Underground Favorites Mirroring the Impact of Eternal Love: Cult Guide

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

Peter James Slaney, just released from prison, is the only boarder who is kind to Lena, the maid at the cheap Paris Hotel. So that Lena can leave her abusive landlady, Slaney accepts $2,500 from a stranger, who threatens to send Slaney back to prison unless he undertakes a job. Slaney is sent to the home of political boss John Biggs with a sealed envelope which he is to open after entering. When a grieving child in the house complains of being mistreated by Biggs, Slaney takes her to Lena and throws the envelope away. When Slaney is later arrested, Lena and the child hide out. After Slaney's release, thugs beat him and he winds up in the county hospital. In the midst of a heated political campaign, Biggs submits to Lena's blackmailing, and Slaney learns that the brother of Bigg's divorced wife originally hired him to kidnap the child. After the child is returned to her mother, Slaney and Lena head for the country to start a new life.

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

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

On a beach in southern Italy, Gianna Russelli practices her dancing with her devoted brother Russino, looking forward to the day when she will begin formal dance studies. One day the beautiful Countess Michetti comes to the village and engages in a flirtation with Russino, but when her former lover, Prince Viscomte, arrives with his closest friend, Count Paul Trovelli, the countess resumes her affair with the prince. Finding them together, Russino attacks the prince, who stabs the boy and flees, just as the count enters the room. Gianna sees Trovelli standing over her brother's body and makes a vow to ruin and then kill the count. As a famous dancer in Milan, she later charms the count into falling in love with her, spends all of his money, and is about to kill him when she realizes that she loves him. Gianna's agony turns to joy, however, when, with news of the prince's death, the count finally reveals that his friend committed the crime.

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

Marjorie North, a department store clerk, falls in love and has an affair with the store owner's son, Gordon Trenwith, but realizes when her baby is born without a name that he meant only to use her as a plaything. Having turned down John Hayward, a struggling young lawyer, in the hope that Gordon would marry her, Marjorie finds herself alone until Claire Morgan and her new husband, Jerry Thompson, take her in. After several years, during which Marjorie's child is killed, John, now a successful attorney, discovers her whereabouts and, imagining that she originally rejected him because he was poor, again asks for her hand. Ashamed of her past, she refuses him with no explanation, but when she learns that Gordon plans to marry John's sister, she finally confesses everything in order to save the girl. In the subsequent fight between Gordon and John, the villain is killed, but at the trial Gordon's secretary confesses that he killed his employer to settle a score of his own concerning his wife's honor. John forgives Mary and they finally marry.

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

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

Polly Vance is at a loss as to where to get the next day's food. The children scream, "Polly, put the kettle on," but she finds only a few tea leaves. The kids are disappointed when they find no jam. Polly, though only 18, has been mothering these children a long time. She enters her father's workroom, where he is poring over plans for the invention which he is confident will bring them riches. He becomes irritated when she reminds him of their poverty, and she leaves the room. She obtains a position with spinster Johanna Webb. Miss Webb's nephew, Chester Creigg, is preparing to leave home to return to college for his final year. Chester is impressed with Polly's good looks and there seems to be a mutual attraction. After some weeks Polly is overjoyed to learn that Chester is coming home. Chester has been awarded a prize at college for writing the best play. In the meantime Vance, Polly's father, has completed his invention. He takes the model to a well-known manufacturer, only to be told that the invention is already on the market. Chester has a tilt with his aunt because he will not submit to her arrangement for him to enter a bank, as he has chosen playwriting for his profession, and she disinherits him. Polly comes in with some wool and the old lady finds it is not the right color. Chester listens as the spinster scolds Polly. Polly is told to leave, and they go off together. Chester cannot convince Polly that it is the proper thing for her to allow him to help her until she gets another job. As he walks aimlessly, he is attracted by an excited crowd. He finds a man has fallen and been injured. He takes him home and has the doctor called. Polly comes home and finds Chester at her father's bedside. She is overcome with emotion at his goodness. Later Chester prevails on Polly to allow him to send her to the hospital for training as a nurse. While she is there Chester takes care of the family, though he is hard up, having sold none of his plays. On a visit to Polly's house he finds a fire started accidentally by one of the children. He is overcome by an explosion of the father's chemicals and is taken to the hospital, after risking his life in rescuing the children. One of the neighbors comes to the hospital and tells Polly she will care for the children if Polly will nurse Chester. Chester is made blind by the fire. Polly feels it is incumbent upon her to help him, so she secretly goes to the old aunt and tells her of her nephew's plight. She says that Chester has sworn not to touch a cent of hers. They hit upon the plan to tell Chester his aunt has suddenly died, leaving all her wealth to him. In this way he is brought to her old home with Polly as his nurse. Polly in the meantime has sent his finished play to a play-broker. A friend of Chester's, Pendleton, a famous oculist, comes rushing in his old boyish fashion and brings the newspaper speaking of the great new play, "Polly Put the Kettle On," and of the mystery surrounding the identity of the author. Of course, it is Chester's play, and he bemoans the fate that makes it impossible for him to see his first play. Pendleton suggests an operation. Polly takes care of the patient. Her sweet face is the first thing that greets Chester's restored vision. He is too overcome for words. But he finds the speech when he sees his aunt Johanna. Her spirit has been refined in the fires of adversity, and there is a happy reunion.

