Deep Archive Finds in the Vein of A Woman's Fight: Cult Guide

Dir: Herbert Blaché

Famous playwright Paul Worden takes a country bungalow to write a new work and rehearse with Marjorie Sinclair, his leading actress, who is staying nearby. When riding one day, Paul helps his neighbor, Diana Ardway, the spoiled teenage daughter of a steel magnate, when her horse gets the better of her. Diana, at first insulted by Paul's interference, develops a passionate interest in him, leading her to spy on him, provoke a hair-pulling fight with Marjorie, and destroy one of Paul's rooms after he treats her like a child. When Paul wires his brother Tad, known for his successes with women, to relieve him of Diana's attentions, she rejects Tad. Knowing that her father will return soon from Europe, Diana gives the Associated Press an announcement of her engagement to Paul and kidnaps him to make it appear that he compromised her. After her father returns, Paul, thoroughly beaten, realizes his love for her and accepts his fate.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

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

A crooked promoter commits two murders in his efforts to gain wealth and influence. He is shot on the night of his election as governor and repents of his crimes on his deathbed.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

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

Abraham Jacobs, an itinerant Jewish country peddler, saves his pennies until he can afford to open a small second-hand clothing store. Unfortunately, Abraham's son Sonny has not inherited his father's decent, hard working instincts, and when his mistress, Mrs. Morgan, is in need of money, Sammy robs Abraham's safe and then disappears. Time passes, and oil is discovered on a tract of land left to Abraham by his late wife. Although he can now afford to live in comfort with his adopted daughter Mary, Abraham still strongly feels the loss of his son. His life is finally made complete when Sammy returns repentant to marry Abraham's housekeeper Sarah, and the old peddler, his struggles now over, is able to spend the rest of his days surrounded by his family.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A gentleman burglar is a detective, which acts as a shield to his more shady pastime.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

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

Strolling through the park one evening, Travers comes upon a woman about to throw herself in the lake. It is his sister. She tells him she was betrayed by a man who is her son's father, and she is about to end it all because she is no longer able to endure her destitution. Travers soothes her and promises to take care of her and her son. He furnishes an apartment for them and makes frequent calls there. On one of them he is seen and recognized by Mansfield, a clubman of his, who is infatuated with Mrs. Travers and uses this suspicious, though unconfirmed, incident to try to persuade her to give him her love. Mrs. Travers, made credulous by her insane jealousy of her husband, slightly encourages Mansfield, who, with the bravado of his sort, boasts at the club of his affair with her. Travers hears of this and is uncontrollable. He sends for his sister to come to his dressing room in the theatre, and Mansfield, hearing of it, brings Mrs. Travers to surprise him. Here is the big scene of the play wherein Travers demands of Mansfield an explanation of his conduct, and Travers' sister recognizes Mansfield as the man who deserted her. Travers attempts to kill Mansfield, who is saved by the police. Then Mrs. Travers, learning the identity of "the other woman," and ridden by remorse for the jealousy that has made her doubt her husband and lose his love, attempts to poison herself. She is saved, however, and reunited to her husband by a love whose constant light outshines the occasional flashes from her "green eyes."

Dir: Herbert Blaché

In a Virginia resort town in August 1918, Christopher Brent is viewed as a slacker because he refuses to enlist. Secretly, Christopher is observing German spies who are passing information about coastal fortifications for invasion preparations. Seeing Christopher consort with Mrs. Miriam Lee, also from the secret service, his fiancee Molly Preston, who had been bothered by the talk about him, becomes jealous. When Molly's brother Norman discovers a German code book in Mrs. Lee's possession, Christopher, who obtained the book when he destroyed the wireless of the chief spy, Carl Sanderson, who also loves Molly, is suspected of aiding the Germans. After Christopher saves a hotel when the spies ignite a bomb to signal a U-boat, captures a list of enemy spies, kills several spies, and with the help of a U.S. destroyer, sinks the U-boat, he is honored by the town. Molly then asks to be forgiven.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

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

An opium-addicted choirmaster develops an obsession for a beautiful young girl and will not stop short of murder in order to have her.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A woman sold as a bride to the local Rajah is saved by her lover and his loyal tiger.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

An old woman in Frederick, Maryland during the U.S. Civil War displays her American flag in defiance of the armies of Confederate general Thomas J. Jackson. Based on the folk tale that grew from the poem by John Greenleaf Whittier.