The Essential Watchlist Similar Cinematic Experiences to Discontent...

Dir: Edward LeSaint

Stuart Kirkward, a wealthy miner, has built a magnificent house in preparation of his marriage to Peggy Carter, who elopes on the eve of her wedding with George Rothwell, a mining promoter, who is already married. At the station they meet Rothwell's wife, who tells Peggy the truth about him. Peggy in endeavoring to escape from the unpleasant scene rides away on her horse, only to be followed by Rothwell. Both meet with an accident, are hurled to their doom over a steep cliff. Just before this, Stuart had assumed the guardianship of a little daughter of a friend of his, and in connection with the accident he finds himself with the girl on his hands. He sends her away to boarding school, where she meets the son of George Rothwell, the man who had eloped with Stuart's intended bride. When the girl, whose name is Renee, comes back from school to her guardian, he finds that she has grown to be a full-fledged lady, and begins to feel more than a fatherly affection for her. Some time later, at a house party, Stuart is led to believe that she loves the son of George Rothwell, and, although bearing in mind that he is the son of the man who was his bitterest enemy, he decides to give the boy a chance. It is here that he makes the great discovery that, instead of Rothwell, Jr., it is he whom Renee loves. All the past is forgotten and they turn their thoughts to the future.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

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

Aunt Ray Innes leases Sunnyside House, the country home of Paul Armstrong, and invites her nephew and niece, Halsey and Gertrude Innes. En route, the young people stop at the Greenwood Club to take Jack Bailey, the intended husband of Gertrude and cashier of the Armstrong Bank. Halsey appears in time to prevent a fight between Jack and Arnold Armstrong, son of the banker. At three o'clock in the morning a pistol shot awakens Aunt Ray, who summons her servant, Liddy. They are joined by Gertrude, and the women discover that Halsey and Jack are missing. Investigations disclose the lifeless body of Arnold Armstrong lying at the foot of the circular staircase. Mr. Jarvis, who had been summoned from the club, recalls that Jack and Arnold were bitter enemies because of banking affairs. The next morning Mrs. Watson, the housekeeper, appears suffering from an injured arm, which she explains she sustained in falling down the circular staircase. Frank Jamieson, the detective, on the case cannot trace Jack, and when Halsey Innes returns he refuses to say why he left. Then the newspapers announce that the Armstrong bank has failed; that the cashier has been released under bond; that Dr. Walker, who has accompanied Paul Armstrong to the west, has wired that the banker is too ill to travel, and that securities aggregating a million and a quarter are missing. Aunt Ray searching for Tom, the butler, comes upon Louise Armstrong, daughter of the banker, who was supposed to be out west with her father, at the Lodge. Dr. Stewart, the family physician, attends to her. Dr. Walker wires that the banker has died, and that his summer home must be vacated as the body will arrive soon. But Aunt Ray refuses to leave on such short notice. Louise is not apprised of her father's death, and as she leaves for her mother's home she tells Aunt Ray to leave Sunnyside House, as she has forebodings for its future. Mrs. Watson's injuries develop into blood poisoning, and she is taken to a hospital. As Tom, the butler, sits in the Lodge one night, he sees an apparition and drops dead of fright. Dr. Walker warns Aunt Ray to leave the house before she regrets it. Again she refuses. Several nights later as Halsey and Alex, the new gardener, are keeping watch over the circular staircase, the stable catches fire, and the men rush to give assistance. Meanwhile the women are terrorized by the movements of a strange object outside. Halsey disappears and a tramp with the missing man's watch on him is caught by Detective Jamieson. Upon being questioned, he says that he found the watch under the freight car into which had been thrown Halsey, bound and gagged. Mr. Watson, who is dying, tells Aunt Ray that when she was carried to the lodge by Tom, the butler, she found Louise Armstrong ill and that she (Mrs. Watson) was struck on the arm by a golf club by Arnold because she refused to give him the key to Sunnyside House. Mrs. Watson returned to the house and when she was ascending the circular staircase found that Arnold was creeping up behind her and shot him. Gertrude learns from Halsey, who is in a neighboring hospital, that Paul Armstrong, aided by Dr. Walker, looted his own bank, and that is why Louise left her father. Meanwhile the casket containing Paul Armstrong's body is exhumed and when opened it is found that the corpse is not that of the banker. Aunt Ray discovers a secret room and upon investigating she is locked in by the door automatically closing upon her. Here she is found by Paul Armstrong that night. The sight of him frightens her and her cries bring the detective and Alex, the new gardener, who break open the door as Armstrong escapes by another secret passage. He slips down the circular staircase and is killed, and Dr. Walker is taken into custody. Alex removes his disguise and reveals himself as Jack Baily. A cash box containing the stolen securities is found in the secret room by Jack, and as Aunt Ray comes into Sunnyside House she finds Louise and Halsey in a loving embrace, and Jack and Gertrude in a like attitude at the bottom of the circular staircase.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