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

Ann Reid moves to the city to study opera but is discouraged by her teachers and so becomes a cabaret singer instead. At Balvini's cabaret, Ann's friend Dolly introduces her to Ted Vane, who asks Ann to be his wife. She accepts, but Ted's mother is opposed to the match and convinces Ann that Ted will be ruined by the marriage. To drive Ted away, Ann assumes the role of a worldly woman, attaining notoriety by her outrageous behavior at a party. Ted learns of his mother's scheme and arrives at Ann's just as Balvini is attacking her. Ted rescues her and the two are married.

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Polly Put the Kettle On perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Angela, an eighteen-year-old girl, appears suddenly before the mother who has not seen her for years. The mother at the time is making desperate efforts to retain her own youth and land her second husband, a young millionaire. Angela, by the result of an accident, is dressed as a child of thirteen when her mother sees her, and the mother makes her continue to play the role of a child to suit her own purposes. But in the end the truth comes out and Angela wins the young millionaire herself. But by this time the first husband. Angela's father, has shown up and her mother is accordingly happy.

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

A wealthy old man is murdered after deciding to write his nephew out of his will. Fearing that he will be accused of the murder, his nephew takes flight, but with the help of a young woman whose life he saves, he sets out to try to track down the actual murderer.

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

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

Professional forger Bill Butters realizes one day that the police care closing in on him, and convinces his daughter Peggy to flee. He is soon arrested, tried and convicted, and sentenced by prison by Judge Farrell. Meanwhile, Peggy gets a job at a beach resort and meets wealthy Dick Van Courtland, who is actually the ward of Judge Farrell. She marries Van Courtland, but a jealous rival determines to break up the marriage, and Bill gets wind of it in prison. Complications ensue.

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

Robert "Bob" Wesley horrifies his father, Admiral John Wesley of the Naval Advisory Board, by failing his examination at the Annapolis naval academy. Bob seizes the chance to redeem himself, however, when he overhears Hanson, the butler, plotting with German agent Count Von Ornstorff to deliver his father's plans for the Atlantic coastal defenses to German Baroness Von Hulda. In Baltimore, Bob meets the baroness' ship and, with the aid of an old college professor, makes her his prisoner. Having impersonated a woman in the college play, Bob disguises himself as the baroness, rendezvous with the spies, and obtains the plans. Baroness Von Hulda escapes, but Bob recaptures her and then turns all of the spies over to the authorities. Admiral Wesley expresses his pride in his son, and Bob wins Phyllis Covington, the girl of his heart.

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

In an Eastern Kentucky mountain town, illiterate Asa Whipple, the village blacksmith, marries beautiful Nance Haws over the objections of her father. A former aristocrat who was financially ruined, Jethro Haws wanted Nance to marry lawyer Rufus Couch. After Sandy Orr, an escaped convict employed by the kind-hearted Asa, kills Luke Andrews for implying that Nance's expected child is Couch's, Asa takes the blame. He is convicted by Couch, now district attorney, who destroyed the confession Orr left before running away. In prison Asa meets Orr again and they prove Asa's innocence, but when he returns, Asa finds that Nance has divorced him and is about to marry the now wealthy Couch for the sake of her child's education. Asa decides to leave, but Couch engages him in a duel and shoots him in the back before his own death after his horse throws him down a cliff. Asa and Nance now start their marriage anew.