Editor's Top Picks Sharing the Atmosphere of Discarded Lovers: Cult...

Dir: Tom Collins

When the body of Wall Street broker Norman Temple is found dead in his office, the police arrest contractor James Borden for the crime on the testimony of Temple's secretary that Borden had threatened her employer over an unpaid note. Also under suspicion is Temple's Japanese valet, who quarreled with his employer the day before the murder. Tex, a detective, enters the case, following his own leads which prove the valet innocent. Tex finally deduces that Minkin, one of Temple's clerks, shot his employer when he interrupted the clerk robbing his safe. With Tex's revelation, Minkin's room is searched, the stolen bonds found and Borden is freed.

Dir: George Beranger

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

John Fenton visits a fortune-teller to gain insight into his parentage. While there, a police raid occurs, and he climbs the fire escape to the apartment above. There he finds a girl standing over the body of a young man who has just shot himself. The girl, Belle Charmion, explains that her half brother, Gordon Brewster, had stolen some jewels from their uncle and, fearing that the police would capture him, had attempted suicide. Fenton conceals the brother in another room and impersonates him when the police arrive. Later, he and Belle take Brewster to his uncle's home. In the excitement, the jewels have been forgotten, and Fenton returns to search for them. By this time, the family butler, who is a member of an underworld gang, has tipped off his friends, who then steal the Fenton jewels. At the butler's home, a scuffle ensues; Fenton recovers the jewels and learns that he is actually a distant relative of the Charmions, having been kidnapped in infancy by a crook. With both mysteries thus resolved, Belle and Fenton become engaged.

Dir: Unknown Director

The story is that of two clever crooks who are operating at a fashionable seaside resort, with the help of a highly trained and uncannily intelligent chimpanzee. Valuable jewels are constantly disappearing and the detectives are unable to obtain a clue. Finally, after an especially daring robbery, a clue is found that leads to the discovery of the thieves. The simian leads the detectives a chase that calls for some acrobatic stunts on the part of the chasers. The end of this is the capture of the chimpanzee, recovery of the jewels and the arrest of the crooks.

Dir: Karl Mueller-Hagens

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Fred C. Newmeyer

Snub is a park dandy, chasing butterflies and flirting with the girls. His adventures take him to a restaurant, where he gets into numerous difficulties and he finally winds up in jail.

Dir: Dallas M. Fitzgerald

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Die Banditen von Asnières perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Edith Sturgis, the daughter of a judge, returns from studies abroad to find her widowed father remarried. The new Mrs. Sturgis does not reveal that she has a son Dick, once unjustly jailed by Judge Sturgis, but now working as a reporter while still maintaining an association with the Brownlow gang. Quarrelling with her stepmother, Edith leaves home, meets Dick and falls in love. While Dr. and Mrs. Allen (whom Edith met on the steamer) are visiting in the Sturgis home, the doctor's valuable radium is stolen from the safe, and Judge Sturgis is found murdered. Dick, though with Edith at the time, is accused of the crime. Finally, an old shoemaker confesses that he entered the house to steal the radium, with which to cure his crippled son, and witnessed the judge's slaying by the Brownlow gang. Dick is freed and finds happiness with Edith, and the doctor helps the crippled boy.

Dir: Robert Thornby

When Mrs. Chapman Price, the daughter of wealthy socialite Mrs. Janney, quarrels with her husband over her mounting gambling debts, he packs his suitcase and moves out. Desperate to pay off her debts, Mrs. Price rifles her mother's safe but discovers that its contents are missing. The blame points to Chapman Price and Esther Maitland, Mrs. Janney's private secretary. When the Price baby is kidnapped and held for ransom, Esther is suspected of that crime, too. Only Dick Ferguson, a neighbor, believes in Esther's innocence. After several misadventures, Esther discovers that the kidnapping was perpetrated by the detective whom Mrs. Price hired to unravel the burglary, which was committed by Ferguson's servant. Thus cleared, Esther joins the man who believed in her, and the Prices are reconciled.

Dir: Charles Raymond

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

A magician helps outwit a Chinaman's gang.

Dir: William C. Dowlan

At a party thrown at the Metcalf estate, the Marquise D'Irancy's Sultana diamond disappears when the lights go out during a power failure. Suspected of the crime is William Kirkland, the wastrel son of the wealthy Kirkland family, but William's sister Diana comes to his defense. Aiding her in the investigation is Clamp, a wandering peddler. After several misadventures, Clamp reveals that he is a secret service agent on the trail of the international criminals, the de Vallignacs, who are summering at the resort. After proving that the de Vallignacs have stolen the diamond, Clamp arrests his prey, clears William and marries Diana.

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

Ambitious but struggling attorney John Trask, is puzzled when Christine Lloyd, a mysterious young woman, entrusts him with $30,000 to purchase a necklace that will be delivered to his office the next day. The necklace was stolen by Christine's brother Sydney to pay his gambling debts and Christine, attempting to shield her brother, hires Trask to retrieve it. Trask accepts, and after hiding the money behind a painting, leaves his office for the night. Later that evening, building janitor Annester Norton discovers the money while on his rounds and absconds with it. The next day Aline Norton, the janitor's daughter and an unwitting pawn of the gamblers, appears at Trask's office with the necklace. Discovering that the money is missing, Trask goes to the casino to investigate and miraculously wins $30,000 with which he purchases the necklace. After placing the necklace in Lloyd's hands, Trask is shocked to discover that it is a fake. Entering the gambler's den, Trask retrieves the real necklace, which he restores to its rightful owner. Norton, repenting his theft, returns the money and Trask realizes that he loves the janitor's daughter.