Reggie Mixes In (1916) / His Wife's New Lid (1915) (Silent) (DVD)

Reggie Mixes In (1916, B&W, Silent): Wealthy playboy Reggie Van Deuzen returns a lost little girl to her tenement home where he encounters Agnes, the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. Although she is a good girl, she dances at "Gallagher's," a rough Bowery night club. Totally smitten with Agnes, Reggie gets himself hired as a bouncer. They become friends but he faces a major obstacle. Tony, ruthless boss of the dreaded Gas House Gang, considers Agnes his girl, and is perfectly willing to slit the throat of anyone who thinks otherwise.

Only eighteen months after his debut in D.W. Griffith's The Lamb (1916), handsome, athletic, charismatic Douglas Fairbanks had established himself as Hollywood's third highest paid actor, behind only Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. The mighty triumvirate of friends went on to found United Artists in 1919, and the studio's financial success was fueled to a great extent by Fairbanks' motion pictures. As the first president of the Motion Picture Academy Of Arts and Sciences, Fairbanks presented the very first Oscars in 1927. He is best known for his lavish swashbuckling adventures, most notably The Mark Of Zorro (1920), The Three Musketeers (1921), Robin Hood (1922) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924).

His Wife's New Lid (1915, B&W, Silent): A jealous husband nearly shoots an innocent delivery boy when his wife attempts to conceal the purchase of a new hat. Stars Billy Reeves.

• silent