Hand-Picked Alternatives Movies That Echo the Spirit of In the Palace of the King: Cult Guide

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While traveling by train from Denver to Washington, DC, wealthy young Grenfall Lorry meets a beautiful young girl. When they are accidentally left behind in a mining town, they race through the mountains and finally catch it. They travel to Washington and have a great time, but they soon part. They meet again later in the small European country of Graustark, where Grenfall and his friend Harry rescue her from kidnappers, and they then discover that she is actually the country's Princess Yetiva. She is engaged to Prinze Lorenz of Asphan in order to pay off Graustark's enormous debt from the war, but Lorenz is murdered and Grenfall is framed for the crime. Complications ensue.

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A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Man Who Was Afraid perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Young Benton Clune is not a coward at heart. He is a victim of over-zealous mother love which has grown to exert too great an influence over him. When the President's call to arms comes, Clune's regiment of National Guard prepares. Mrs. Clune is terror-stricken. She induces Benton to resign from the unit. His comrades brand him a "slacker," and the girl he loves spurns him. The regiment moves off to war. Lacerated by the taunts which greet him on all sides, Clune's manhood finally asserts itself and he hastens to the front. He finds his regiment in a desperate plight. The enemy, in overwhelming numbers, is threatening to annihilate it. The colonel calls for a volunteer to make a perilous trip for reinforcements. Those who had jeered at Clune held back from what seemed inevitable death. The man they had called "slacker," steps forth. His trip through the enemy lines forms a series of hairbreadth escapes but proves successful in the end. Thus Benton redeems his honor and wins the girl he loves.

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Billie and her father are crossing the plains to the frontier town of "Contentment," an "Eyeless Eden," when he becomes lost in a search for water, falls from a cliff and is killed. Little Billie is picked up by Bob, driver of a merchandise wagon, and is taken to "Contentment" and secreted in his cabin. Bob's suspicious actions arouse the curiosity of his fellow townsmen, who believe he has brought a woman to his cabin. They see him stroking the child's hair as she sleeps, only the back of her head is turned to the eavesdroppers, and, believing their suspicions confirmed, they organize a vigilance committee and procure a rope. Their consternation is overwhelming when they find Billie, but still they are annoyed by her presence. "The Crab" arranges to have her kidnapped by Indians, but in the day intervening the abduction, Billie, with her smile and childish confidence has won over the majority of the "Eveless Eden," including "Sure Shot Mike," "The Denver Kid," "Rattlesnake Pete," and "Death Valley Joe." The abduction is carried out while Bob and his companions are celebrating the adoption of Billie as "The Darter of the Camp." "The Crab" sees the mistake in his plot, and goes to the Indian camp to bring her back, but in the meantime the town has learned that she is missing, and vows death to her abductor. "The Crab" is overtaken as he is bringing her back to "Contentment," but Billie's smiles also have won his heart, and his pleas to her when the noose is tightened about his neck are answered by her interference and the challenge that "she loves her Crab." The crowd desists, and "Contentment" is made a real place of contentment, with "The Crab" included in the list of her "fathers."

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

Piazzia, a notorious counterfeiter, is trailed by government detectives. To elude the sleuths, the crook surreptitiously exchanges a portmanteau filled with spurious money for one which John Widder, an eccentric young inventor, carries. There comes to live in the garret room adjoining that of Widder's, Alice Treadwell. She ekes out a miserable existence typing intricate medical treatises. John, to aid the girl in dire distress, overcomes his scruples and cashes one of the counterfeit bills. He confesses his crime to Alice, and tells her how he came into possession of the counterfeiter's suitcase. Together they seek the counterfeiters. Government agents appear and arrest John. Alice, however, steps forward, orders John's release and the rest of the real crooks. Her orders are obeyed promptly, for, it develops, Alice, instead of being a struggling little typist, is indeed one of the secret service agents who had been set to trap the crooks. With $2,000 reward as their home stake, John and Alice are married.

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Harry Nelson, a struggling young lawyer, is approached by the shady-looking Boris Norjunov, who asks him to perform an unethical service. Harry indignantly refuses, and immediately after Boris' departure, a beautiful woman named Jeanne Darcy rushes in, begging Harry to protect her until she has placed a certain envelope in a safe deposit vault. Harry assents and accompanies her outside, where they are attacked and the envelope is stolen. Later that evening, Boris assaults Harry and locks him in a room. Jeanne releases him, but not until Harry has caught a mirrored reflection of her and Boris in an embrace. Several weeks pass before Harry receives a summons from Jeanne, and as he approaches their meeting place, he witnesses Boris threatening to kill her unless she shoots a kidnapped heiress, Miss Lonsdale. Harry is horrified when she fires the gun, but just then, Jeanne and Boris, actually her father, laughingly admit that the entire affair was staged so that she might find a truly chivalrous potential husband.

