The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of A Corner in Collee...

Dir: Charles Miller

Young Samson Oakley III is the only son of Samson Oakley II, the distinguished head of a prominent Wall Street firm. When he is expelled from college--although for an offense he didn't commit--his angry father puts him on a small allowance and basically exiles him. However, when he marries a chorus girl, his father disinherits him altogether. Desperately trying to make some money, the young man discovers he has an innate talent as a safecracker. His newfound skill is put to the test, though, when he discovers that several of his father's crooked colleagues are plotting to take over his father's firm by spreading false rumors about his death and stealing some valuable securities.

Dir: Charles Miller

Just before mountain girl Barbara "Bawbs" Colby's aunt dies, she reveals that Bawbs' deceased father had left her $5000, but to watch out for men because they would only be interested in her for her money. Her aunt's warning is tested when Bawbs falls for a new arrival in the mountains named Ralph Gunther, who says he is an author who's there for the peace and quiet he needs to write.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Bawbs O' Blue Ridge perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Charles Miller

After his wife/model dies of starvation with her portrait unfinished, an impoverished artist meets another woman with a striking resemblance to her.

Dir: Charles Miller

The Flame, a dance hall girl who rules the Midas Café, is notorious from Nome to Dawson. She meets her match in a youth named George Fowler, whose good looks and raw nerve compel her to grubstake him and go straight while awaiting his return from the gold fields. One day, a young girl and her baby arrive at the camp, looking for her husband, George Fowler. Shaken, the Flame takes the girl home and when the youth returns he is informed that the Flame is dead. Forlorn, the boy decides to break the bank but the saloon's proprietor plans to rob him instead, and only the Flame's appearance with her six guns saves his life. Not having the courage to tell the boy about his wife and child, the Flame takes her lover to the hotel where she battles with her conscience. Her better nature finally wins, however, and the Flame discovers that there are actually two George Fowlers and that the one she loves is single.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Ghosts of Yesterday perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Charles Miller

In a squalid mining town in West Virginia James Herron, a consumptive, has built a shack in the hope that the mountain air may prolong his life. With him dwells his daughter, Fay, whom he idolizes. Fay, who has been blind from her birth, has a wonderful imagination. Even the town and its sordid inhabitants become invested with romance and take their part in the stories of adventures that her father reads to her. While Fay goes about with security and fearlessness, which causes the ignorant to regard her with almost religious respect, her inner life is in sharp contrast. She has secret haunts, where she hides, and in thought recreates fairyland. Her favorite retreat is a cavern formed by an old abandoned tunnel which she peoples with knights and princesses, gnomes and fairy guardians. The one thing lacking is the Prince. And one day he comes. The "Prince" is a hunchback, "Crip" Halloran, the son of the village drunkard, who stumbles into Fay's imaginary fairyland, and is at once endowed by her with every heroic attribute. Finally Fay's father passes away and Fay becomes a drudge in the hut of ignorant aliens, and the meetings between her and the Prince are few and far between, and "Crip" is almost heartbroken. Jack Rockwell, son of a rich mine owner, comes to look after his property. Chance throws him in contact with Fay, and he becomes infatuated with her charm and idealism. He is admitted to the kingdom and gradually dethrones "Crip," to the hunchback's bitter distress. In love and pity for Fay's misfortune, Rockwell secures a great oculist and an operation opens Fay's eyes to the harsh world that her fancy idealized. She sees her two devoted admirers as they really are, and shrinks with horror from the poor misshapen "Crip." Broken-hearted, the hunchback seeks the old cavern and with a revolver ends a life that holds nothing but hopeless misery. Rockwell and Fay visit their old haunt, and with years of love and happiness opening before them discover the body of the poor hunchback, who had once for a few happy hours reigned as a Prince in a fairy realm of a girl's imagination.

Dir: Charles Miller

A homely young girl, lonely and unhappy because she alone of all the girls in her town does not have a soldier sweetheart, pretends to be the fiancée of a famous combat aviator. When the flyer's mother learns of the "engagement," she accepts the girl as her future daughter-in-law, just in time for complications to arise in the form of the truth.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Flame of the Yukon perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Charles Miller

Margot Hughes is a butterfly society girl who sells herself to the highest bidder. Her husband does not press his ownership "by right of purchase," and she misunderstands his delicacy and she things that love is lost to her. She goes to France to serve the cause of humanity. There they meet again and understanding comes. For the Program: A loveless marriage that turned out differently. - Moving Picture World, February 2, 1918.

Dir: Charles Miller

Jerry Ross, the daughter of an East Side homemaker, decides to sell newspapers to earn money. She disguises herself as a boy, goes to one of the busiest street corners in the city, and soon captures the bulk of the business.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Princess of the Dark perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Charles Miller

While covering a sensational divorce case, reporter Janice Salsbury becomes disillusioned with the institution of marriage. Convinced that her impending marriage to fellow reporter Billy Williams will result in a loss of her freedom, Janice breaks her engagement and enters a period of Bohemian living. Her mentor, elderly Phillips Hartley, sadly watches as Janice's friends lose all respect for her and finally succeeds in effecting a reconciliation between Billy and Janice.

Dir: Charles Miller

Widow Catherine Winship treasures the memory of her late husband so greatly that she has given up her life to the adoration of his memory, spending her days strewing flowers on his grave. Catherine's idealism is rudely shattered, however, when she discovers a package of love letters in a secret drawer in Winship's desk. Deciding to throw aside her widow's weeds, Catherine's next hurdle is to choose a spouse from the many male admirers who are pursuing her. Among her suitors are the sentimental bore Archibald Herndon and Morley Morgan, a determined young man. After many misadventures, Morley finally beats out Herndon and marries Catherine in an impromptu ceremony at a hunting lodge.