Polly of the Circus (Silent)

Polly is a beautiful trick rider in a traveling circus. During a performance, she suffers a fall from her horse. She is brought to the home of Reverend John Douglas, and the two fall in love. But members of John's congregation claim the Reverend's home is no place for a woman of the circus, and John's position in the community is threatened by their illicit love affair.

Mae Marsh started out as a teen actress at Biograph and was cast in several films directed by D. W. Griffith, most notably The Birth of a Nation (1915). After a 10 year hiatus in her acting career, she eventually returned to film and appeared in several of John Ford's masterpieces, including The Grapes of Wrath (1940). British actor Vernon Steel spent time on Broadway before acting in silent films; he later went on to appear in talkies such as Captain Blood (1935) and They Were Expendable (1945). Harry La Pearl hailed from a family of circus performers and was a Barnum & Bailey clown. Some of his best-known films are The Amateur Nurse (1915) and Moonshines (1915). Charles Thomas Horan was an accomplished writer, actor, and director; he wrote the screenplay for and directed the film The Splendid Lie (1922).

• silent