Rare Cinematic Gems Exploring the Legacy of Everybody Dance: Cult G...

Dir: Charles Reisner

A greenhorn immigrant arrives and enters quarantine. Getting in is easy, but getting out is another thing. He makes several flying exits, but returns with equal velocity. While he is going from one department to another, like a regular immigrant, there are two assassins on his trail. They attempt to stab him, bomb him and in other ways to do away with him, but he outwits them with his lack of wits and manages, though not quite plausibly, to get into a closeup with a sweet little nurse who is kept busy around the place.

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

Hajj, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself.

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

Dir: Manuel Noriega

A woman who arrives Madrid fleeing from their abusive stepmother tries to help her cousin, who has an illegitimate child, pretending to be the real mother.

Dir: Charles Reisner

An aristocratic society couple adopt a foundling of unknown parentage. At the age of ten, however, the unknown foundling heard the call of worldly adventure and ran away from the luxurious home of his wealthy foster-parents. As the story opens, the prodigal son, whose given name is "Little Oswald," returns to Home and Mother - not as the handsome and romantic type as visualized by the society belles assembled to pay homage, but as - well, Bull Montana, with cauliflower ears, a checkered suit, a derby lid, a big black cigar - and two of the finest "hard boiled pals" that ever traversed the underworld.

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

Dir: Charles Reisner

A wealthy young man disguises himself as a gardener to be near the woman he secretly loves. He discovers that the butler is an enemy spy who plans to steal military secrets, and has to find a way to stop him.

Dir: James A. FitzPatrick

A Scots lass parts regretfully from her lad as he goes to make his mark in the world. The lad meets an old man who warns him against leaving his beloved. He returns to her and they are married. Then the old man, who loves the girl's mother, asks that she be his wife. Thereafter another marriage is arranged.

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

Dir: Charles Reisner

The adventures of Old Bill and his friends Bert and Alf in the trenches of the first World War.

Dir: Anton Gunnarsson

The story begins in a pawnshop owned by a middle-aged woman whose daughter is a cocaine addict. The woman is divorced and has just begun an affair with her sales assistant, a young man with extravagant habits. In the second act, we find the pawnbroker, her husband, daughter and sales assistant in one of the city's dance halls, the Eldorado. Suddenly, the police raid the place, and one of the cocaine addicts is so frightened that he pulls out a gun and shoots himself. In the third act, the whole group is in custody. However, it all ends happily when a decent police officer, who knows the pawnbroker from before, ensures that they are released.

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

Dir: Charles Reisner

Lillian who owns a cat and dog store, "cans" Charlie, her clerk, when in an altercation with a street sweeper, a brick breaks the front window of the shop. Charlie then gets a job to post bills announcing a "Dog Show" in the Auditorium with $10,000 in cash prizes. While posting the bills, he notices Brownie and a pup and decides to enter pup for a prize. The dog show is a gala event. Lillian also enters a dog, her favorite poodle. She snubs Charlie when she sees him. Lillian's poodle is picked as a blue ribbon winner. Brownie grabs hold of him and hides him, substituting the pup in his stall. Villains enter to steal the prize dog and steal the pup. When Lillian comes to the dog's stall she finds him gone and is frantic Brownie produces the poodle for her and Lillian is overjoyed with Brownie and Charlie, his owner. Thus Charlie and Lillian are brought together again. The directors of the show decide that Brownie is a clever dog and award him first prize. Then Charlie and Lillian, being on an equal footing, get married and all seems to be well with them.

Dir: Charles Reisner

Cub reporter Jerry Clark substitutes for Dolly Wimple, the editor of a newspaper advice-to-the-lovelorn column, and advises wealthy June Harrison not to marry Clive Hunt, a man whom she does not love. This advice maddens June's penniless uncle, political boss Tim Harrison, who is in league with Hunt to get his hands on June's fortune. After a series of mad adventures involving rum-runners and female impersonators, Jerry saves June from a forced marriage with Hunt and marries her himself.