Lois Weber — Director (20)

Movie

The Twins (1911) IMDb TMDB
The Twins
The baby daughter of Mrs. Norton, a widowed seamstress, dies. The sorrow-stricken mother gazes at the empty cradle and decides to replace the departed soul with an orphan child upon whom she can lavish the love, the rightful object of which the Great Giver and Taker has taken from her. She goes to the orphanage and asks to be given a baby girl, and is given one of the twin baby sisters. Richard Golden, a wealthy shirtwaist manufacturer, has an only son, a little boy, who yearns for a sister and continually begs his father to bring him a little sister to be a playmate to him, and the father, to satisfy the child's persistent pleading, goes to the orphan home and brings home the other little twin sister. Years roll by and both girls have grown to young womanhood in their different stations in life. Jack Golden, now grown to manhood, and knowing that the girl is only a foster sister, asks her to become his wife.

Movie

The Price (1911) WikiData IMDb TMDB
The Price
Pretty Ann, and Joe, the hostler, one day chance to meet. Strong is Joe, and simple, and Ann is shy and sweet. As man and maid have done before, they love, and marry, too. And live happy ever after? Ah, this tale is new to you! Yes, the tale is drear, prosaic; and so poetry won't do. A baby boy comes to bless the union. Joe is working in the stables when they tell him of his joy: his heart is gay and happy, and he tells the horses so. Then, it might be the angels were jealous of such mortal happiness; it might be the devil, seeing the stage so set, entered to play the leading role.

Movie

The Angel of Broadway (1927) WikiData IMDb TMDB
The Angel of Broadway
Babe Scott, a cabaret dancer who is constantly searching for sensational material to shock her customers, conceives of burlesquing a Salvation Army girl and attends mission meetings on the East Side for atmosphere. There she meets Jerry Wilson, an honest truckdriver and friend of the Army captain. Although the act is a success, Babe is disillusioned to find Lonnie, a fellow worker who has been romancing her, stealing her money and making overtures to Big Bertha, the hard-boiled club hostess.

Movie

What Do Men Want? (1921) WikiData IMDb TMDB
What Do Men Want?
director: 洛伊斯·韦伯 actor: Claire Windsor / J. Frank Glendon …
other title: 남자들은 무엇을 원하는가? / 丈夫寶鑑
According to this Lois Weber production, men don't really seem to know what they want at all -- first Frank (J. Frank Glendon) wants to be an inventor. Then he wants to marry his childhood sweetheart, Hallie (the lovely Claire Windsor). Then he wants children. Then, when his inventions bring him financial success, he becomes restless, so he takes up with another woman. Eventually he figures out that the woman's reputation is less than squeaky clean, so he wants his wife back.

Movie

Sensation Seekers (1927) WikiData IMDb TMDB
Sensation Seekers
director: 洛伊斯·韦伯 actor: Billie Dove / Raymond Bloomer …
The prohibition is in full swing and Egypt Hagen, a new woman, is the constant subject of controversy in her religious small town. After a scandalous night of partying leaves her publicly shamed, she finds unlikely companionship in the town's new reverend. As their bond intensifies under the watchful eye of concerned townsfolk, her sullied reputation threatens his standing as a respected clergyman.

Movie

Hypocrites (1915) WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Hypocrites
director: Lois Weber actor: Courtenay Foote / 默特尔·斯特德曼 …
other title: 伪君子 / 위선자들
The most important and prolific of all American women directors of the silent era, Lois Weber entered films in 1907 at Gaumont, working alongside Alice Guy-Blaché. In the ensuing years, she and her husband Phillips Smalley acted in, directed, wrote and edited films for Gaumont, Rex and Universal. By 1914, Weber was a well-known director when she went to work for the Bosworth Company to make Hypocrites.
Hypocrites is an amazingly complex film in both narrative and technique, following the parallel stories of an early Christian ascetic and a modern minister, with most actors in dual roles. Gabriel (Courteney Foote) is a medieval monk who devotes himself to completing a statue of “Truth,” only to be murdered by a mob when his work turns out to be an image of a naked woman. The contemporary Gabriel is the pastor of a large urban congregation for whom religion is a matter of appearances, not beliefs. The hypocrisy of the congregation is exposed by a series of vignettes in which the Naked Truth, literally portrayed by a nude woman, reveals their appetites for money, sex and power.
Hypocrites was a shocking and controversial film whose release was held up for many months by the difficulty of distributing a film with full nudity. Weber’s sincerity and reputation allowed her to use something that in the hands of a male director would have been considered scandalous and immoral. Widely admired at the time for extraordinary use of multiple exposures and intricate editing, Hypocrites propelled Weber to the front ranks of silent directors.

Movie

The Blot (1921) WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
The Blot
other title: 耻辱 / El borrón …
The Professor dispenses the wisdom of the ages and does not make a living wage. The sons of the rich and powerful are students lacking any motivation. The next door neighbor of the Professor, businessman Olsen, has money and lots of food, while the Griggs have hardly any. Both Peter Olsen and Reverend Gates are taken by the beauty of young Amelia Griggs. When rich son Phil West falls for Amelia Griggs and befriends the poor Reverend Gates, he finally sees the difference in his life and theirs and tries to do something to change that.

Movie

Shoes (1916) WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Shoes
director: 洛伊斯·韦伯 actor: Mary MacLaren / Harry Griffith …
other title: 鞋 / 독류 …
A young working girl, struggling to support her family on her meager salary, desperately wishes for a new pair of shoes.

Movie

White Heat (1934) WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
White Heat
other title: 白热杀机 / 歼匪喋血战
In this melodrama filmed on location in Hawaii, a sugar plantation manager finds himself falling in love with a native girl, but instead of committing to her, he marries a socially prominent young woman from San Francisco. The spoiled girl does not easily adapt to the rigors of plantation life and she gets terribly bored. She is just about to give in to the romantic overtures of a persistent native when her former lover shows up. The husband gets jealous and is about to attack him when the wife sets fire to the cane field. The husband's native lover saves him from death. Afterward, his wife leaves to be with her old flame, and the manager is free to be with the woman he's loved all along.

Movie

Suspense (1913) WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Suspense
★ 8.1 (18 ratings) director: 菲利普斯·斯莫利 / 洛伊斯·韦伯 actor: 洛伊斯·韦伯 / Val Paul …
other title: 悬念 / Suspense. …
An isolated house in deserted area is too remote for a servant, who leaves a note, quietly exits the back door, and puts the key under the mat. Alone in the house is a mother and her infant. A tramp watches the servant leave, then begins to skulk. The woman sees him outside as he discovers the latchkey. She phones her husband, who's working in town, and he jumps into a car idling in front of his office. He races toward home while the car's owner (and the police) are in pursuit. The tramp grabs a knife and heads up the stairs toward the defenseless woman. Can the husband elude the police long enough to rescue her or will the tramp have his way?