Rare Cinematic Gems Exploring the Legacy of Daring Days: Cult Guide

Dir: John B. O'Brien

When the marriage of Justus and Dorothy Druce fails, their daughter Dorothy goes with her mother to the Catskills, while her twin sister Justine settles in New York with Justus. Years later, Justine becomes engaged to Charlton Sloane, who offers to help Justus out of his financial difficulties by pawning the Druce family jewels. Justus' niece Adelaide, bitterly disappointed in her love for Charlton, convinces her uncle that the young man stole the jewels, prompting Justine to seek the services of Warde MacMahon, a young lawyer vacationing in the Catskills. When Warde's car overturns, Dorothy tends to his injuries in her childhood hideaway, "The Inn of the Blue Moon," and the two fall in love. Dorothy and Justine finally meet, and following several adventures involving their identities, Charlton's name is cleared, the daughters are married to their prospective suitors, and the long separated parents are reunited.

Dir: John B. O'Brien

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

Owen and Ernest Wharton, sons of sweatshop owner James Wharton, become interested in two of their father's employees. Owen, a settlement worker, falls in love with Mary, while Ernest, a full time womanizer, makes her sister Amy his mistress. Another sister, Jane, grows increasingly consumptive, but when Mary asks James for some money for Jane's treatment, he refuses. Hearing of the trouble, Ernest offers money to Mary, but only if she too agrees to be his mistress. Enraged, Mary forces him at gunpoint, to marry Amy. Then Owen, knocked unconscious in an accident, calls out for Mary. James begs her to see Owen, but before agreeing to go, Mary makes him promise to improve sweatshop conditions. Finally, Owen recovers and he and Mary plan their marriage. Meanwhile, marriage has turned Ernest into a devoted husband, and James keeps his word about shop conditions.

Dir: John B. O'Brien

Imar the Servitor rescues an American tourist who has lost his way in the desert and the two men become friends. Before he leaves, the American gives his friend a picture of his fiancée. When the tourist returns home, he discovers that his girlfriend has married a horseman, both of whom have journeyed to the Arabian desert. Imar's master attacks the trader's wife. Her husband then accuses her of infidelity and starts to beat her. Imar recognizes her from the picture given to him by his American friend and rescues her. They both traverse the desert and meet her former fiancé, who has been sent for. Her husband and Imar's master are slain, leaving the three friends free of any retribution.

Dir: John B. O'Brien

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

Eleanor Alderson and her young sister Jane lose their positions as models when Eleanor prevents Jane from accepting buyers' invitations. Eleanor accepts help from a retired seeress and becomes known as "Isis the Eastern Mystic," establishing herself and her sister fashionably. One of Jane's joyrides results in her being compromised with Hamilton, a married man whose wife seeks evidence for divorce. Eleanor arrives at the roadhouse in time to save Jane, but Mrs. Hamilton files her suit, naming Jane. Eleanor has met and loves Ernest Bickley the harum-scarum scion of a wealthy family. To avoid scandal, Jane accepts the hospitality of friends in a nearby city. Adventuress Mrs. Herriard sets her cap for Ernest and, learning of his love for Eleanor, attempts to break up the match while a guest at a party at the Bickley home, where Eleanor is also visiting. In her exile, Jane falls in love with George Saunders, a chum of Ernest's, but she is panic-stricken when he attends the party, fearing that he will learn the truth. A news story of the divorce trial, accompanied by a photograph of Eleanor, causes her to be regarded as the co-respondent, and to protect Jane, she finally acknowledges that she is the woman in the case Ernest refuses to believe Eleanor's self-accusation. He learns that she has a sister, and by a clever scheme, leads her to believe that Jane is at the door, Eleanor falling into the trap and disclosing the secret. Her loyalty to her sister wins the entire Bickley family and Jane's name is cleared of the stain when it is learned she was innocently led into the affair.

Dir: John B. O'Brien

Harmony Wells, a gifted violinist, moves to Paris to complete her musical education. Her money soon disappears, and she is forced to live in an inexpensive pension house, where she meets Dr. Peter Byrne, a promising American surgeon who has come to Paris to study. The doctor falls in love with Harmony and proposes, but although she returns his love, she refuses him, determined to pursue her career. One of Peter's patients, a crippled child named Jimmy, who is dangerously ill, asks Harmony to brighten his hours by playing for him. Realizing that the boy is about to die, Harmony seeks out his mother, a dancer who deserted him for the vaudeville stage, but the woman arrives at her son's bedside too late. Shortly before Harmony's debut, she visits Jimmy's grave, where she meets the grief-stricken mother, who advises her to "play for your own children as you played for my little boy." Rushing back to Peter, Harmony accepts his proposal of marriage.

