Charles A. Fang Movies

This average South Seas romance -- based on a novel by Harold McGrath -- was the second film featuring stage star Alfred Lunt. Playing opposite him is fashion model Mimi Palmeri in her acting debut (and, possibly, swan song -- after this film, she was apparently never heard from again). Lunt plays Howard Spurlock, who takes money from his uncle which he believes to rightfully be his. Fearing that the police are on his trail, he travels to the South Seas, where he takes to drink out of guilt. In Canton he becomes so ill that he requires attention, which is provided by Ruth Enschede (Palmeri), the naive daughter of a missionary (Charles Kent). Spurlock, believing that circumstances have compromised Ruth, marries her and only later does he learn to love her. He finds work through a doctor (Wallace Erskine), and straightens himself out. Spurlock's aunt (Marie Day) tracks him to the South Seas and informs him that his uncle never pressed charges and that he was never in trouble in the first place. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This burlesque on old-fashioned melodramas starred 1910s screen lovers Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne (they were also real-life lovers who had just gotten married a year before making this film). Sheriff Andrew Craig (Bushman) loves Ruth Heatherly (Bayne), but he has a rival in the village blacksmith, Rufus Sanborn (Samuel Framer). Ruth can't decide between the two men and her mother (Helen Dunbar) wants her to marry Percy Smallwood (Valentine Mott), who is heir to a fortune. But Smallwood is wanted by the law for taking advantage of a girl in a nearby town. Smallwood goes to Ruth for protection and she hides him from the authorities. Craig, however, discovers that she is hiding him and confronts her. Ruth promises to marry Craig if only he will leave Smallwood alone. Torn between love and duty, Craig chooses love and agrees to Ruth's suggestion. Smallwood is allowed to flee and it turns out that he wasn't the guilty party anyhow. Since he doesn't love Ruth, he is more than happy to hand her over to Craig, who has vanquished Sanborn in a fist fight. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

In cinema's first few decades it was common for Caucasians to play Asian roles, and here Norma Talmadge is San San, the daughter of a Chinese mandarin (in fact, no Asians hold any major roles in this film). San San is in love with John Worden (Thomas Meighan), the secretary of the U.S. consulate, and they secretly marry. But while Worden is away, her status-seeking father gives her to the emperor (L. Rogers Lytton). But when the emperor finds out she has a child, he has her killed. The little girl, Toy (played as an adult by Talmadge), grows up and escapes from China to be a Red Cross nurse in Manila. There she meets Lieutenant Philip Halbert (Reed Hamilton) and they fall in love. However, Halbert's boss is Worden and he forbids them to marry. After sending Halbert away on a mission, Worden falls ill and is nursed back to health by Toy. He discovers that Toy is his own daughter and, remembering his own tragic young romance, changes his mind and gives his blessing to the couple. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

The leading romantic team of the 1910s, on as well as off the screen, Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne experienced a major failure with this serial released in 18 chapters by Louis B. Mayer. The screenplay, by Fred de Gresac, was the already then hoary old story of a beautiful heiress who must fend off a series of usurpers before she can collect the reward and marry Prince Charming. Serial audiences, alas, didn't take to the Bushman/Bayne team, who was better equipped for stolid society dramas than rough-and-tumble chapterplay shenanigans. The Great Secret, in fact, marked the beginning of a rapid decline for the couple, whose careers were soon in the doldrums. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi