The Definitive Guide Inspired by the Vision of Blue Water: Cult Guide

Dir: Frank Beal

During a raging Montana snowstorm, Doctor Jim Barnes collapses at Esther Anderson's cabin door. Esther offers Jim refuge, but when he discovers that their food supplies are running dangerously low, he braves the journey into town in order to replenish them. On the way, he is overcome with exhaustion and fails to return. Esther, unaware of Jim's condition and abused by her stepfather, joins a theatrical troop and leaves home. Time passes and Jim finally finds Esther, but a vindictive member of her troupe accuses her of having an affair with the manager and Jim believes the accusation. He leaves and Esther goes to New York City where she becomes engaged to a jealous artist, although she still loves Jim. Sam Tuttle, a long time friend, is aware of Esther's continuing love, and so brings Jim to New York City in time to save Esther from an unhappy marriage.

Dir: William Parke

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

Bruce Wendell, the son of West Virginia coal mine owner James Wendell, graduates from West Point and prepares to lead a fighting unit to the front during World War I. As his father lies dying, however, he convinces Bruce to remain at home and guard the mine. Bruce's fiancée Ann Blair assumes that he is a coward and breaks off their engagement, but her brother Bobbie remains Bruce's loyal friend. Meyer, a German agent, persuades railroad president Parrish to refuse to transport Wendell's coal, but when Bruce adamantly refuses to close the mine, the spy's men decide to blow it up. While Ann is being abducted by Meyer, Bobbie is buried in an explosion at the mine. Bruce rescues Bobbie and then sends a plea to Lieutenant Parrish to rescue Ann. Meyer and his gang are captured and Ann renews her vow of love to Bruce.

Dir: Tod Browning

Achmet Bey, a Turkish chieftain, catches one of his many wives in adultery and murders her lover. Throwing aside the cuckolding wife, he abducts his harem an innocent girl. However, a brave American who loves her comes to her rescue.

Dir: Edgar Jones

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

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

Dir: Edward Dillon

Her education in a French convent school completed, plain Justine Spencer returns to New York. There she is shocked to discover that her mother Dodo is a flamboyant musical comedy actress with many male admirers. Dodo, on the other hand, is dismayed to find Justine priggish and dowdy. One of Dodo's suitors is Billy Ferris, who, in a fit of jealousy, murders her and slays himself. Out of pity, Cosmo Spotiswood, another admirer of Dodo, marries Justine, but soon tires of his platonic marriage and leaves for Europe. Upon his return, Cosmo finds Justine transformed. Under the tutelage of Dodo's maid Loti, she has bobbed her hair and donned fashionable apparel. Thus changed, Justine is surrounded by suitors. Stung by jealousy, Cosmo falls in love with his sophisticated wife.

Dir: David Hartford

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

Mary Lawton bids farewell to her father, Mark Lawton, and his business partner, John Adams, to whom she is engaged, leaving Arizona to study art in New York. After a time, John visits Mary unexpectedly and discovers to his sorrow that she has forgotten him in the convivial whirl of her new life. Upon his return to Arizona, he learns that Mark has died, and in his grief and disappointment, he sets fire to the house he built for Mary. Still in New York, Mary visits sculptor Trovio Valdez and is about to surrender to his advances when she sees his bronze statue of John. Realizing her love for her old sweetheart, she abandons her Bohemian friends and accepts a position as a governess with oil magnate Frank Marsh. Frank wants John's oil-rich lands but offers to give up his claim if Mary will be his wife. She agrees, but when Frank realizes that her heart belongs to John, he rides out of their lives, and they finally reunite.

Dir: David Hartford

A woman finds herself all alone in a remote harbor with the man responsible for the murder of her father. With seemingly nobody around to protect her, she has to be resourceful.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

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

A lady marries a horse trainer but withholds herself until her crippled brother is cured.

Dir: David Hartford

Yvonne Dupré, the sole survivor of a once-noble French family, makes a modest living selling her paintings to Leon Naisson, who resells them for exorbitant prices as the work of a famous artist. Leon confides to Yvonne's gypsy model, Romildo, that he is sexually attracted to the artist. Romildo drugs his lover, the fiery apache dancer, Juliette, who closely resembles Yvonne, then invites Leon to rape her for one thousand francs. Leon discovers that she is not Yvonne, but convinces the artist's sweetheart, Dick Gray, that she has been unfaithful. As police close in on Leon, he frames Yvonne by planting forged paintings in her studio. Following Yvonne's arrest, Juliette is informed by her foster sister that she was stolen by gypsies as a child and is actually Yvonne's twin sister. Juliette exposes Leon's operation to the police, reuniting Yvonne and Dick.

Dir: David Hartford

A spy known as "1932" during World War I, is commissioned by the German Secret Service to trail English agent Captain Woodhouse to the Straits of Gibraltar and there effect the destruction of the British fleet. Before his departure, 1932 helps Jane Gerson, an American girl falsely accused of espionage, and later falls in love with her. In Egypt, 1932 secures Woodhouse's clothes and identification and proceeds to Gibraltar. The governor of Gibraltar is led to suspect "Woodhouse" by British agent Billy Capper and Jane, who is his house-guest. In the end, Jaimihr, a Turkish servant employed by the governor, is revealed as the true German agent, and 1932 is identified as Captain Cavendish of the British Intelligence Bureau, who is now free to turn his attention to Jane.