The Definitive Watchlist Seeking the Same Brilliance as A Lass of t...

Dir: Paul Hurst

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Paul Hurst

A young racing driver combines best features of two rival cars, thus producing an automobile which is the best entry in a 100-mile cross-country race. He triumphs over other contestants and wins the girl of his heart.

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

Dir: Paul Hurst

The Tribe of the Mandans was practically obliterated through smallpox and the survivors swore eternal vengeance on the white men, whom they believed to be the cause of the plague. This picture deals with the last of the Mandans who planned his revenge but was thwarted.

Dir: Paul Hurst

California cowpuncher Jim Kern and his pal enlist in the war against Germany and soon meet Frank Akuri, who has pledged to colonize the United States for his homeland, Japan. While Jim and other white males are fighting in France, Akuri forces Jim's sweetheart Mary to sell her ranch, as she is not able to run it because the only men left, the Japanese, have pledged not to work for the whites. With the ranch, Akuri begins his colony. Mary counters by organizing her society-lady friends to appeal to Congress against the "yellow menace." When it seems that his plans will be thwarted, Akuri issues orders for the deaths of Mary and her friends, but Jim and his pal return and rescue them. Akuri kidnaps Mary and takes her to his apartment, but with the help of Akuri's wronged Japanese lover, Jim learns her whereabouts. He organizes a posse of American Legion locals and rescues Mary just as Akuri is about to murder her. Akuri's group is routed out.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Mandan's Oath perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Paul Hurst

A Western Union messenger interrupts a burglary and tries to catch the thieves.

Dir: Paul Hurst

Addicted to heavy gambling and strong alcohol, Bert Granger owns a saloon in which his children, Benny and pretty Alice, entertain the patrons. One night, The Stranger interferes in a drunken quarrel and becomes involved in a bitter fight, from which he emerges victorious. He is strongly attracted to Alice, and he strikes up a conversation while, at the gambling table, her father is being cheated in a crooked card game and loses the deed to the saloon. When a reward is posted for Wolf Maclean, The Stranger, who resembles the description given of the notorious bandit, is arrested. The gamblers arrange for a quick hanging, but Parson Dan Williams saves The Stranger by announcing that he himself is Wolf Maclean and that the gamblers are his confederates in crime. Before the astonished populace can arrest the gamblers, the parson is killed by one of their vengeful number. The Stranger is cleared and wins Alice; Bert Granger reforms and opens a general store, with Benny as his partner.

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

Dir: Paul Hurst

Esteban, a white boy, is reared by an Indian squaw, whom he believes to be his mother and from whom Beaugard steals the papers documenting Esteban's birth and his right to inherit a ranch. When he is grown, Esteban falls in love with Patricia Benton, Beaugard "exposes" Esteban to Patricia, and the villain taunts the lad that he has no right to a white woman. After a series of adventures in which Esteban recovers Patricia from Beaugard's grasp, the couple happily learn the truth from Esteban's "mother."

Dir: Paul Hurst

Depury sheriff Ned Williams is sent to capture a cattle thief in the area. The thief turns out to be a young woman, Betty Howard, who steals to keep her young siblings form starving to death and their hardscrabble homestead after the father has died. Buck Kelly, an enemy of Ned's, frames him and abducts Betty.

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

Dir: Paul Hurst

Two prospectors, one the father of Skye "Lightning" Bryce and the other the father of Kate Arnold, find a large gold deposit belonging to an Indian tribe. They head for home but each sends a note to their respective off-springs advising them of their good fortune. One of the fathers conceives a plan of taking a dagger and wrapping a piece of string around the blade, after which he prints on the string with a lead pencil, the exact location of their find. If something happens to them, the string goes to the son and the knife to the daughter. That night an Indian approaches their camp and blows some mysterious wolf powder which causes a man to see wolves in place of human beings. Lightning's father see his partner as a wolf and stabs him to death; later he is brought into town in a dying condition but before dying, hands the knife and the string over to the sheriff with instructions to deliver to Lightning and Kate. The sheriff also informs Kate that Lightning's father killed her father, and she immediately turns against Lightning. "Powder" Solvang also knows the story behind the knife and the string, and is determined to gain possession of both, even to the extent of making Kate his prisoner in an opium den in Chinatown.

Dir: Paul Hurst

An old chief tells a friendly white man a story of his youth. A white man stopped in the village on his way towards the setting sun. The Indian made him welcome. When he left he took with him the daughter of the chief betrothed to a member of her own tribe. The young brave went in pursuit and rescued the girl before any harm came to her. The old chief knows the story is true because in the long ago he was the young brave.