When his fiancée commits suicide after being used by an American artist, a Japanese art dealer seeks to get vengeance by seducing the artist's wife.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

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

Chicago Charlie, a crook, gets Harriet Gordon, a wealthy heiress, to elope with him. He takes her to a road house on the promise that a minister will be waiting. There he drugs her. Detective Scully arrives, but Charlie gets away. Five years later Harriet is engaged to the district attorney. Chicago Charlie is arrested and convicted, Peggy, his sweetheart, pleads to see him. Harriet helps her and takes her as a maid. Chicago Charlie escapes from prison. He tells Peggy he must have money to get away. With Harriet, Peggy meets Charlie. She recognizes him. She .gives him money, but he demands also the engagement ring she wears. He takes it. While Peggy is trying to pawn the ring Charlie attacks Harriet, who takes a knife from a table and kills him. Detective Scully finds Peggy leaning over the body. Through the ring he traces Harriet. However, knowing all the circumstances, he reports to headquarters that a detective stabbed Charlie while Charlie was trying to escape.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

Dick Brown kills himself in front of Adele Durant after she rejects him and Dick's friend Robert Bradley threatens to accuse her of murder unless she places her life in his hands. He leaves her at a dance hall in an isolated spot in Mexico, where she falls in with a group of bandits planning to seize an American mine. Learning that the brigands plan to kill the lone mine owner, she warns him of their approach and discovers that he is none other than Bradley, whom she loathes. They flee together but are captured and held with other prisoners of the gang. While Bradley goes for help, bandit Pedro Vasquale threatens to kill the prisoners unless Adele comes to him in his cabin. When he embraces her, she stabs him. Bradley, recognizing her noble character, marries her.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

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

Hal, now fully grown, leaves his wife Edith and his estate in England to return to the land of his Indian mother. There he works for the rights of Indians in a land deal which pits him against David Ladd, the wily reservation agent who is secretly in collusion with the asphalt trust which is trying to rob the Indians. Hal falls in love with Wah-na-gi, the Carlisle graduate who has returned to teach at the agency school, but he is too honorable to conceal that he is already married. Upon the death of his father, Hal returns to England as Lord Effington to discover that Edith loves Lord Yester and wants a divorce. Hal gladly agrees, but when the family physician informs him that Edith is addicted to morphine and his presence may save her life, Hal consents to stay. Returning to America to testify in a lawsuit against the asphalt trust, Hal regretfully informs Wah-na-gi that he cannot leave his wife. The Indian maiden goes off in the snow to kill herself by the grave of Hal's mother when Hal receives a message that Edith has died from an overdose of morphine. Hal rushes into the snow, overtakes Wah-na-gi and asks her to marry him.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

Rhandah, who is to succeed his father, the Maharajah of Dharpuli, is sent to Oxford to be educated. The Princess Nada, to whom he is engaged, fearful of the outcome of his journey, gives him an amulet to bring him back to her in safety. At the college, he soon becomes accustomed to English customs, but refuses all invitations into society. He meets Amy, daughter of Colonel Dawe, and they become interested in each other. Amy wagers that she can persuade the Prince to give her the amulet and succeeds in having him accept her invitation to a party; she manages to see Rhandah alone and secures the amulet. Dick Larimer, to whom Amy is engaged, denounces Amy for doing such a thing. Asa Judd, tutor to the Maharajah's son, has taken a snap shot of Amy and Rhandah and sent it to Colonel Marcy, the Resident British Councilor. Mulai Singh, an aspirant to the throne, obtains possession of the photograph. Rhandah, embittered, returns home just as the Maharajah dies. By his bedside he swears eternal vengeance on all the English and is overheard by Nada. He seeks out Mulai Singh and obtains the picture, declaring his intention of leading his people against the English, issuing a command that all captured English be brought before him. Dick is taken and Rhandah orders him to the dungeon. Amy has come to India with her father and is also taken by the outlaws, but when they see the amulet they release her. Nada recognizes her from the picture, and comes upon Rhandah and Amy as he is contemplating what he shall do with Dick. Rhandah makes advances to Amy which she dares not resent, and tells him she will do anything to save Dick, but he replies there is nothing that will save her sweetheart. Nada, listening, ready to kill Amy with a dagger, overhears and rushes into Rhandah's arms vowing her belief in him. At Amy's solicitation, Nada intercedes and Dick is set free. All the trouble and turmoil is at last ended, and both couples are happy.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

