Editor's Top Picks Sharing the Atmosphere of Heir of the Ages: Cult Guide

Dir: Edward LeSaint

Jack Darling of the North West Mounted Police is ordered to track down and arrest murderer Alec Young, whose girl, Dancing Pete, performs in the Nugget dance hall. En route to Nugget, Jack meets Hope Ross, who is caring for her sister's baby. Although the two fall in love, the outlook for a happy romance appears hopeless, because he believes that she is married and she thinks that he is an outlaw. Jack visits Dancing Pete's cabin, where he finds a photograph that proves that the murderous Alec and Sheriff Carew of Nugget are the same person. Jack convinces Carew to join him in robbing the saloon's safe, but as the sheriff takes his share of the money, Jack exposes him to the angry townspeople. Carew tries to escape, but the Mountie overtakes him, following which Jack and Hope delightedly learn the truth about each other.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

Schoolteacher Faith Miller inherits $10,000. Edson, McGill and Slade, three enterprising crooks, own the Moonflower, a worthless mine. Slade goes East to unload, and hearing of Faith's good fortune, he approaches her and finds her easy prey: she buys a share in the mine for $9,000. Advised by friends to take a rest, Faith goes to inspect her mine. Arriving at the town, she is insultingly approached and the man who has annoyed her is knocked down by Jim Ralston, a young mining engineer. She goes to the home of Big Annie, who tells her that the mine is worthless. The miners, touched by her beauty and helplessness, engage her to teach their school, the only available pupils being Pete, a half-wit, and Jim, who is held in connection with a hold-up committed by Edson and McGill. At first Jim rebels, but when he sees the teacher, he becomes a willing student. Faith recognizes him as her protector. Jim conceives the idea of salting the mine, and wires Slade to the effect that the mine is rich with silver and not to sell. Slade returns. Edson and McGill, pursued by a posse, reach the schoolhouse and persuade Jim to conceal them. Flynn, at the head of the posse, accuses Jim of hiding the bandits and is killed by a shot from an unseen hand. Jim is arrested as the murderer. Faith intercedes, begs him to flee and is handcuffed to him. They escape and take refuge in a mountain cabin. Jim shoots the fetter apart, breaking his wrist, and insists that Faith return home. As Jim tells Slade of Faith's whereabouts, Slade notices the fetter on his hand, takes him to the outskirts of the town and the miners prepare to bang him. Faith sells her interest in the mine back to Slade, and Pete, as he delivers a note to her from Jim, also tells Faith of Jim's peril. The outlaws, Edson and McGill, are shot as they resist arrest, Edson's dying confession of Flynn's murder reaching Jim's executioners just as they refuse to listen to Faith's pleading for her lover's life. Faith, weakened by the trying ordeals through which she has passed, sinks to the ground, only to be taken into the waiting arms of the man she loves.

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

Dir: Edward LeSaint

Harley P. Hennage, at the opening of the story, is a gambler about 35 years of age, who spends much of his time at the Red Dog Retreat at Gila Junction. Marie, the town belle, respects Harley as the best friend she has. Harley, on the other hand, has never declared his love, and it is not until Marie falls in love with a strange prospector that she has an intimation that Harley loves her, too. Harley resents Corblay's intrusion, and tells him to get out of town. When he learns of Marie's love for Corblay, he relents and leaves himself. As a newcomer of the Silver Dollar Retreat in distant San Pasqual, Hennage turns to business and forgetfulness, and in time comes to be known as the worst man in town. Marie's husband, meanwhile, has gone out into the desert accompanied by his faithful Indian and Carey, of Boston. Carey assaults Corblay and escapes with the burros and the gold which was discovered on the way to the claim. Corblay dies in the desert, leaving a note in his canteen and an inscription on a sandstone ledge, reading: "Stranger, look in my canteen and see that I get justice." Later, Hennage, hearing of Marie's poverty and the arrival of a child, arranges to have Marie come to San Pasqual, where he secures her a position as cashier in the eating house. For the moment Hennage's hopes have revived, but when he sees that the girl remains true to the memory of her lost husband, he holds himself aloof. Eighteen years elapse. Hennage has attached himself like a father to the now-grown child, Donna. One afternoon Marie is taken sick and is carried to her hut. Hennage is sent for and is with her when she dies. Marie gives him the location map of her husband's claim, telling him that while she has hated it because it stood for the desert and her tragedy, yet she would like him to search for the claim on the chance that perhaps there may be something there and that Donna will now need it. Donna, about this time, meets and falls in love with Bob McGraw, a young man who has just filed on certain water rights in the Sierras on the hunch that the surrounding land is to be open to entry. Borax O'Rourke is infatuated with Donna and attempts to force his attention upon her. She is shielded by Hennage and later by McGraw. Hennage, in searching for the lost claim, runs across the canteen that belonged to Corblay and sees the inscription on the ledge. He starts back for civilization. About this time Carey shows up in San Pasqual in search of one Bob McGraw. He is anxious to buy the rights which McGraw has filed on. A hold-up has been committed and the evidence points to young McGraw. Carey discovers where McGraw is located and attempts to use his information to force the young man to sell. Hennage, returning with the story of Corblay's death and the canteen, meets Carey, and with the Indian's aid, learns that Carey is the man who killed Corblay years before. Hennage forces restitution to the child, Donna. He meets death in a gun duel with O'Rourke, whom he had previously told to get out of town for his insult against Donna. The Indian, left to guard Carey, stabs him to death.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

