The Essential Watchlist Similar Cinematic Experiences to Defying th...

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Jean Dubois, who has discovered a gold mine in the Canadian Northwest, seeks revenge on the man who ruined his sister. Jean befriends "Faro" Telford, a gambler who sends for a gang of crooks to take over the mine. Jean's wife runs off with a member of the gang, and Jean, heartbroken, is about to leave the village when "Goldie," a gang member, reveals that it was gang leader Dan Cregan who wronged Jean's sister. Jean is about to murder the crook when lightning strikes a tree, causing it to fall and crush Cregan. Jean's wife returns to him and the two begin anew.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

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

To escape the title-hunting suitors with whom her mother and aunt have surrounded her, Barbara Chichester disguises herself as a gypsy, and after buying a gypsy wagon, roams the countryside "in search of Arcady." Meanwhile, the Earl of Chamboyne, beset by title-hunting women, has attired himself in the outfit of an itinerant peddler and set off for the country. After a gypsy tells Barbara that she will marry a traveling man, she meets the Earl when they both seek refuge from a sudden storm in an abandoned hunting lodge. They have a series of adventures together, and fall in love before they reveal their true identities to each other.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Gambler Dave Garrison has caused the fury of James Riddle and Mary Ballard by seducing the former's sister Bessie and by deceiving the latter's brother Billy out of thousands of dollars. As a result, Mary and James join forces and come up with a plan to outsmart Dave. In effect, Mary bets herself against Dave's money, agreeing to sleep with the gambler if his horse, the favored Shooting Star, wins a race, while Dave must pay her $10,000 if the horse loses. To make the odds more in her favor, Mary switches horses, putting the lumbering lookalike May Belle in place of Shooting Star. As a result, Mary and James gain their revenge on Dave, after which, made confident by their good fortune at the racetrack, they decide to try their luck as husband and wife.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

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

When famous opera singer Elinore Duane undergoes an operation on her throat, she has a series of ether-induced visions. In one, she is transported to ancient Rome where she appears as a much-admired woman in love with Paul, a young heretic, and at odds with Lutor, the high priest. To save her love, she poisons Lutor with her ring. After several other visions which involve variations on this love triangle, Elinore awakens to discover that Lutor is actually her doctor, Sascha Jaccard, and that Paul is the son of a friend who has come to visit the recovering prima donna.

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

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

Marcia Glendon an expatriate, has lived in Berlin for years. Courted by both German General Von Lentz and American spy Frank Graham, Marcia attempts to aid her country when war breaks out by capitalizing on the general's attraction to her. Misunderstanding her actions, Frank repudiates Marcia as a traitor. Subsequently, the spy is caught, and Marcia purchases his freedom by offering herself to the general. Frank is freed and transports the German secret plans across the German border to the American lines. He returns immediately leading an American regiment just in time to save Marcia's honor.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Millionaire meat packer Peter Cameron, greedy for more money and power, maneuvers an alliance between his daughter Rose and George Gray, the son of Cameron's business rival Max Gray, in order to increase his control of the food industry. George, a lawyer, opposes the trust, and as a result is professionally ruined by Cameron, disinherited by his father, and jilted by his fiancée. Out on his own, George gets a job at a mill and starts at the bottom. When an epidemic breaks out among his fellow laborers due to their eating spoiled meat from the trust, George secures evidence of criminal practices which ultimately brings about the conviction of Cameron and the trust. In championing the rights of the downtrodden, George wins back Rose and reforms Cameron.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Eva, wo bist du? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A woman leaves her husband and children for mistaken reasons. After being thought killed in a train crash, she returns in disguise to be the children's governess.

Dir: Alexander Butler

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

Dir: Bertram Bracken

From Alphonse Daudet's 1884 novel comes a variation: A scheme by a beautiful vamp to marry a wealthy young man fails, and the woman returns to her former lover, a sculptor. She is shocked to discover he has committed suicide, and the tragedy catapults her into insanity.