Best Movies of 1909

A greedy tycoon decides, on a whim, to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing the grain's producers into charity lines and further into poverty. The film continues to contrast the ironic differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit. Written by James Meek

A gang of thieves lure a man out of his home so that they can rob it and threaten his wife and children. The family barricade themselves in an interior room, but the criminals are well-equipped for breaking in. When the father finds out what is happening, he must race against time to get back home.

An Indian village is forced to leave its land by white settlers, and must make a long and weary journey to find a new home. The settlers make one young Indian woman stay behind. This woman is thus separated from her sweetheart, whose elderly father needs his help on the journey ahead

This might be termed a comedy of errors, for the overzealousness of a lot of good-hearted simple folks places them in a rather embarrassing position. Lillie Green, who keeps a boarding house, receives a letter from her old school chum, Polly Brown, whom sin hasn't seen in years, to the effect that as Lillie has never seen her little darling daughter, she will send her for a few days' visit, asking that someone meet the child at the 3:40 train. Lillie's boarders are a bunch of kind-hearted bachelors, who at once prepare to give the "Little Darling" the time of her life, buying a load of toys, etc., for her amusement, also procuring a baby carriage with which to meet her at the train. You may imagine their embarrassment when they find that Tootsie, instead of being a baby, proves to be a handsome young lady of seventeen, whose tastes run rather to garden gates, shady lanes and quiet nooks, than toys. (Moving Picture World)

Henry and Marion have a lover's quarrel and part in anger. They do not reconcile, and ten years pass without contact. Marion becomes a society girl and spends her time at parties with her friends. Henry has become very ill and wishes to see Marion one more time. He writes asking her to visit. When she recieves the note, she laughs and tosses it on the floor, but, later, on a whim, decides to take all her drunken friends with her to visit him. When they arrive, Marion finds Henry dead, clutching her portrait in his hand. She sends her friends away and falls to her knees in remorse.

Mr. and Mrs. Hilton throw a New Year's Eve party. They agree not to drink the punch themselves, but as guests begin to arrive their resolve weakens, and soon they are both cavorting drunkenly. Next morning Mr. Hilton, feeling very sick, is conscience-stricken over his behavior. He fears to face his wife until he discovers that she feels just as guilty herself.

This story of the Black Hills consistently tells of the unrequited love of a Sioux brave for his chief's daughter, and how he premonished the awful results of her ominous marriage with a white cowboy. Clear Eyes, the daughter of Chief Thunder Cloud, is beloved by Comata, a Sioux brave, but having met and listened to the persuasion of Bud Watkins, a cowboy, leaves her mountain home to become his squaw. Poor little confiding Clear Eyes lives only for Bud, and he at first seems devoted to her, but at the end of two years, a little papoose arriving meanwhile to bless their union, he tires of her, and courts Miss Nellie Howe, a white girl, who thinks him single. Comata, however, has unremittingly watched his movements, and vows to avenge his lost one. Following him to the white girl's home, he sees enough to convince him of the whelp's villainy, so he goes and reveals the truth to Clear Eyes.

Single shot of a man behind an x-ray screen on which his x-ray is clearly visible and moving. Another man sits on a chair to the right of the screen. The x-ray image that appears on screen is same as seen in last sequence Dr. Macintyre's X-Ray Film. (http://ssa.nls.uk/film/0838)

Documentary about building a engine.

Illustrates a man's struggle to overcome an inherited love for drink. Although yet a young man, the enemy of his family had already sunk its claws firmly upon James Grant. A man of superior intelligence, his habits hold him down to the lot of a common laborer in a small saw mill on the St. Johns River. About two years before the opening of the picture he had met and fallen in love with Jenny, the daughter of a small farmer, living near the saw mill. Under the influence of her great love he has succeeded in throwing off the burden of his hereditary desires. For three months he has not touched a drop of liquor.

A spoiled rich boy meets and falls in love with an older woman, a dancer who is more amused than flattered by his attentions.

Jenny's father, a crank and a spiritualist, wishing to obtain a medium to aid him in his researches, inserts an advertisement in the paper to the effect that he desires to marry his daughter to a medium. Jenny thereupon runs away with her lover, Reggie, and the two concoct a little plan by which they can get married. Disguised as a Turk, Reggie calls and states he is willing to marry the spiritualist's daughter. Jenny's father is distracted at the loss of his daughter, so he begs the supposed medium to trace his daughter by occult means. Needless to say this is not a difficult matter to Reggie, who after leading the spiritualist a wild-goose chase over the country, brings him back to his own home (to which Jenny has returned in the meantime) and shows him his daughter hidden away in a cupboard. Tableau of delighted father, unmasking and blessings on the young couple.

On a market day in Kernascleden, two Breton women exchange their hair for a few coins. The hair becomes hairpieces. Last scene, an elegant Parisian removes her hat and exposes her generous wig skillfully coiffed.