Periwinkle

A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.

The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with one of the biggest budgets in Hollywood history, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into a silent-era blockbuster. Featuring text drawn directly from the Bible, a cast of thousands, and the great showman’s singular cinematic bag of tricks, The King of Kings is at once spectacular and deeply reverent—part Gospel, part Technicolor epic.

A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.

Mary Lane and her cousin Claiborne want to sell some land left to them by their family. Real-estate agent Roland Manning falls in love with her, and prepares a deal that will make money for both of them. However, shady land speculator Wade Dempster plots to get Claiborne drunk and swindle him out of the land. In order to get the honest Roland out of the way, he has him framed for a murder that Wade himself committed. Things look hopeless for Roland.

The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf. The second part shows the efficacy of the commandments in modern life through a story set in San Francisco. Two brothers, rivals for the love of Mary, also come into conflict when John discovers Dan used shoddy materials to construct a cathedral.

Sonya Schnoema, a Jewish girl, comes to the United States as an immigrant and works in her father's ghetto grocery store, where she gains the affections of a young settlement worker, David Dahlman. But she loves Mischa, a young doctor who soon arrives from Odessa, and to aid him financially, she distinguishes herself in the local Yiddish theater.

Though Judge Benton unhesitatingly sentences laborer Joe Martin to a year in prison for beating his wife, he thoughtlessly abandons his own faithful wife to the attentions of an artist and demands a divorce when he suspects her of wrongdoing. Through coincidence Barbara Benton and Mrs. Martin become friends, and Barbara learns of Joe's desire for revenge.

Wealthy Cynthia is in love with not-so-wealthy Roger, who is married to Marcia. The threesome is terribly modern about the situation, and Marcia will gladly divorce Roger if Cynthia agrees to a financial settlement. But Cynthia's wealth is in jeopardy because her trust fund will expire if she is not married by a certain date. To satisfy that condition, Cynthia arranges to marry Hagon Derk, who is condemned to die for a crime he didn't commit. She pays him so he can provide for his little sister. But at the last minute, Derk is freed when the true criminal is discovered. Expecting to be a rich widow, Cynthia finds herself married to a man she doesn't know and doesn't want to.

Pampered debutante Betty Baylock buys a wishing rug from a peddler and wishes for a dark-haired, blue-eyed man, hoping to rid herself of three annoying suitors. However, her wealthy stockbroker father, Robert Baylock, decrees that Betty must choose one of the young men immediately, and she defies him by dismissing them all. Robert's aggravation compounds when Betty falls in love with Jack Grey, who is penniless after squandering a $100,000 fortune. Robert orders Jack to earn back the money he has lost before he can marry Betty. Jack goes into the laundry business and discovers that Robert writes stock tips on his shirt cuffs. He copies the notations and corners a stock, earning $100,000 at Robert's expense. Admitting defeat, Robert gives the young couple his blessing.

Mary Maddock works as a seamstress to bring home money while her husband Steve, unemployed, has no real prospects of earning money. Mary's employers, are trying to strike an oil related business deal with a rich man by the name of Nelson Rogers. The deal does not seem to be on the table, as Mr. Rogers is leaving town shortly and does not have the time to work out the details of such a deal. In an order to entice him to stay, Mrs. Mallory - wife of Mr. Mallory who is proposing the business deal - convinces Mary to be her guest at a dinner party with the intent of making Mr. Rogers fall for her and thus stay long enough for Mr. Mallory to make him agree to a business deal.

Malena's apparent frigidity toward her husband Kenneth is a result of injustice done in an earlier incarnation when he was a knight and she was a gypsy headed for burning at the stake. This becomes evident when their unconscious minds travel back from a train wreck in the American plains to Elizabethan England.

Anne Shirley, an orphan, is taken into the lives of a generous farmer and his sister. She grows from an adventuresome young lass into a charming and much sought-after young lady.

