Underground Favorites Parallel to the Artistry of A Slave of Fashio...

Dir: Hobart Henley

Morris, a hardened criminal, is imprisoned for larceny and has engaged William Newman, a police court lawyer, to defend him. As recompense, Morris gives Newman his vest in which are sewed four valuable diamonds. Newman is attracted by a girl who slaves for the proprietress of his boarding house. Georgianna, who is afraid of Newman, is arrested for the theft of several cheap rings belonging to the proprietress, which have been mislaid. While in prison Newman promises to pay her bail, if she is willing to meet his advances. Newman cuts the diamonds from the vest, as he is determined to get away with all instead of one, according to the agreement. The new hole in the vest is discovered, and Morris is brought before the chief. The two are left alone and Morris hits the chief and disappears through the window. Georgianna's case is dismissed, but she thinks Newman is responsible for her being set free. On arriving at his rooms a fierce struggle ensues. A knock is heard and she is told to hide behind the couch. Morris enters the room and shoots Newman, who falls dead. Georgianna is held for the murder, Morris having escaped into the room adjoining Newman's, in which McHugh, a newspaper reporter, is dressing. Willy, a roustabout in the boarding-house, and an admirer of Georgianna's, becomes suspicious. He stacks furniture and looks through the transom when the furniture falls with a clamor. Morris is terrified and is about to draw his revolver when McHugh hits him with a bottle and then handcuffs him. Leaving Willy to guard the captive, he dashes to the police station and to his office to write up his scoop. Meantime, Bennett, another reporter, arrives and looking over the transom sees Morris still handcuffed and Willy guarding him. He phones for help, and is disappointed because of not being the first to get the story. McHugh feeling sorry for them sends Willy and Georgianna, who has been set free to live with an uncle of his.

Dir: Maurice Campbell

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of An Amateur Devil perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.

Dir: Hobart Henley

Mrs. Sherwood hates her life with her husband, who is drinking increasingly as a result of his own unhappiness in the marriage. Mrs. Sherwood is in love with Le Roy Scott, who encounters a woman of astonishingly identical features to Mrs. Sherwood. He contrives to substitute the other woman, Marion Roche, in Mrs. Sherwood's place while he and Mrs. Sherwood escape for a tryst. But Marion is much more the wife that Sherwood dreamed of, and he falls in love "anew" with his "wife," and she with him. She determines to find some way to permanently replace the real Mrs. Sherwood.

Dir: Hobart Henley

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of One Week of Life perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Two baby boys are born in Owentown. One is the unwanted offspring of an avaricious grasping father. He grows to an evil manhood, and loses his one chance of real happiness to the play-fellow whose parents have met their responsibilities.

Dir: Hobart Henley

Susie organizes plays to benefit the Red Cross. She marries her hero, Robert, but finds out he did it to avoid the draft. She begs to be taken in his place and is soon captured by the enemy. Will Robert become the hero she believed he was?

Dir: Hobart Henley

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

Sylvia Martin runs away from her abusive father and almost succumbs to the cold on the doorstep of Louis Gordon, a crook. They marry, but later when faced with capture, Gordon kills himself. Gordon's gang accuses Sylvia of murder, and although she is acquitted for lack of evidence, her name is included in the Police Index. Years later, upon finding the Index on the shelf of her second husband, Washington diplomat David Maber, Sylvia fears exposure. Her fears heighten when her arresting officer, John Alden, now chief of the Secret Service, tries to induce her to entrap a Bolshevik agent, Hugo Declasse, who is attracted to her. When Alden appeals to patriotism, she acquiesces. Declasse finds the Index and threatens to expose her unless she cooperates in getting plans for an uprising to London agents, but Declasse is foiled when his trusted Japanese butler turns out to be a Secret Service agent. Maber, learning of Sylvia's past, forgives her.

Dir: Richard Smith

Two female candidates for Chief of Police live across the hall from each other, and their political rivalry follows them home, leading to plenty of hi-jinks.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

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

A lady marries a horse trainer but withholds herself until her crippled brother is cured.

Dir: Unknown Director

The Judge needs a present for his wife's birthday, so Harry suggests a new corset. They go to the shop, but he's so embarrassed to ask the saleslady he hides in a phone booth.Harry goes in, but finds a GUY wearing one, and runs out.They both dress as women to get back in, but Mrs. Rummy gets there and chases him out.

Dir: Reggie Morris

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.