Conquered Hearts

The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Wealthy Joshua Anson expects his son Chadwick to marry a woman of their class, but much to his chagrin Chadwick falls in love with factory girl Mary McClintock. Anson schemes to break up the romance by framing Mary in a compromising situation, but she outsmarts him and marries Chadwick. Not to be defeated, Anson offers his daughter-in-law $100,000 to divorce his son, but Mary outfoxes him once again by accepting the money, getting a divorce, and then remarrying Chadwick. Mary's last trick wins her father-in-law's respect, and he finally offers the couple his blessings.

After her husband's death in the West, Mrs. Lehr, a young widow who grew up in Cuttleback, decides to return there with her two daughters, Jane and Katherine, and make her home on the old family estate which had been looked after in her absence by Job Jenkins, a caretaker who had been in the Lehr family's employ since boyhood, and by now he has been the estate's sole occupant for so many years that he regards it as part of his life, and is disturbed when his mistress returns with her children.

Robert Wingate, a graft fighting candidate for governor, falls in love with Eleanor Brewster, his opponent's daughter.

Prosperous architect David Hunter, lives with his wife Evelyn, who loves gambling and admiration, as well as his small daughter Dora, and his sister-in-law Ruth. When Evelyn tells her husband she owes $10,000 in bridge losses, she promises not to gamble or see her lover, Stephen Dabney, again if he will pay the debt. Stephen's friend, Moira Lamson, however, entices her to the country club for one last game. David and Ruth, worried by her prolonged absence, go to the club where they find her in Stephen's arms. Evelyn accuses her sister of spying on her and demands a divorce from her husband. Ruth, weary of her sister's frailties, moves out of the household and takes up nursing. Evelyn's health suffers from the strain, and now with David and Ruth gone, she is ill and alone. David and Ruth take pity on her and return. A smarter Evelyn is reunited with David.

Deserted by her husband, John Madison, because he incorrectly accuses her of having an affair, Mary Madison goes to her aunt's house to have her baby, and then loses her memory in a train wreck. John, however, hears that she has died, so he takes possession of their infant daughter.

Dodo Warren, an ingenuous young bride, decides to take her three rejected suitors - Bobo Brown, Tommy Belden, and Dr. Elliott - along with her and her husband Herb on their honeymoon. Herb's protests fall on deaf ears, and soon all five are comfortably ensconced in a Florida resort.

Peasant children Mytyl and Tyltyl are led on a magical quest for the fabulous Blue Bird of Happiness by the fairy Berylune. On their journey, they're accompanied by the anthropomorphized presences of a Dog, a Cat, Light, Fire, and Bread, among other entities.

Renee is a French artist's model who uses morphine as an escape from the dull reality of her life. She recommends it to a neurotic artist because "it kindles the fires of genius." The artist quickly becomes addicted to the drug and the quality of his work begins to disintegrate. He takes on a new model, marries her, and starts her on the same path of moral degradation, until a guilt-ridden Renee decides to intervene in order to save them both. According to silent film historian Kevin Brownlow, THE DEVIL'S NEEDLE was banned by the state of Ohio, but the censor board reversed its decision after recognizing the positive message beneath the film's scandalous surface. This special edition was mastered from a 35mm preservation print of the 1923 re-release version. The only known surviving copy, the element suffers significant nitrate decomposition during some scenes.

Susan, a pretty society girl, bored with her lot in life, reads and decides to use her time and money to help the poor. She founds the Joan of Arc Mission and quickly becomes an easy mark for con men.

Dance-hall girl Colette Brissac, brought up in the Canadian Northwest, refuses the protection of New Yorker Lucky Folsom, who later marries Gloria Waldron, an ambitious woman actually in love with engineer Martin Bates. When Bates drifts into the mining town, the miners, while drunk, force him to marry Colette. She nurses him back to health and they gradually fall in love. The arrival of Folsom and Gloria threatens to break up their marriage, and Colette prevents a fight between the two men by wounding Folsom, causing the latter to come to his senses and teaching his wife a lesson.

When his wife Grace inherits her father's stock, John Miller, the president of the Western Power and Development Company, becomes a millionaire and moves to New York with his family. Beset by business problems, Miller pays little attention to his wife, and Grace, feeling neglected, takes up with a bohemian set. Among her new acquaintances she meets Stuart Mordant, the attorney for Thomas Hurd, a business rival of Miller's. Grace seeks refuge from loneliness in Mordant, who makes a bargain with Hurd to gain control of her husband's company for half a million dollars.

When composer Anselm Kardos leaves his alcoholic wife, he gives his daughter Lily an unfinished love ode entitled "The Song of Songs" and warns her to keep her artistic temperament in check.

Canadian Mountie Philip Curtis is telling Josephine McCloud, with whom he is in love, about a hermit who once saved his life and nursed him back to health. Josephine remains impassive until Philip tells her the hermit's name: Peter God. At the mention of his name, Josephine begs Philip to find Peter and take him a letter she had written to him. Puzzled but not wanting to deny anything to the woman he loves, he sets out to find Peter, but when he does he discovers that Josephine has a connection to Peter that Philip knew nothing about.

Muriel Flemming secretly marries Graydon Burton before he heads West to make his fortune. Later, when he is about to board a train to return to his wife, he is accused of a murder that was actually committed by crooked attorney Herman Slade.

When Roberta Carruthers' father, Capt. Carruthers, is killed in France during the war, she comes to live in the US with her uncle. When she finds out that her uncle is under the impression that his brother had a son and not a daughter, she decides to disguise herself as a male, and calls herself Bob.

A composer's neighbour rescues a seduced waif and discovers she is his daughter.

Robert Strickland, the self-confessed murderer of Gerald Trask, refuses to defend himself on the witness stand. His attorney, however, cross-examines Strickland's wife.

George Kirby steals a mining claim from Tom Curtis and forces him to become an outlaw. Years later, Curtis comes to the rescue when Anne Kirby is kidnapped by real outlaws, but when he finds out she is married to his enemy, he decides to hold her captive.

Refusing to marry her stepmother's choice, Gail Prim leaves her life of luxury, after cutting her hair, dressing in her butler's clothes and stealing money and jewels from her father's safe. Spending the night in a barn, she introduces herself to the thieves already there as the Oskaloosa Kid, a wanted criminal, and barely escapes their struggle to get her loot. Meanwhile, the real Oskaloosa Kid kills Reginald Paynter and throws Nettie Penning, whom Reginald was trying to seduce, onto the highway.

Seth Perkins, a prospector, has two daughters. Mabel and Vedah. Vedah is a cripple, and the town doctor writes her father it will be necessary to operate to cure her and the expense will be one hundred dollars. Perkins has no such sum and is in despair.

A writer bets a publisher friend that he can write a 10,000-word novel in 24 hours. The publisher takes the bet, and gives him the "only key" to his Baldpate Inn, which has been closed for the winter, so he can write in complete seclusion. Things start heating up, though, when a succession of people who also have keys to the inn begin showing up.

Professional thief Joe Grim is killing time in New York City's Central Park before he robs the Wall Street subtreasury. He spots pretty young Laura White on a runaway horse. He manages to rescue her. Falling for her, he tries to steal a photo of her but is discovered and held at gunpoint by Laura's friend Countess Briand--who, unbeknownst to Laura, is actually the head of a German spy ring, among whose members if Laura's fiance Karl Richter. The countess convinces Joe to steal plane for a new airplane by telling Joe that they're papers that are being used to blackmail Laura. But things don't go exactly as planned.

A scientist discovers a death ray and locks it in a box, giving the key to his daughter, who soon finds herself hunted by criminals looking to steal the deadly mineral.