The Cult Collection Inspired by the Vision of Double Adventure: Cul...

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Young mother Mary Gordoon is too poor to take care of her infant daughter, Ann, and leaves the child at an orphanage. Ann grows up with a crippled leg in the orphanage, and has fallen in love with a fellow orphan, Jimmy.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Gift o' Gab perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Tom Bain was born with a tongue so glib that his parents, early in his career, predicted he would be a second Chauncey Depew. In college it developed until he was capable of selling Liberty Bonds in a poor house. But Tom was ambitious to be an inventor and so built a tunneling machine that "would start at one side of a mountain and propel itself through to the other without man's assistance." His gift of gab sold the rights to the machine to a big manufacturing firm, but they soon found it worthless and instead of building machines, Tom was placed on the payroll as a salesman. And then, after an exciting series of adventures, Tom finally wins the hand of Peggy, whom he had met and courted in his college days. The wedding occurs in a hospital where the couple meet accidentally as patients.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Dan Stover is the captain of a harbor tug whose task is to keep ships away from a dangerous bar, lies to his wife Ellen about the nature of his work, saying that he remains in the harbor. One night, Stover is sent to rescue a ship on the harbor bar. He leaves without telling his wife; she awakens during a terrific storm and delivers a stillborn child. Stover's boss, a former sweetheart of Mrs. Stover's, encourages her to believe that Stover has been unfaithful, implicating Madge Barlow, the fiancée of Dan's mate, a boy who lost his life at sea. Believing the rumor, Ellen leaves on the next passenger ship just as Madge dies and Stover is bringing her baby home. The ship crashes on the harbor bar, Dan goes to the rescue, he admits the truth about his job, and they find happiness with the adopted baby.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Little six-year-old Sadie O'Malley, a child of the tenement district, has a vision of heaven awakened within her by the teaching of a settlement worker, so when she sees a handsome limousine in front of the settlement laundry near her home she thinks it is a heavenly chariot, climbs into a clothes hamper in the interior of the car and is whisked away to the home of Mrs. Welland Riche. The latter has left earlier in the day on a trip, so when Sadie and. her dog, George Washington Square, who has been her companion in the hamper trip, are dumped down the clothes chute of the Riche home while concealed in the basket, they find easy access to the upper regions of the mansion and then, indeed, Sadie thinks she is in heaven. Sadie soon is discovered by the servants, but they believe she is just another of Mrs. Riche's fads when she tells them she is there to stay. Believing Mrs. Riche as desiring that the best of care be given the child, Sadie is dressed in rich garments and is much at home until Mrs. Riche returns. While the servants' explanations have been made, Mrs. Riche, in the meantime having been won over by the child's beauty and sweet manners, decides Sadie may remain. But the tenement child's happiness is short-lived when George Washington Square appears upon the scene. Mrs. Riche orders that the pup be removed and tells Sadie that, instead, she can play with the Riche collection of Poms. Not so for Sadie. She informs the wealthy matron that she wouldn't give up George Washington Square for all the heavens and that if G.W.S. cannot remain she will go. So hugging her doggie close to her she returns to her worried mother with the explanation, "I have been to heaven, but they sent me home because they didn't like my dog."

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Hugh Whittaker believes he is terminally ill, and, as an act of mercy, weds a young woman named Mary, who has been deserted by her lover. He travels to Europe, recovers his health, and returns to New York City, where he meets and falls in love with musical star Sara Law, unaware that she is actually his wife. Sara is abducted by kidnappers and Hugh undertakes a harrowing rescue before discovering her true identity.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Through a forged will, a crook assumes control of a valuable estate. He poses as the brother of a dead man, and endeavors to dispose of the deceased man's two daughters, one of whom is in love with the forger's son.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

A woman, engaged to one man, is forced to marry another, who is subsequently arrested, leaving his wife with a terrible decision to make when her former fiancee comes looking for her.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Tex Hartwell comes to the aid of an old cobbler by protecting him from the blows and insults of Jim Mackey, a skinflint banker. Mackey orders his hired guns to get Tex, but Tex is too quick for them. On the strength of his fast draw, Tex is hired as a trail rider by Dee Winch, being given the job of keeping diseased cattle off Winch's grasslands. Mackey's men later stampede a herd of infected cattle onto Winch's land, and Tex is fired in disgrace. Fanny Goodnight informs Tex that Mackey is the leader of the cattle runners, and Tex forces him to sign a confession to that effect. The old cobbler later kills Mackey, Tex is cleared with the cattlemen, and he and Fanny decide to ride a trail of their own together.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

When Perry Blair's foreman fires him for fighting, fight promoter Charles Dunham hires him and takes him east to enter the boxing ring. Perry becomes a star boxer but breaks his contract and returns home when he is ordered to fight a crooked match. Sometime later Dunham again comes west and engages Perry to fight one more contest on a winner-take-all basis. He wins the fight and Cecil Manners, who has believed him to be a coward.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Real life outlaw Al Jennings tells a "real" story about how he came to the aid of a woman who was abused by her alcoholic husband.