Having once again avoided criminal conviction, Professor Moriarity develops a murderous plan to “finish off” his last major nemesis, Sherlock Holmes, by making him fail to prevent the perfect crime. Does it involve a family curse, the crown jewels of England, or something else…
This film was not intended to stand by itself, but was designed as the cinematic aspect of Welles' Mercury Theatre stage presentation of William Gillette's 1894 comedy about a New York playboy who flees from the violent husband of his mistress and borrows the identity of a plantation owner in Cuba who is expecting the arrival of a mail order bride. The film component of the performance was ultimately never screened due to the absence of projection facilities at the venue. Long-believed to be lost, a workprint was discovered in 2008 and the film had its premiere in 2013.
Moriarty is sentenced to death, and Sherlock Holmes prepares to retire to the country and marry his girl. But Moriarty has sworn that Holmes, Lt. Col. Gore-King of Scotland Yard, and his trial judge shall all be hanged too. When Moriarty escapes and proceeds to put his threat into operation, Holmes has to postpone his retirement.
During the Civil War, Rachel Hayne, a young widow, is among those "held by the enemy" when her old family home is within the lines occupied by the Northern troops. Protected by Colonel Prescott from looters and the unwelcome attentions of Surgeon Fielding, Rachel begins to fall in love with the gallant Yankee officer. Their romance is disrupted when Rachel's husband Gordon, long reported dead, is captured as a spy and condemned to death.
Augustus Billings has a domineering mother-in-law, and to get away from both her and his wife, he takes a trip, claiming that he is going off to check on Mexican oil investments. But he's really going on a cruise with Mrs. Dathis, who has purchased his yacht. To throw everyone off track, he uses the name Mr. Johnson. When he decides to repeat the trip, however, all hell breaks loose -- the jealous Mr. Dathis is out to get his hands on this Johnson character, while a real Mr. Johnson shows up in Mexico, and Mrs. Billings shows up with her mother, and the confusion continues from there.
Lewis Dumont, a Northern officer in the American Civil War, works undercover behind Confederate lines in an attempt to lead Southern forces away from an area in which a Northern attack is planned. But Dumont falls in love with a Southern girl and when she proves useful to his plan, his conscience begins to tear at him.
When a couple of scammers hold young Alice Faulkner against her will to discover the whereabouts of letters whose dissemination could cause a scandal affecting the royal family, Sherlock Holmes decides to take over the case. (Considered lost, a copy was found in 2014, in the vaults of the Cinémathèque Française.)
A lost film. Esmeralda, a simple farm girl is in love with country boy David, but her mother yearns for a high society city life. Ore is discovered on their farm and the money rolls in. The family is packed up and moved to the big city where Esmeralda is forced into an engagement with a wealthy Count. Suddenly the ore is depleted and a fresh supply is discovered on David's farm. Much to the delight of Esmeralda, her impending marriage to the Count is off and her mother happily consents to a marriage between Esmeralda and David.