Essential Cult Cinema Drawn from the Same DNA as Hay Foot, Straw Fo...

Dir: Jerome Storm

Ben Trimble, a country boy visiting the city, becomes involved with a safecracker and finds himself sliding into a life of crime. But chance provides him with an opportunity to redeem himself.

Dir: Jerome Storm

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

Socially prominent but nearly penniless Easterner Mrs. Bereton, marries her daughter Avice to wealthy cattleman Barton Masters. Before the ceremony, Avice promises Dr. Fortescue Van Fleet, with whom she has been carrying on a flirtation, that her marriage will mean nothing, but after she moves to Barton's ranch, she comes to respect her husband deeply. When the wedding party, consisting of Van Fleet as well as Avice's mother and brother Billy, visits the ranch, Van Fleet attacks Avice in her room, but Barton catches him and turns him out. The next day, Barton sends Avice's relatives home and compels her to work on the ranch. She is resentful until Van Fleet returns and shoots Barton, seriously wounding him. At the point of a gun, Avice forces the doctor to tend her husband's injury, and after Barton's recovery, she devotes herself to him.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Andy Fletcher is a blacksmith in a country village, but he dreams of racing automobiles. He gets his chance to enter a big race, but winning is complicated by a band of bank robbers.

Dir: Jerome Storm

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

David Harrington plans to marry Betty Graves. He is an old-fashioned boy, believing in marriage, having children, and living a suburban life. Betty is more ultra-modern, and independent. When Betty gets a tour of the bungalow that David has built for them, she says it's cute but she would hate to have to live in it. The two break up and Betty goes back to a former sweetheart. Sybil, the wife of David's friend Herbert, has just has a row with her husband because he wouldn't buy her a new hat. So she takes their three children and hides in David's home, hoping to throw a scare into her husband. Now David tries to take care of the kids, hoping to forget his own troubles. Herbert phones David that he is coming over, but David tells his friend he has the measles. Meanwhile, Sybil's kids have gotten sick from eating too much taffy. So David calls Betty's father, who is a doctor. Betty comes over with her father, and David cooks up a scheme with the doctor to quarantine the house so that Betty will have to stay and help him take care of the children. Herbert arrives and chaos ensues when he discovers his wife and kids are there. Eventually, things get straightened out and David regains Betty's love.

Dir: Jerome Storm

A bumbling would-be detective always seems to reach the wrong conclusion, but one day accidentally stumbles across a real crook, guilty of a real crime.

Dir: Jerome Storm

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of An Old Fashioned Boy perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Luther Green goes to war in France in 1917. When he comes back to his family home in New Jersey, he has a surprise following him: a beautiful French girl named Nina.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Bill Henry Jenkins is a country boy on the lookout for a good career. He faces numerous obstacles, including losing his sales job when his bicycle is lost. A bigtime poker game turns out to be the key to Bill Henry's success.

Dir: Jerome Storm

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

Andrew Gray is a shy youth who also stutters. He has worked in the office of the Wells Motor Truck company for five years, never getting beyond the job of clerk. Yet, he knows more about the business than anyone else, but his shyness has held him back. He is also in love from afar with his employer's daughter, Dorothy. Meanwhile, William Blinker, a cocky newcomer, has advanced to assistant manager after only four months at the company. The firm needs to land a big trucking contract from Mr. Dodge. Blinker tries, but his cockiness antagonizes Dodge. Andy meets Dorothy, and when she accidentally thinks he is Blinker, he is too bashful to deny it. Andy then meets Mr. Dodge, who finds Andy appealing. Andy lands the contract for the firm, and wins Dorothy's love.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Nadine Fortier is captured by a band of desert marauders. "The Sheik" wins her in a game of dice but then lets her go - for now.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Ne'er-do-well Homer Cavender ventures to the city from Mainsville in an effort to find fame and fortune. Both elude him, and after clerking for two years, Homer returns home for a vacation. Impressed by his flashy clothes, the townspeople assume that Homer has achieved success. Attempting to win Rachel Prouty from his rival, Arthur Machim, Homer continues the deception by announcing that his employer, Kort and Bailly, has dispatched him to enroll stockholders for a proposed new plant to be built in Mainsville. Machim discovers the sham and denounces Homer as a crook. Meanwhile, Homer returns to New York, convinces his employers of the merits of his plan and comes home triumphant, with a proposal for both the new plant and for Rachel's hand in marriage.