Cinematic Discoveries Resonating with the Themes of Baby Mine: Cult Guide

Dir: Robert Z. Leonard

Count Oudoff, a fortune-hunting European nobleman, marries a wealthy American widow and brings his new wife and her pretty young daughter Lianne back to Paris. When word gets around that Lianne stands to inherit a good deal of money when her rich grandmother passes away, every gold-digging nobleman in Paris sets his sights on her, but she's waiting for a special "prince" to sweep her away. When her distant cousin Basil arrives from Amerca on a mission from her grandmother to investigate the young girl's situation, Lianne believes that she might have finally found the "prince" she has sought.

Dir: Robert Z. Leonard

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

When Richard Earle marries Elaine Bronson for her money, he orders her to keep the marriage a secret so that he may continue his affair with a married woman, Lucille Bennett. Jimmy Newton falls in love with Elaine and takes her to his home after she is injured in a car accident. When Richard discovers the two together, he beats Elaine, until Lucille, having discovered Richard's duplicity and cruelty, enters the house and shoots him. Free of Richard, Elaine becomes engaged to Jimmy.

Dir: Robert Z. Leonard

Little Eve has always been the companion of her father, who, with his friend, John Elbertson, roams the face of the earth in search of rare botanical specimens. Eve has never known her mother and has been reared by her father in the studious atmosphere of the scientist, without any thought of love or anything approaching affection having entered her life. Shortly after the play begins her father decides she shall marry his friend, who is a man many years Eve's senior. The girl accepts the dictum as a matter of course. At this time they are in the heart of South Africa following their scientific pursuits. A native runner brings cabled information that there will be at Los Angeles a meeting of botanists, and the two men decide that they will attend. Eve, of course, going along as part of the traveling equipment. James Barton, a young man of wealth and of a highly flirtatious disposition, has grown tired of New York society and decides to shift the scene of his activities to Los Angeles. Shortly after he arrives there the attentions of the hotel guests is divided between his escapades with every pretty girl in sigh and the strange gathering of delegates to the convention. Little Eve Edgarton has attracted considerable attention from the guests, because being a rather pretty girl she remains hobnobbing with the botanists. Dressed very plainly and unattractively, her big bow spectacles make her noticeable upon the verandas and in the rotunda of the fashionable resort hotel. Barton has a cousin who has set her heart upon the young man marrying his friend, Miss Van Eaton. This cousin is inclined to play pranks upon Barton, and when she introduces Barton to Eve Edgarton, the courtesies are extended more as a joke than anything else. But, as in many cases, this joke did not work out as intended. Barton takes a sudden interest in the little botanist and the flirtatious young man finds much to attract him in the quaint and unusual personality of the little student. They indulge in horseback rides and gradually becomes better acquainted. On one occasion, while they have ridden their horses to the top of a mountain, a violent electric storm comes upon them and during the outburst, Barton is struck by lightning. Eve half drags and half carries him to a cave she has discovered in the mountain and by scientific methods of massage, she restores him from the shock. Here in the cave the senior Edgarton and his friend Elbertson accidentally discover the young couple, and then it is that the minds of the scientists are opened to the fact that youth courts youth and age is out of the running. We are left to believe that ultimately the young couple will enter a new life in partnership.

Dir: Robert Z. Leonard

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

Stage actors Della and Julian, while playing a series of one-night-stands, miss their train and the troupe on it. They move into a hotel. A fight breaks out.

Dir: Robert Z. Leonard

In an English mining town during the 1870s, Joan Lowrie falls in love with Fergus Derrick, the new chief engineer who vows to improve working conditions. Joan's father Don, however, runs the mine and likes conditions just as they are. As a result, he quickly learns to detest the crusading Fergus, even to the point of trying to murder him. Joan saves Fergus, after which Don is killed by one of the workers whom he habitually mistreated. Don's death removes the only impediment to Joan's romance as well as to improvements in the mine, so while Joan and Fergus make plans for their marriage, plans also are developed to make the mine safer and more efficient.

