The Essential Watchlist that Capture the Essence of Charity Castle:...

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

As part of a divorce settlement, Theodore Ainsley gets custody of his older daughter Millicent, and his wife Elinor gets their younger daughter Jean. The two girls, normally inseparable, can't bear to be away from each other and run away together, but are soon caught by the authorities. Another custody hearing ensues, during which the girls' attorney Horace Craig makes an unusual, and somewhat shocking, proposal.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

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

An orphan girl, believing herself cursed with the hoodoo until she gets married, is adopted by a childless couple after the orphanage burns down. Boy-next-door meets girl-next-door, and all looks great until she finds a loaded gun.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

When the son of a leader of a Paris underworld family known as The Apaches is arrested and tried in court, the boy's mother asks the judge for mercy, but he refuses. In retaliation, the family kidnaps the judge's young daughter and raises her to be one of their own, schooling her in the ways of crime. One day she steals a valuable pin from a young American artist; he catches her, but an attraction develops between them--and her "Apache" family is not happy about it.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

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

Young Jackie Kernwood, the daughter of the colonel commanding an army post, is bored with the routines of post life, and to break the monotony she organizes a girls' brigade, of which her father disapproves. When the colonel forces her to disband the group, she makes up her mind to run away and become a nurse in the Red Cross. Before she can do that, however, she stumbles across evidence of a spy ring headed by an officer on the post that is plotting to blow up a troop train--and it looks like the chief spy is her boyfriend, Lt. Adair.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

When Geoffrey Challoner sees his new wife Robin reading old love letters, he assumes that they have been sent by a rival lover and storms out of the house. In his absence, Norman Craig, who with his wife plans to lease an upstairs apartment owned by Judge Corcoran, wanders into the Challoners' apartment, and Robin, mistaking him for a burglar, shoots him and then runs for a doctor. Returning, Geoffrey sees a man draped across his wife's bed and immediately files for divorce. Mrs. Craig and Norman, who had merely fainted, are invited to Judge Corcoran's weekend home along with the Challoners, whom the judge hopes to reunite. Norman's drunken condition brings him once again into Robin's room, however, while Geoffrey is discovered in a compromising situation with Mrs. Craig. Following a bewildering series of misadventures, including an attempted robbery by the maid and the chauffeur, Geoffrey learns that the love letters actually were his own, and the young couple are reconciled.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

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

Wild young Ann Anderson keeps getting expelled from boarding schools because of her passion for pulling pranks. She is finally enrolled at Madame D'Arcy's Finishing School. One night she is awakened by a noise in her room to find a young man stealing from her. However, it turns out that the burglar, Robert, is forced to steal money to buy food for his starving mother. Ann, feeling sorry for him, tells Madame D'Arcy that Robert is actually her husband home from the army, but it doesn't work and she gets expelled from that school, too. However, circumstances take a strange turn when she gets mixed up with a second burglar, is kidnapped and discovers that "Robert" isn't quite who he said he was.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

H. Ulysses Watts is a traveling Shakespearean actor whose career is on the decline, as his audiences are more interested in cinema and vaudeville. When the troupe is robbed by Stoner, Watts cares for an injured young trapeze artist.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

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

Alys Gilson leaves the complacency of her parents' home to move to the big city and partake in the lofty ideals espoused by the Culture Club. As a member of this Bohemian group, Alys succumbs to the influence of Peyton Le Moyne who preaches that marriages should be founded on absolute freedom. Consequently, when Thurston Bruce, a young lawyer not of the group, proposes to Alys, she accepts on the condition that the marriage be dissolved if either finds their love has ceased to exist. Bruce soon wearies of his wife's "serious thinkers" who occupy his apartment day and night, and their relationship becomes strained. Finally, Bruce informs Alys that they must terminate their marriage because he is in love with his secretary, Marion Hamilton, who will give him a real home. Brokenhearted, Alys returns to her parents' home to find Bruce waiting there for her and discovers that the whole story was a scheme to bring her to her senses.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

Hunchbacked Japanese artist Marashida, marries Jewel, the daughter of Yasakuj. Their happy married life is destroyed when the daughter of an American missionary, Alice Carroway, known as Ali-San, persuades Marashida to pose for her sculpture of the deformed god Ni-O. While Marashida's character gradually deforms, Yasakuji recognizes in Ali-San the traits of the legendary Fox Woman, who because she had no soul of her own, stole those of others, sometimes turning warriors into crazy beasts. After Jewel, to please Marashida, indulges Ali-San's demand that she be her "playmate," she suffers further humiliation when Ali-San makes her the servant in her father's mission. Finally, Jewel discards the American clothes she is made to wear and, dressed in her wedding robes, goes to her ancestors' tomb to commit harakiri. When Yasakuji climbs up Ali-San's balcony, and she sees his face in her mirror, she accidentally falls off the balcony to her death. Released from Ali-San's spell, Marashida takes Jewel's dagger from her, and they live happily again.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

A small-town girl returns home from schooling in the East to find that her father's small store and indeed the whole town are in danger of being eliminated by a ruthless land developer. The developer has a son who falls for the young girl, and together they try to come up with a plan to save her father's store and the town.