The Recommended Vault Parallel to the Artistry of All Dolled Up: Cu...

Dir: Rollin S. Sturgeon

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Rollin S. Sturgeon

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

Bettina Vanderpoel, the charming daughter of New York millionaire Reuben Vanderpoel, departs for England to visit her sister Rosalie, who is married to Sir Nigel Anstruthers, an impoverished English nobleman. Arriving at their dilapidated estate, Betty finds that Nigel not only has wasted Rosalie's fortune, but has treated his wife and their little son cruelly. Betty promptly repairs the estate with her own money and then introduces her sister into English society. In the process, she meets Lord Mount Dunstan, a proud but penniless nobleman who lives in the adjacent estate. Although strongly attracted to Betty, Dunstan avoids her so as not to appear a fortune hunter. An epidemic breaks out among the farmers, and Betty, hearing that Lord Dunstan has died, goes riding late one night to forget her sorrow. Sir Nigel finds her in a deserted hut and tries to attack her, but Lord Dunstan appears, rescues her, and finally confesses his love. Soon after, Sir Nigel contracts apoplexy and expires, thus freeing Rosalie.

Dir: Rollin S. Sturgeon

Far away, in the timberlands of the North, where the purity of woman is placed above all else, lived Josephine Adare, a kind, honest soul, whose face plainly bore an expression of deep sorrow and anxiety. Up to this, God's Own Country, came a man, Philip Weyman, to spend a year in that region. The man meets the woman and falls in love with her. He begs her to confide in him her great sorrow, which he sees she is constantly thinking of, but she tells him that she cannot do so. Seeing that he is persistent, and really anxious to help her, she asks him if he would be willing to follow her wherever she goes, doing whatever she asks of him, asking no questions and with the hope of no reward but her undying gratitude. Owing to his great love for her, he consents, knowing that he will be working for a just cause. Through the long, bitter, northern winter, he travels with her, knowing neither where he is going nor what he is going to do. To aid her plans, they are married, but it is a marriage in name only. She then takes him to the home of her father, John Adare, a rugged woodsman, where she tells him to pose as the father of an infant which she shows him. For a moment, his faith in her wavers, when he sees the child, but his manhood conquers and he determines to stand by his promise. Then, on one eventful day the infant dies. After the baby's death Philip notices unusual activity about the camp, and suspects that Josephine's enemies are about. Though he knows not who they are, he longs to fight them, but Jean Croisset, Josephine's half-breed protector, who has also been assisting her in her trouble, tells him that he can do nothing but wait for orders from her. He is tempted to cast caution to the winds and search for them himself, but his better judgment prevails and he realizes that he must be satisfied with anxiety and inactivity. Josephine's ferocious wolf-hounds have grown to love Philip as they love their mistress. These terrible beasts, though born for fighting, have big hearts in their savage breasts, and at a word from one whom they love, would tear an enemy to pieces. One day, Josephine, who is known throughout the neighborhood for her kindness and love of children, is called to another village to tend a sick child. Jean follows to protect her, and Philip trails him with the dogs. Philip learns that she was kidnapped by Lang, who, Jean tells him, is responsible for all her troubles. Philip rouses all the honest woodsmen in the neighborhood, who love Josephine for her kindness, and they set out to rescue her. They also enlist the aid of a tribe of Indians in their cause. After traveling for some time, the rescue party traps the villainous gang in its lair, "Devil's Nest." Here Lang and his gang barricade the doors and windows and prepare for the attack. A battle ensues, and Lang's followers, seeing they are being beaten, try to escape but find themselves hemmed in. In the midst of the battle, Jean is shot, and, knowing he is about to die, calls Philip to his side. He tells him how, a year before, Josephine's mother had fallen into Lang's clutches while her husband was away, and of the birth of the child, which Josephine had claimed as her own to shield her mother's honor. The story told, the faithful half-breed dies, with a parting injunction to Philip to kill Lang and destroy the incriminating papers in his possession. During a lull in the fighting, Lang tries to escape through a window with Josephine. His action is seen by Philip, who rushes over to protect her. In the struggle which follows, Lang manages to gain the upper hand, and reaches for his knife to end Philip's life. Seeing his danger, Josephine releases the dogs, with a command to kill. As though they knew the sorrows of their mistress, the shaggy beasts leap upon the struggling forms, single out Lang and kill him with their merciless fangs. Philip informs her that he knows all, and that she need no longer fear for her mother's honor, as he has destroyed the papers. She tells him that she has always loved him, and Philip looks forward to a happy future, in God's country with the woman of his choice.

Dir: Rollin S. Sturgeon

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

Mary Melville marries rich playboy Claude Varden to please her invalid mother. On the night they are to depart for a South American honeymoon, Mary's mother becomes seriously ill and Mary decides to stay home and taker care of her. Varden goes on the trip anyway, as he owns some mines in South America. However, Tom Nelson, the husband one of the many married women Varden has had affairs with in the past, is stalking him and follows him on board the ship. On the ship Varden meets the beautiful and rich Nitra Ruiz and her brother Ramon. Deciding that he doesn't want to be married to Mary anymore, he proposes to Nitra. However, his plans don't quite work out the way he had wanted them to.

Dir: Rollin S. Sturgeon

Realizing that it would be difficult to support a wife on his meager income, struggling physician Jack Stilling loses his love, Faith Channing, to the wealthy James Winthrop. After Faith and Winthrop marry, they begin to drift apart as Winthrop becomes consumed with his pursuit of social ambition. When her husband falls under the spell of fashionable Hortense Filliard, Faith determines to bear him a child in order to win him back. The infant dies soon after its birth, however, and Faith falls into a deep depression, forcing Stilling to prescribe morphine for her. Winthrop, spurred on by Hortense, conceives of a plan to addict Faith to the drug and then file for divorce. His plans backfire, however, when he becomes a slave to the drug and dies in a fit of delirium. Stilling intervenes in time to spare Faith the ravages of addiction, and the doctor and the woman he never ceased loving prepare for a new life.

