Hand-Picked Alternatives Movies That Echo the Spirit of A Woman of Pleasure: Cult Guide

Dir: Wallace Worsley

Helen Rowland is unresponsive towards her rich husband Henry and spends most of her time at social events. Henry agrees to give financial assistance to young clergyman John Sterling for his missionary cause if Helen can become interested in Sterling's work in the slums. Helen becomes so interested in Sterling's mission work that she admits to Henry that she is in love with the clergyman. Henry then insists that Sterling arouse Helen's hatred. Sterling feigns drunkenness and Helen is so disgusted that she hurries home. Henry is remorseful about the scheme, but confesses he did it out of love for her, and so Helen discovers, finally, that she loves her husband.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

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

Unknown to his proud, wealthy family, Granger Hollister marries telephone operator Margery Harding. Granger presents his new wife at an engagement party given for his sister Jane, but Jane's fiance', Lord Cecil Graydon, threatens to break off the betrothal unless Granger's marriage is annulled. To please his sister, Granger sacrifices Margery, who seeks work and later gives birth. After her baby's death, Margery goes West, where she befriends and old miner who later leaves her his fortune. Meanwhile, Granger becomes involved in a fraudulent mining deal, and because of George Osborne's perjured testimony, he is sent to prison for five years. When he escapes, Margery agrees to hide him and is ultimately responsible for obtaining his pardon. Granger then remarries the wife he had abandoned.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

Adele Bleneau is a young nurse who assists her father, a renowned surgeon/. While in Washington, DC, she meets and falls in love with a British army officer, Capt. Fraser. While traveling by ship to France with her father, she meets Count von Schulling, a German diplomat who is an acquaintance of her father. Von Schulling falls for the pretty young Adele. While in France, Adele organizes a rescue party to save Capt. Fraser, who has been on a secret mission behind enemy lines and has been wounded. In a twist of fate, Adele finds the wounded Fraser and takes him to a hospital, but Count von Schuling, who has also been wounded, is placed in the same room as Fraser. When the hospital is overrun by German forces, Adele is placed in a delicate position by von Sculling: either spy for the Germans or Fraser will be shot.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

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

Jane Cabot, a working girl whose mother Marion sings in a cabaret and whose father Jim simply loafs, dreams of leaving the slums for a new life. After Jane's mother is discharged, however, Jane is forced to take her place in McGann's saloon, where she attracts the attention of political boss Thomas Dolan and his young assistant, Lee Stevens, who has recently come to New York from the mountains of the West. When Dolan insults Jane, she throws wine in his face, which infuriates Dolan but deeply impresses the idealistic Westerner. Dolan's systematic harassment causes Jane to lose every position she secures, but Lee, believing her unfaithful, returns to the mountains. Meanwhile, Jane's father is convicted of killing a policeman, and on the day he is imprisoned, her mother commits suicide. Lee learns that Jane still loves him and returns to New York just as Dolan is taking the dazed girl to his apartment. The two men engage in a fierce struggle until the police, who have discovered the politician's corruption, enter and arrest Dolan.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

Wealthy heiress Diane Westfall, bored with her life, hops into a green van and sets out to seek adventure. She doesn't know that four men are pursuing her--her cousin Carl, who wants her inheritance; Baron Tregar of the small Balkan country of Houdania, who believes that Diane may be the rightful heir to the Houdanian throne; Prince Ronador, who also believes she may be the heir to the throne but wants to kill her so he can get control of it; and Philip Poynter, a young American friend of Baron Tregar's who has met and fallen in love with Diane, and sets out to protect her.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

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

Members of a secret anarchist group take revenge.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

The guests at a summer resort hotel, headed by Mrs. Van Courtlandt--Van Allstyn, are preparing to stage a charity performance of a farce, and Gaston Allegretti, threatened with dismissal by the owners, has promised to obtain the services of Broadway star Elsie Parmelee. When the actress refuses, Gaston, in despair, enlists the aid of Helen Haynes, who works in a broker's office and resembles the actress. With MacGregor, a Scottish bookkeeper, she goes to the resort for what she supposes to be a vacation and is reluctant to accept an acting role until she finds that young millionaire Bobby Bates, with whom she is in love, is engaged to play opposite her; although awkward in the part, she is hailed as a great comedienne. Bobby proposes and Helen accepts, thinking he knows her true identity. Later, he learns of the real Elsie Parmelee and is disillusioned, but MacGregor admits his duplicity and all ends well.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

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

Alouette, the daughter of prosperous French vintner LeSieur Juste DeLarme, secretly marries Bertrand Beaubien although her father wants her to wed wealthy German Kurt Von Klassner. After Kurt slays Bertrand, Alouette is forced to marry the brutal German, and only her love for her little son Bertrand, whom Kurt imagines is his offspring, but who actually is the slain Frenchman's, saves her from complete unhappiness. Years later, when the Germans invade France during World War I, Kurt assists them although they have killed his father-in-law. Bertrand's young sweetheart is killed during the German occupation of the village, and fiercely determined to drive them out, he enlists in the French army. With the arrival of the French forces, the town is rescued, and Kurt, through Bertrand's testimony, is arrested as a spy.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

An orphan boy from the Kentucky hills joins the Union Army and rescues his adopted family from Morgan's raiders. He learns his real identity when he returns after the war.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

Wealthy and middle-aged Gerald Fitzgerald begins to tire of his wife who is an extremely temperamental and romantic opera singer and believes he has found another woman who suits him better. He endeavors to arrange with his wife for a divorce. She agrees, but returns home from her foreign opera tour. The situation brings her face to face with the fact that she really loves him but with a woman's wiles she adopts a more subtle method. When she finds that her policy of agreeing with him is having its effect, she cleverly arranges for a dinner party and invites him to bring the other woman. She makes every situation work to her advantage and presses her advantage after dinner with the final result that she wins her husband back.