The Auteur's Selection In the Shadow of Barnaby Rudge: Cult Guide

Dir: Thomas Bentley

A gentle orphan discovers life and love in an indifferent adult world.

Dir: Thomas Bentley

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

Henry Hobson runs a successful boot-maker's shop in nineteenth-century Salford. A widower with a weakness for the pub opposite, he tries forcefully to run the lives of his three unruly daughters. When he decrees 'no marriages' to avoid the expensive matter of settlements, eldest daughter Maggie rebels and sets her sights on Will Mossop, Hobson's star boot-maker. Maggie and Will leave to start up in competition, and she then turns her mind to helping her sisters marry their chosen partners.

Dir: Thomas Bentley

A bird's-eye view of life in a City of London office.

Dir: Thomas Bentley

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

Stanley Lupino is a reporter who becomes involved with an heiress (Polly Walker) in this bright musical comedy set in Nice.

Dir: Thomas Bentley

Sherlock Holmes takes a vacation and visits his old friend Sir Henry Baskerville. His vacation ends when he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a double-murder mystery. Now he's got to find Professor Moriarty and the horse Silver Blaze before the great cup final horse race.

Dir: Thomas Bentley

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

A dwarf usurer stops a rich man from tracking his poor brother and granddaughter.

Dir: Thomas Bentley

An American prisoner of war escapes and saves a squire's daughter.

Dir: Thomas Bentley

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

A mad scientist devises a formula that puts people into a zombie-like trance to do his bidding.

Dir: Thomas Bentley

A farce based on Arthur Wing Pinero's play "The Magistrate", in which the son of a stern magistrate visits a music hall against the wishes of his father. In true farcical style, the magistrate too ends up at the music hall, and before long, all of the characters are trying not to avoid each other.

Dir: Thomas Bentley

A kindly shop owner whose overwhelming gambling debts allow a greedy landlord to seize his shop of dusty treasures. Evicted and with no way to pay his debts, he and his granddaughter flee.