Dir: Rollin S. Sturgeon

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

When the third partner in their small Cape Cod trading business dies, Shad Gould and Zoeth Hamilton adopt his little daughter Mary-'Gusta. After several years, the two old salts decide that Mary should be properly educated and send her to an exclusive school in Boston, telling her that her father left her a large fortune. In Boston, Mary meets Crawford Smith, but their happiness together is threatened when she learns that he is the son of Edgar Fuller (alias Smith), a scoundrel who had run off with Zoeth's wife and stolen his money. Having discovered that Shad and Zoeth, in order to pay her bills, are nearing bankruptcy, Mary returns to Cape Cod and saves the business with her capable management. Crawford's father dies, leaving a letter of apology to Shad and Zoeth, whereupon the two young people become engaged.

Dir: Rollin S. Sturgeon

A girl's father cannot afford a train ticket, so he ships his daughter by Wells Fargo & Co. Express. He loses his money to a villain and cannot claim his "shipment." The villain attempts to claim her, but the Wells Fargo agent foils the plot and claims her himself.

Dir: Rollin S. Sturgeon

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

Robert Wainwright, arriving in the Argentine Republic to look after his father's business, finds himself in a hotbed of revolution. Stopping at the home of Don Arana, foreign minister to Rosas, the tyrant, he meets and falls in love with Bonita, Don Arana's niece. Bonita favors the rebels and through Wainwright's love for her, wins him to their cause. He communicates with General Urguiza, the rebel leader, but the messenger is intercepted by Tirzo, Rosas' spy. As Tirzo also aspires to the hand of Bonita, he schemes to get Wainwright out of the way, and insinuatingly suggests that he leave the country at once. Wainwright arranges for passage on the first ship leaving for the north, but contrives to escape, after the vessel leaves port. He returns to Don Arana's home, meets Bonita and acquaints her with his plan to join the rebels. She makes him a present of Mephisto, a wonderful horse, and suggests he change his name to Alvarez. Wainwright, now a rebel under the name of Captain Alvarez, so distinguishes himself that he becomes the scourge of the Federals. He is commissioned by General Urguiza to get in communication with Don Arana, who is secretly in sympathy with the rebels, and arrange for the capture of a convoy of a million in currency dispatched to the Federal forces. Captain Alvarez and Don Arana are arranging for the delivery of the convoy when the house is surrounded by the Federals through the work of Tirzo. Captain Alvarez is captured and led off a prisoner. Tirzo remains and promises Bonita to save Alvarez's life is she will marry him. She is about to consent when word comes that the prisoner has escaped. Alvarez returns to Bonita's home, fearful that harm has befallen her, and promises to return again at midnight to make sure of her further safety. Alvarez returns to his command, and captures the million in currency and is on his way to keep his midnight appointment with his sweetheart, when he hears Tirzo plotting with a band of gypsies to kidnap Bonita. Alvarez arrives at Don Arana's first, waits for Tirzo, who comes alone, and in a fight kills the spy whose body is carried off by the gypsies. A band of Federals intercept them, recognize Tirzo, and rush to Don Arana's house, where they capture Alvarez, and he is to be shot at sunrise. In the meantime the Federals are defeated and Rosas, the tyrant, flees for his life. Alvarez, by a trick, induces the Federals guarding him to flee. The rebel forces arrive opportunely, and all ends happily in a picture emblematic of the birth of a new republic.

Dir: Rollin S. Sturgeon

Poor Molly O'Toole takes a job as housekeeper at the country home of wealthy Mrs. J. Van Ranselear Todd. Arriving at "Castle Crags," Molly is mistaken by the villagers for Mrs. Todd, and decides to continue the masquerade, thus attracting the attentions of Captain Hancock, her wealthy neighbor. Meanwhile Mrs. Todd's roguish son Algernon has purchased a donkey and cart from peddler Joe Holmes and is traveling through the country when he arrives at Castle Crags to discover Molly masquerading as his mother. Deciding not to reveal his own identity or expose Molly, Algernon takes a job as her chauffeur. The two fall in love and Algernon begs Molly to marry him, but she is reluctant to part with the captain's millions. A series of events makes Molly believe that her chauffeur has become a forger on her account, however, and she realizes her love for him. She resolves to give up the captain, but at that point Mrs. Todd arrives, claims Algernon as her son and welcomes Molly as her future daughter-in-law.

Dir: Rollin S. Sturgeon

When Amos Divine is retired with a meager pension, his spoiled wife Christina castigates him, but their optimistic daughter Mary Beth, who longs for a musical career, helps them economize. Meanwhile, composer Richard Warner arrives from Vermont, but his hopes of selling his ballads are dashed by publishers who want cheap, trashy melodies. Mary decides to rent the attic room, and Richard, hearing her play, takes it. After Richard accidentally starts a fire while raptly composing, Mary begins to fall in love. Penniless, Richard starts to asphyxiate himself, but Mary brings him biscuits and encourages him to persevere. After Mary finds Richard's song, "The Rainbow Girl," dedicated to his "Loved One," he explains that he cannot marry his sweetheart until he has made good. Mary jealously says that she too has a sweetheart, "Snookums," but they have quarreled. After Mary secretly sells Richard's song to a publisher, Richard, seeing her cry, sends flowers from "Snookums" to effect a reconciliation. When Mary reveals that there is no "Snookums," Richard confesses that Mary is his "rainbow girl," and they embrace.