Dir: John B. O'Brien

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

Young Nan was rescued from a shipwreck by a man who became her foster father. Years later, when he dies, she moves to a nearby city and unknowingly gets involved with a criminal gang. When the gang attempts and fails to rob wealthy Thomas Carter's home, Nan finally discovers what they are and tells the police all she knows, resulting in the imprisonment of Bad Riley, the gang's leader. The Carters gratefully take Nan into their home as a daughter, honoring the memory of their own daughter who had drowned years before, and the young son, Rev. Robert Carter, begins a romance with her. But the jailed Riley escapes and comes after Nan.

Dir: John B. O'Brien

In the future (1921), an alliance of several foreign countries plot to attack the US. American officials, coming to the realization that the country is basically defenseless, offer $1,000,000 to anyone who can come up with a weapon to defeat the invaders. Winthrop Clavering, a writer and inventor, hears of the reward and tells his friend Bartholomew Thompson, a scientist and inventor who has been working on developing flying torpedo. However, enemy agents have also heard about Thompson's project, and set out to kill him and steal his plans.

Dir: John B. O'Brien

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

Mae Carter is the ward of Col. Aitken and the fiancée of his nephew Robert. They plight their troth and after much teasing from Mae, Bob succeeds in giving her an engagement ring. While Mae and Bobby are out riding one day the shoe of Mae's horse becomes loosened. She calls for Bob to exert his masculine strength and jerk the shoe from the horse's foot to save the horse further pain. After several unsuccessful pretenses to release the shoe they go to a blacksmith. Mae discovers in the blacksmith a man of extraordinary strength. He jerks the shoe from the horse with one pull, and thereby wins the admiration of Mae. That night Mae dreams that she is the cave woman of Robert, a cave man. While eating shrubs she is attacked by another giant cave man and about to be carried off when a rescuer appears, and he proves to be none other than the blacksmith. In the morning she pays a visit to his shop and takes a snapshot of him, much to the distress of Robert. She breaks off her engagement with Robert and is about to elope with the blacksmith when her uncle, having dealt with many women in his time, and knowing feminine ways better than Bob, concocts a scheme whereby he will induce the two to live at his house for a month to find out if they still love each other, at the end of which time he promises to consent to the marriage. The girl gives an engagement party and his conduct makes her see how impossible a match would be between the two. Thoroughly disgusted, she breaks off her engagement and returns to Robert. A marriage between her and Robert is arranged by the Colonel for the following day, and the blacksmith learning of it becomes jealous. When the ceremony is about to take place, the blacksmith comes to the house and steals the bride and plans to take her to a neighboring town and marry her himself. He gets away with her and after many hair-breadth escapades he finally gets caught in the quicksand with the girl but Robert releases him and the wedding takes place.

Dir: John B. O'Brien

In New York's notorious Pell Street district, U.S. District Attorney Arnold Somers' men capture Queen X, known to drug smugglers as "The Queen of Chinatown," a woman with a cross-shaped birthmark on her wrist. Summers recognizes her as Janice Waltham, formerly a prominent society woman. After becoming an addict and dealer, Janice was imprisoned in underground dens filled with opium fumes to prevent her from recovering and betraying her suppliers. She refuses to name her associates despite third degree questioning. As Janice is about to be sentenced to a long prison term, Miriam Evans, whose brother George is the assistant district attorney, recognizes Janice as the former schoolmate who rescued her in a convent fire. Somers allows Miriam to take Janice home and advises George to court her to get the names of the gang leaders. With George's help, Janice develops enough will power to kick her drug habit, while George, according to their pact, stops smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. After George secures the names, Janice, threatened by a Chinese cohort, learns about George's deal, but George, now in love, confesses this and they marry.

Dir: John B. O'Brien

Beth Treadway, a high-spirited young Southern woman, lives with her father, Major Treadway, and her Aunt Sarah on the Treadway estate, Headland Hall, in Maryland. Beth is being courted by Rippley, a Southerner with questionable morals, when John Standish comes from New York to landscape the grounds of Headland Hall. Standish arouses Beth's antagonism until he rescues Haskell, a hermit living on Treadway land, from a fire. Beth dresses Standish's wounds and eventually comes to admire him. Meanwhile, she learns that Rippley has compromised Dorothy Pennell, the overseer's daughter, and tricks him into marrying Dorothy. Their marriage is short-lived, however, when Rippley is caught by the Major while robbing his safe and kills the old man. At first, Haskell is charged with the murder, but when a piece of Rippley's pajamas is discovered in the Major's hand, he is accused of the crime. Rippley resists arrest and in the ensuing melee is killed by Standish.