Dir: Robert Z. Leonard

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

Margaret MacLean, who has been saved from life in a wheelchair by the miracle of medicine, vows to devote her life to caring for crippled children. She becomes a nurse in the children's ward of Dr. MacLean's hospital, but after the beloved doctor's death, his son Bob returns home from abroad and decrees that he is closing the ward and that Margaret's little charges must leave the hospital. Furious, Margaret quits her job and storms out, with Bob in pursuit. As he rushes across the street, Bob is struck by a car and must be hospitalized. During his convalescence, he realizes that he is in love with Margaret and decides to have a home built for her and her patients. Unable to locate Margaret, Bob hires detectives, who find her and bring her to the home. There Margaret finds that all her dreams have come true as she sees her little charges happily living in their new home and gladly accepts Bob's proposal of marriage.

Dir: Robert Z. Leonard

Joan runs away from home and becomes a cashier at a restaurant, but quits when the manager attempts to make love to her. She meets Louie, with whom she was once friendly, and he forces her to steal for him. She is caught and sentenced to a state reformatory.

Dir: Robert Z. Leonard

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

The cabaret act of husband-and-wife dancing team Peggy and Joe Blondin is broken up when Joe becomes consumptive and is ordered West to recuperate. Peggy remains in New York to maintain the couple's income but gradually becomes desperate when letters sent her by her husband request more and more money. Joe's letters actually are being intercepted and rewritten by millionaire Harlan Quinn, who has designs on Peggy and wishes to portray Joe's situation as hopeless. After receiving a particularly alarming letter, Peggy consents to sell her honor to Harlan, but Joe arrives, fully recovered, just as the villain knocks on her door. The two men fight until Peggy's stepfather, a drug addict who has been acting as Harlan's dupe, shoots Quinn. The police arrive and shoot the old man, after which Peggy and Joe begin a new life together.

Dir: Robert Z. Leonard

Living with her drunkard father in the North Woods mountains, Betty Yarnell is shunned by the villagers whenever she ventures out to pick up her father from Abner Grimp's saloon, and her only friend is a little lamb. In debt to Abner, John Yarnell signs a note turning over his daughter to Abner in return for unlimited drinks. When Abner goes to the cabin to claim Betty, revenue officer Ralph McGibbon arrives from the city and rescues her. Abner sends his Indian partner Dark Cloud, but Ralph rescues Betty again, although he is badly beaten up. Betty nurses Ralph, and even sacrifices her lamb to prepare broth for him. The sheriff decides to auction off Betty to the highest bidder. Abner demands that she be turned over to him, but Ralph fights him and manages to win Betty.

Dir: Robert Z. Leonard

Ambrosia is a sweet little girl of tender heart and loving disposition, who lives near to nature in fancy and ideals. Her mother dies, and she is sent to an aunt in the city, whom Ambrosia calls "Aunt Grouchy," to be reared as her own child. The aunt is of dignified and austere disposition, far different from Ambrosia's dead mother, and the atmosphere is a decided change from the freedom of country life and the tenderness of mother love. Ambrosia makes friends with the boy next door, and these two greatly enjoy their romps and play together. Ambrosia's cousin is in love with a poor young man, and her mother objects to his attentions, desiring for her daughter an advantageous marriage, regardless of the girl's wishes or thoughts of love. "Aunt Grouchy" is a disciple of Hindu mystics, and consults the "Swami," seeking his aid. The "Swami" practices hypnotism upon the daughter of "Aunt Grouchy," influences her to send a note breaking off the affair with the young man, and finally kidnaps the girl and holds her for ransom. Ambrosia and the boy next door discover where the girl is being held prisoner and inform the police. While the kidnappers' den is being raided, the "Swami" is at "Aunt Grouchy's" in the act of collecting the ransom money, under guise of a tribute to the Buddhist's god, but when the Secret Service men arrive and arrest him, his true character is exposed. The raid is accomplished at a critical moment, the girl is saved from harm, and when "Aunt Grouchy's" eyes are opened she realizes her past shortcomings. Conquering her proud disposition, she gives her sanction to her daughter's marriage to the poor young man, and Ambrosia lives happily ever after.