The Global Archive Complementing the Tone of A Successful Failure: Cult Guide

Dir: Arthur Rosson

Parisian music hall celebrity Mignon marries young American civil engineer John Stanley. When John is suddenly assigned to undertake an engineering project in the Sahara, Mignon accompanies him and her son to the desert, although she is accustomed to a life of frivolity. After months of discontent, Mignon leaves her husband and son for Russian Baron Alexis, who establishes her in a palace in Cairo. Brokenhearted, John becomes a drug addict. Mignon later runs across her husband and son, who have become beggars. She is filled with remorse and returns to the desert to nurse her husband. John recovers slowly, reconciles with his wife, and the family finds happiness together.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

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

John Drake, a college athlete, starts for South America, where he has been promised a good job on the strength of his knowledge of the construction of safes and vaults. Aboard ship, he falls in love with Dolores Darcy, the daughter of a leading Latin American banker. Arriving in South America, John discovers that he has been made the dupe of criminals, who want him to open the vault in Señor Darcy's bank. John refuses, and his passport and wallet are stolen. In desperation, he signs up to fight an exhibition bout with Dynamite Díaz, the South American boxing champion. Isaac Belding, the leader of the criminals, has John kidnapped, forcing him to open the Darcy vault. John locks the gang in the vault, telling the police of his actions on the way to the bout. John beats Díaz and then captures Pierce, the banker's secretary, who is in league with Belding. John becomes the hero of the town, and Dolores declares her love for him.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

Jockey Billy Garrison is framed and suspended for throwing a race. Depressed, he goes to a bar and eventually gets into a fight. He loses his memory and is taken to the home of pretty young Sue Desha, who gets him a job as a jockey for her father, Col. Desha. Unfortunately, the man who framed Billy, named Crimmins, finds out he's working for Sue's father and reveals Billy's past to the Colonel. Complications ensue.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

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

John Carleton, a wild eastern youth, is sent west by his father in an effort to make a man of him. The cowhands at first mock John because of his foppish golf suit, but when he rides a mean bucking bronco he wins their friendship and respect. John falls in love with Beryl King, the daughter of a longtime enemy of his father, and is strictly forbidden to visit her. John defies this prohibition and rides to the King ranch, fighting off a number of unkindly disposed ranch hands; he later dances with Beryl at a village party and persuades her to run away with him and be married. On the way to the wedding, John stops at the King spread long enough to invite Beryl's irate father to see his daughter married. Carleton, Senior, turns up later, and the old enemies are finally reconciled.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

Millionaire spendthrift Sam Morgan marries Constance Winwood, who tries to break Sam's spending habits by convincing Downer, the trustee of Sam's inheritance, to pretend to abscond with Sam's money. During their honeymoon, Sam spends his $10.30 pocket money, then discovers that his checks are bouncing. Unable to pay an increasingly-large taxi fare, Sam and Constance keep the cab and its sleepy driver engaged after they are thrown out of a hotel. After a friendly thief gets Sam a job in a herring refinery, Sam uses his rudimentary knowledge of Spanish to buy a shipload of herring from a South American dealer and sell it to the refinery's directors, who know no Spanish, thus making enough profit to pay his now-exorbitant taxi bill. Constance confesses her scheme, and although it seems that Downer really has absconded, he finally returns. Wealthy again, Sam and Constance adorn their bedroom with taxi meters and headlights.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

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

Young Lenore Vance, loses her memory after witnessing the death of her father. She commits a series of robberies due to being brainwashed by her eccentric chemist uncle. She later becomes the person of interest in the murder of her father, being labeled by the authorities as "The Satin Girl". When Dr. Richard Taunton meets Lenore at a party thrown by Millie Brown-Potter, he becomes infatuated with her. After discovering that Lenore has taken pieces of jewelry from himself and Mrs. Potter, he uses a piece of evidence left behind to investigate the crimes himself, and makes the discovery that he Uncle is the one who killed her father. The police are notified, but they discover that he has committed suicide upon arriving at his house. It is later revealed to the audience that the entire story is in a book that Lenore is reading.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

Steve Brent, a construction engineer with an excellent reputation, is blamed for having used inferior materials on a bridge that collapses. Bert Thornton, his employer's son, is actually responsible, but not wishing to expose him, Brent surrenders his position. Assuming another name, he goes west to work on a desert irrigation project where the manager's daughter, Mary Ralston, recognizes him but keeps his secret. Ralston is informed by an enemy of Steve's, but Mary helps to protect Steve's name until he is exonerated and becomes free to marry her.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

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

Sky Parker, an Arizona cowboy, inherits a fortune from his eccentric uncle in San Francisco; under the terms of the will, however, he must live in his uncle's mansion for a year before claiming the bequest. Sky arrives in San Francisco accompanied by five cowboys, who immediately begin to raise western hell, stealing two Clydesdale horses from a brewery and shooting the gargoyles from the mansion roof. Sky's cousin, Miller, persuades a beautiful young girl, Maize, to help him prevent Sky from obtaining the inheritance, but she soon falls in love with the rugged ramrod and refuses to continue with their attempted fraud. Sky, not knowing of her duplicity, asks Maize to marry him; filled with shame, she runs away instead and boards a fast train. Trying to stop her, Sky chases the train in a car, which crashes; he then steals a cop's motorcycle, boarding the speeding train from that precarious perch. On the train, Maize confesses her guilt, Sky forgives her, and they declare their love for each other. When they return to his mansion, Sky punches Miller and throws him out of the house.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

Doc Saunders, an alcoholic, leaves his little daughter Mayme in the care of his sister and goes West to start a new life. In the little town of Sago, Doc becomes an avowed prohibitionist, thus earning the enmity of Art the saloon keeper. Back East, Mayme grows to adulthood and marries reporter Jimmy Baggs who has just been hired by the newspaper in Sago. When Jimmy begins to drink heavily, Mayme appeals to the town doctor for help. Doc Saunders, recognizing her, chooses not to disclose that she is his daughter, but instead invites them to move into his house for treatment. Jimmy reforms until one day he is sent to the saloon to get a statement on the liquor question for his paper. When Jimmy returns home drunk, Doc, enraged, invades the saloon brandishing a gun and shooting wildly. Doc is arrested and tried, but pronounced not guilty by a jury that sympathizes with him. With Art's power finally broken, Doc confesses to Mayme that she is his daughter, and the family sees an end to their troubles.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

A professional boxer known as "Smiling Bill Flannigan" accidentally kills an opponent in the ring. He gives up the sport and heads west. He gets a job on a ranch as a cook, and before he knows it he finds himself involved in a war between ranchers and sheepherders.