John Emerson
1874 - 1956
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish
John Emerson, Christy Cabanne
Douglas Fairbanks, Bessie Love
Coke Ennyday, the scientific detective, divides his time into periods of "Sleep", "Eat", "Dope" and "Drinks". In fact, he overcomes every situation with drugs: consuming cocaine to increase his energy or injecting it in his opponents to incapacitate them. To help the police, he tracks down a contraband of opium (which he eagerly tastes) transported within "leaping fishes", saving a "fish-blower" girl from blackmail along the way.
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish
Polly of the Follies
John Emerson
Constance Talmadge, Horace Knight
A romantic comedy, focusing on the love triangle between Bob Jones, Alysia Potter and Polly Meachum. Originally engaged, Bob and Alysia elope to Bowling Green, Connecticut, where they meet Silas Meachum, a campaigner against motion pictures, and his daughter, Polly. The eloping couple’s family arrive, chasing them, and persuade them to wait to get married. Polly goes to New York to join the Ziegfeld Follies, but is ultimately replaced by Alysia. As Bob consoles Polly, Alysia breaks off the engagement, and Bob and Polly may now marry.
Polly of the Follies
Wild and Woolly
John Emerson
Douglas Fairbanks, Eileen Percy
A rich Easterner who has always wanted to live in "the Wild West" plans to move to a Western town. Unknown to him, the town's "wild" days are long gone and it is an orderly and civilized place now. The townsmen, not wanting to lose a rich potential resident, contrive to make over the town to suit the young man's fantasy.
Wild and Woolly
In Again, Out Again
John Emerson
Douglas Fairbanks, Arline Pretty
A young man drowns his sorrows in strong drink when jilted by his girl. His drunkenness gets him thrown in jail, where he falls in love with the jailer's daughter. When released, the young man tries everything to get back into the jail - though when he is mistaken for an anarchist bomber, he finds himself facing not just jail, but execution.
In Again, Out Again
Down to Earth
John Emerson
Douglas Fairbanks, Eileen Percy
A healthy outdoors-type follows the girl he loves to a resort for wealthy hypochondriacs. In order to prove to her and the other patients that their "illnesses" are all in their minds, he hatches a scheme to take them on a boat ride, then get them stranded in the wilderness, where he can show them that they can live without their pills, doctors and "cures".
Down to Earth
Reaching for the Moon
John Emerson
Douglas Fairbanks, Eileen Percy
A button 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.
Reaching for the Moon
The Americano
John Emerson
Douglas Fairbanks, Alma Rubens
Doug is an American mining engineer. Pres. Valdez of Paragonia wants him to reopen the country's mines. Doug is not interested ... until he sees the President's beautiful daughter, Juana. Valdez returns to Paragonia, but is deposed by Generals Sanchez and Garcia and locked in San Mateo Prison. The Americano arrives...
The Americano
Old Heidelberg
John Emerson
Wallace Reid, Dorothy Gish
Karl Heinrich is the heir to the throne of the small European principality of Rutania, but he's a lonely child, not allowed to play with other children and knowing little about life outside the castle. When he reaches maturity, he is sent to attend the University of Heidelberg, and finds fellowshi with classmates and a blossoming love with Katie Ruder, his only friend during childhood and the niece of an innkeeper. However, political turmoil in Rutania forces him to return. War is declared. Heinrich returns to Heidelberg one last time to bid a somber farewell to his beloved Katie.
Old Heidelberg
His Picture in the Papers
John Emerson
Douglas Fairbanks, Clarence Handyside
Produced at the Reliance studio in Yonkers, New York, HIS PICTURE IN THE PAPERS solidly established Fairbanks as the American ideal of pop, vim, and vigor. Furthermore, the film brought him together with the two collaborators who were to play a profound role in the evolution of his screen persona: writer Anita Loos and her future husband, director John Emerson. The theme was, according to Emerson and Loos, "the great American love of publicity."
His Picture in the Papers
Less Than the Dust
John Emerson
Mary Pickford, David Powell
Young Hindu woman Radha, becomes best friends with Captain Raymond Townsend during his service in India, but he soon goes back to England to tend to the estate of an uncle who has just died. Then, Ramlan, the sword maker who raised Radha, is arrested for taking part in an anti-British uprising, and before he goes to jail, he decides to tell Radha the story of her birth, her real father, Captain Brooke, died of a drug overdose, and her destitute mother then entrusted her to Ramlan. After learning about her background, Radha goes to England to claim her rightful inheritance from the estate of her late grandfather, who is also Raymond's uncle. Raymond is delighted to discover that his Hindu friend is really a white woman, and after dividing the estate with Radha, he brings the fortune back together by marrying her.
Less Than the Dust
Geronimo’s Last Raid
John Emerson
J. Warren Kerrigan, Pauline Bush
Lieutenant Parker reports for duty to Major Wilkins, commanding Ft. Sill, where Geronimo is a prisoner. Parker quickly wins the love of Pauline, the major's daughter, and the undying hatred of Captain Gray. The captain plans to release Geronimo in the dead of the night, throwing the blame on Parker.
Geronimo’s Last Raid
Ghosts
John Emerson, George Nichols
Henry B. Walthall, Mary Alden
Captain Alving, a notorious rake and financially irresponsible, seeks wealthy heiress Helen's hand in marriage. The family doctor protests to the marriage, on the grounds of Alving's hereditary illness, but both parties disregard all warnings; Urged on by her ambitious parents, Helen marries Alving. Later Helen discovers a liaison between her husband and a young, married woman. Soon the sins of the father are visited upon all members of the Alving clan. Based on Henrik Ibsen's play.
Ghosts
The Flying Torpedo
Christy Cabanne, John B. O'Brien
John Emerson, Spottiswoode Aitken
In the future (1921), an alliance of several foreign countries plot to attack the US. American officials, coming to the realisation that the country is basically defenceless, offer $1,000,000 to anyone who can come up with a weapon to defeat the invaders. Winthrop Clavering, a writer and inventor, hears of the reward and tells his friend Bartholomew Thompson, a scientist and inventor who has been working on developing flying torpedo. However, enemy agents have also heard about Thompson's project, and set out to kill him and steal his plans. This film is now considered lost.
The Flying Torpedo
