Babbling Tongues

Shakespeare Clancy is a jailbird who walks out with a crowd of visitors about the time "Skeeter" Burns, the prison printer, is discharged. Learning that a legacy awaits them in Dodson, the pair depart for the small Western town. Discovering that the bequest consists of a failing county newspaper and a plot of barren land, they hatch a plan to fleece the townspeople by selling shares in a bogus oil well. Problems arise when Clancy falls in love with society editor Alice Whitney. Clancy is conflicted but then they do strike oil! Concluding that his destiny is to be an honest man, Clancy returns to jail to finish serving his term. Slipping into the crowd of visitors, he dons his prison clothes and resumes work as though nothing had happened.

Joe Morgan, a previously respectable worker, becomes a town drunkard, losing his job and neglecting his family due to the influence of the local tavern, the "Sickle and Sheaf". Joe's daughter, Little Mary, frequently comes to the bar to beg her father to return home. During a confrontation in the bar, a thrown glass hits Little Mary, resulting in her death. Devastated by the death of his child, Joe vows revenge but reforms, ending his addiction and reuniting with his family.

Genevieve Connors, a young woman from the slums who is given a chance at a better life through the help of a wealthy family, but faces class prejudice and is later involved in a criminal plot.

Ruth and her father stay at an inn run by the malicious Scroogles. The Scroogles rob Ruth's father, throw his seemingly dead body over a cliff, and deny he was ever there when Ruth asks. Ruth seeks help from artist Richard Foster. Together, they find evidence, confront the Scroogles, leading to a struggle where Mr. Scroogles accidentally kills his wife before being shot and dying himself. Ruth and Foster (now engaged) find her father alive but dazed; he recovers, and adopts a mistreated girl from the inn. The traumatic "empty room" incident leaves a lasting impression on Ruth.

A recently widowed and destitute young mother (Jane Novak) appeals to her wealthy and heartless father-in-law (Robert Edeson) for financial aid. Instead, he convinces her to hand over her new baby to his care so that the child will be brought up with "everything money can buy." Unbeknownst to the grandfather, we learn that there are twin sons and our heroine keeps one baby to raise herself. The narrative jumps ahead to the boy's twenty-first birthday and we see what's become of them. Not surprisingly, the wealthy son has grown up spoiled and greedy while the poor one works hard and loves his mother.

Karsten Bernick is a wealthy Norwegian shipping tycoon and community leader who hides a past built on lies and moral hypocrisy. He was involved in a youthful affair in Paris with a married Bohemian actress; Bernick let his brother-in-law take the blame and fled to America, while also spreading a rumor that the man stole family money. When the wronged brother-in-law returns home years later demanding that Bernick clear his name Bernick tries to protect his social standing and financial empire from ruin, forcing a dramatic reckoning with his deceit.

Artist Standish using his wife Mary as his model finishes a painting of the Madonna. When the Connoisseur and the Parishioner inspect the picture, the Connoisseur tells Standish that the model was a one-time paramour. Buying the painting they depart. Standish confronts Mary, who tells him that she believed herself legally married to the Connoisseur. Unbelieving he ejects her and their baby son. Penniless Mary leaves her boy on the steps of a monastery. Years later before becoming a monk the boy is sent to see the world. Wandering into a café he is seduced by Beauty as the other inmates of the place, Lust, Rum, Avarice and Passion dance around him. The proprietor enters; it is Mary. Recognizing the crucifix, she left with him as a baby she persuades him to go back without revealing her identity. After he becomes a priest Mary, now a bedraggled old woman enters his church. She recognizes him and just before she dies her son gives her absolution.

In 1941, folklorist Alan Lomax traveled from the Library of Congress to the Mississippi Delta to record an oral history of the blues. Equipped with 500 pounds of audio equipment powered by his car battery, he ventured across nameless roads to discover the most beautiful and harrowing songs ever sung.

