The Global Archive For Devotees of As in a Looking Glass: Cult Guide

Dir: Frank Hall Crane

The story relates how a valuable diamond is stolen by an Englishman from the eye of an Indian idol. The Englishman, on his return to London, is pursued by three Indian priests in disguise whose object is to secure "The Moonstone" at all costs, as failing its recovery, the priests will lose caste. The Englishman, Hearncastle, is found drowned, presumably having been killed by the Indians. The diamond passes into possession of Franklin Blake, his friend. Blake is followed by a band of Indian magicians. He presents the diamond to his fiancée from whom it is stolen. A detective is called in. Another girl in love with Blake commits suicide and suspicion attaches to her, as she leaves a mysterious note for Blake. Subsequently, Blake finds the diamond in the possession of a money-lender. His fiancée, learning of the dead woman's attachment for Blake, quarrels with him. A doctor discovers that Blake walked in his sleep and took the diamond himself while in that state. The diamond was stolen from Blake while he was asleep and never recovered. The thief confessed and died, and Blake and his fiancée were reunited.

Dir: Frank Hall Crane

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

Grocery clerk James Clarke pilfers $500 to send his ailing sister to a more healthful climate. Frederick Payton, a fellow employee, learns of the theft and blackmails him, but both men are eventually arrested and sent to prison. While a motion-picture company is filming inside Sing Sing, James mixes in with the players, later returning with them to the Fort Lee studio of the World Film Corp. Following his escape, James assumes a different name and successfully establishes himself in another town. Payton, who has served out his sentence, finds James happily engaged to Catherine Hudson, the boss's daughter, but when Payton again threatens to blackmail him, James decides to reveal his true identity and complete his prison sentence. Catherine promises to wait for James, who returns to prison with a clear conscience.

Dir: Frank Hall Crane

Police inspector Jim Garth, investigates the murder of Joe Kridel, another inspector, who had been tracking the Hennions, a gang of thieves plotting to steal the formula for a dangerous explosive from an old inventor. As Jim uncovers the Hennions' plans to procure the formula and sell it to an agent of an unfriendly foreign power, he encounters Nora, the former lover of Joe, who has sworn revenge for the killing and has ingratiated herself with the Hennions in order to discover the identity of the murderer. Although he assumes Nora is one of the thieves, Jim falls in love with her anyway, but she firmly rejects his advances. Disguised in a gray mask similar to the one worn by one of the gang members, Jim infiltrates the organization and foils the plot. With Joe's murderer in jail, a grateful Nora finally accepts Jim's affection.

Dir: Frank Hall Crane

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

While developing a powerful explosive, naval officer Paul Towne introduces his friend Richard Tracy to Judith Corbin, his friend since childhood. For years, Paul had assumed that he would marry Judith, but when Richard proposes, Judith, tired of waiting for Paul, accepts. Soon after the marriage, Richard becomes more interested in the new explosive than in his new wife, and to pay off gambling debts, he agrees to steal the formula and sell it to a foreign government. While spying at close range on a test of the explosive, however, Richard is killed, after which Judith, who has long since realized her mistake in becoming Richard's wife, accepts Paul's marriage proposal.

Dir: Frank Hall Crane

Ruined by a powerful financial ring, Farrington commits suicide, after which his daughter Paula vows to take vengeance in her own hands and hunt the man behind the ring. At a house party, Paula meets Dr. Smith, who falls in love with her, but a misunderstanding separates them. Unsuccessful in locating the man, but knowing that papers in the house of Van Brunt, one of the ring members, will identify the leader, Paula secures the papers with the aid of Old Bill Fitch, a reformed burglar. To her horror, she discovers that the man is Dr. Smith's father. Paula relinquishes vengeance for love, and Dr. Smith's father, realizing the error of his ways, agrees to make reparations.

Dir: Frank Hall Crane

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

Dorothy Evans, a chemistry teacher at her aunt's girls school, hopes to satisfy her yearning for adventure when she vacations with her aunt, who desires to wear men's clothes, at a secluded island in the Chesapeake Bay. On the boat, they witness officers shooting an escaping prisoner diving overboard. On the island, a gang of crooks vacate the cottage belonging to Dorothy and her aunt, but leave behind a bottle of nitroglycerin. Dorothy recognizes it, and after dumping the contents into the bay, she fills it with her aunt's heart medicine. After the prisoner is taken in by the crooks and volunteers to get the "soup," Dorothy surprises him with a revolver and binds him to a chair. They fall in love, and when the gang tries to rescue him, he fights them. Dorothy's threat to drop the nitro bottle leads to the gang's capture. After the officers identify their "prisoner" as a famous detective Harold Vance, Dorothy and Harold plan to marry.

