What 80 Million Women Want (Silent)

Newly-elected district attorney Robert Travers has vowed to bring down corrupt political boss John Kelly. Among Kelly's many despicable causes is denying women the right to vote. During a rally, he is wounded by a mysterious gunshot, and Travers is accused of the crime. The DA's fiancee Mabel, a suffragette activist, refuses to believe that her husband-to-be is responsible. She takes a job posing as a secretary in Kelly's office. With the help of her friends in the New York Women's Political Union, Mabel is able to uncover evidence that proves Kelly's misdeeds and saves Robert from the electric chair.

Possibly the first movie made about women's liberation, What 80 Million Women Want is most notable not for its detective story plotline, but for incorporating priceless footage of actual suffrage rallies from the 1910s into the narrative. It also boasts appearances by famed British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, and Harriot Stanton Blatch, the real-life president of the New York Women's Political Union, playing themselves. While not completely a work of propaganda, the film's message is clear: Giving women the right to vote will help clean up corruption in the government.

• silent