The Auteur's Selection In the Shadow of Blow 'Em Up: Cult Guide

Dir: Charley Chase

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Charley Chase

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

Two men on their way home from the club, fall asleep on the curb, considerably the worse for liquor. They dream that they have gone to a land where there are no wives and finally they meet with a bunch of Indians, who lead them a merry chase, from which they awaken to the realities of life when a policeman shakes them.

Dir: Charley Chase

Snub and his girl break a mirror, walk under a ladder, a black cat crosses their path, and they meet a cross eyed man. Some amusing misadventures follow.

Dir: Charley Chase

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

Misadventures of a traveling company of actors performing for one night in a small town. When the troupe's leading lady deserts the show for a better paying job as a waitress, a young woman from the town gets the role for one night.

Dir: Charley Chase

A young married couple volunteer to take charge of several orphans after the asylum has burned down. Of course they find their hands full with their troublesome charges.

Dir: Charley Chase

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

Snub, a henpecked husband, joins an equally unhappy man on the floor below. They rebel and turn the tables on their wives.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

While walking along the street one day, Arthur P. Hampton, an impoverished young doctor, and his chums, Stub Masters and Johnny Stokes, are persuaded to part with their last remaining funds by tag day solicitor Mary Jane Smith, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Doc's friends then hit upon a get-rich-quick scheme. Knowing that his Uncle George has promised a large sum of money upon his nephew's marriage, they persuade Doc to send out fake wedding invitations naming Mary Jane as the blushing bride. Uncle George, elated at the good news, writes to Mary Jane's aunt, Angelica Burns, an old sweetheart, to invite Mary Jane and Angelica to be his guests on an ocean voyage. Meanwhile, Mary Jane pays a visit to the doctor's office and, upon seeing the wedding invitations, becomes so flustered that she trips and sprains her ankle. Doc comes to her rescue and then begs her to pose as his wife. She agrees, but at ship-side, Stub and Johnnie confess all to Uncle George, who flies into a rage until Doc announces that he and Mary Jane have chosen a wedding at sea.

Dir: Maurice Campbell

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

Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.

Dir: Charley Chase

Two hotel bell hops get into all kinds of shenanigans between dames, baths and bags of loot.

Dir: Richard Smith

Two female candidates for Chief of Police live across the hall from each other, and their political rivalry follows them home, leading to plenty of hi-jinks.