In the year 1960, a plague known as "male-itis" has killed every fertile man on Earth over the age of 12. Boys under the age of 12 have been vaccinated, but they are all rendered sterile. Womankind takes over the world and a woman becomes President of the United States.
Mickey Hogan (Jackie Coogan) is an orphan cabin boy on a ship commanded by a cruel captain (Tom Santschi). His only friend is a black cat, called Man Friday. A storm shipwrecks Mickey on an island, where is made into a captive war god. The next island is run by a white man Adolphe Schmidt (Bert Sprotte), who lives there with his daughter Gretta (Gloria Grey).
Wilse Dilling, a crippled brute living in the savage streets of Chinatown, receives a coded message to go to the home of his boss, Ann Cardington, known as Queen Ann, a powerful crime boss feared in the underworld. When Wilse meets with her, she sends him to the town of Fallbrook, where he is to await her instructions in dealing with a former lover of hers, a banker named Micha Hadley, who had betrayed her. Being practically wheelchair-bound has not stopped Dilling from committing a lengthy series of crimes, but to his surprise, he finds that the small town atmosphere makes him feel differently about everything. He finds a good friend in Hadley's daughter Gertrude, whom Wilse not only falls in love with but she helps him believe that he can make a fresh start. But Wilse's new-found contentment is soon shattered by a series of new developments which includes trying to stop Queen Ann's plot towards Hadley and Gertrude being killed.
À Londres, l'homme d'affaires et spéculateur Jackson Harber provoque une panique boursière. Dans le même temps, il "achète" la jeune Mary Conway à sa mère car il veut la "posséder". Mary, très futile, accepte ce "marché". Les "fiançailles" sont organisées au château d'Harber, donnant lieu à une fête grandiose, pleine de débordements et de débauche. Le fils du spéculateur, Eduard, arrive alors, accompagné de son précepteur, un prêtre. Ce dernier recueille la confession d'un mourant, le sculpteur Harry Lighton, venu là se suicider par désespoir, car la jeune fiancée, dont il était épris, l'a repoussée. Bientôt, Mary séduit Eduard et le pousse à tuer son père. Les deux jeunes gens sont arrêtés et condamnés à mort. Dans sa cellule, Mary se transporte en rêve à Sodome.
Two men who work as both automobile mechanics and firemen operate a garage in a fire station. A car has been left for them to clean, but they destroy it instead. In the second half of the film, Roscoe and Keaton have been called to a fire, but it turns out to be a false alarm. When they return, they find their own fire station on fire.
Recently widowed Danny O'Neil (Stanley) has the belief that his wife will return to him by way of fire, and sets fire to buildings around town in hope that she will return to him. For her safety, his daughter Pegeen (Love) is sent to live with neighbor. When her father is to be arrested, Pegeen's friend Ezra (McGuire) helps hide her father, who dies shortly thereafter.
Grandeur et décadence de Florence, déchirée entre foi mortifère et débauche. Une pépite expressionniste aux somptueux décors et costumes, scénarisée par Fritz Lang et récemment restaurée. Ce chef-d'oeuvre inspiré d'une nouvelle d'Edgar Allan Poe, symbolise la chute de l'Empire allemand alors rongé par l'inflation.
À la Renaissance, sous l'autorité d'un conseil d'anciens que préside Cesare, un austère potentat, la ville de Florence dépérit, écrasée par le poids de l'Église. Mais au cours d'une procession, une mystérieuse courtisane vient semer le trouble dans la pieuse cité. Bientôt, Cesare et son fils s'éprennent tous deux d'elle. Torturé sur ordre de son père, le fils tue ce dernier, alors que la ville, hantée par le spectre de la Mort, sombre peu à peu dans la débauche, avant d'être emportée par la Peste.
The film opens with a live-action prologue in which McCay busies himself studying a picture of the Lusitania as a model for his film-in-progress. Intertitles boast of McCay as "the originator and inventor of Animated Cartoons", and of the 25,000 drawings needed to complete the film. McCay is shown working with a group of anonymous assistants on "the first record of the sinking of the Lusitania".
Dans cette satire politique, le président argentin Yrigoyen cherche à débarrasser Buenos Aires de l'immoralité et de la corruption à l'aide des foudres de Jupiter. La ville est bientôt en flammes.
In Pompeii 79AD, Glaucus and Jone are in love with each other. Arbace, Egyptian High Priest is determined to conquer her. Glaucus buys the blind slave Nidia who is mishandled by her owner.