Doris is driven from her small New England fishing village when a jealous admirer implies that her mild flirtation with visiting artist Stuart Kendall was an intimate love affair. Arriving in New York, alone and penniless, Doris finds employment in a Greenwich Village café, where she again meets Stuart and agrees to become his model. Unaware of his true intentions, Doris lives at Stuart's expense and innocently evades his advances. Out West, rancher Jack Masterson sees Doris' face on a poster and journeys East to propose to her.

Hal Whitney, an irresponsible young millionaire, befriends Timothy Payne, a wise old college professor whose life had been ruined by alcohol. After "adopting" Timothy as his father, Hal introduces him to his sweetheart, Helen Maynard. The outraged Helen breaks their engagement, certain that Timothy will be a bad influence on her hard-drinking fiancé. However, both men assist in each other's reformation, and Hal is soon reunited with Helen, while Timothy marries Hal's mother, Elizabeth, whom he had loved in his youth.

Princeton Hadley feels obligated to pay alimony to Judith, the widow of his deceased friend Billy Westover, due to favors Billy had done for him in the past, even though the law doesn't require it. Billy had lost his fortune and was recently divorced from Judith before his untimely death in an accident. Princeton later meets Judith, unaware of her identity, and falls in love with her.

Mary Manning lives in the Wisconsin woods with her stern old grandfather, an uncle, and her mother who, for eighteen years has daily looked for the return of her husband. Into the drab life comes Tom Gale, who gives the girl her first taste of pleasure.

War buddies Whitey and Skeeter have become safecrackers. On a job, Skeeter is surprised by the police and killed. Later Whitey discovers that the lowlife Mal is the police informer responsible for Skeeter's death. Whitey sets out to find his moll Kitty, hearing she has gone to the country to find peace and quiet he finds her in a small town. She is involved with bank clerk Fred Morton, so Whitey pretends he has found someone else too. When Mal arrives in town as the advance man for a con and he pursues Skeeter’s sister Evelyn, Kitty tells the story of her own criminal past to save her. Fred drops her, and Kitty tries to drown herself in the river. Whitey saves her life and exposes Fred as an embezzler.

A lonely wife becomes obsessed with furs and keeps bad company in an effort to obtain more.

Joe (Tearle) and Bessie (Ayres), living in sin and just scraping by. Bessie thinks Joe has stolen their meagre savings, so she leaves him and becomes a manicurist eventually marrying a wealthy man who turns out to be stingy and cruel. Joe saves heiress Marion (Mills) from drowning, makes good as a civil engineer and eventually marries her. Joe and Bessie meet again by chance and Joe, in helping her to keep her secret, incurs Marion's jealousy. Bessie, extorted by a former acquaintance in desperation, decides to tell everything to her husband. However, to aid Joe she accuses Wallace (Miljan), with whom Marion is preparing to go away. Finally, Joe and Marion are reconciled, but Bessie learns that the world never forgives a woman who sins even when she has reformed.

While visiting Atlanta, pampered Northern heiress Olive Thurston meets and marries Southerner John Ames, a member of an impoverished but old aristocratic family. John attempts to force his wife to conform to Southern ideals of womanhood, resulting in many conflicts between the newlyweds, but after a brief separation, Olive and John are reunited, resolving to look for each other's virtues and forgive the faults.

J. Gordon Edwards silent adventure melodrama about a famous poet who is allowed to rule France for a week!

A widowed farmer, failing in his efforts to find a woman capable of running his household, decides to marry a young woman he believes can fill the bill. Wat he doesn't know is that she is running away from a brutish and violent husband, whom she has discovered is also a bigamist, and that her angry and vengeful husband is looking for her.

Henri Le Rocque's arrival in an island village causes much anger when he insists upon advanced rental for the land he owns. Accompanying Le Rocque is his nephew Paul, who is recovering from a broken heart. One day, little flower girl Fleurette visits the Le Rocque estate to make a present of a rare flower and is shot as a trespasser. She is nursed back to health at the mansion, and Paul falls in love with her. However, trouble is brewing in the village which will endanger all their lives.

Two eccentric Frenchmen argue for the hand of an eligible American girl, who finally discouraged both of them by introducing her betrothed.