Wasted Lives (1925)

The Whip Woman

A different kind of a story about a different kind of a girl---a modern, young cavewoman who whipped her way into the heart of a man who wanted to forget about love!

The Age of Desire

Janet Loring is a young widow with a young son. She marries millionaire Malcolm Trask, but doesn't tell him about her previous marriage or her son, Ranny. Abandoned to the streets by Janet, Ranny eventually moves in with a bookseller and her granddaughter Margy. As the years go by Janet comes to regret abandoning her son and takes out ads looking for him. Marcio, a vicious blackmailer, sends Ranny to Janet posing as her son, not knowing that the young boy actually is her son. Complications ensue.

Kiss or Kill

Henry Warner (Herbert Rawlinson) is so broke that he has sold his overcoat and now his landlady won't leave him alone about the rent. When he sees a wallet sticking out of a rich man's pocket, he's desperate enough to steal it. The police give pursuit, and Henry winds up in someone's study. The man who lives there, Middleton (Alfred Allen) has been looking for someone with Henry's nerve and offers him a job (along with an overcoat and some cash): He must steal back a will that Middleton's nephew, Craig (Harry Carter) stole from him.

Paid in Full

Joe Brooks is taken advantage of by his employer, Captain Williams, who is a jealous former suitor of Joe's wife, Emma. Williams puts Joe in charge of the company's payroll money and has detectives set a trap for him.

The Stealers

Rev. Robert Martin is an ex-minister who has lost his faith because of his wife's faithlessness, and taken up a life of crime as head of a band of pickpockets masquerading as religious workers who ply their trade in the wake of a traveling carnival company. He tries to keep the true nature of his work secret from his daughter Julie, but she learns the truth while traveling with his band for a week.

The Devil's Partner

An adventure tale set in the North Woods. The villain, smuggler Jules Payette, would give anything if Jeanne would give in. Saving her virtue in the nick of time is stalwart Pierre, who turns out to be a Northwest Mountie.

Rose-Marie

Sergeant Malone of the Mounties and effeminate Etienne Doray are both in love with Rose-Marie, but she doesn't light up until soldier of fortune Jim Kenyon drifts into the post. Soon Jim is accused of murder but he escapes.

The Dangerous Age

Married for 22 years, Mary Emerson treats her husband, John, more like a son than a husband. He is stung by her rebuffs and, therefore, succumbs to the youthful charms of Gloria Sanderson, whom he meets on a business trip. But just after he mails a letter to Mary telling her that he will not return, John finds Gloria in the arms of her fiancé.

Icebound

Ben Jordan runs away after accidentally setting fire to a barn in his small New England community. He returns when his mother dies to find that she has left everything to her ward, Jane Crosby.

The World's Applause

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.

My Son

A mother and her son's lives are upended by the arrival of a wealthy flapper to their small New England fishing village.

The Rapids

Robert Fisher Clarke is a promoter who comes to a small Canadian town. He harnesses the power of the rapids and builds a pulp mill. One of his employees, Jim Belding, has a fiancée, Elsie Worden, with whom Clarke falls in love.