Ruth Roland

An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.

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.

Ruth Roland in her last role alongside Roland Drew in a mystery about murder, blackmail and stolen jewels.

A film by George Crone

Hollywood actresses including Jeanette Loff and Raquel Torres modeling Spring fashions in color.

Footage from the premiere of Charlie Chaplin's 1928 film 'The Circus'.

Baron Tolento lusts for Diane Delatour, his physician's wife, and donates money to their favorite charity, a children's home, in hope of gaining her favor. When Delatour is called away, Tolento inveigles Diane into attending a party at his house. There he threatens to ruin her husband if she does not submit to his demands within three months. Diane retaliates by showing him a letter proving that Tolento has only three months to live, according to a specialist. Delatour learns of his wife's presence at the party from one of the baron's women, and when Tolento makes Diane heir to his fortune, he becomes convinced of her infidelity.

1925 picture starring Ruth Roland.

It follows Ruth Rowland as the inheritor of a wealthy timber business who tries to stay independent of a cruel man who wants to marry her and steal her wealth. The film is considered to be lost, though the UCLA Film and Television Archive has episodes one, four, eight and nine.

A young woman finds a trunk full of stolen diamonds, takes them and heads westward, pursued by the thief.

Daniel Robin has become mixed up with a band of criminals known as "the 13," and is shot when he refuses to do their bidding. His daughter Ruth, brought home from boarding school, reaches his bedside before he expires. He tells her that she will be given thirteen keys. Instructions will be provided with each key and, if she follows the instructions, she will eventually fully learn of her birthright. Many adventures then follow as Ruth attempts to solve the puzzle of each key and establish her true birthright.

Daniel Robin has become mixed up with a band of criminals known as "the 13," and is shot when he refuses to do their bidding. His daughter Ruth, brought home from boarding school, reaches his bedside before he expires. He tells her that she will be given thirteen keys. Instructions will be provided with each key and, if she follows the instructions, she will eventually fully learn of her birthright. Many adventures then follow as Ruth attempts to solve the puzzle of each key and establish her true birthright.

A cult of Hindu tiger worshippers and a gang of Western outlaws try to cheat a young woman out of rich mines that belong to her.

A newspaperwoman finds trouble aplenty when an Inca tribe believes her to be the reincarnation of their long-lost princess.

Cupid Angling is a 1918 silent film starring Ruth Roland and Albert Morrison, with walk-on appearances by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. It was the only feature film photographed using the Douglass Natural Color process.

A blind playwright is engaged to his assistant, and the two are close to completion of a new play, which is so dark and morbid that they find themselves on the brink of breakdowns. A greedy agent who has admired the playwright's previous work will stop at nothing to secure the play for himself.

A 1917 movie serial

Rich young playboy Gregory Kirkland reads a newspaper story about a daring robbery, and bets his friends that he can steal a famous diamond tiara, The Sultana, from its designer and then secretly return it without being caught. Robert Sautrelle, who designed the tiara, visits Kirkland's home, and Gregory does indeed steal it. However, he gets cold feet before he returns it and convinces a woman he knows, Virginia Lowndes, to return it. Unfortunately, things don't work out exactly as Gregory had planned.

Erma Desmond leaves her uncle and aunt to visit a friend, Phyllis, in the city. There, she finds work as the companion to the highly temperamental Mrs. Stanley. Mrs. Stanley has terrorized her husband to such an extent that he has gone away for a few months, purportedly to take their daughter to school, but mainly to get some peace. The servants, however, are still victims of her terrible fits until the day she decides to head for Reno to get a divorce.

The Red Circle is a birthmark, on the hand of the heroine, noticeable only in times of stress and excitement, which forces her to steal, leading to no end of complications and intrigue.

Marlin takes his daughter, Ethel, to the seashore in hopes that she will annex a rich husband. The father meets Bill, who looks like "ready money." Marlin introduces the young man to Ethel. The girl promptly takes a dislike to the man. The following day Don saves Ethel from drowning. Bill, who witnessed the incident, feared to go to the rescue because he might ruin his clothes. Ethel and Don fall in love with each other. Bill later asks Marlin for Ethel's hand. The father consents. Ethel stormily declares she will not marry him.

Who Pays? was a series of twelve three-reel dramas, released between March and July 1915. Henry King and Ruth Roland starred in each episode, playing different roles each time, with a variety of supporting players who varied from one episode to another. Each episode told a complete and individual story, but they were all inter-related by a uniform theme. Although there were no cliff-hanger endings, each episode did, in fact, end with a challenge to the audience: Who was responsible for the misfortune of the principal characters? The titles of the twelve episodes were: #1: The Price of Fame; #2: The Pursuit of Pleasure; #3: When Justice Sleeps; #4: The Love Liar; #5: Unto Herself Alone; #6: Houses of Glass; #7: Blue Blood and Yellow; #8: Today and Tomorrow; #9: For the Commonwealth; #10: Pomp of Earth; #11: The Fruit of Folly; #12: Toil and Tyranny.

Fifth episode of the Girl Detective series 2-reels where a 'society girl' has a position as a special investigator in the police.

Fourth episode in the Girl Detective 2-reel series.

A series of 2-reel thrillers in which a society girl has a position as a special investigator for the police and works on various cases where her unique talents can help to solve crimes. Each episode is complete in itself.

Chief of Police Ivorytop and Chief of Detectives Sherlock Bonehead, of Rottenport, fall in love with Helen, a girl from the city

After he learns hypnotism, a husband uses it on his wife and mother-in-law. While they're in a trance, he goes out on the town with other women.

Bill interrupts a dress rehearsal in a wooded section, being held by several society girls who are to give classical dances at an entertainment. The girls hit upon the idea of having Bill portray the role of the mythical Pan at the entertainment. Bill is entirely satisfied, especially so as the girls dress him in good clothes in order that he look the part of a gentleman. The entertainment comes 'round, and Bill, introduced as "Professor Hobo," makes a hit with the guests.

In this rare, surviving one-reel Western from the pioneering Kalem company, Ruth Roland's fiancé, Dick, is falsely accused of robbing a bank, a dirty deed actually committed by one Black McCarty. Roland helps Dick escape and later supplies him with a weapon, but her irate father, the sheriff, must be put out of action -- by his own handcuffs as it turns out -- before the villain can be captured and peace restored.

The concept for Walk,—You, Walk! is as old as the battle of the sexes: When Rose’s date tries to get fresh, she walks out and teaches him a lesson, with the help of her sister. What makes this 1912 Kalem comedy so much fun is the sheer pleasure shown by the women in outsmarting the men. It’s a Kristen Wiig comedy 100 years ahead of its time.

The scenes are laid in the Hudson Bay country in comparatively recent years and cover the life of a Hudson Bay factor, showing him as a young man assuming his business in the wilderness and, as was common in those days, taking an Indian wife that he had purchased of her father in Indian fashion.

"The Scarlet Letter" is a story of early Puritan days in New England. Hester, a beautiful young Englishwoman, is sent to America by her husband, with a promise that he will follow on the next ship. But he falls to keep his promise and Hester does not hear from him in years. In the meantime she is befriended by a young Puritan minister. Friendship ripens into love and Hester, thinking her husband dead, loves the handsome young clergyman with her whole heart. But when the baby is born the minister, fearing the wrath of the Pilgrim Fathers, denies it and Hester is condemned to wear the Scarlet Letter and to stand in the pillory. And it is only after several years of Hester's shame and ignominy that the little child finally reaches the father's heart. Then comes the great scene. The minister, on a fête day, ascends the pillory, places himself where Hester had been placed, and publicly proclaims his sin.