Hand-Picked Alternatives Movies That Echo the Spirit of David Harum...

Dir: Allan Dwan

Pepita, a radiant and merry Spanish beauty, and her playful brother Jose, witness their mother, whose faded beauty led her husband to abandon her for another, plunge a dagger into her breast. After their uncle avenges the death, Pepita develops a fierce hatred of men and pledges never to marry, while Jose leaves for Madrid with a benevolent padre. Sebastiano, Spain's most famous toreador, arrives in town and, after seeing Pepita, spurns the pretty Sarita, who dies hopelessly infatuated. Later, Pepita visits Jose in Madrid and encounters Sebastiano. She resists his attempts at conquest and haughtily makes him serve her. Finally, when Pepita responds to Sebastiano's protestations of love with vehement hatred, he leaves for Lisbon. His departure awakens Pepita's love, and when he returns with a fiancee, Pepita suffers intense jealousy. During a bullfight, Sebastiano glances at Pepita and is gored by the bull. As he is about to die, Pepita, ready to die with him, declares her love, and Sebastiano revives.

Dir: Allan Dwan

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

Known as "Wildflower," Letty Roberts meets Arnold Boyd, a wealthy man who is weary of life in the city. Arnold thinks that Letty is merely a charming child, however, his playboy brother Gerald is attracted to her and charms her into eloping with him. Arnold catches up with the couple just after their wedding, and after a fight with Gerald, takes Letty away to the Boyd family home in New York. He introduces her as his own wife because, he says, he wants to save her reputation. Even Letty's parents do not know to which brother she is married. Letty's stay in the mansion opens her eyes to the world outside of her rural environment and eventually she realizes that while Arnold appears to be hard and uncaring, it is really he, not Gerald, whose feelings for her are the deepest. When she realizes Gerald's true character, Letty decides that she will be happier with Arnold.

Dir: Allan Dwan

Naomi, a girl of the studios in New York's artist quarter, is possessed of a superabundance of vitality and a desire for continuous frolic and adventure. One night, at a gay party, Naomi's effervescent spirits deceive one of the men into thinking that she is far more unconventional than she herself has any idea of being. His companions tell him that she is not the sort of girl he thinks she is, but he insists that he can prove that she is; he even makes a wager to that effect. He tricks Naomi, who is really quite unsophisticated, accompanying him to a hotel of questionable repute, where the two, innocent of any wrongdoing, are captured in a police raid, and Naomi has an unpleasant experience in the night court. Friends come to her aid and she is released. Not long after this, Frederic Harmon, a broker, comes into her life. The two fall in love and are married; the birth of a baby completes Naomi's character and she cares only for her child, her husband, and her home. The husband, however, does not settle down to home life. He is still much inclined to the gaieties of the set in which he had become acquainted with Naomi, and when she refuses to take further part in the revels of the Bohemian crowd, he goes forth by himself and soon meets Helen Carew, a woman with a past and without a conscience, who fascinates him partly for her amusement and partly for mercenary reasons. Eventually Harmon's infatuation for the other woman becomes known to Naomi. She is heartbroken, particularly when Harmon asks her to divorce him so he can marry Helen. This she refuses to do. Helen, anxious to get the man entirely into her clutches, enters into a plot with a crooked detective whereby Naomi is to be caught in a compromising situation, thus giving her husband grounds for divorce from her. The detective picks up a convict just out of Sing Sing and by means of a decoy message Naomi is induced to go to a hotel room where the man from Sing Sing is waiting for her. Once the two are in the room together it is raided by newspaper reporters and a photographer, and a flashlight of Naomi in the arms of the convict is obtained. The husband brings suit for divorce, offering as evidence the stories of the witnesses at the raid and the flashlight photograph. He also asks custody of the child. Naomi startles the judge and spectators when she declares that she should be allowed to keep the child, because Harmon is not its father. The judge, however, suspects that Naomi is sacrificing her reputation in order to keep her baby, and calling her into his private office, he gets the truth from her. Meantime there has been an unexpected development in the affairs of Helen. The man from Sing Sing had been her lover before he went to prison, and she is unpleasantly surprised when the detective's use of him brings him again into her life. The ex-convict is in Helen's rooms, trying to renew their old association when Harmon comes to see her. Helen hastily hides the jailbird, but while she is talking to Harmon the convict comes out and tells Harmon of the woman's past and his connection with it. Horrified at the revelation of Helen's true character, Harmon goes out of her life at once and forever, but in the course of time succeeds in winning his way back into his home.

Dir: Allan Dwan

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

After the death of her father, Betty Lockwood goes to Graystone Gables, the estate where he had been the caretaker, to spend some time alone there. She meets David Chandler, Graystone's owner, who is attracted to her and tells her to come back whenever she wants to. Betty's mother soon remarries, but her new stepfather is not the same kind of man that her father was; she finds herself the subject of some vicious gossip begun by her mother's new husband when he spots her at the estate with David. Complications ensue.

Dir: Allan Dwan

A restless young man travels west, encountering adventure, romance, and danger.

Dir: Allan Dwan

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

Jim Hackler is the political boss of a small town. When local lawyer Elias Rigby decides to run for Distrct Attorney, Hackler sees a chance to get revenge on Rigby--years ago both men were in the Army and best friends, but Rigby had intercepted letters to Hackler from his sweetheart, and wound up marrying the girl himself. Hackler persuades Rigby's daughter's fiance' to run against him, but things don't quite work out the way he wanted.

Dir: Allan Dwan

With the opening of the story Richelieu pardons the Duke of Orleans and all his followers in the Languedoc revolt, save one. The exception is Adrien de Mauprat, because he seized a French town without his leader's orders. Richelieu advises him to lead his troops against the Spaniards and seek honorable death in battle. Julie, Richelieu's ward, loves de Mauprat, but notwithstanding her entreaties, the Cardinal is relentless; de Mauprat courts death on the battlefield. But now that he seeks death, it shuns him; instead of a soldier's grave, he wins glory. Julie has another admirer, Haradas, the King's favorite. Aware of de Mauprat's place in Julie's affections, he sets himself to bring discredit upon his rival. Later, Julie, at the King's request, attends court. She makes a deep impression upon the weak-minded, fickle monarch. A year after the departure of de Mauprat, Baradas and his followers conspire to murder Richelieu and seize the throne of France. At this critical time de Mauprat returns, famous in battle, sad of heart and loathing Richelieu. Thus he becomes a ready member of the conspirators. However, Richelieu hears of his arrival and of the conspiracy and has him arrested. In the meantime, Julie has returned from court and again appeals for de Mauprat's life. Thus, when de Mauprat is ushered into the Cardinal's presence, instead of hearing his death sentence, he is informed that he will marry Julie the following day. Hearing of this the King is violently angry: Julie is summoned to appear at court. Once there she is virtually held prisoner and her marriage is declared invalid. The false Barad is convinces de Mauprat that he has been tricked by Richelieu. De Mauprat swears vengeance and again joins the conspirators, all of whom sign a scroll addressed to the Spaniards offering to deliver France into their hands. From here the story develops with plot and counterplot. How de Mauprat discovers his tragic mistake in thinking the Cardinal has double-crossed him, how he manages, through a heroic effort, to save the old man's life, how de Mauprat falls into the hands of the King and is only saved by a master stroke of diplomacy on Richelieu's part, the death of the scheming Baradas and the final achievement of happiness for the young lovers, Julie and de Mauprat, makes up the essential points of the story.

Dir: Allan Dwan

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

An outlaw calling himself Passin' Through halts his evil ways long enough to help out some children in difficulty.

Dir: Allan Dwan

Winthrop Clavering a mystery writer, is continually ridiculed for the fiction of the crimes he depicts, so he decides to solve a case himself. To that end, he determines to find the slayer of Pedro Alvarez, who whispered before dying that his assailant was a woman. At the City Refuge for Homeless Girls, Clavering obtains the assistance of Margaret Holt, the sister of Victor Holt, the district attorney. Margaret, it is revealed, was abducted by Juanita, a member of a gang of white slavers led by Alvarez. After escaping from a brothel, Margaret became Alvarez' stenographer, hoping to gather secret information on his gang. While searching for evidence, Margaret was surprised by Alvarez, whom she killed. Finally, Clavering captures the gang, clears Margaret, and encourages her romance with cub reporter Jack Howell.

Dir: Allan Dwan

Dorothy Raleigh is a high-spirited Southern beauty who has been brought up by her father, Col. Raleigh, an unreconstructed Kentuckian, to have nothing to do with the townspeople of the little village of Norwalk, just outside of Louisville. She has no other companions than the old negro servants, her animal pets and her books. One day there comes into her life by chance a young millionaire gambler named Forbes Stewart. He makes love to her and asks the Colonel for her hand. Indignant at his presumption, the Colonel orders him from the house. But the young people elope. When Dorothy meets her husband's friends she is grievously disappointed. He determines, rather than cause her unhappiness. to change his mode of living, and give up his old friends. But a detective who knows something of his past, tries to blackmail him. His defiance leads to his arrest, and he is sentenced to a year in the penitentiary. Dorothy is loyal to him at first but when another woman enters her home and seemingly proves that she is Stewart's wife by an earlier marriage, she goes back to her father. The stern old man, however, has disowned her, and she is compelled to seek shelter in a cabin with her old negro mammy. When Stewart is released from the penitentiary he hastens to his home to find his wife. Instead he finds this other woman, an old flame who has taken this method to win him back again. He repudiates her, however, and hurries to Norwalk to see the Colonel and demand Dorothy. The Colonel refuses to tell her whereabouts, but from an old servant Stewart learns the truth. Dorothy in the meantime has been led to believe her baby illegitimate, and the villagers, glad to see the proud name of the Raleighs dragged in the dust, make her life miserable. She is about to kill herself when Stewart arrives. The outcome reunite the lovers and brings a change in the heart of the father that is supremely satisfying.