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IMDb Staff Picks: Our Favorites of 2024

IMDb celebrates the Indian movies that resonated with people worldwide in 2024. Find out who ranked in the top 10!

The Top 10 Most Popular Indian Movies of 2024

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The Year in Pictures

Naomi Sterling and John Bancroft are lovers. The girl loves frivolous things and Bancroft, a divinity student, finally estranges himself from her by his continual efforts to preach to her. Attracted by Hugh Wiley, a gambler, from a nearby city, Naomi finally elopes with him and eventually becomes known as the gambling queen. The girl's one ambition in life is to hoard up her wealth against the day when she shall lose her beauty and her popularity. Bancroft has plunged into religious work. He has become famous as an evangelist and has been trusted with the combination to the vault of the great tabernacle over which he presides. Learning this fact, Wiley inflames the mind of Naomi against Bancroft on the false ground that he has spurned her because of her life. He plans to have Naomi lure Bancroft to her gambling palace on a pretense, to overpower the minister while he is in there, steal the combination and loot the tabernacle. Furthermore, Wiley arranges to have the executive board of the tabernacle informed when the minister is in the gambling den, and to have the place raided by the police while he and his pal, McCarthy, rob the tabernacle. But the minister is too strong to succumb to the temptations of Naomi when he reaches her apartment, and his spiritual power wins the repentance of his temptress. Wiley, realizing that he is losing, springs upon Bancroft from behind and gets the combination away from him while his confederate alarms the police and the executive board according to the plan. But Naomi spirits the minister away through a secret passage, rushes to the tabernacle too late to prevent the robbery, and makes the great sacrifice of replacing the stolen money by her own ill-gotten hoard before the bewildered police and board officials arrive at the vault. In the final great moment of spiritual exaltation, Naomi has realized the greatness of Bancroft's love and of his power. Meanwhile Wiley, in an attempt to steal the loot from McCarthy, has wrecked the automobile in which they are fleeing and is killed.

There is a real story, finely woven and of genuine interest

Gardner Hunting, in his adaptation of the story of L.V. Jefferson, has in &quot;Redeeming Love,&quot; the Morosco release of December 28, given us a script with a distinct literary quality. The titles are a thing apart. If in reading them you note that the words remain on the screen so long that they may be reread, you do not, as usually may be the case, give vent to a growl, but reread them with a hearty appreciation of the literary skill of the man who conceived them. An example in point is the remark of the gambler libertine who has induced the young church member to elope. It is the morning after, and the girl, fearing she has been deceived, inquires how soon the marriage ceremony is to be performed. &quot;Why worry over a mouthful of words and a scrap of paper?&quot; asks her seducer. Disregarding the ethics involved, there is terseness, a revelation of a point of view. The production of &quot;Redeeming Love,&quot; which was made under the hand and eye of William Taylor, does not depend upon the language of the titles, which as a matter of fact also are notable for their insight into or rather reflection of the mind of an earnest, sincere minister of the gospel. There is a real story, finely woven and of genuine interest. The picture is elaborately staged; the interior of the gambling house owned by the woman in the case being remarkable for its size and appointments. The titles, too, are excellent examples of artistic illuminative work. Kathlyn Williams is Naomi Sterling, the churchgoer who quarrels with a pastor who seeks her hand as well as her spiritual welfare, and then elopes with Hugh Wiley, a gambler. It is a powerful portrayal, one covering a wide range of emotions of the pleasure-loving girl, of the woman deceived, of the woman who finally adopts the extremely cynical view of life, who in the working out of her new ambition accumulates a fortune as the proprietress of a gambling house, and at the end puts her fortune and her heart on the altar and at the feet of the man that a few years before she had turned her hack upon, it is Miss Williams&#39; debut upon the Paramount program, and it is a notable one. Thomas Holding, well known for his previous appearances in Famous Players pictures, is John Bancroft, the clergyman who is chosen by wealthy men of his community to institute a reform in the town and to clean out the gambling houses. Mr. Holding is a splendid clergyman, one who in his interpretation carries conviction. Wyndham Standing is Wiley, the blasé gambler. Herbert Standing is James Plymouth, the head of the church workers. Both of these men uphold the family name for acting ability. A large cast give good support to these principals. &quot;Redeeming Love&quot; is a good all-around picture, one that will especially appeal to a high-class clientele. – The Moving Picture World, January 13, 1917

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Redeeming Love

There is a real story, finely woven and of genuine interest

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