Joseph J. Dowling – MRQE

The Courtship of Myles Standish

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

A dramatization of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem ‘The Courtship of Miles Standish,’ this is the story of the Pilgrims who fled religious persecution in England and came to America aboard the Mayflower.

The Infidel

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Lola Daintry (MacDonald) is an actress who’s mad at the world, and especially ministers, one of whom — her father — was so cruel that he drove her mother out of the house. When Bully Haynes (Melbourne MacDonald) wants her help in showing up a group of South Seas missionaries, she’s more than happy to assist. But Lola doesn’t realize she’s being used so that Haynes can gain control over the copra trade from his rival, Cyrus Flint (Robert Ellis).

Free and Equal

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

This melodrama was made nine or ten years before its release, and one has to wonder why it was released at all. In the first three decades of the 1900s, the art of film was growing by leaps and bounds, so both the production and the exaggerated acting were very dated by 1925. The subject matter — whether African-Americans could function in white society — was not a popular one. Nowadays, the plot would make any but the most hardcore racist cringe. Northerner Judge Lowell (Charles K. French) believes that Negroes are the equals of whites and sets out to prove it by hiring an octoroon (Jack Richardson) as his secretary (apparently, trying to bring in a full-blooded African-American was beyond the sensibilities of 1910s Caucasians). The secretary turns out to be a rotten human being — he commits bigamy by secretly marrying the judge’s daughter (Gloria Hope), and then kills the maid. Judge Lowell comes to regret his idea, and the octoroon pays for his dastardly deeds.

The Rainmaker

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

The story of a racetrack tout whose prayers could bring a dry or muddy racetrack, and how he learned to capitalize on those powers. Until the day he lost the power and bet the wrong way.

Patriotism

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

During World War I, Robin Cameron transforms her home on the Scottish seacoast into a hospital for convalescing soldiers. Sidney Carson, who owns the adjoining estate, and Dr. Hyde both love Robin, but she gives her heart to John Hamilton, an American soldier whose ship was sunk off the coast.

The Bargain

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

After the bandit Jim Stokes robs the stage he is wounded fleeing. Recuperating at a ranch, he falls in love with and marries the daughter. Now wishing to go straight he tries to return the money but is recognized and captured. When the Sheriff then loses the recovered money at a crooked roulette table, he and Stokes strike a bargain.

The Miracle Man

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

A gang of crooks evade the police by moving their operations to a small town. There the gang’s leader encounters a faith healer and uses him to scam gullible public of funds for a supposed chapel. But when a real healing takes place, a change comes over the gang. Lost film, only the most famous scene has survived.

Tiger Rose

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Originally a Broadway play by Willard Macks, Lenore Ulric played the lead on Broadway and reprises her role for this film. At the Wutchi Wum trading post In the peaceful Loon River Valley, deep in the Canadian Northwest comes a story of love, vengeance and sacrifice. Having lived at the trading post following the death of her father, Rose will soon fall in love. But when her new love is in trouble, Rose will discover that she is capable of much more than she thought in order to keep him safe.

The Little Irish Girl

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Beautiful Dot Walker is part of a ring of crooks in San Francisco, who use her to lure impressionable young men into a crooked card game. Young Johnny has come to the big city to sell his grandmother’s hotel back in his home town, but he falls under Dot’s spell, gets suckered into the game and loses all his money. He asks his newfound “friends” to come back to his hometown to buy the hotel. They accept but are actually planning to swindle Johnny’s grandmother out of her hotel. It turns out that Granny isn’t quite the easy mark they thought she would be.

Why Girls Go Back Home

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Trusting country girl Marie Downey falls in love with touring stage-actor Clifford Dudley. As he becomes a matinee idol on Broadway, she turns a chorus girl.