The Modern Prodigal

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

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.

Kenneth Marsden, a young artist in failing health is advised to go south to New Orleans, where he expects to find accommodation with an old-time friend of his mother. The old lady receives the son of her dear friend with open arms, but her two convent-bred nieces, Mary and Edith, are horrified at the thought of a man in the house. However, it isn't long after his arrival that he has made a decided impression upon the young ladies.

France, on the eve of the French Revolution. Henriette and Louise have been raised together as sisters. When the plague that takes their parents' lives causes Louise's blindness, they decide to travel to Paris in search of a cure, but they separate when a lustful aristocrat crosses their path.

Two sisters want to know whether there is romance in their future. One sister pulls the petals off of a flower, while the other has her fortune told by a gypsy. When the gypsy tells the fortune so as to serve his own purposes, complications soon develop.

On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.

An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to eight strangers chosen at random from the phone directory.

Soon after their engagement, Bill goes to sea, and Emily vows to stay true until his return. Unknown to her, Bill marries another woman from a different port. Emily waits faithfully for six years, finally becoming dangerously ill. When Bill suddenly appears in town with his family, Joe, who has loved Emily all along, forces Bill to make Emily's final moments happy by pretending he has returned to marry her.

During the American Revolution, a young soldier carrying a crucial message to General Washington is spotted and pursued by a group of enemy soldiers. He takes refuge with a civilian family, but is soon detected. The family and their neighbors must then make plans to see that the important message gets through after all.

Antonine, a worthless, good-for-nothing scoundrel, demands money of his cousin Galora, an energetic, provident husband and father. His demands are met with a positive rebuff, and when he becomes insistent be is forcibly ejected by Galora. As he leaves the tenement he vows to get even, and lies in wait until Galora has gone out on business. Climbing to the fifth floor, on which the Galoras live, he watches his chance, which comes when Mrs. Galora goes for an instant to visit a neighbor on the same floor. Darting into the apartment and raising the window he perceives the awful result of a drop to the ground, five stories below, and so evolves a plan that is dastardly in the extreme. Taking the infant child from the cradle, and placing it in a basket he lets it out with a short rope, the end of which he secures by letting the sash down on it, so that to raise the window would precipitate the baby to destruction.

A confirmed bachelor learns that he will inherit his late uncle's fortune only if he marries, which he does reluctantly. Shortly afterward he returns to his bachelor lifestyle but realizes he can't get his wife's face out of his thoughts.

A contest is being held in Cremona for the best violin, with Giannina's hand in marriage as the prize. Filippo is secretly in love with her, but is also ashamed of being a cripple, so he switches his superior violin with that of another apprentice, Sandro, whom Giannina loves.

As Poe's lover is slowly dying, he struggles to make money to care for her.

Episodic look at the life of a minister and his family as they move from one parish to another.

Sisters guarding their house from a burglar set upon stealing their daddy's money.

A disfigured young woman with two beautiful sisters is courted by a blind man. Will he still love her when his sight is restored?

A Husband thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. His wife shows him its not.

Mr. Bach, a wealthy man, visits the scenes of his boyhood days in his auto and meets farmer Brown, his boyhood friend. Brown is the father of a very pretty daughter named Tessie. Bach becomes deeply smitten with the artless little country lass, and secretly hopes to win her. Tessie, however, has a host of admirers in the little village, the favored one being John Watson.

Jimmie Dexter is on his way to college when his mother discovers that her stocks have stopped paying dividends. Jean Hilton, who has always loved Jimmie, offers to secretly stake him using her own inheritance. So Jimmie goes off to college, none the wiser, and gets tangled up with vampy cabaret singer Diana Parish.

Neglected by a husband too engrossed by his activities and social obligations, a woman convinces a girlfriend to dress as a man and make love to her openly in the hope to arouse her spouse’s jealousy. Dressed as a male, her friend causes a commotion among the couple’s acquaintances. When the husband eventually catches the newcomer making overtures to his wife, he challenges his rival to a duel.

A rich nobleman steals a perfume merchant's wife just prior to the French Revolution, in which the perfumer is a leader of the peasants. His priest made him swear an oath to leave vengeance to God, however.

A man recognizes the thief who had previously robbed him as one of the men involved in an unrelated mob shootout.

Johnny Spivins adores Milly Fields, but since he's only an errand boy at the local grocery, he can't get her to look his way. Things get even worse when a city boy comes to town and boards at the Fields' home.

The two brothers and their adopted daughter of the household grew up from childhood together. The girl and the younger brother were childhood sweethearts. His elder brother was considered the bad man and dead shot of the hills. The younger brother has been living in the valley for a long time and returns home to his family. He is now refined, educated, and, of course, a revelation to the little girl, who, though betrothed to the elder brother, is strongly attracted by him. Hence there is a renewal of childhood affection which the elder brother does not take kindly to.

Orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.

Two young girls are sent away to live with their uncle, which sets off a chain of events resulting in an Indian attack on the town.

The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of edition #1, then a tribute to movie people who have died in those 25 years. Finally there are tributes to the Screen Snapshots series by Cecil De Mille, Walt Disney, Louella Parsons and Rosalind Russell.

When the Great Chief's body is placed before the funeral pile by his mourning braves, his sacred blanket is covered over it and a sentinel left to watch that this, his last resting place, is not desecrated. The tribe has just departed for their village when a mountain outlaw appears and succeeds in stealing the blanket, having given the sentinel doctored whiskey. When the Indians discover this they exile the unfaithful sentinel until he can recover the blanket.