Evelyn Greeley

A young man, George Turner (Richard Barthelmess), finds work as a gardener and falls in love with his employer's pretty daughter Lucy (Evelyn Greeley). In lieu of an engagement ring, George gives Lucy his one valuable possession, an antique necklace given to him by his mother on her deathbed. But Lucy's father, Stephen Winter (Charles Wellesley) recognizes the necklace -- his wife gave it to a man he then sent to prison on a trumped up manslaughter charge. So Winter discharges George, but that night he mulls over his past and the man he wronged, who happens to be George's father (Pedro de Cordoba). When he goes home, George finds a letter from his father revealing Winter's part in having him convicted and he determines to seek revenge. But when he gets to the Winter mansion, he feels sorry for the old man, who now fully regrets what he has done. Winter contacts the governor and has George's father released, and the two men meet with each other. They now have a bond in the union of their two children. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

From its title, one would think this picture was a light comedy, but it isn't -- it's a World War I spy drama, a subject which was growing increasingly stale by early 1919. Carlyle Blackwell plays Charles Conant, a young, wellto-do man who is masquerading as a muleteer on a tramp steamer. He quits the boat in England to look up some distant relatives, Lord and Lady Dartridge. Lady Dartridge's daughter, Lady Joan Templar (Evelyn Greeley) helps him out by giving him work on the estate, but his behavior is suspicious. There are several workers who are secretly plotting to smuggle titanium on board a German submarine, and Conant is quite interested in their activities. Of course by the end of the film, he has proved himself a true-blue American by capturing these bad men -- it turns out that the titanium belongs to his father's company and was inadvertently sold to the Germans. Before Conant goes off to join the Lafayette Squadron in France, Lady Joan has decided to throw away her title and marry him. This convoluted film was originally a Saturday Evening Post story by Kenyon Gambier with an equally convoluted title: "A Huge, Black One-Eyed Man." Some of the English countryside in the picture looks an awful lot like Fort Lee, New Jersey, where World Pictures had its studio. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Jack Burkshaw (Carlyle Blackwell, who also directed) returns home from the West to discover that his mother (Kate Lester) has married a widower, Eugene Alston (Charles Duncan). Alston has two grown children, pretty Marion (Evelyn Greeley) and roguish Jerry (William Sherwood). While Jack falls in love with Marion, Jerry takes advantage of Barbara Manning (Muriel Ostriche), a young stenographer, then neglects her in favor of an actress. Jack uses sneaky and sometimes humorous means to make Jerry see the error of his ways, while winning Marion's heart at the same time. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Handsome silent screen matinee idol Francis X. Bushman once again donned a dashing uniform in this romantic melodrama set during the Boer War. In his first role since leaving Chicago's Essanay company, Bushman played Lt. Col. Anstruther, who vies for the attention of Muriel Mannering (Marguerite Snow) with Major Bingham (William Clifford). The latter tricks Anstruther into believing that the girl loves Bingham, when in reality she has refused the major's proposal of marriage. When Anstruther saves Bingham's life during the war, the deceitful major finally tells the truth. Despite Eve Unsell's trite screenplay, The Second in Command was well received by critics and audiences alike and proved an auspicious debut for the newly formed Quality Pictures Corporation, a company founded by former cameraman Fred J. Balshofer. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide