Editor's Top Picks Sharing the Atmosphere of Hot News: Cult Guide

Dir: Maurice Campbell

Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.

Dir: Clarence G. Badger

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

Dorothy Dean, a wealthy young woman with modern ideas, abhors the institution of marriage but discovers that she must be wed in order to receive a wealthy relative's inheritance. Through Judge Roan, the family lawyer, Dorothy meets Don Morton, who agrees to accept a $10,000 check to marry her and then leave her in peace. After the ceremony, however, Dorothy's new husband takes her to a lonely island retreat where he tries unsuccessfully to win her love. Defeated, he leaves the island. In his absence, she is attacked by thieves and is fighting for her life when Don returns and rescues her. Dorothy now realizes that she is happy to have a husband, and the two embark on a real honeymoon.

Dir: Clarence G. Badger

A burlesque dancer overcomes the puritanism of a repressed small town.

Dir: Clarence G. Badger

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

An English nobleman falls for and marries a beautiful young chorus girl. When he brings her home to the castle to meet his family, she is horrified to learn that she is niece, aunt, and/or cousin of all twenty-three of the staff of servants.

Dir: Clarence G. Badger

Homely schoolteacher Sam Lyman arrives from New England to settle in the Mississippi Valley town of Old Ebenezer, Arkansas while he studies law. During a game of forfeits given at the annual town social by Banker McElwyn, the richest man in town, Sam marries the banker's daughter Eva, the prettiest girl in town, in a fake ceremony. The couple later discovers that the marriage is legal and Sam offers to bow out, but Eva, who does not want to marry her father's choice, rich mule dealer Zeb Sawyer, persuades Sam to continue the marriage in name only. After Sam withstands slander from Zeb and McElwyn, they send night riders to horsewhip Sam and run him out of town, but he stays. When Zeb launches a run on McElwyn's bank, Sam saves it by depositing money he receives from writing a novel and bags marked $20,000, which are filled with horse shoes. Afterward, Eva refuses to have the marriage annulled.

Dir: Clarence G. Badger

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

Coarse country girl Sis Hopkins and general store clerk Ridy Scarboro are so engrossed in their dalliance that a basket is overturned and a large can of oil spills into a pool, creating a slow leak. Wealthy villager Vibert thus becomes convinced that Sis's farm is located on a pocket of oil, and he schemes to gain control of the property by marrying Sis. Vibert sends her to a young woman's seminary for refinement. Sis creates chaos in the school and is a problem for principal Miss Peckover. Vibert eventually realizes Sis will never measure up to his standards for a wife. Ridy, who has been jealous, is overjoyed when Sis returns home. Vibert entices Pa Hopkins into selling the property for a small amount, but Sis shrewdly succeeds in tripling the price. Finally Vibert discovers the can in which he has invested so heavily.

Dir: Clarence G. Badger

A cub reporter (Normand) is sent undercover to get a story, but falls for the man she is investigating.

Dir: Reggie Morris

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Clarence G. Badger

An easy-going tramp with a love of food and an aversion to work suddenly gets deeply involved in the life of a farmer and his daughter.

Dir: Clarence G. Badger

Jim Fenton helps rescue a falsely imprisoned inventor and assists him in avenging himself on the man who robbed him of his invention and of his freedom.