Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.

A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.

France, on the eve of the French Revolution. Henriette and Louise have been raised together as sisters. When the plague that takes their parents' lives causes Louise's blindness, they decide to travel to Paris in search of a cure, but they separate when a lustful aristocrat crosses their path.

An episodic dramatization of the 18th President of the United States' life, including his early years, affair with Ann Rutledge, courtship of Mary Todd, debates with Stephen A. Douglas, the election of 1860, his presidency during the Civil War, and finally his assassination at Ford's Theater in 1865.

A group of youth come of age in a peaceful French village. But war intrudes and peace is shattered. The German army invades and occupies, bringing both destruction and torture. The youngsters resist, some successfully, others tragically, until French troops retake the town.

Ralph Grey visits France with his shipbuilder father, and falls in love with Blossom, granddaughter of his father's friend, a Civil war veteran not reconciled with the Union. Blossom, however, is engaged to a French nobleman. When war breaks out, Ralph enlists, while his brother Jim, a heartbreaker, is drafted.

Geoffrey Tempest is desperately in love with aspiring writer Mavis Claire, a tenant of his boardinghouse. Unable to marry her due to his poverty, in his anger, he curses God for abandoning him. Soon, Geoffrey meets Prince Lucio de Rimanez, a wealthy, urbane gentleman who informs Geoffrey that he's inherited a fortune, but that he must place himself in the Prince's hands in order to enjoy the fruits of his inheritance. What Geoffrey doesn't know is that Prince Lucio is actually Satan.

A Polish family, left homeless in the wake of World War I, move to Germany and struggle to survive during the Great Inflation. War orphan Inga has only accumulated a small amount of money from the rubble and hopes to wed Paul. Weakened by poison gas, Paul begins to invest in Inga's future and serves as their symbol of optimism.

John Logan leaves bucolic Happy Valley to make his fortune in the city. His parents and his sweetheart become miserable and beleaguered in his absence, but after several years he returns wealthy. However, his embittered father, not recognizing him for who he is, plans to murder the newly-arrived 'stranger' for his money.

A naïve country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild her life despite the taint of having borne a child out of wedlock.

Princess Emmanuella agrees to wed the Duke of a neighboring kingdom in order to keep peace between their two countries. However, when the Duke's handsome brother arrives to escort her to her new husband, she finds herself attracted to him, and even moreso when she discovers that her future husband, whom she has never met, is ugly, brutish, and deformed.

A re-edited version of the fourth episode of Intolerance (1916); two youth are made homeless by a strike, and struggle valiantly to survive their desolate situation, which worsens as reform-minded citizens remove the couple's child from their care and the young father is falsely accused and convicted of murder.

A re-edited version of the second episode of Intolerance (1916); a mountain girl who loves Belshazzar strives to protect him against the evil High Priest of Bel and his treacherous cohorts.

In a country town, Susie, innocent and big-hearted, quietly gives money to William Jenkins, a man she secretly yearns for, so he can attend college. After he graduates, he returns and becomes the town's minister. However, he never realizes how Susie feels about him and ignores her in favor of Bettina Hopkins, a wild and unfaithful girl who steals his heart. Susie must then find a way to show William that she's loved him all along.

Lexington, Massachusetts, mid-1770s. Renegade British officer Captain Walter Butler struggles to enlist the aid of Indians against the tide of colonists rebelling for independence. Meanwhile, impoverished farmer Nathan Holden, in love with aristocrat Nancy Montague, reluctantly joins the Patriots – only to find himself at odds with Nancy's stern father and her arrogant brother.

Wealthy young Southern aristocrat Joseph graduates from seminary and, before he takes charge of his assigned parish, goes out and see what 'the real world' is all about. His meetings with a young woman he believes to be more worldly than she is soon cause ruin for all involved.

In London's Limehouse district, dancehall girl Gypsy Fair finds herself the prize in a tug of war between a pair of dueling orphaned brothers.

The prelude to our picture is the record of an intimate conversation between Mr. D. W. Griffith and his friend Mr. Walter Huston, which occured on an evening in the Spring of 1930. Here for the first time, Mr. Griffith relates the colorful childhood experiences which led him to the making of "The Birth of a Nation."

An orphan girl, courted by an unpleasant older suitor who has a hold over her adoptive mother, falls in love with Fairfax, a young stranger at a party. A group of bootleggers try to escape with the loot stashed previously within Fairfax's mansion; mysterious faces peer into the windows and shadowy figures stalk the hall.

A religious zealot and his nephew are thrown together on a South Seas Island with an alcoholic beachcomber and a native dancer. A battle to see who will 'civilize' whom ensues.