Must-Watch List in the Vein of Daredevil Jack: Cult Guide

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Bob Cross is a newspaper reporter who, in trailing "Painter" Paul, a notorious crook, gets wind of a plot to kidnap Martha Steadman. The girl is grandniece of a millionaire named Biddle. Bob invades the Biddle premises, just in time to discover the body of Mr. Biddle after he has been murdered by his business associate, named Jules Fernol, who is in reality leader of a gang of crooks. Fernol has embezzled Martha's fortune and is trying to cover up one crime by committing another. Bob is so like the dead man's son, Dick Biddle, that the gangsters charge the crime to him, thinking to get him out of the way. Bob, realizing that he has been mistaken for another, allows himself to be sent to jail, but later, through collusion with the police, makes a getaway. He then begins an effort to rescue the girl from her danger and find the real murderer of Biddle.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Dan Stover is the captain of a harbor tug whose task is to keep ships away from a dangerous bar, lies to his wife Ellen about the nature of his work, saying that he remains in the harbor. One night, Stover is sent to rescue a ship on the harbor bar. He leaves without telling his wife; she awakens during a terrific storm and delivers a stillborn child. Stover's boss, a former sweetheart of Mrs. Stover's, encourages her to believe that Stover has been unfaithful, implicating Madge Barlow, the fiancée of Dan's mate, a boy who lost his life at sea. Believing the rumor, Ellen leaves on the next passenger ship just as Madge dies and Stover is bringing her baby home. The ship crashes on the harbor bar, Dan goes to the rescue, he admits the truth about his job, and they find happiness with the adopted baby.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Real life outlaw Al Jennings tells a "real" story about how he came to the aid of a woman who was abused by her alcoholic husband.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Out of the elite and civilized east into the rough and primitive west there comes a little party which judged the desert must be larger than all New York, and their trail a little longer than the Gay White Way. Ruth Harkness, who has inherited the Flying W ranch from a relative, heads the timid little band. A prim and conventional aunt and uncle and Willard Masten, her fiancé, all dolled up according to his Fifth Avenue tailors ideas of the west, accompany her. Headlong the little party plunges into the meshes of a conspiracy of two cowboys to mulct the girl of her holdings. Rex Randerson, a happy-go-lucky ranger with a clear-gray eye, steps in to frustrate the plot, and incidentally falls in love with Ruth. This enrages Masten, who joins the conspirators and extends their plot to include Randerson's death. The girl and the ranger are caught in their "death trap'' and count themselves lost, but the fearlessness of Rex in a single-handed battle with the villains saves the day. Ruth thanks him by consenting to become his bride, and an old-fashioned cowboy wedding ends the dark adventure.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Tex Hartwell comes to the aid of an old cobbler by protecting him from the blows and insults of Jim Mackey, a skinflint banker. Mackey orders his hired guns to get Tex, but Tex is too quick for them. On the strength of his fast draw, Tex is hired as a trail rider by Dee Winch, being given the job of keeping diseased cattle off Winch's grasslands. Mackey's men later stampede a herd of infected cattle onto Winch's land, and Tex is fired in disgrace. Fanny Goodnight informs Tex that Mackey is the leader of the cattle runners, and Tex forces him to sign a confession to that effect. The old cobbler later kills Mackey, Tex is cleared with the cattlemen, and he and Fanny decide to ride a trail of their own together.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Captain Duncan McTeague, ashore in Southport, finds a deserted baby boy with a note and half of a dollar bill pinned to its clothing. The note states that the mother hopes some day to return and identify the child with the other half of the dollar bill. McTeague raises the child. When he is four years old, the captain discharges his mate Martin Webber, who seeks revenge by kidnapping the boy. A woman turns up who proves to be the missing mother. Webber is killed and the mother and Captain McTeague are united.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Following a streak of hard luck at the racetrack, Boots and his pal, Push, are down to their last dime. Boots saves a drunken young man named Kendall from being robbed of his considerable winnings at the roulette table and later drives Kendall back to his small hometown. There Boots meets Pert Barlow and decides to stay near her, taking a job in her father's store. Old Barlow owns a broken-down racehorse named Gold Heels, which Boots buys from him and trains for the big race. At the local orphanage, a child dies because of the dilapidated condition of the building, and Pert raises enough money to build a new orphanage. Old Barlow takes charge of the money, but it is stolen. Boots is accused of the crime and sent to jail. He is sprung by his pals, loads Gold Heels in a horse-trailer, drives to the track, and watches his horse win the big race. Kendall is exposed as the real thief and Boots is reconciled with Pert, whose father gives them his blessing to be married.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Through a forged will, a crook assumes control of a valuable estate. He poses as the brother of a dead man, and endeavors to dispose of the deceased man's two daughters, one of whom is in love with the forger's son.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Young mother Mary Gordoon is too poor to take care of her infant daughter, Ann, and leaves the child at an orphanage. Ann grows up with a crippled leg in the orphanage, and has fallen in love with a fellow orphan, Jimmy.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Tom Bain was born with a tongue so glib that his parents, early in his career, predicted he would be a second Chauncey Depew. In college it developed until he was capable of selling Liberty Bonds in a poor house. But Tom was ambitious to be an inventor and so built a tunneling machine that "would start at one side of a mountain and propel itself through to the other without man's assistance." His gift of gab sold the rights to the machine to a big manufacturing firm, but they soon found it worthless and instead of building machines, Tom was placed on the payroll as a salesman. And then, after an exciting series of adventures, Tom finally wins the hand of Peggy, whom he had met and courted in his college days. The wedding occurs in a hospital where the couple meet accidentally as patients.