Must-Watch List Comparable to the Style of A Very Good Young Man: C...

Dir: Donald Crisp

Wealthy young bachelor Stanley Jordan attends a Red Cross Benefit at the country club, where he meets and falls in love with Betty Lovering and unwittingly offends social leader Mrs. Vandergraft. Discovering that the Vandergrafts have initiated a campaign to ostracize him from the club, Jordan, incensed, decides to get even: he disguises himself as a Russian Countess and returns to the club, where he is wined and dined. As a member of society, he is welcomed into the homes of the rich, where he proceeds to steal their valuables and donate them to the Red Cross Fund. The series of thefts alarms the neighborhood, and a detective is hired. Just as the detective is closing in on the Countess, it is announced that the Russian has been a victim of assault and is lying on her deathbed. Betty, concerned, calls on the Countess, only to discover that she is none other than Stanley Jordan, the man she loves.

Dir: Donald Crisp

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

Lewis Vickers accidentally kills a man and goes to Central America. Here he meets Robert Lee, who bears a remarkable resemblance to him. Lee is a worthless young chap whose father is anxious to have him return to the United States. On his death bed Lee turns his papers over to Vickers and begs him to assume his name. Arriving in New York, Vickers goes to the Lee home as Robert Lee, and discovers that the dead man has willed him a badly blotted past that includes a wife and two children and a large collection of debts. He also finds a beautiful adopted daughter in the Lee household and promptly falls in love with her. The only way he can stand any chance of winning the girl is by telling the truth about himself. The arrival of his undesirable family and several of its friends and connections helps to bring out the truth, and the picture ends with a runaway marriage between Vickers and the adopted daughter.

Dir: Donald Crisp

On the estate of Senora Moreno in Southern California, the senora's adopted daughter Ramona lives. She falls in love with Alessandro, an Indian of noble heritage. When her adoptive mother forbids their marriage, Ramona Alessandro elope, only to find bigotry, misfortune, and finally tragedy wherever they turn.

Dir: Donald Crisp

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

Prologue: Conrad LaGrange proposes marriage to Mary Gibson. She refuses him and marries Aaron King and they welcome son Aaron King, Jr. John Willard, who does not approve of the intimacy between his sister Myra, and James Rutledge, provokes a quarrel with Rutledge. Thinking he has killed him, Willard goes West. A baby is born to Myra, who does not know that Rutledge has a wife. Mrs. Rutledge learns of it. Crazed with jealousy, she seeks Myra, throws acid in her face, marring her for life; then commits suicide. With Myra's permission, Rutledge takes the baby to raise with his son, James Rutlidge, Jr., and shares his wealth equally between them. Myra refuses his offers of money, and writes to John Willard, her brother, asking for help. In California, he holds up a mail stage to get money for her fare West. Willard is arrested. Myra, ignorant of this, goes to Graymont, California. Not finding her brother, she wanders into the mountains and to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Andres, who take her in. She is like a mother to Sybil, Andres' only child. Years pass. Aaron King, in financial difficulties and disgrace, dies. LaGrange, who has prospered, pays some of Mrs. King's debts and again asks her to marry him. She refuses, saying her life belongs to her boy. Mrs. King, sacrifices all to keep Aaron, her son, now a young man, in a Paris art school. Graduating with high honors, he receives word that his mother is ill, and rushes home in time to see her die. The Story: Twenty-five years have elapsed. Aaron King, Jr. leaves for the West. On the same train are Gertrude Taine; her husband Edward Taine, a wreck many years her senior; and Mrs. Taine's stepdaughter Louise Taine. They are met by James Rutledge, Jr. Myra, who now lives in Fairlands, recognizes Mrs. Taine and Rutledge. King becomes acquainted with LaGrange. Friendship springs up between the pair. King is commissioned to paint Mrs. Taine's portrait. He and LaGrange take a cottage next, to Sybil and Myra. Rutledge annoys Sybil with his attentions. King and LaGrange meet Sybil. Mrs. Taine becomes infatuated with King. John Willard (now known as John Marston) escapes from prison. He meets Rutledge, who befriends him and bides him in a mountain cabin. Mrs. Taine is pleased with the portrait. As King contrasts Sybil with Mrs. Taine, he sees the latter as a designing soul in a beautiful body. Refusing to let her have the portrait, he asks her to pose again. Thinking she has infatuated King, she consents. He also paints Sybil's portrait. Mrs. Taine gives a reception in honor of King and LaGrange. She tries to influence King by causing Sybil to play her violin as one of the paid performers. Mr. Taine collapses in the midst of a speech and is carried off, dying. Mrs. Taine, visiting King's studio, finds him absent. Sybil comes in. Mrs. Taine, bringing in the fact that Sybil was up in the mountains with Myra while LaGrange and King were on a camping trip in the mountains, convinces Sybil that the world thinks she is the artist's mistress. Sybil stops long enough to write a note for Myra, and then rides away. Myra tells King of Sybil's disappearance. He follows her, and enlists the aid of Brian Oakley, the forest ranger. Rutlidge learns of Sybil's departure. By threatening Marston with exposure, he forces him to kidnap Sybil. Marston takes her to a cabin. Oakley, King and a posse of men search the mountains for her. King goes to Granite Peak, but Rutledge gets there first. Rutledge makes the proposition that they throw down their guns and fight it out. As Rutledge is about to throw King over the cliff. Marston appears with Sybil, who begs him to save King. He shoots Rutledge, who topples over the cliff. Then Marston disappears. King and Sybil go back to town. Sybil has discovered that she loves King and that he loves her. Mrs. Taine goes to the studio. She sees herself on the canvas as King sees her, and flies into a rage. She threatens to blast King's career and to ruin Sybil's reputation. LaGrange, overhearing, brings Myra in and has her tell her story. As Mrs. Taine listens, she bares her shoulder, showing a scar which identifies her as Myra's daughter. LaGrange threatens if she ever speaks ill of Sybil or King to publish the story broadcast Mrs. Taine retreats. Later, Sybil, learning from LaGrange that King has completed his masterpiece, goes to the studio. King takes her in his arms.

Dir: Donald Crisp

Giuseppe Franchini lives with his little daughter Francesca and pet bear Bruno on the Italian coast. One day, Giuseppe sees a shipwrecked man offshore and swims to his rescue, but in doing so, he is carried out to sea. Upon his return, he finds that his wife has died of shock at the news of his drowning, and the stranger has taken away the little girl. Years later, Giuseppe travels to America with Bruno where they are arrested for invading an apiary on the Vandergrift estate. Giuseppe is befriended by Vandergrift's daughter Adelaide, but Bruno is sent to jail for his crimes. To pay Bruno's fine, Giuseppe takes a job in a roadhouse owned by John Slade. Here, he learns of Slade's plans to smear Adelaide's fiancé, Craig Winton, the reform candidate for mayor. Giuseppe presents proof of Slade's corruption to Adelaide, who turns it over to her father. When Giuseppe meets Vandergrift, he recognizes him as the man he rescued, but, realizing that Adelaide is happy in her life, he leaves town without letting her know that he is her real father.

Dir: Donald Crisp

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

Joe, a good natured Italian, runs a basement ice, coal, and wood establishment in the cheap Italian "East Side." Trina, daughter of old Capino, a cobbler, lives next door. She is fond of Joe and is relieved when she learns that Joe's "sweetheart," who arrives from Italy, is none other than his little old "Mama Mia," his mother. Godfrey Kelland, district attorney, is a candidate for the governorship, and Joe's sympathies and efforts are enlisted in his behalf. The Weasel, a notorious crook, is arrested as he seeks refuge in Joe's house, and suspicions are cast upon Mama Mia. Just at this time Mrs. Kelland loses a diamond pin which is discovered in Mama Mia's possession. Baby Kelland has placed the pin in the basket of clothes which Mama Mia is to wash and she is found "guilty" and sentenced to two years in the penitentiary. In the meantime, Joe and his mother have witnessed an attempt upon Kelland's life and assisted him, but nevertheless Kelland is vigorous in his prosecution of Mama Mia. A little later Mrs. Kelland discovers the baby putting another piece of jewelry in the basket and she decides that Joe's mother is innocent. Two crooks from the gang determine to put a stop to Kelland's activities and to "plant" a golf ball filled with nitroglycerin so that Kelland will be blown up as by an unknown accident. They play upon Joe's feelings and induce him to place the ball. Just as Kelland is about to strike the ball, Mrs. Kelland and Trina come into the grounds, and to save them Joe takes the blow upon his own body. Joe's confession that the ball was intended for him incites Kelland's anger, but Mrs. Kelland's story of the baby's innocent part in the tragedy, and her pleadings, soften the politician's heart, the little Italian family is reunited, and Trina's happiness also secured.

Dir: Donald Crisp

While Bill Burnham is jailed for drunkenly shooting up the town, he receives a letter saying that his father has died, his sister Janet is about to marry a worthless count, and the family fortune is in danger. Unable to leave, he convinces his friend, Johnny Wiggins, a motion picture cowboy, to go to his home in Palm Beach, which Bill left as a boy, and impersonate him. Although Johnny's Western manner irritates Janet and her aunt, they put up with him because Bill's sanction for Janet's marriage is needed for her to receive her inheritance. When the count discovers that Johnny is not Bill, he tries to elope with Janet, but is prevented when Johnny lassoes him from his moving automobile. After Johnny forces crooked broker Milton C. Milton, at gunpoint, to make restitution for the losses Janet suffered through Milton's bad stock investments, Johnny marries Ruth, the maid, and leaves, promising that when Bill returns, things will get livelier.

Dir: Donald Crisp

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

George MacFarland, a wealthy young man who loves adventure, bets his friends Thornton Brown and Arthur Sole $20,000 that he can commit a crime and elude the police for a year. After he forges a check, George heads West and does escape arrest for nearly a year, despite the proliferation of police circulars bearing his name and his favorite expression, "Believe me, Xantippe." In a Colorado hunting lodge, he meets Sheriff Kamman's pretty daughter Dolly, who recognizes and tries to arrest him. According to the terms of the bet, however, he must be captured by a genuine officer of the law, which Dolly is not. With the stroke of midnight, the year elapses and George wins the bet as well as the sheriff's daughter.

Dir: Donald Crisp

The Firefly of France, a famed Allied airman in the First World War, is lost while transporting valuable plans, and it is feared that he and the plans are now in the hands of the Germans. A member of the Lafayette Escadrille endeavors to find the Firefly and the plans, but encounters a mysterious girl and several German spies who want the same thing.

Dir: Donald Crisp

Marcellini, a successful wine dealer, has a sudden heart attack and dies. His will leaves his entire fortune to his only kin, a husband and wife who operate a small farm. Guido, the husband, agrees against his better judgment to move on to the Marcellino estate. Before he knows it he is up to his neck in marriage troubles, people trying to swindle him out of his inheritance and blackmail.