The Recommended Vault Parallel to the Artistry of Big Happiness: Cult Guide

Dir: Colin Campbell

A man is found guilty of murdering a woman by way of circumstantial evidence, and is executed. Afterwards, it is discovered that his supposed victim is not dead at all, but working as a prostitute in a Western city. Scenario was written for the screen by Maibelle Heikes Justice, who was an outspoken opponent of capital punishment.

Dir: Colin Campbell

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

In the small shipbuilding town of Danforth, Albert Walker realizes, to his distress, that German sympathizers, spies and draft evaders, by voicing doubts about the United States' involvement in the war, are having a disastrous effect on the patriotic spirit of the townspeople. In order to silence these "yellow dogs," Albert organizes the boys of Danforth into a club, to be headed by a young patriot called "Nosey" White. The boys pledge to challenge unpatriotic remarks by handling the speaker a card labeled "yellow dog." While Nosey is in the home of his sweetheart, Kate Cummings, one day, he overhears her father, Alexander Cummings, in conversation with a group of German spies. Learning that the agents plan to set fire to the shipyard, he informs his father, who rushes to the scene and engages one of the spies in a fight. The spy is shot, and when Albert and Nosey expose Cummings, the German is sent to prison.

Dir: Colin Campbell

Caleb Conover, a railroad section boss, marries Letty, the daughter of a man of higher social standing, after rescuing her from harassment in a rough Italian neighborhood. By unrelenting force and tenacity, Conover becomes the corrupt political boss of his county, and the railroad president. His son Gerald refuses to work, and marries a chorus girl who is after his money and who retains her former lover. When Conover's daughter Vera returns from Europe supposedly married to a prince, Conover throws an elaborate reception and drunkenly nominates himself for governor. Anice Lanier, Conover's trusted secretary, to whom he is attracted, likes Clive Standish, a lawyer Conover cannot corrupt. After she steals compromising letters Conover wrote to his broker, Conover learns that Anice is the daughter of a man he earlier ruined. When Letty informs him that Vera's "prince" was untitled, the marriage not legal, and that she is starving in Paris, Conover, his drive now gone, loses the election to Standish.

Dir: Colin Campbell

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

When her mother elopes with a lover and her father dies cursing the name of God, Domini Enfilden attempts to forget her pain in Beni Mora, an oasis in the Sahara. At the desert hotel, she meets and falls in love with Boris Androvsky, a tormented man of mystery. Abruptly announcing his departure one day, Boris bids farewell to Domini in the Garden of Allah, but passion overwhelms them, and after making love, they are married by Father Roubier. The two are happy until Capt. De Trevignac, a dinner guest, recognizes Boris as the former Father Antoine, a priest whose irrepressible lust forced him to leave the monastery. De Trevignac says nothing, but after his departure, Boris confesses to Domini, who urges him to return to the monastery. The years pass, and Domini rears her son Boris in the Garden of Allah.

Dir: Colin Campbell

U.S. Secret Service agent Truxton Darnley attires himself as a sailor and boards a schooner owned by Gus Olsen, who has been employed by a German spy named Von Linterman to smuggle arms to German raiders in the South Seas. During the voyage, Truxton learns that Gus and his men plan to blow up the National Munitions Plant in San Francisco, but Gus discovers his identity and throws him overboard. Truxton is washed ashore on the island of Moana, where he meets and falls for Lurline, the daughter of beachcomber "Brandy" Cain. Promising to return to her, Truxton boards a steamer bound for San Francisco in the hope of saving the munitions plant, and soon afterwards, Brandy sells Lurline into marriage with Gus. Seeing Truxton's steamer, Lurline dives from Gus's schooner, and her sweetheart rescues her. In San Francisco, Gus abducts Lurline and forces her to dance in his Barbary Coast saloon, but Truxton and his men raid the bar, and Gus is killed. After receiving the happy news that her real father is the owner of the munitions plant, Lurline joins Truxton, the man of her dreams.

Dir: Colin Campbell

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

A scientist who is married to an amoral woman lives next door to a happily married couple. At first envying their happiness, the scientist eventually falls in love with his neighbor's wife. When her husband goes on a business trip to Africa, the scientist also goes abroad to avoid temptation but finds himself sailing from Cairo aboard the same ship as his neighbor's wife, who is traveling to join her husband. The ship is wrecked when it collides with another vessel, and the two are marooned together at the edge of the jungle, with the woman suffering from amnesia and mistaking the scientist for her husband. About to kill himself to save the honor of his neighbors' marriage, the scientist is saved by the return of the woman's memory and by the subsequent arrival of her husband. Electing to remain in the jungle, the lonely scientist toasts the couple's happiness from afar.

Dir: Colin Campbell

Former college football hero Kirk Anthony, to the disappointment of his father, a railroad magnate, refuses to enter the business world. Kirk prefers to coach the university team and carouse, until he is drugged during a drunken victory party and put aboard a steamer bound for Panama by an embezzler who switches clothes with him. During the trip, Mrs. Edith Cortlandt, who has married her diplomat husband for convenience, falls in love with Kirk. In Panama, Kirk and Allan Allan, a Jamaican friend, are arrested when Kirk's efforts to use American firefighting methods cause a riot. After Mrs. Cortlandt's influence gets Kirk out of jail and into a job, he falls in love with Chiquita Garavel, the daughter of a Spanish grandee. When Mrs. Cortlandt warns Kirk not to marry Chiquita, her husband overhears. He insults Kirk in public, and Kirk vows revenge. After Cortlandt commits suicide, and Kirk, who has secretly married Chiquita, is arrested, Mrs. Cortlandt withholds Cortlandt's suicide note, but Kirk's father arrives and convinces her to help arrange Kirk's release.

Dir: Colin Campbell

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

Living with her cruel and greedy father on their Indiana farm, Pretty Patience Thompson, is a "girl with a singing soul," However, her life of drudgery is brightened by John, the hired hand, but when he asks for her hand in marriage, the old man flies into a rage and discharges him. Soon an aged but wealthy widower courts Patience, and although she still loves John, her father orders her to marry the widower. Aware of her unhappiness, the kindly squire and his wife arrange for John to hide in the Thompson home on the day of the wedding. With all of the guests assembled, Patience runs from the room and pretends to escape on a horse, and while the two old men search the fields for her, she quietly marries John.

Dir: Colin Campbell

Tom and Sally are the only survivors when their wagon train is attacked by Swift Wing's braves. Starlight aids in their escape and they join a group of hunters. But there is more trouble when the tribe attacks again.

Dir: Colin Campbell

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.