The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of Conceit: Cult Guide

Dir: Dallas M. Fitzgerald

Confidence artist Flossie Golden attempts to fleece foolish but wealthy James Venable with a breach-of-promise suit. Venable's shrewd attorney, Richard Harding, outwits Flossie by proposing that she marry Venable and live on an allowance of $3,000 per year. Flossie is determined to get even with Harding for ruining her plans. In an attempt to con him, she poses as Innocence Page, but falls in love and marries him instead. Larry, Flossie's former accomplice, endeavors to blackmail her with her errant past, but Harding is already cognizant of the facts and Larry fails.

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.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Devil's Riddle perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

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

Dir: Burton George

Giovanni Pallazzi, a former member of the Black Hand, an Italian criminal organization, comes to America with his blind daughter Lucia and prospers. Hearing of his success, his former associates demand that he aid in their support. Giovanni refuses, and the organization decrees that he must die. Luigi, the leader, comes to America and tries to force Lucia to marry him, but she refuses. While praying one night, her father is killed. Though blind, her hearing is acute and she notices a peculiar cadence in the walk of her father's slayer. Luigi now takes charge and forces her into the street to play her violin for gratuities. After she is picked up by the prosecuting attorney, her eyesight is restored by physicians. When the police apprehend Luigi, Lucia puts on a blindfold and is able to identify him as her father's killer by the sound of his step.

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

Dir: Burton George

After watching her mother die gradually from a broken heart, Roberta, an illegitimate child, decides to seek vengeance from her father Bradley, who ran away before she was born. Bradley is wealthy now, and so Roberta secures a job as his secretary and schemes to ruin his financial empire. Meanwhile, she becomes friends with the hunchback Orloaf. Because of his physical deformity, however, Orloaf feels that he cannot tell her he loves her, and because she was born out of wedlock, Roberta believes that she is not good enough for him. Then, carrying out her plan, Roberta burns down Bradley's riverfront warehouses. Full of remorse afterward, she writes Orloaf a note that expresses her love and then tries to kill herself. When he finishes reading the note, however, Orloaf rushes to Roberta and revives her, and then the couple begins making plans for their life together.

Dir: William Parke

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.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Tell-Tale Step perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

A simple country girl, brutally mistreated by her stepfather, awakens first the sympathy, then the love, of The Boy. The Spider, who lusts after The Girl, makes a bargain with the stepfather and takes her to the city where, kept prisoner, she is soon broken in health and spirit. Cast out and near death, she is taken in by The Boy. Following the demise of The Spider, The Boy takes her to church, where he prays, and after many hours she is restored to health.

Dir: Burton George

Eve Ricardo, a society girl, is sent to live with her aunt in a New England village by her father, a speculator who has lost all his money. She is initially attracted to John Sheen until she discovers that he is a violent thug and bully. She then falls for writer Paul Armitage. Sheen does not take rejection well, and conspires with his sister, Nina Carey--who is married, whose husband is in India and who is in love with Paul--to discredit Paul and break up their romance.

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

Dir: Burton George

A girl picks a bum from a park bench and marries him, finding out later that he was once rich and they knew each other as children.

Dir: Burton George

Sebastian Maure has never known the influence of a good woman's love. He is the type of man who takes a keen delight in knowing that he is held in awe and extends that feeling still further by his daring books. Ghirlaine Bellamy, a young American girl, with her aunt, Mrs. Bellamy, is visiting Rome. She is being courted by Vincent Pamfort, a young English officer of good standing. He is called to England, but before he goes be receives Ghirlaine's promise to marry him. Ghirlaine exerts a new influence over Maure. When he learns that she and her aunt are returning to England on account of the latter's health, he manages to be a passenger on the same vessel. His desire for the girl gets the better of him. Under the name of their mutual friend, Ernesto Sangallo, he asks her to meet him on the deck the first night out, and then he picks her up bodily and drops her overboard. They are picked up by Ilario, a fisherman, and are taken to a small island where dwell fisherfolk. The girl is cared for by the housekeeper of the native priest, and when she is somewhat recovered, Maure arranges for her removal to a certain haunted villa. It seems that Fannia, the daughter of Ilario, was in love with Annibale. Her father wanted her to wed the schoolmaster, so Annibale took the girl and they established themselves in the villa at the top of the cliff, where he guarded her day and night. The superstition of the natives kept them from coming near. But this does not in the least deter Maure from engaging the villa, and thence Ghirlaine is removed and placed under the care of Fannia, who is about to become a mother. An epidemic of cholera breaks out in the village, and the natives credit Maure with producing the plague. With his strong personality he dissuades them from their belief, and he does all he can to alleviate the sufferings of the stricken ones. Eventually he finds a cure for them. Meantime, the child has been born to Fannia and the motherly devotion displayed by Ghirlaine arouses for the first time in the heart of Maure a desire to become a better man. He goes on his way without thought of self, aiding the poor natives and becoming to them almost a god. Then one day in the harbor a yacht is sighted, just as Maure is stricken with the dread disease. On the boat are Vincent Pamfort and Ernesto Sangallo, who has come in search of Ghirlaine. At first Vincent is angry, but he finally is calmed and the three leave. But weeks later, when Maure has recovered from his illness though the efforts of the kind priest, and at last has stricken from his soul all of the evil and has become a man true to his better and higher self, Ghirlaine returns to him, as she has discovered that she loves him more than anyone in the whole world.