Three outlaws fleeing a posse through the desert come upon a dying woman and her baby in a wagon. Before she passes away, she makes the men promise to take care of her baby and get it safely through the desert.

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

Dir: Edward LeSaint

Makino works for Kayosho, a Japanese curio dealer in America. To reward Makino's dedication, Kayosho sends for Toki-ye, a picture bride. Upon arrival, she is married to Makino in a civil ceremony. However, Kayosho intends to keep Toki-ye for himself. This angers Goto, another employee. Kayosho was betrothed to Goto's niece Hana. One day Kayosho is found dead in a pool.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

Doctor Lambert takes his wife west to a mining town, where he can both minister and doctor. His wife is not happy and upon discovering she is pregnant, runs away with a gambler. He soon dumps her, and she comes back and dies giving birth to a baby girl. Lambert, out of his mind with rage, leaves the baby on a doorstep and vows to never have faith again. He returns to the mining town fifteen years later a drunkard. He meets young, kind Lily Sawyer and is greatly impressed by her compassionate nature. Meanwhile, the gambler has returned and decides to abduct Lily, but his partner recognizes Lambert and tells him Lily is his daughter. He kills the gambler before he can harm Lily and soon his faith returns.

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

Dir: Edward LeSaint

James Kelly and Tom Baldwin, two old pals, agree that their children, Larry and Helen, should marry. During the month before the marriage, Larry plans to have a fling and is smitten by a woman he meets on a train. Not realizing that the woman is Helen, he takes a job on the ranch next to hers, and she poses as a maid to sound out her fiancee's character. Tom exposes a group of cattle thieves but is accused of murder and makes a run for it. His horse catches up with a train, and when he jumps through the window, he finds himself facing his future wife.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

When his fiancée commits suicide after being used by an American artist, a Japanese art dealer seeks to get vengeance by seducing the artist's wife.

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

Dir: Edward LeSaint

Dick Brown kills himself in front of Adele Durant after she rejects him and Dick's friend Robert Bradley threatens to accuse her of murder unless she places her life in his hands. He leaves her at a dance hall in an isolated spot in Mexico, where she falls in with a group of bandits planning to seize an American mine. Learning that the brigands plan to kill the lone mine owner, she warns him of their approach and discovers that he is none other than Bradley, whom she loathes. They flee together but are captured and held with other prisoners of the gang. While Bradley goes for help, bandit Pedro Vasquale threatens to kill the prisoners unless Adele comes to him in his cabin. When he embraces her, she stabs him. Bradley, recognizing her noble character, marries her.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

De Guise visits the Paris home of the Marquis Henry De Montfort to obtain the marquis' system of beating the roulette wheel. In the struggle, De Guise kills the marquis and then abducts his daughter Blanche, who has fainted. On the road, De Guise is knocked unconscious in a fight with the "Stag," a leader of the Paris underworld, and the latter takes Blanche to his den in the slums. Blanche awakens with no recollection of what has transpired and begins a new life with the Stag. Using her father's roulette system, the two soon make a fortune and enter Paris' select gambling society. Blanche meets De Guise, stabs him, and is arrested, but an operation for "pressure on the brain" saves her from prison and restores her memory. De Guise recovers and again abducts Blanche, but the Stag comes to her rescue and, now choosing straight life, finds happiness with her.