Dir: Frank Hall Crane

During World War I, Dick Randall says goodbye to his mother and joins the troops in battle overseas. Dazed by the explosion of a shell, he wanders over the German lines and is hiding in a haystack when French peasant girl Corinne Frenaud discovers him. Convalescing in her mother's cottage, Dick falls in love with Corinne, and she proves her love by accompanying him across the American lines after a shell destroys the cottage. Corinne quickly becomes the favorite of Dick's regiment, but he is distracted from his jealousy by the idea of showering Berlin with pamphlets featuring a photo of Kaiser Wilhelm and the inscription "Wanted for Murder." With help from a pilot, Dick flies over Berlin and drops the photos, but the plane is shot on its way back to France. Corinne again rescues him just as the truce is declared, and later, Dick takes the brave woman to America as his bride.

Dir: Frank Hall Crane

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

Dora, the daughter of a wealthy man, marries a good-looking young fellow from the country who has made an auspicious start in New York business life. Having won the girl by trickery, he proceeds to reveal a baseness of disposition that makes his young wife's life a terrible burden. He becomes a drunkard who abuses his wife and baby. Dora resents his cruelty and he robs her of the child, surreptitiously conveying it to his mother, then going away to sea on a fishing schooner. Bereft of husband and child, Dora falls prey to grief. Fresh suffering awaits her when news comes that her vicious young husband was drowned at sea. Concealing her identity, she makes her way to the fishing village where her husband was born, becomes his mother's paying guest, recognizes her child, and inspires the love of her husband's brother, now a clergyman. Dora's troubles are about to recommence with undiminished severity. Her husband married her under a false name, so she is in ignorance of his relatives, and in this state of ignorance she lends a willing ear to the wooing of the Rev. John St. John, her late husband's brother. The wedding ceremony is about to take place when a storm at sea arises, a ship in distress is sighted, there is a call to man the life-boat, and Dora's fiancé volunteers. Among the rescued is Dora's legal husband Frank, who re-asserts his claim to wife and child, grows jealous of his brother, and once more becomes a drunkard. One of his New York reprobate companions appears to demand money. There is a quarrel and both men are killed. The sinful man has reaped as he sowed, and like so many of his kind has made others suffer for his misdeeds, particularly the fond girl who married him.

Dir: Frank Hall Crane

Lucy Millington is an independent woman who looks upon men with contempt. Novelist Donald Prime, who has written a book on women, considers himself an authority on the subject. Both are lured into the desolate backwoods of Arcady by adventurers who plan to keep them in captivity until a fortune bequeathed to them has been safely deposited in the hands of their rivals. While attempting to find their way back to civilization they face many dangers including a canoe trip in perilous waters and an encounter with a band of outlaws. Finally, through sheer pluck and daring, they reach their lawyer just in the nick of time to claim their inheritance. During their days stranded in Arcady, they discover their love for each other, and so after they leave the lawyer's office, their next stop is to the justice of the peace.

Dir: Frank Hall Crane

After a touring theatrical company goes broke on the road, press agent Jack Bartling persuades a local Suffragette leader, Mrs. Eubanks, whose husband is a Senator and soap manufacturer, to hire him for publicity. When Jack and the Eubanks' daughter Nell fall in love, her parents object, however the Senator promises his consent if Jack can keep Nell, also a Suffragette, out of prison, and Mrs. Eubanks vows her approval if Jack converts her husband to the cause. At a protest in front of the Governor's house, Jack saves Nell from being arrested, thus alienating Mrs. Eubanks who wanted her to be arrested. The Eubanks move to New York, and after Jack locates them and sneaks into their apartment disguised as a window washer, he convinces Mrs. Eubanks to have Suffragettes all over the country clip the Senator's ten-cent coupons for his "Floating Lily" Soap. After the Senator agrees to support the Suffragettes rather than pay off $650,000 for the coupons, the Eubanks finally approve Jack as their son-in-law.