The Definitive Guide Deeply Connected to File 113: Cult Guide

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

Roy Somerville has turned out an interesting story that will hold the interest of the majority of audiences as produced by the Triangle-Fine Arts Company. It is a five-reel feature produced under the direction of C.M. and S.S. Franklin,. Norma Talmadge stars as Cora, who is wed to Arthur Vincent (Eugene Pallette); they have two children. Vincent is a bank president's son who devotes much of his time to cabaret dancer Jane Courtenay, who is willing to have him devote his time to her as long as he is a good provider. The wife, who has been sadly neglected, turns to her sister, who is wed to young detective Fred Brown. His brother Charles, who works in the elder Vincent's bank as a cashier, lives with them. He was Cora's first love and has never quite recovered from the fact that she jilted him to wed Vincent because of his money. The cabaret dancer makes several demands on the young Vincent, who tries to borrow money from his father to meet them; failing to receive the loan, he agrees to help several friends of the cabaret charmer rob his father's bank. After the robbery Charles Brown is accused of the crime and arrested. But the robbers are discovered in their hiding place, and in escaping all but one is killed. Cora is left a widow and the natural supposition is that she and Charles were happily married afterward. Just where the title comes in is hard to say, but the picture, while not one of the best that has been produced at the Fine Arts, is one that will get by because of its great appeal to women.

Dir: Charles Raymond

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

A magician helps outwit a Chinaman's gang.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

The story of Aladdin and the Princess Badr al-badr's adventures as told through child actors.

Dir: Tom Collins

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

When milk magnate Jacob Strauss is found murdered in his library, the guilt points to Strauss' secretary, Harry Gray, who the previous day was fired when his employer discovered that he was secretly engaged to his daughter Sybil. Arrested for the crime, Gray asserts that he arrived in time to witness the attack on Strauss by a masked man who escaped through the window. When the secretary's story is ridiculed because the window is sixteen stories above ground, Sybil appeals to Tex to take the case. After a long search, Tex summons a number of suspects to his office and accuses Blake, whose apartments are above those of the murdered man. It transpires that Blake, who held a grudge against Strauss for losses he suffered in the milk pool on the exchange, killed him and made his escape by means of a rope. Thus exposed, Blake leaps out the window to his death, clearing Gray of guilt and freeing him to face a happy future with Sybil.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

Young Jim Hawkins is caught up with the pirate Long John Silver in search of the buried treasure of the buccaneer Captain Flint, in this adaptation of the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

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

The Japanese emperor's son Hanki Pan (Francis Carpenter) is in love with beautiful Fan Fan (Virginia Lee Corbin) and determined to marry her, although his father has decreed that he shall wed the Ancient and Honorable Lady Shoo, an ugly hag. Hanki Pan and Fan Fan elope and find employment as entertainers at the Wisteria Gardens. However, Lady Shoo and Fan Fan's rejected suitor, the Chief Executioner, follow in close pursuit and soon catch the young lovers. The Executioner plans to behead Hanki Pan, but when the emperor discovers the plot, he orders the villain to choose between the sword and marriage to Lady Shoo. Hanki Pan and Fan Fan are reunited, while Lady Shoo is happily wed.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

Ali Baba, a poor Turkish wood chopper, discovers that a robbers' cave, concealed in the mountains that surround his house, opens to the magical phrase, "Open Sesame." Learning that the cave is filled with stolen treasure, he takes home as much as he can carry, but his greedy brother forces him to reveal the cave's location. After gaining admittance to the cave, Ali Baba's brother is seen by the thieves and killed. Meanwhile, Ali Baba falls in love with Morgianna, a slave girl forced to dance in the local inn, and by securing her freedom, he wins her love and loyalty. The leader of the band of robbers suspects that Ali Baba knows the secret of the treasure cave, and in the guise of an oil merchant, he visits Ali Baba with his forty thieves concealed in oil jars. When Morgianna discovers the robbers, she fills the jars with boiling oil, thereby killing them all. Ali Baba defeats the robber chief in combat and then marries his beautiful Morgianna.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

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

A young woman and her six little brothers and sisters are left orphans by the murder of their father over gold found on his ranch. Together the seven offspring fight against their greedy neighbors to keep what is rightfully theirs.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

A kind Dutch immigrant and her bumbling father are blackmailed by a gang of counterfeiters.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

Millionaire Hamilton fakes death to test wife's loyalty. His wife and brother plot to kill his children for inheritance. Hamilton warns kids through Hansel and Gretel story. Wife overhears, realizes her evil plan. Family reunites.