The Cult Collection Comparable to the Style of Big Brown Eyes: Cult...

Dir: Raoul Walsh

Harold Whitley, a member of New York's idle rich, is upset when the United States enters World War I. Upon learning that married men are exempt from the Selective Draft, Harold urges his fiancée Mary to wed him quickly, but Mary indignantly threatens to break their engagement. At the twenty-story skyscraper that Harold's father is building, Mary meets Jim Kelly, the contractor's son, and is impressed as he rises on a beam. Jim returns Mary's gloves to her Fifth Avenue address, where Harold insults him. At training camp, Jim, enthusiastic about the draft, is promoted to aviation captain, while Harold, who exhibits cowardice as a captain, is released. In France, Jim is knocked unconscious by a shell and nursed by Mary, now in the Red Cross. Jim captures a German raiding party, and after he makes them exchange clothes with allied soldiers, they are shot by their own men. When Mary is abducted by a German prince, Jim pursues on horseback, tumbles over a cliff, swims ashore and arrives in time to rescue her. They then escape in an airplane.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

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

A boy surrounded by violence grows up to become an infamous gangster.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

After Mary Carroll's husband learns that she has had an affair, he challenges her former lover to a duel and is killed. Mary is thrown out by her husband's wealthy family and separated from her little boy, John Carroll, Jr. Years later, John Jr. falls in love with Ruth Fulton, the daughter of the horse trainer for Rex Burleigh. When her father dies, Ruth accepts Rex's offer to care for her, but she leaves the expensive apartment he has provided when she learns his true motives. Boxer and former jockey Kid Dugan kills Rex because he also loves Ruth. Ruth later becomes a secretary to Mary, unaware that she is John Jr.'s mother. Ruth leaves after Mary learns of her involvement with Rex, then Mary acknowledges to John Jr. that she is his mother. John Jr. introduces Ruth to his mother, who advises her to confess everything to her son. Ruth does so, but John Jr. refuses to believe in her innocence. When John Jr. is set up to lose on a big horse race, Ruth rushes in and rides the horse to victory and is forgiven by John Jr.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Should a Husband Forgive? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Under promise of marriage, innocent Mary Ellen Ellis leaves her country home to accompany the experienced Walter Benton to the city. Mary Ellen finds herself in an underworld milieu, but she is able to influence burglar Bull Clark to reform, thus earning his undying gratitude. Clark is able to repay Mary Ellen when he rescues her from The Weasel, who has followed her to her apartment. When Benton returns and finds his wife and Clark together, a fight ensues between the two men in which Benton is killed by The Weasel. Clark is accused of the murder and sentenced to jail, but escapes and joins the Navy. Meanwhile, Mary Ellen is forced to live in shame until she is rescued by Jane Murray, an office assistant in an East Side infirmary. There Mary Ellen meets Dr. Graham, Benton's cousin, and the two fall in love. Fear of the doctor's scorn for her past life forces Mary Ellen to leave, and she is abducted by The Weasel and imprisoned in a vacant room. A newsboy informs the doctor of her whereabouts, and through the doctor's efforts Mary Ellen wins her freedom as well as his love.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

Peasant girl Vania is assaulted by a duke who murders her lover and sends her away to London. There she becomes a famous actress. The Duke, seeing her perform but not recognizing her, hears that his son is wounded. "If anything should happen to my boy, I think it would kill me." That's all the motivation Vania needs to go to the front, find the one-armed paralyzed boy and marry him. Next she arranges to make love to his father just as the boy enters the room, causing the young man to blow out his brains.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

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

When notorious bandit Leopoldo Juarez takes refuge in her house, pretty young Mexican girl Carmelita finds herself falling for him, and arranges to meet him at a nearby brook, but falls asleep soon after he leaves. She awakens to find American army officer William Jerome arriving at the house, looking for Jerome. Intrigued by the young officer, she tells him about her scheduled meeting with the bandit. Juarez finds out about it, and forces her to wear his hat and coat. Jerome mistakenly shoots her, is tried for murder and sentenced to be shot before a firing squad. However, everything isn't quite the way it seems to be . . .

Dir: Raoul Walsh

The life of Sam Houston--soldier, statesman, patriot, and one of the founders of the Republic of Texas--is depicted.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

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

Harle, a successful French businessman, is so absorbed with his factory that he neglects his wife Claire. One day, Harle's old friend Henri, the Marquis de Puymaufray, comes to visit, and Claire falls in love with the cultured and sensitive man. Several months after his departure, Claire gives birth to a baby girl, Claudia, and dies shortly afterward from neglect and depression. Twenty years pass and Claudia has grown into a beautiful woman. Her father wishes her to wed a count, but she loves Maurice, a young American. During a labor dispute, Claudia is abducted by her father's disgruntled employees and held for ransom. The marquis, who has long watched over the girl, loses his life in a rescue attempt, but Maurice finally succeeds in liberating his sweetheart. After the marquis' death, it is revealed that Claudia actually was his daughter, and Harle, crushed, retires to his country estate, freeing the girl to voyage to America with the man she loves.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

When spoiled playboy Algernon DePont gets thrown out of Harvard, his father throws him off the family estate. Algernon proceeds to take his butler and drive out West looking for adventure. He finds it when he falls in love with the daughter of a cattle rancher and finds himself the target of a lynch mob.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

When the United States enters World War I, a mother sends her two eldest sons off to the battlefields with a smile, although her heart is breaking. She soon learns that the eldest is missing and the second son is wounded, however, and resolves to keep her youngest at home. The boy, due to the influence of pacifist literature, willingly accompanies his mother on a secret journey to their seaside home, but the father, ashamed that his son is a "slacker," discovers their whereabouts. The three are in the midst of a heated argument when the pitiful survivors of a ship destroyed offshore by a German U-boat come to the house seeking refuge. The mother and son realize the importance of the cause and the son enlists. At Christmas, all three sons come home, the eldest accompanied by his new French bride.