Cinematic Discoveries Following the Footsteps of Guilty Hands: Cult Guide

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

In the land where the Sun hangs low and the hungry wolves shadows play ominously over the everlasting snow, Joe Mauchin meets Jeanne Verette. He is a trapper, come down to the little post of Mead's Pocket, a vicious mining town, for supplies. She, the daughter of a saloonkeeper who compels her to "drum up trade" among his maudlin patrons. Joe falls in love with Jeanne. A brute of a man seeks to interfere and in the resultant struggle falls dead. Joe and Jeanne flee to his camp miles away and a year's happiness follows. Then the trapper finds Constable McKenzie of the Mounted Police half dead in the snow. Joe revives the officer and carries him to his cabin. Straightway McKenzie arrests the trapper for the saloon death. A desperate fight ensues between the two and the constable, overpowered, flees for aid. He is last seen in the woods, staggering from the effects of a wound, and with a pack of wolves slowly drawing in on him. Joe, in the cabin, draws to his arms Jeanne who is shyly clutching a newly made bit of baby clothes. It is that for which Joe had fought.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Fate's Frame-Up perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Mollie Andrews is a little New England school teacher who goes out to Rawhide, Montana, to "teach the west" its manners. She is of romantic nature, and the picturesque statue and habits of Dan Clark impress her deeply. She marries him. Clark is a bad man at heart. He treats Mollie brutally after the first blush of honeymooning; then slays one of his own kind, and escapes across the border to Canada. The year that passes teaches Mollie some things about mankind she never knew before. One was to appreciate Constable Calhoun, of the Royal Mounted Police, who occasionally called on her, as a real friend. But though their mutual regard for each other ripens finally into love, Mollie remains true to her husband. When he turns up again she exacts a promise from Calhoun, on the strength of his love for her, that he will not harm Clark until the latter strikes the first blow. The beast within Clank still runs amok, however, and he attacks the policeman, unjustly accusing him of undue attentions to Mollie. A struggle ensues in which Clark falls dead. Thus Mollie is released from her marriage vows, and her future brightens with Calhoun awaiting her.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Out of the elite and civilized east into the rough and primitive west there comes a little party which judged the desert must be larger than all New York, and their trail a little longer than the Gay White Way. Ruth Harkness, who has inherited the Flying W ranch from a relative, heads the timid little band. A prim and conventional aunt and uncle and Willard Masten, her fiancé, all dolled up according to his Fifth Avenue tailors ideas of the west, accompany her. Headlong the little party plunges into the meshes of a conspiracy of two cowboys to mulct the girl of her holdings. Rex Randerson, a happy-go-lucky ranger with a clear-gray eye, steps in to frustrate the plot, and incidentally falls in love with Ruth. This enrages Masten, who joins the conspirators and extends their plot to include Randerson's death. The girl and the ranger are caught in their "death trap'' and count themselves lost, but the fearlessness of Rex in a single-handed battle with the villains saves the day. Ruth thanks him by consenting to become his bride, and an old-fashioned cowboy wedding ends the dark adventure.

Dir: Harley Knoles

Jim McDonald, the foreman of a shipbuilding plant and head of the labor union, strives to combat the anarchistic propaganda being put forth by Klimoff, the leader of a Bolshevik gang whose goal is to disrupt the country with strikes and anarchy. Despite McDonald's efforts, a strike is called, resulting in chaos. McDonald's child is knocked down by runaway horses abandoned by their striking driver, and dies. Mob scenes take place in America, as well as in Russia. Eventually, the unrest is quelled with an armistice called between Capital and Labor for a year, during which time wages are to be increased to reflect the cost of living, and leaders are to work out a common plan for their mutual advantage. The strikers now realize that they have been pawns of the Bolsheviks and call off the strike, agreeing to the plan.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Range Boss 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: Edgar Jones

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Great Shadow 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

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.

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.