Deep Archive Finds in the Vein of Honor's Cross: Cult Guide

Dir: Wallace Worsley

Wealthy and middle-aged Gerald Fitzgerald begins to tire of his wife who is an extremely temperamental and romantic opera singer and believes he has found another woman who suits him better. He endeavors to arrange with his wife for a divorce. She agrees, but returns home from her foreign opera tour. The situation brings her face to face with the fact that she really loves him but with a woman's wiles she adopts a more subtle method. When she finds that her policy of agreeing with him is having its effect, she cleverly arranges for a dinner party and invites him to bring the other woman. She makes every situation work to her advantage and presses her advantage after dinner with the final result that she wins her husband back.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

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

In an effort to uphold his distinguished family's financial position, Henry Guion embezzled $400,000, and is now on the verge of ruin. When engineer Peter Devenant, a former suitor of Henry's daughter Olivia, returns East after making his fortune and hears of the family's dire circumstances, he offers to repay the funds. Olivia, now engaged to British nobleman Colonel Ashley, objects to his offers initially, but finally reconsiders to save her father's reputation. Abhorred that his fiancee is indebted to a former suitor, Col. Ashley breaks the engagement. Hearing of her niece's difficulties, Olivia's wealthy aunt, Mme. De Melcourt, intercedes and refunds Peter's money, forcing her niece to realize that her true affections lie with the young engineer rather than with the haughty nobleman.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

Wealthy heiress Diane Westfall, bored with her life, hops into a green van and sets out to seek adventure. She doesn't know that four men are pursuing her--her cousin Carl, who wants her inheritance; Baron Tregar of the small Balkan country of Houdania, who believes that Diane may be the rightful heir to the Houdanian throne; Prince Ronador, who also believes she may be the heir to the throne but wants to kill her so he can get control of it; and Philip Poynter, a young American friend of Baron Tregar's who has met and fallen in love with Diane, and sets out to protect her.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

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

A rich young boy has to prove his worth to the gang he has just joined by enduring all sorts of hardships, including a kidnap attempt, before they'll accept him.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

Unknown to his proud, wealthy family, Granger Hollister marries telephone operator Margery Harding. Granger presents his new wife at an engagement party given for his sister Jane, but Jane's fiance', Lord Cecil Graydon, threatens to break off the betrothal unless Granger's marriage is annulled. To please his sister, Granger sacrifices Margery, who seeks work and later gives birth. After her baby's death, Margery goes West, where she befriends and old miner who later leaves her his fortune. Meanwhile, Granger becomes involved in a fraudulent mining deal, and because of George Osborne's perjured testimony, he is sent to prison for five years. When he escapes, Margery agrees to hide him and is ultimately responsible for obtaining his pardon. Granger then remarries the wife he had abandoned.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

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

Viola Baxter is deceived into a hasty marriage with her guardian, Marshall Welch, who is after her money and has framed her fiancé, Dick Fletcher, for theft. She discovers and exposes her husband's perfidy. Humiliated, Welch decides to take his wife's life along with his own, but she is saved by her Great Dane.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

Adele Bleneau is a young nurse who assists her father, a renowned surgeon/. While in Washington, DC, she meets and falls in love with a British army officer, Capt. Fraser. While traveling by ship to France with her father, she meets Count von Schulling, a German diplomat who is an acquaintance of her father. Von Schulling falls for the pretty young Adele. While in France, Adele organizes a rescue party to save Capt. Fraser, who has been on a secret mission behind enemy lines and has been wounded. In a twist of fate, Adele finds the wounded Fraser and takes him to a hospital, but Count von Schuling, who has also been wounded, is placed in the same room as Fraser. When the hospital is overrun by German forces, Adele is placed in a delicate position by von Sculling: either spy for the Germans or Fraser will be shot.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

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

Alouette, the daughter of prosperous French vintner LeSieur Juste DeLarme, secretly marries Bertrand Beaubien although her father wants her to wed wealthy German Kurt Von Klassner. After Kurt slays Bertrand, Alouette is forced to marry the brutal German, and only her love for her little son Bertrand, whom Kurt imagines is his offspring, but who actually is the slain Frenchman's, saves her from complete unhappiness. Years later, when the Germans invade France during World War I, Kurt assists them although they have killed his father-in-law. Bertrand's young sweetheart is killed during the German occupation of the village, and fiercely determined to drive them out, he enlists in the French army. With the arrival of the French forces, the town is rescued, and Kurt, through Bertrand's testimony, is arrested as a spy.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

The guests at a summer resort hotel, headed by Mrs. Van Courtlandt--Van Allstyn, are preparing to stage a charity performance of a farce, and Gaston Allegretti, threatened with dismissal by the owners, has promised to obtain the services of Broadway star Elsie Parmelee. When the actress refuses, Gaston, in despair, enlists the aid of Helen Haynes, who works in a broker's office and resembles the actress. With MacGregor, a Scottish bookkeeper, she goes to the resort for what she supposes to be a vacation and is reluctant to accept an acting role until she finds that young millionaire Bobby Bates, with whom she is in love, is engaged to play opposite her; although awkward in the part, she is hailed as a great comedienne. Bobby proposes and Helen accepts, thinking he knows her true identity. Later, he learns of the real Elsie Parmelee and is disillusioned, but MacGregor admits his duplicity and all ends well.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

After Alice Dane, a poor English schoolteacher, witnesses Sir John Turnbull throw an adversary over a cliff, Turnbull offers her money and marriage, because a wife cannot testify against her husband. To support her invalid father and for desired luxuries, Alice accepts, but she finds her husband humiliating and insulting. When Bobby Ralston, the superintendent of Turnbull's South African mines, reports that Turnbull's interests are endangered by a Zulu uprising, Turnbull takes Alice to Africa. After Turnbull shoots an emissary of Zulu chief Cetygoola carrying a flag of truce, Alice is taken hostage, to be burned at the stake unless the messenger's killer is offered. Knowing that Ralston loves Alice, Turnbull dares him to offer himself, which he does, but the Zulus realize he is not the guilty party. During the Zulus' subsequent attack, Ralston and Alice escape to an observation balloon. Reinforcements defeat the Zulus, but Cetygoola hides and kills Turnbull. Ralston and Alice are then free to marry.