Captain January (Silent) (DVD)

In this heartwarming family drama, curmudgeonly lighthouse keeper Judkins finds a shipwrecked little girl washed ashore. Dubbing her "Captain January", the two become an inseparable family until upper-class relatives arrives to take her home. Unable to forget her adoptive father, Captain January will have to choose between a life of leisure or a life on the sea.

"Baby Peggy" was one of the most popular child stars of the silent era, along with Jackie Coogan. Starting with a series of short comedy films for Century Studios in 1921, Baby Peggy had been signed to a $1.5 million a year contract with Universal Studios by 1924, giving her the name "The Million Dollar Baby". Captain January is one of the few surviving features starring this unfairly forgotten sensation, and was so popular with audiences it was remade with Shirley Temple in 1936. Edward F. Cline had a long career in Hollywood, co-starring with Charlie Chaplin in Keystone Studios comedies beginning in 1914. He later turned to directing, helming some of Buster Keaton's most popular pictures including Cops (1922) and The Three Ages (1923). His career lasted long until the sound era, where he directed the unforgettable W.C. Fields shorts My Little Chickadee and The Bank Dick (1940).

• silent