Cinematic Discoveries Resonating with the Themes of High Speed: Cul...

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A gentleman burglar is a detective, which acts as a shield to his more shady pastime.

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

Dir: Herbert Blaché

Georgiana Carley, the woman, and Richard Coleman, the man, have been friends since childhood, and have grown to love each other without having become aware of the fact. Sam Coast, a wealthy young man, formerly a rough miner, has also fallen in love with Georgiana, and is determined to let nothing stand in his path to obtain her for his wife. Georgiana is of wealthy family, and her brother, through money left him by his parents, has a considerable fortune. This brother, Steven Carley, is of a lovable but weak disposition, given to speculation, and Georgiana has great trouble in preventing him from losing his money. During the Philippine war many young men volunteer for service. Among them Dick Coleman, who obtains a lieutenant's commission, and he prepares to leave for the Philippines. Before leaving he realizes that he loves Georgiana, and decides to propose to her with the intention of marrying her on his return. Sam Coast is aware of the affection existing between Dick and Georgiana. and uses every effort to prevent them coming together. He has himself proposed to Georgiana and has been refused. When Dick calls upon Georgiana shortly before leaving for the Philippines with the intention of proposing, Sam breaks into the conversation and keeps the two young people apart, and finally informs Dick that he has proposed to Georgiana himself and has been accepted. This naturally upsets Dick very much and causes him to leave Georgiana without making any declaration. He acts in such a strange way that Georgiana cannot understand what is wrong with him. He finally leaves for the Philippines followed by an agent of Coast's who has also enlisted, and whom Coast has employed to prevent any correspondence passing between Dick and Georgiana while he is in the Philippines. Sam's next step is to accomplish the ruin of the Carley family. In order to force Georgiana into such a position that she must either accept him and his wealth, or suffer hardship and poverty. Georgiana, however, is obdurate, and in spite of the loss of her fortune and even her reputation, still keeps the family together. Through an ambush of Dick's regiment in the Philippines, Dick is believed to be dead, and Georgiana learns the news in the papers. She is again confronted by Coast, and the situation has become such that he has it in his power to dishonor her brother's name. To prevent this, she makes the final sacrifice of her own love for her family, and agrees to marry him. Dick Coleman, however, was not killed in the Philippines, but simply wounded and taken prisoner by the Filipinos. He escapes and unexpectedly arrives at the Carley home just in time to prevent the marriage.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

The opening scene is of the interior of the Malamute saloon. Dangerous Dan McGrew and the lady known as Lou are seen seated at a table in one corner. A dog-sleigh stops outside, and its owner, a tired-looking, bedraggled miner, stumbles through the door. After treating the house, he sits down at the piano and begins to play. Into the soulful, stirring music he pours his pent up feelings of hatred, sorrow, love, and regret. Years before, Jim Maxwell's best friend Dan McGrew had deceived his wife into believing him unfaithful. Their elopement completely unnerved him for a time. But finally he resolved to forget about it, until he next met Dan McGrew. Years afterwards, while prospecting, he met his daughter, now grown to womanhood and married. Her husband had been arrested for a murder committed by McGrew, and Maxwell assisted in effecting his escape. Just previous to the miner's entrance, Nell's husband had been captured in the saloon by the sheriff. As Maxwell finishes playing, he turns about, faces Dangerous Dan McGrew, and tells him, in uncomplimentary language, what he thinks of a man of his type. The lights go out, two guns blaze in the dark, and both men fall. Maxwell recovers and is reunited with his wife Lou. McGrew dies.--May 22 1915.

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

Dir: Herbert Blaché

Satan decides to ruin the innocence of ambitious Everygirl, who has a beautiful voice and wishes to pursue a career singing in opera. He thus assumes human form and follows her in order to make sure that she accepts his terms.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

An old woman in Frederick, Maryland during the U.S. Civil War displays her American flag in defiance of the armies of Confederate general Thomas J. Jackson. Based on the folk tale that grew from the poem by John Greenleaf Whittier.

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

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A woman sold as a bride to the local Rajah is saved by her lover and his loyal tiger.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

When John Lowery, his wife Mary and their small son Billy journey to a Northern lumber camp to visit its owner, Clifford Beresford, Mary becomes infatuated with the lumberman and neglects her little boy. A Hudson Bay Company clerk named Nan McDonald, known as the "angel of the lumberjacks," forms such a strong attachment to the child that although he becomes seriously ill, Billy refuses to take his medicine unless Nan dispenses it. Watching over him late one night, Nan sees Mary steal from her room to keep a midnight appointment with Clifford, but when Mary falls down the stairs to her death, Nan maintains her silence for John's sake. Heartbroken, John asks Nan to return with him to the East as Billy's governess, but local gossips misinterpret her presence in John's house and he marries her. Informed that John still loves only his dead wife, the unhappy Nan allows Clifford to flirt with her, whereupon John learns the truth about Mary and opens his heart to the woman who really loves him.

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

Dir: Herbert Blaché

Young Phyllis Shaw, tired of being poor, sets out to snag a rich husband. She meets a young artist named Jerry, who falls for her, but she rejects him because he's not rich. She then meets Kirke, who is exactly the type of man she's looking for, but with one problem--he won't marry her, but as his "kept woman" he will lavish her with money and gifts. What to do, what to do . . .

Dir: Herbert Blaché

Strolling through the park one evening, Travers comes upon a woman about to throw herself in the lake. It is his sister. She tells him she was betrayed by a man who is her son's father, and she is about to end it all because she is no longer able to endure her destitution. Travers soothes her and promises to take care of her and her son. He furnishes an apartment for them and makes frequent calls there. On one of them he is seen and recognized by Mansfield, a clubman of his, who is infatuated with Mrs. Travers and uses this suspicious, though unconfirmed, incident to try to persuade her to give him her love. Mrs. Travers, made credulous by her insane jealousy of her husband, slightly encourages Mansfield, who, with the bravado of his sort, boasts at the club of his affair with her. Travers hears of this and is uncontrollable. He sends for his sister to come to his dressing room in the theatre, and Mansfield, hearing of it, brings Mrs. Travers to surprise him. Here is the big scene of the play wherein Travers demands of Mansfield an explanation of his conduct, and Travers' sister recognizes Mansfield as the man who deserted her. Travers attempts to kill Mansfield, who is saved by the police. Then Mrs. Travers, learning the identity of "the other woman," and ridden by remorse for the jealousy that has made her doubt her husband and lose his love, attempts to poison herself. She is saved, however, and reunited to her husband by a love whose constant light outshines the occasional flashes from her "green eyes."