Hidden Genre Gems for Fans of Dance, Girl, Dance: Cult Guide

Dir: Frank R. Strayer

When an industrious cigar manufacturer, Sam Weinberg "Max Davidson", falls into bad health, his daughter Ruth "Virginia Brown Faire", uses up her dowry to keep him in the to which he become accustomed. The money is retrieved after a horse race during which the winning horse is coaxed by his jockey in Yiddish.

Dir: Frank R. Strayer

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Now We're in the Air perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Cousins Wally and Ray seek their Scotch granddad's fortune. They get involved with the U. S. flying corps and soar over enemy lines in a balloon. They end up as heroes of the enemy, and sent back as spies. Hijinx ensue.

Dir: Frank R. Strayer

Mistaken identity and female impersonation take place when indigents Billy Winthrop (George K. Arthur) and Ethel Winthrop (Dorothy Reviere) rent a fashionable apartment for a few days in order to impress rich uncle Hiram (Tom Ricketts.) Complications and misunderstanding arise.

Dir: Frank R. Strayer

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

Jim Belmont, believing that his wife has committed adultery with Gordon Daniels, takes his small daughter, Cuddles, and heads for the Canadian wilderness. Daniels then pays Murdock to murder Jim; after Jim's death, Shep, Jim's faithful dog, assumes responsibility for the child, going to Poleon Dufresne, a trapper, for help. Poleon takes in the dog and the little girl and sends for Agnes Belmont, who quickly hurries to her child's side. Daniels follows Agnes (who, in fact, has been faithful to both the person and the memory of her husband) and attempts to kill her. Shep saves her life and drives Daniels off a cliff to his death. Agnes and Dufresne wed, providing a happy home for Shep and Cuddles.

Dir: Manuel Noriega

A woman who arrives Madrid fleeing from their abusive stepmother tries to help her cousin, who has an illegitimate child, pretending to be the real mother.

Dir: Frank R. Strayer

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

James, a young English lord, takes a job as the chauffeur of the wealthy Burgess family in order to be near Mary Burgess, a girl with whom he is in love. The romance scandalizes Mary's relatives; and James, in order to gain their consent to marry Mary, resorts to blackmail: he arranges for one of his friends to romance innocently Mary's aunt and then, if her aunt will not give her consent, threaten to expose this harmless but humiliating intrigue to the world. A real blackmailer turns up, but Jimmy soon has him on the run. Jimmy's high birth becomes public knowledge, and he and Mary are wed with the proud blessing of the entire Burgess clan.

Dir: Edward F. Cline

A lighthouse keeper finds a little girl who is washed ashore tied to some wreckage. He adopts her and they become inseparable. Eventually her real family finds her and tries to take her away.

Dir: Frank R. Strayer

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

A poor but ambitious young girl is determined to crash high society, but isn't prepared for the reception she receives.

Dir: Anton Gunnarsson

The story begins in a pawnshop owned by a middle-aged woman whose daughter is a cocaine addict. The woman is divorced and has just begun an affair with her sales assistant, a young man with extravagant habits. In the second act, we find the pawnbroker, her husband, daughter and sales assistant in one of the city's dance halls, the Eldorado. Suddenly, the police raid the place, and one of the cocaine addicts is so frightened that he pulls out a gun and shoots himself. In the third act, the whole group is in custody. However, it all ends happily when a decent police officer, who knows the pawnbroker from before, ensures that they are released.

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

Hajj, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself.