Cinematic Discoveries Resonating with the Themes of Defying Destiny...

Dir: Louis Chaudet

Hoop-La, the beautiful star of Minor's Mammoth Circus, a one-ring affair which tours county fairs and small towns, delights crowds with her bare-back riding, trapeze acts, and clowning. Reared in the confines of the circus by Old Toodles the clown, in accordance with her father's dying request, Hoop-La naively accepts the attentions of good-looking Joe McGee, a cheap horseman, after winning a race for him as a jockey. Tony Barrows, the foppish scion of a wealthy family, falls in love with Hoop-La, but she resents his snobbery and makes faces at him. When Hoop-La learns that her father was wealthy, she secretly marries McGee to save herself from a dull society life, but when she discovers McGee's true character, she promises to keep him supplied with money if he leaves. After Hoop-La goes to live in her own luxurious home, McGee plans to make the marriage known and live with her, but he dies in a tent fire caused by his own drunken debauchery. Hoop-La marries Tony, who has matured and come back from the war.

Dir: Louis Chaudet

When brilliant lawyer Harry Sevier, an alcoholic, cannot cope with the prosecution's tactics, his innocent client Paddy the Brick goes to prison. After Harry's sweetheart Echo Allen, the daughter of Judge Beverly Allen, breaks their engagement, Harry leaves to combat his problem. Meanwhile, Cameron Craig, whose interest in a distilling corporation is threatened when a suit is brought before Judge Allen, steals incriminating love letters written by the Judge years earlier. Echo boards a train to offer to marry Craig for returning the letters. Harry, on the same train, and now beardless, follows Echo to Craig's home, where a burglary occurs. After Harry, not recognized by Echo, gives her the letters, Craig is shot, and Harry, along with Paddy--now a burglar--is sent to prison. Harry escapes and finds himself nominated to run for governor on the "dry" ticket. After Echo confirms that he was innocent of shooting Craig, Harry wins the election and her love.

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

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: Louis Chaudet

Billy simply has no use for mothers-in-law, and when his bride informs him that "mother" is coming for a visit, he digs up an excuse concerning a business trip to 'Frisco. It is only camouflage on Billy's part, for his real reason is to meet a couple of lady buyers who are sportively inclined. And that's where the complications begin. Wifey must see him off on the boat which gets his "goat," since he knows he is in for a healthy bath in swimming back to town. The bride, in the meantime, is entertained at a shady roadhouse by friendly neighbors, and Billy takes his buyers there to drink at the shrine of Bacchus. The upshot of it all is, the place is raided, and Billy finds out that his story of the sinking boat is a figment of his imagination. But mother-in-law arrives in time to restore amicable relations. And Billy finds that his prejudice hasn't a leg to stand on for she proves to be his fair companion - the buxom buyer.

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

Dir: Alexander Butler

In Alberta, Canada, a Cornish emigrant unmasks a rustler posing as the girl's "blind" father.

Dir: Louis Chaudet

Kid Allen, the daughter of Mate Allen, a drunken ex-sailor, waits every night to take Mate home from a saloon. After Mate beats up saloon owner O'Keefe for trying to kiss Kid, O'Keefe kills Mate. Kid shoots and kills O'Keefe, and then leaves on a pony to get "a education," which her father wanted her to have. When she falls and sprains an ankle, Joe Emory, a sheep herder, nurses her and they fall in love, but she continues her journey. At a university town, cow puncher Nick Horton escorts her to the school, where he fights the president and some students, after being told that Kid is not ready to enter. The president stops Kid and Nick from being arrested, and puts Kid in a boarding school, but after she learns that school will last for seven years, she returns to Joe. As they kiss, they fade into a statue of Cupid embracing Psyche.

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

Dir: F. Martin Thornton

In Paris an orphan cartoonist loves a man with a mad wife, who dies in time to prevent her marriage to a jilted Comte.

Dir: Louis Chaudet

To further his political ends and enrich himself, a political boss lets corruption run rampant in his city. A young couple set out to expose him.

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

Dir: Louis Chaudet

As an infant, Ruth Drake was stolen from her father by her vengeful mother, and then abandoned. She was adopted and raised by a pawnbroker, and as a young woman joins the Salvation Army in order to help the kinds of people she has seen--and was--growing up. When war breaks out in Europe, she volunteers to go to France, and there meets a young man who has had an affair with a prominent actress. When Ruth and the man return to the US, the actress is outraged that her former boyfriend is now seeing Ruth, and sets up a scheme to frame Ruth for a robbery. However, during the trial certain facts come out that shock everyone.

Dir: Louis Chaudet

A girl nicknamed "The Weed" lives with her foster parents in their mountain cabin and frequently visits a nearby health resort to sell milk and eggs. On one of her excursions, she befriends a cantankerous old millionaire, George Bassett, who later bequeaths to her his entire estate. Ralph Long's car plunges down an embankment, and he is dragged from the wreckage and looked after by the Weed, who soon captivates him with her charm and ingenuousness. While he is in the hospital, however, the lecherous Kenneth Stewart snaps a photo of the girl swimming in the nude in a mountain pool and hangs an enlargement of it in his club. He once attempts to enter her room but she bolts him out. Through a neighbor, Ralph learns that Stewart is actually the girl's father, whose abandonment of his wife soon after the Weed's birth led to the woman's death. Ralph confronts Stewart, and the latter, deeply ashamed, leaves town. Ralph resolves to keep the truth from the Weed and proposes to her.