Deep Archive Finds in the Vein of Forbidden Fruit: Cult Guide

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

Pregnant tenement dweller Maggie Schultz is being used by burglars and fears that though "I stole to keep my baby from being born in this rat hole... now he's going to be born in jail." But the tenement owner may refuse to prosecute.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

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

A good-natured but chivalrous cowboy romances the local schoolmarm and leads the posse that brings a gang of rustlers, which includes his best friend, to justice.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

A young American has her ship torpedoed by a German U-boat but makes it back to ancestral home in France, where she witnesses German brutality firsthand.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

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

Opera singer Renee Dupree is in love with struggling composer Julian who falls very seriously ill. She goes to impresario Mueller for the money Julian needs but is saved from sacrificing her virtue when a jealous lover kills Mueller.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

A venal, spoiled stockbroker's wife impulsively embezzles $10,000 from the charity she chairs and desperately turns to a Burmese ivory trader to replace the stolen money.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

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

Road agent Ramerrez hides out in his girlfriend's store where the Sheriff knows him to be. The Sheriff plays The Girl a game of cards to decide Ramerrez's future. She wins. She later saves him from a hanging. She rides off with him.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

Chimmie is sent to Death Valley, California as part of a railroad scheme. He's to pretend to have discovered gold there, then set a new transcontinental record heading East. It doesn't quite work out that way.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

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

Esra Kincaid takes land by force, and having taken the Espinoza land, he sets his sight on the Castro rancho U.S. Government Agent Kearney holds him off until the cavalry shows up and he can declare his love for Juanita--"The Rose of the Rancho."

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

Mary Denby becomes a seamstress after her husband Steve wastes their money on booze. Her employer provides her as an escort to accompany millionaire Roger Manning. Her husband tries blackmailing Manning and is later killed by the police, leaving Mary free to wed the millionaire.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

Soda jerk Harvey is the most popular man in Blakeville, New York, and deliriously happy through three years of poverty-stricken marriage to Nellie. When a musical-comedy comes through town, Nellie becomes and actress and tag-along Harvey becomes "What's His Name." When Nellie falls for a millionaire and goes to Reno for a divorce, Harvey takes their child Phoebe home, where her later illness brings her parents back together.