Visionary Picks Drawn from the Same DNA as An Old Fashioned Boy: Cult Guide

Dir: Jerome Storm

Bill Henry Jenkins is a country boy on the lookout for a good career. He faces numerous obstacles, including losing his sales job when his bicycle is lost. A bigtime poker game turns out to be the key to Bill Henry's success.

Dir: Maurice Campbell

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

Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

A lady marries a horse trainer but withholds herself until her crippled brother is cured.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

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

While walking along the street one day, Arthur P. Hampton, an impoverished young doctor, and his chums, Stub Masters and Johnny Stokes, are persuaded to part with their last remaining funds by tag day solicitor Mary Jane Smith, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Doc's friends then hit upon a get-rich-quick scheme. Knowing that his Uncle George has promised a large sum of money upon his nephew's marriage, they persuade Doc to send out fake wedding invitations naming Mary Jane as the blushing bride. Uncle George, elated at the good news, writes to Mary Jane's aunt, Angelica Burns, an old sweetheart, to invite Mary Jane and Angelica to be his guests on an ocean voyage. Meanwhile, Mary Jane pays a visit to the doctor's office and, upon seeing the wedding invitations, becomes so flustered that she trips and sprains her ankle. Doc comes to her rescue and then begs her to pose as his wife. She agrees, but at ship-side, Stub and Johnnie confess all to Uncle George, who flies into a rage until Doc announces that he and Mary Jane have chosen a wedding at sea.

Dir: Jerome Storm

A young baseball pitcher in the bush leagues is discovered by a big-league manager and given his chance in the major leagues. But will he be up to the challenge?

Dir: Unknown Director

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

The Judge needs a present for his wife's birthday, so Harry suggests a new corset. They go to the shop, but he's so embarrassed to ask the saleslady he hides in a phone booth.Harry goes in, but finds a GUY wearing one, and runs out.They both dress as women to get back in, but Mrs. Rummy gets there and chases him out.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Roxie Kemp works as a lion tamer in a circus managed by her father. To fulfill a promise to his dying wife, Nat Kemp sends his daughter to an upper-crust boarding school where she befriends Marjorie Trent. When Roxie visits Marjorie's aristocratic family, she and Marjorie's brother Owen fall in love, though Mrs. Trent, suspicious of Roxie's background, is cold to her. When Kemp's circus comes to town, Roxie prevents the audience from rioting by filling in for the superstitious lion tamer, who refuses to go on. Mrs. Trent recognizes and rejects Roxie until Mr. Trent reveals that he is part-owner of the circus, whereupon Mrs. Trent accepts Roxie into the family.

Dir: F. Martin Thornton

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

In Paris an orphan cartoonist loves a man with a mad wife, who dies in time to prevent her marriage to a jilted Comte.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Andy Fletcher is a blacksmith in a country village, but he dreams of racing automobiles. He gets his chance to enter a big race, but winning is complicated by a band of bank robbers.

Dir: Reggie Morris

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.