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

Harley P. Hennage, at the opening of the story, is a gambler about 35 years of age, who spends much of his time at the Red Dog Retreat at Gila Junction. Marie, the town belle, respects Harley as the best friend she has. Harley, on the other hand, has never declared his love, and it is not until Marie falls in love with a strange prospector that she has an intimation that Harley loves her, too. Harley resents Corblay's intrusion, and tells him to get out of town. When he learns of Marie's love for Corblay, he relents and leaves himself. As a newcomer of the Silver Dollar Retreat in distant San Pasqual, Hennage turns to business and forgetfulness, and in time comes to be known as the worst man in town. Marie's husband, meanwhile, has gone out into the desert accompanied by his faithful Indian and Carey, of Boston. Carey assaults Corblay and escapes with the burros and the gold which was discovered on the way to the claim. Corblay dies in the desert, leaving a note in his canteen and an inscription on a sandstone ledge, reading: "Stranger, look in my canteen and see that I get justice." Later, Hennage, hearing of Marie's poverty and the arrival of a child, arranges to have Marie come to San Pasqual, where he secures her a position as cashier in the eating house. For the moment Hennage's hopes have revived, but when he sees that the girl remains true to the memory of her lost husband, he holds himself aloof. Eighteen years elapse. Hennage has attached himself like a father to the now-grown child, Donna. One afternoon Marie is taken sick and is carried to her hut. Hennage is sent for and is with her when she dies. Marie gives him the location map of her husband's claim, telling him that while she has hated it because it stood for the desert and her tragedy, yet she would like him to search for the claim on the chance that perhaps there may be something there and that Donna will now need it. Donna, about this time, meets and falls in love with Bob McGraw, a young man who has just filed on certain water rights in the Sierras on the hunch that the surrounding land is to be open to entry. Borax O'Rourke is infatuated with Donna and attempts to force his attention upon her. She is shielded by Hennage and later by McGraw. Hennage, in searching for the lost claim, runs across the canteen that belonged to Corblay and sees the inscription on the ledge. He starts back for civilization. About this time Carey shows up in San Pasqual in search of one Bob McGraw. He is anxious to buy the rights which McGraw has filed on. A hold-up has been committed and the evidence points to young McGraw. Carey discovers where McGraw is located and attempts to use his information to force the young man to sell. Hennage, returning with the story of Corblay's death and the canteen, meets Carey, and with the Indian's aid, learns that Carey is the man who killed Corblay years before. Hennage forces restitution to the child, Donna. He meets death in a gun duel with O'Rourke, whom he had previously told to get out of town for his insult against Donna. The Indian, left to guard Carey, stabs him to death.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

Maj. Ralph Seton is a British army officer stationed in Cawnpore, India, when the Sepoy Rebellion--a mutiny of Indian soldiers in the Brtitish army in India--breaks out in 1857. He receives the prestigious Victoria Cross--the highest decoration that can be awarded to a British soldier--for his actions in battle. However, after a night of drunken debauchery, he is stripped of the honor and disgraced in front of his love, Joan Strathallen, the daughter of his commanding officer. When Indian rebel leader Azimoolah instigates an uprising by the natives and has Joan kidnapped, Seton sets out to redeem his honor and save the woman he loves.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

James Kelly and Tom Baldwin, two old pals, agree that their children, Larry and Helen, should marry. During the month before the marriage, Larry plans to have a fling and is smitten by a woman he meets on a train. Not realizing that the woman is Helen, he takes a job on the ranch next to hers, and she poses as a maid to sound out her fiancee's character. Tom exposes a group of cattle thieves but is accused of murder and makes a run for it. His horse catches up with a train, and when he jumps through the window, he finds himself facing his future wife.