Melissa Stark, a young girl in the Tennessee mountains tries to unite feuding families (Allisons & Watts) and help her preacher father, Jethro, while navigating romance with lawyer Tom Williams and a mistaken identity crisis that leads to her father's tragic death, after which the families reconcile. The story involves a newspaper ad for a dress, a mistaken identification of Jethro as a murder fugitive by a deputy sheriff, and a violent confrontation that ends with Jethro's innocence proven but his life lost.

In the year 1550, Sir George Vernon agrees to have his young daughter Dorothy betrothed to John Manners, the son of the Earl of Rutland. Sir George signs a contract, promising that the marriage will take place on Dorothy's 18th birthday, or else he will have to pay a large penalty to Rutland. But when the two children have grown older, rumors of John's wild behavior in France provoke Sir George to call off the engagement, and to pledge his daughter instead to her cousin Malcolm. Rutland now claims the forfeit from Sir George, and meanwhile, John has befriended Mary Stuart, the sworn enemy of Elizabeth, who is now Queen of England.

Bessie Wheaton returns from Europe to find her nouveau riche family has adopted and magnified the worst characteristics of the upper class. Her father spends all of his time at the club, her mother cultivates snobbishness, and her sister thinks only of marrying into royalty. To shake them out of their aristocratic poses, Bessie decides to reflect all of their faults, becoming as lazy as her father and as status conscious as her mother. She even rejects her own sweetheart, Allan Shelby, to lure Count d'Orr away from her sister. Finally, the members of the family confront Bessie, and she angrily tells them that she was only mirroring their behavior. Bessie then runs away, but Allan, with whom she quickly reconciles, brings her back, just as her family acknowledges its recent burlesque of the upper crust.

Four-year-old Dorothy, the daughter of rich lawyer Winfred North, is inconsolable over her mother's recent death. Her father, too absorbed with business to pay attention to his daughter and her problems, marries Helen Stillwell, a widow with her own two children. Helen ignores Dorothy while taking care of her own children, treating Dorothy as if she's always "in the way". Finally Dorothy can take no more and runs away. She is found by the Goodwins, a married missionary couple, but when they bring her home, Helen Stillwell denies knowing Dorothy at all, seeing a chance for her own children to inherit Winfred's wealth and cut Dorothy out of the picture altogether. The Goodwins take Dorothy to Africa with them to bring Christianity to the natives, but matters don't work out quite as well as they expected.

Count Ferdinand, a submarine commander and secret pacifist refuses to torpedo a defenseless passenger ship during wartime. His submarine is sunk in the following fracas. In the spirit world, Christ commends the captain, and returns to earth in the commander's body to promote His message of peace.

Joy reigns in a colony of struggling artists because Old Felix, a composer, has at last sold one of his symphonies. The night of its initial hearing at the grand opera house the members of the colony turn out en masse. Too poor for orchestra seats, they gather in the gallery around the old composer. The old composer is happy almost to tears, and when the last note has died away there is a cry for the composer. Felix attempts to utter a few words of thanks, but is smothered with flowers. At his studio his friends have prepared for his welcome, and it is upon his arrival there that be feels the happiness which comes of success. However, at the other end of the hall another different drama is being enacted. A girl sits beside her stricken mother, and as the merriment in the studio reaches its height, the soul of the mother departs from the body.

An American soldier falls in love with a French maiden but their romance is thwarted when the Yanks return home. Years later she comes to America to put on a fashion show and find her long lost lover.

Mary Beth rents an attic room to Richard, a composer. Frustrated with the publishers demands for cheap, trashy songs, Richard, penniless, tries to asphyxiate himself, but Mary intervenes, encouraging him to go on. Mary finds his song, and secretly sells a song she finds of his, "The Rainbow Girl", to a publisher, later finding out that she, herself, is the Rainbow Girl he wrote about.

