Best American Motion Picture of the Year 1917
*only among surviving films from the year 1917
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- DirectorWilliam C. de MilleStarsSessue HayakawaJack HoltFlorence VidorDuring the Great War, German and Japanese spies face off in the United States.
- DirectorFrank LloydStarsWilliam FarnumJewel CarmenCharles ClaryAlcoholic lawyer Sydney Carton travels to Paris during the Reign of Terror to rescue French aristocrat Charles Darnay, husband of the woman he loves.
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsRaymond McKeeJoseph BurkeRay HallorIn Scotland in 1751, young David Balfour is shanghaied aboard a ship where he meets Jacobite rebel Alan Breck Stewart with whom he escapes to the Scottish Highlands, dodging the redcoats.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHarry CareyDuke R. LeeGeorge BerrellCattleman Flint cuts off farmer Sims' water supply. When Sims' son Ted goes for water, one of Flint's men kills him. Cheyenne is sent to finish off Sims, but finding the family at the newly dug grave, he changes sides.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsMae MurrayFrank BorzageHobart BosworthIn the late fifties John Hogue, his wife and daughter, Dora, are living in a little cabin on the edge of civilization, directly in the path of the great caravans of Mormons as they made their way from the States to their community in Utah. One of these caravans, under the guidance of Elder Darius Burr, a power among the Mormons, passes the Hogue cabin and Tom Rigdon, a youthful convert to the newer religion, is impressed by Dora. His interest in the girl is shared by Burr, but with different motives. The Indians raid the Hogue cabin and the family is forced to join the Mormon party despite the fact that Dora's father and mother have many misgivings. Arrived in Salt Lake City, the Hogues are taken aback by the presence of the Avenging Angels, the peculiar group of masked men who seem to have unlimited power. Hogue is an industrious man and soon becomes quite prominent. Burr, coveting Dora, induces "The Lion," head of the church, to insist that Hogue take a second wife and gains his permission to win Dora if he can. Meanwhile, Tom and Dora have become more and more attached to each other. Four Angels intercept them and separate them, Dora being taken into a room adjoining the council chamber. Hogue is brought in and forced to marry a woman he has never seen and Dora is told by Burr that the only way she can save her father is by marrying him. Ignorant of the fact that he has actually been married, Dora decided to comply in order to save her father. When Hogue's second wife is brought to the house by the Avenging Angels, Dora's mother kills herself. Hogue, Tom and Dora then try to escape, but are caught by the Angels and the girl is taken to Burr's household. Hogue is taken out to the desert to die of thirst, but makes his way back to the settlement, killing one of the Angels and donning his peculiar uniform, in which he is safe from molestation. When Dora is brought before the council to be married, she declares she cannot marry Burr because of her past sins, and she is condemned to die. Tom is spirited away by an Avenging Angel who also unlocks Dora from her prison cell and flees with them, with Burr in pursuit. Getting Burr aside, the Avenging Angel takes him to the spot where the fugitives are hiding, and reveals himself as Hogue. Burr is sent out into the desert to die, just as he has condemned Hogue to do, and the three make their escape from the dread community.
- DirectorFrank ReicherStarsElliott DexterMarie DoroMayme KelsoThe family of an Irish landlord want him to wed who they think is a visiting heiress from the US but the real heiress pretends she is just a servant and hides her identity.
- DirectorArthur BertheletStarsMary McAllisterWilliam CliffordCarolyn IrwinForced by the death of her mother to care for her three brothers and sisters, little Mona Fairfax is known to farmers of her district as Young Mother Hubbard. The children's step-father, heavily in debt and tired of the burden imposed by the little family, abandons his farm, leaving the children, penniless, to shift for themselves. The following day Daniel Banning, a wealthy "country gentleman" and owner of the Fairfax farm, calls to collect back rent. He finds Mona and her children panic-stricken over a note left by their step-father, telling of his decision to leave. Banning turns a deaf ear to Mona's pleas that she be allowed to remain on the farm with her wards. He notifies the Children's Welfare Society. Directors of the society go to the farm, load them into an automobile, and take them to the society's headquarters. At headquarters the chairman calls for volunteers to take the children into their homes. A square-jawed woman, a miserly old man, a brutal fellow, with bull-dog features, and a ponderous, harsh, mannish looking women, each agree to take a child. When it dawns upon Mona and her brothers and sisters that they are to be separated they break into tears and beg piteously to be allowed to remain together. Their pleas are ignored. Finally Mona begs that they be allowed to spend a last night together on the Fairfax farm. The request finally is granted. That night Mona hitches the family horse to a rickety old wagon and the children set out to escape. They fall asleep and the horse stops near Banning's house. The housekeeper takes them in during the master's absence. When Banning returns he is furious. Mona offers him a wisp of flowers, which he scorns. Finally, however, the child's smile wins his heart and he cuddles her. Later when agents of the welfare society try to take the children, Banning drives them from his place, declaring he will adopt Young Mother Hubbard and her entire family.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsMary PickfordElliott DexterTully MarshallA young girl travels west to live with her uncle during the California Gold Rush only to find that he has been killed by Indians and his identity assumed by an outlaw.
- DirectorRuth Ann BaldwinStarsJoseph W. GirardLeo PiersonWilliam DyerA retired judge comes West to restore a ghost town.
- DirectorJohn EmersonStarsDouglas FairbanksEileen PercyRichard CummingsA factory worker has always dreamed that he was meant for better things, to be rich and famous and in "the company of kings." One day he discovers that he is indeed the only heir to the throne of a small European kingdom. However, there are forces at work who don't want him to survive to take the throne.