The Upland Rider (1928)

Based on a true story, two-timing boozing wife Roxie Hart kills her lover in cold blood after he leaves her, and finagles her way out being indicted. The basis for Kander/Ebb's 1975 Broadway musical of the same name and its Oscar-winning 2002 film adaptation.

A race between a British clipper ship and an American ship of a new design will determine the right to transport Chinese tea.

Don Luis O'Flagherty (Ken Maynard), a daredevil comes to the rescue of his long-lost father, "Tiger" O'Flagherty (George Nichols), the supervisor of a supply-wagon train destined for the miners in Sonora. Tiger is being terrorized by Jesse Wilks (J.P. McGowan), who hopes to starve the miners out of their claims. Falling in love with Tiger's ward, Sally (Dorothy Devore), Don Luis manages to turn the tables on Wilks, who is killed attempting to rob the supply train.

Lois Wilson (as Lulu) is the spinsterish member of the Deacon family: "The family beast of burden, whose timid soul has failed to break the bonds of family servitude." Her brother-in-law is patriarchal Theodore Roberts (as Dwight Deacon); running the house with an iron fist, he is both a dentist and a Justice of the Peace. As the latter, he accidentally marries Ms. Wilson to his visiting brother Clarence Burton (as Ninian Deacon) while they are out for dinner. Schoolteacher Milton Sills (as Neil Cornish) is also interested in Wilson...

Blondy and Swede are gruff best friends who build skyscrapers. Blondy gets sweet on a girl he saves from a falling beam, Sally, but when he is injured in an accident and temporarily crippled, he rejects her. Swede tries every desperate measure to get Blondy to fight back, to try to walk, even masquerading as stealing Sally away from him.

Jazz age youngster Smoke Thatcher "borrows" a neighbor's car to take Patsy, his sweetheart, to a dance after his father refuses to lend him his car. A car-fight with a rival results in the borrowed automobile's being so wrecked that Smoke cannot return it. The garage to which he and Patsy take the car for repair turns out to be actually a gang's hideaway and a place where stolen cars are brought and later fenced.

Our heroine, Miss Velez (despite the fact that she seems to be just along for the ride) is much her usual over-eloquent self (how fortunate she has no sound track!), while Warner Oland makes such an impressive and villainously seedy bandit, he needs no sound track at all. We can just imagine his oily, purring accents all too well.

When Marjorie Caner returns from abroad, she is quite lonely in her millionaire father's big house. Learning that a young poet, Anthony Quintard, is living in poverty next door while working on the libretto of a great opera, she skips across the roofs and brings him a Christmas banquet. The poet sees Marjorie, and knowing that he detests wealth, she pretends to be the secretary of the Caner family.....

Corinne d'Alys (Daniels) achieves sudden success on the stage and among her many admirers is noted artist Robert Townsend (Menjou). Robert is married to Elsa (Williams), the sister of John Elliott (Stone), the producer responsible for Corinne's rise to fame. The young woman's head is turned by the praise she receives and, despite John's warning against Robert, she permits the latter to paint her portrait and pay her a good deal of attention. John himself loves Corinne and believes that wisdom will come to her with time.

Wrongfully blamed for the death of Col. John Randall, Cameo Kirby (Gilbert) must find the true villain and clear his name before he can declare his love for Adele (Olmstead), the dead man's daughter.

Ralph Ince stars as Brute Shane, a South Pacific trader who has adopted native girl Saina (Olive Broden). When Shane rescues English lass Nona Deering (Claire Adams) from white slavers, the jealous Saina begins plotting Nona's demise.

Barbara Fiske, a beautiful girl of social standing, is about to be married to Lloyd Van Courtland. On the eve of their marriage, she foolishly pays a visit to a colorful steamship captain aboard his ship.

Cal Roberts can ride anything with four legs. He enters the contests held at big rodeo. He wins all honors and meets a girl who races horses to help her father clear pressing debts. Complications follow, but Cal wins the girl.

Will Prescott (Richard Dix) is a bank cashier whose assistant, Ned Seabury (Neil Hamilton), has made a killing in the stock market. With his newfound riches, Seabury proceeds to woo Prescott's wife, Agnes (Claire Adams), by buying her luxurious items that her husband can not afford. Seabury makes no secret of his aim, and Prescott desperately steals some of the bank's bonds, hoping to make enough money to keep Agnes by his side.

Minnie Penelope Peck, the village scamp of Yaptank, accompanies her father to the bank to demand the nine dollars owed him for his work as a night watchman. When the bank president refuses to pay Peck, Minnie posts a sign which states that the bank is insolvent, whereupon all of the depositors immediately demand their money. The fire department is called in to quell the mob, but things get worse when Minnie accidentally turns on the fire hose.....

Dick Scott takes his Wild West show to the Balkan kingdom of Alvania where the boy king of the country commands the troupe to give a performance. The king is greatly impressed with the American cowboys and makes them his palace guard. The prime minister starts a revolution, and Dick and the Americans put it down. The boy king sanctions a romance between Scott and Ruth Elliott, the royal governess.

Bill is a gambler, whose friend Scipio goes in search of his wife Jessie. Jessie, fed up with her life of poverty, has run off with the wealthy and villainous James. She has left behind her two children on James' promise that she can send for them later. Scipio leaves the tots with Bill when he goes on his search..

Faith’s life is shattered when her lover dies. Her brother Job locks her away in a lighthouse, but she jumps from the tower rather than be imprisoned. Faith's daughter, however, lives on. The girl Eve grows into her teens, sheltered from the world by her puritanical uncle. But Eve nevertheless manages to encounter a young man, Phillip Blake. When Phillip returns for Eve, he has to deal with her crusty, malevolent guardian….

Tom Drury, a cowboy whose quick thinking stops a notorious outlaw, "The Hawk," from further misdeeds. The villain, as it turns out, is none other than Henry Suggs (James Mason), heretofore considered a pillar of the community.....

When Victoria’s husband Leonard leaves her for Helen , Victoria takes up with artist Antonio. However both couples end up on George La Fuente's dude ranch. Everybody begins arguing with the poor Senor Fuentes.