In their small-minded New England village Liz and her alcoholic father are rejected by the townspeople. When the new minister, Henry Penfield, comes to town he is attracted to Liz. Also arriving on the same train is young artist Arnold Brice. He takes a fancy to the prettiest girl in town, Mildred Holcombe who is the daughter of a deacon of the church. Mildred and Arnold fall in love, but her brother Arthur threatens to kill the artist if he finds them together. Heedless of Arthur's threats, Mildred goes to Arnold's studio, however Liz sees Arthur following and runs to the studio to warn them. Upon Arthur arrival Liz makes it seem it was she having an affair with Arnold. The deacons plan to banish Liz but Henry discovers the truth, resigns and announces his engagement to Liz.

The wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O'Brien. Although Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts to go on the cruise that he intended as their honeymoon. When circumstances find both Rollo and Betsy on the wrong ship, they end up having adventures on the high seas.

When John Harlow loses his sweetheart Jenny Larkin as a result of poverty, he vows never to be broke again and leaves town. He moves to the city, and several years later, after pinching his pennies, he becomes financially successful. One night, while at a dance hall, he runs into Jenny who is now employed as a dance hall hostess. Jenny decides to fleece John and sets him up with Laura, one of her colleagues. Laura is innocent of the scheme, and she and John fall in love. Jenny becomes jealous and attempts to reclaim John by telling him that Laura is having an affair with Richard Crane. John believes her until he discovers that Crane has just married Laura's mother. He proposes to Laura, and she accepts on the condition that he relinquish his spendthrift ways.

Famous Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies

Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well, nothing. This eye-opening documentary examines the rampant sexuality of early Hollywood through movie clips and reminiscences by stars of the era. Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and others relate tales of the artistic freedom that led to the draconian Production Code, which governed content from 1934 to 1968. Diane Lane narrates.

Ann Annington (Minter) writes book reviews for a newspaper and when a reporter fails his assignment to get an interview with the noted author Harold Hargrave (Glass), she undertakes to meet the young man. She rents the room next door to his work shop and by impersonating a maid soon wins his good graces.

Nell Saunders is the daughter of an innkeeper in a college town. She is loved by Glen Dale, the quarterback of the college team, and also Pierson, the fullback.

Young Irish physician Peter Blood is exiled as a slave to Barbados, where he and his friend Jeremy are purchased by Colonel Bishop at the behest of his niece Arabella. With other slaves he captures a Spanish galleon and becomes the terror of the Caribbean privateers until offered a commission in the English Navy. He defeats the French at Port Royal, and as a reward he is named governor of Jamaica and marries Arabella.

Nora, a department store clerk, is determined to succeed on the basis of her brain power despite her attractive ankles. She gets a job as model at the shop of McGuire and Goldberg, and they announce that Nora may be given a trip abroad if she persuades their financer to lend the partners additional funds. The financer, Hornsbee, becomes presumptuous, leading to an encounter between him and Barney, Nora's young suitor; and she is ultimately glad to accept Barney's modest attentions.

Documentary short film depicting the filmmaking activity at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, featuring dozens of stars captured candidly and at work.

"Rodeo" Bill is a hard-nosed, fun-loving cowboy who likes a lot of action and will go out of his way to create some if things are going too dull to suit him. He attends a circus/wild west show and stirs up some trouble with both the locals and the troupers but, after seeing Ruth Henson, the daughter of the show's operator/owner, he decides to join up and travel with the circus. He also manges to take care of some trouble not of his doing.

Nina, engaged to a French captain, and Nancy, engaged to a doctor who runs an insane asylum on an island, are friends. When the doctor catches Nancy kissing the captain, known for kisses with a "heavenly kick," he breaks the engagement. In an effort to win back the doctor for Nancy, Nina pretends to be a bit "off" and becomes an inmate of the sanitarium.

The rancher Jeff Bransford returns to his ancestral acres and finds them heavily mortgaged and about to be foreclosed and is defended by hired men with guns.