Deep Archive Finds Movies That Echo the Spirit of Cassidy: Cult Guide

Dir: Arthur Rosson

Upon his arrival in Dry Bottom, New Mexico, Easterner Kent Hollis beats up the town's crooked boss, then decides to stay and bring law and order to the community. When he discovers that Big Bill's men are rustling his cattle, Big Bill threatens him, challenges him to leave town within a few hours, then attacks him. Kent is nursed back to health by Nellie Hazelton, who is also desired by Big Bill. Kent places his name in consideration for sheriff and enforces a fair election although Big Bill's men attempt to stuff the ballot box. Kent wins the election but also the ire of Big Bill, who chases and attacks him. Kent wins the shootout and the love of Nellie. Law and order is restored to Dry Bottom.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

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

A professional boxer known as "Smiling Bill Flannigan" accidentally kills an opponent in the ring. He gives up the sport and heads west. He gets a job on a ranch as a cook, and before he knows it he finds himself involved in a war between ranchers and sheepherders.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

Parisian music hall celebrity Mignon marries young American civil engineer John Stanley. When John is suddenly assigned to undertake an engineering project in the Sahara, Mignon accompanies him and her son to the desert, although she is accustomed to a life of frivolity. After months of discontent, Mignon leaves her husband and son for Russian Baron Alexis, who establishes her in a palace in Cairo. Brokenhearted, John becomes a drug addict. Mignon later runs across her husband and son, who have become beggars. She is filled with remorse and returns to the desert to nurse her husband. John recovers slowly, reconciles with his wife, and the family finds happiness together.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

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

John Drake, a college athlete, starts for South America, where he has been promised a good job on the strength of his knowledge of the construction of safes and vaults. Aboard ship, he falls in love with Dolores Darcy, the daughter of a leading Latin American banker. Arriving in South America, John discovers that he has been made the dupe of criminals, who want him to open the vault in Señor Darcy's bank. John refuses, and his passport and wallet are stolen. In desperation, he signs up to fight an exhibition bout with Dynamite Díaz, the South American boxing champion. Isaac Belding, the leader of the criminals, has John kidnapped, forcing him to open the Darcy vault. John locks the gang in the vault, telling the police of his actions on the way to the bout. John beats Díaz and then captures Pierce, the banker's secretary, who is in league with Belding. John becomes the hero of the town, and Dolores declares her love for him.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

When District Attorney Johnson is seemingly unable to defeat a gang of drug smugglers, his assistant, Richard Jones, sets out on his own to investigate the lawbreakers. Richard soon learns that Bob Madison, the brother of the girl he loves, is a drug addict under the control of the gang. Bob joins the investigation, which leads them to an opium den in Chinatown owned by Mr. Greer, who is a rival for Bob's sister, Constance. Richard rescues her from one of Greer's drug dens, then discovers that the district attorney is taking bribes from the narcotics ring. As a reward for his outstanding work, Richard is appointed the new district attorney.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

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

Millionaire spendthrift Sam Morgan marries Constance Winwood, who tries to break Sam's spending habits by convincing Downer, the trustee of Sam's inheritance, to pretend to abscond with Sam's money. During their honeymoon, Sam spends his $10.30 pocket money, then discovers that his checks are bouncing. Unable to pay an increasingly-large taxi fare, Sam and Constance keep the cab and its sleepy driver engaged after they are thrown out of a hotel. After a friendly thief gets Sam a job in a herring refinery, Sam uses his rudimentary knowledge of Spanish to buy a shipload of herring from a South American dealer and sell it to the refinery's directors, who know no Spanish, thus making enough profit to pay his now-exorbitant taxi bill. Constance confesses her scheme, and although it seems that Downer really has absconded, he finally returns. Wealthy again, Sam and Constance adorn their bedroom with taxi meters and headlights.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

Jack Towne, who has just inherited one million dollars, is warned by his Uncle Mark to beware of strangers. Heedless of his uncle's advice, Jack becomes involved with Doris Ames whom he casually meets in a café. Unknown to Jack, Doris, who is in desperate need of money to pay the mortgage on her mother's house, is working for Mrs. Ames, The Menace and Laughing Louie, a gang of grafters hired by Uncle Mark to teach Jack a lesson. With the aid of the gang, Doris traps Jack in a compromising situation and then threatens blackmail. She refuses to go through with the scheme however, when she falls in love with Jack and realizes that the gang is out to blackmail him in earnest. Jack then proves the most cunning by hiring his own detectives to ensnare the grafters. Thus, he demonstrates to his uncle that he can handle his own affairs while also freeing Doris from the clutches of the crooks.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

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

Dreamer dairyman Phineas Dobbs of Cow Hollow suddenly acquires a fortune when oil is discovered on his ranch, and celebrates by throwing a party for the whole town. One day a young woman comes to town, delayed by train trouble. Dobbs rescues her from the town bully, and agrees to follow her to San Francisco. The woman is actually a princess who is being forced into a marriage with a man who wants to share her throne. Dobbs rides by Market Street to the St. Francis Hotel in his Western garb, and performs daring stunts to rescue the princess in distress. Together they free the princess' father. Dobbs then returns to Cow Hollow, and the princess gives up her throne to become Mrs. Phineas Dobbs.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

John Carleton, a wild eastern youth, is sent west by his father in an effort to make a man of him. The cowhands at first mock John because of his foppish golf suit, but when he rides a mean bucking bronco he wins their friendship and respect. John falls in love with Beryl King, the daughter of a longtime enemy of his father, and is strictly forbidden to visit her. John defies this prohibition and rides to the King ranch, fighting off a number of unkindly disposed ranch hands; he later dances with Beryl at a village party and persuades her to run away with him and be married. On the way to the wedding, John stops at the King spread long enough to invite Beryl's irate father to see his daughter married. Carleton, Senior, turns up later, and the old enemies are finally reconciled.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

Andy Lanning, a peace-loving blacksmith, rescues Ann, the fiancée of Charles Merchant, from a runaway team. When the town bully picks a fight with Andy, he knocks him unconscious, and (thinking he has killed him) Andy rides into the hills. Merchant, jealous of Ann's admiration for Andy, bribes the sheriff to kill Andy, who has joined a band of outlaws in the wastelands. Forced to defend himself, Andy kills the sheriff, but later he saves the new sheriff's life and forces him to hear his story when he is placed in jeopardy by the outlaw band. Meanwhile, Ann, who has broken her engagement to Merchant, engages a lawyer to clear Andy, and he returns to find her awaiting him.