Compiled by The Museum of Modern Art Film Library in 1938, the film is a glimpse of the early 20th century’s finest stage performers— Gabrielle Réjane, Eleonora Duse, Sarah Bernhardt, and Minnie Maddern Fiske. The compliation contains excerpts from four films, adapted from four timeless stories: Madame Sans-Gêne (1911), Cenere (1916), La Dame aux Camélias (1912), and Vanity Fair (1915).

A peasant girl sent to make a claim on her family's ancestral home in England's Wessex is seduced and left with child by its current owner.

In early 19th century England, ambitious and ruthless orphan Rebecca Sharp advances from the position of governess to the heights of British society.