energetic, provident husband and father. His demands are met with a positive rebuff, and when he becomes insistent be is forcibly ejected by Galora. As he leaves the tenement he vows to get even, and lies in wait until Galora has gone out on business. Climbing to the fifth floor, on which the Galoras live, he watches his chance, which comes when Mrs. Galora goes for an instant to visit a neighbor on the same floor. Darting into the apartment and raising the window he perceives the awful result of a drop to the ground, five stories below, and so evolves a plan that is dastardly in the extreme. Taking the infant child from the cradle, and placing it in a basket he lets it out with a short rope, the end of which he secures by letting the sash down on it, so that to raise the window would precipitate the baby to destruction.

After three years at sea, Edward returns home to find his sweetheart forced into an engagement with a much older man.

Adaptation of a poem written by Thomas Hood.