The Auteur's Selection In the Shadow of I Was a Captive of Nazi Ger...

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Tod Browning

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

Achmet Bey, a Turkish chieftain, catches one of his many wives in adultery and murders her lover. Throwing aside the cuckolding wife, he abducts his harem an innocent girl. However, a brave American who loves her comes to her rescue.

Dir: Hugh Ford

The 'dead' wife of a steel process inventor returns, as does her 'dead' husband, a war amnesiac.

Dir: Alexander Butler

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

In Alberta, Canada, a Cornish emigrant unmasks a rustler posing as the girl's "blind" father.

Dir: Harry Southwell

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

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

A simple country girl, brutally mistreated by her stepfather, awakens first the sympathy, then the love, of The Boy. The Spider, who lusts after The Girl, makes a bargain with the stepfather and takes her to the city where, kept prisoner, she is soon broken in health and spirit. Cast out and near death, she is taken in by The Boy. Following the demise of The Spider, The Boy takes her to church, where he prays, and after many hours she is restored to health.

Dir: Colin Campbell

Dr. John Brandon, who cares for charity patients in the slums, is thrown together with writer Norma Ashley when her car strikes a boy whom Brandon treats. Under Norma's influence, and against the wishes of his friend Father Farrell, Brandon leaves the slums and becomes the partner of Dr. Thurston, who, unknown to Brandon, is Norma's fiance. Now prosperous, Brandon flies into a rage when he hears Thurston and Norma ridiculing him, and proceeds to beat Thurston and choke Norma to within an inch of her life. Taking to alcohol and drugs in his grief, Brandon becomes a derelict and goes out West to a mission town, where his loud proclamations of atheism provoke the wrath of a saloon crowd, from which his old friend Farrell rescues him. Farrell, now working in the Western parish, gradually restores the faith of Brandon, who falls in love with Mary Harrison, a blind girl who prays continually for her sight. Brandon performs an operation on Mary's eyes and her sight returns. Norma, who has found Brandon in the parish town, cannot persuade him to return to the city or to leave Mary, who accepts Brandon's love.

Dir: Edward Dillon

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

Her education in a French convent school completed, plain Justine Spencer returns to New York. There she is shocked to discover that her mother Dodo is a flamboyant musical comedy actress with many male admirers. Dodo, on the other hand, is dismayed to find Justine priggish and dowdy. One of Dodo's suitors is Billy Ferris, who, in a fit of jealousy, murders her and slays himself. Out of pity, Cosmo Spotiswood, another admirer of Dodo, marries Justine, but soon tires of his platonic marriage and leaves for Europe. Upon his return, Cosmo finds Justine transformed. Under the tutelage of Dodo's maid Loti, she has bobbed her hair and donned fashionable apparel. Thus changed, Justine is surrounded by suitors. Stung by jealousy, Cosmo falls in love with his sophisticated wife.

Dir: Eduardo Notari

A crime drama in the Gennariello-series. The police detective in Naples that is confronted with modern gangsters and crime events.

Dir: William Parke

Bruce Wendell, the son of West Virginia coal mine owner James Wendell, graduates from West Point and prepares to lead a fighting unit to the front during World War I. As his father lies dying, however, he convinces Bruce to remain at home and guard the mine. Bruce's fiancée Ann Blair assumes that he is a coward and breaks off their engagement, but her brother Bobbie remains Bruce's loyal friend. Meyer, a German agent, persuades railroad president Parrish to refuse to transport Wendell's coal, but when Bruce adamantly refuses to close the mine, the spy's men decide to blow it up. While Ann is being abducted by Meyer, Bobbie is buried in an explosion at the mine. Bruce rescues Bobbie and then sends a plea to Lieutenant Parrish to rescue Ann. Meyer and his gang are captured and Ann renews her vow of love to Bruce.