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

Sue Wilde has "kicked out" or the sanctimonious atmosphere with which her venerable father, Dr. Hubbell. Harkness Wilde, has surrounded her, and is luxuriating in life which knows no conventions, nor goal except that where the limelight shines brightest. She is an actress in one of those problems plays which scoff at the existing order of things, when Peter Ericson Mann meets her. Mann, a playwright, falls in love with Sue. Sue permits herself to become engaged to him, yet the lure of the limelight calls her. A motion picture magnate promises to make her the nation's idol, and she forsakes the writers love for fame on the screen. Driven desperate by jealousy, Peter betrays to newspaper men the secret that Sue's father has embezzled his church's funds. The old man, unable to bear the disgrace, ends his life. It is the shock which jolts Sue out of her selfishness, and back into woman's sphere. She weds Henry Bates, "The Worm," who, unlike Peter and the other "trufflers," has a job and is honestly working for a living.

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Robert Carrolton Jinks and his companions form a marching club to boost the presidential campaign for General Grant. They design fantastic costumes and set the club in an uproar when they appear in them. Jinks is made captain of the marching club and dubbed "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines." While discussing plans for the campaign Jinks sees a bill poster pasting up a great placard announcing the coming of Madame Trentoni, a famous opera singer. Jinks and his two friends decide to go to the boat to meet her dressed in their marching uniforms and accompanied by a band, just for a joke. Jinks bets $1,000 with his friends that he can make love to her. The boat is an hour late in docking and the band leader discovers that he has been playing his music for nothing. He becomes angry and the entire band adjourns to a nearby saloon for drinks. Jinks and his friends go with them. Reporters who have gone to the boat to meet Madame Trentoni fear that if Jinks and his band are present at the arrival of the boat it will interfere with their interview. So they bribe the band master not to play. Jinks and his friends arrive at the boat late, having been delayed by a violent argument with the band master. They finally discover Madame Trentoni, however, and Jinks falls madly in love with her. She has great trouble with the customs inspector and Jinks pulls out a roll of bills and hands it to the official. He is immediately arrested for attempted bribery and taken to jail. He finally is released on bail and goes to call on Madame Trentoni, who is stopping with her foster father. She is as much in love with him as he is with her and the courtship progresses rapidly. Jinks tries to call the bet off with his friends, declaring that it is an insult to Madame Trentoni. They refuse to listen to him, and he finally agrees to pay the bet, giving them a card reading "I.O.U. $1,000 for the bet regarding Madame Trentoni." The two friends are also much taken with Madame Trentoni and attempt at various times to see her. She refuses to have anything to do with them. This makes them angry and they decide to get even with Jinks. They tell her foster father that Jinks intends to marry Madame Trentoni for her money only. He refuses to believe it until shown the "I.O.U." when he flies into a fit of rage. He tells Madame Trentoni and she then refuses to see Jinks. Jinks finally discovers why she is angry and after several unsuccessful attempts to see her gains admittance to her apartment and tells her the facts of the case. She throws her arms about him. As they are in this position a detective enters the room to arrest Jinks. His bribery case had come up in the court the day before and he had forgotten to appear. Trentoni tells the detective that she and her sweetheart have had a tiff and want a chance to make it up. Her pleading, with the promise that Jinks appear in court the next day, wins the detective's assent. The two then embrace and everything ends happily.

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

A young woman chooses to enter the convent after losing her lover.

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Aware that his sons, Joseph and Dickie, possess no business sense, Henry Hyman, on his deathbed, tells his economy-minded private secretary, Nora Blake, to take charge of his jewelry store. After the old man dies, however, his manager, Travers, insists that he has been made the boss. He then uses the status that goes with the position, as well as a necklace that he has stolen from the store, to woo Lucile Hudson away from her fiance Dickie. While Dickie then becomes engaged to Edna, Nora's best friend, Nora begins a romance with Joseph, who knows just enough about assets and deficits to complain that Travers is bankrupting the store. Nora then learns that Travers stole the necklace and has the police arrest him, after which she assumes control of the business and marries Joseph.

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Graustark needs thirty million dollars to satisfy a Russian loan. The Prince of Dawsbergen, ruler of the adjoining principality, will advance the money if the young Prince of Graustark marries his daughter. Prince Robin, however, inherits an independent spirit, his father having been an American. He refuses absolutely to marry a Princess whom he has never seen. His councilors plead in vain. With the ruin of his country imminent, the boy ruler hastily sails for America to negotiate the loan, hoping at the same time to meet the girl of his dreams. The money is readily advanced by William W. Blithers, a self-made millionaire anxious to have his daughter marry into royalty. The daughter, however, avoids the Prince and he does not see her. He rescues a girl from drowning and falls in love with her. He believes her to be Blithers' daughter, but she does not reveal her identity. Simultaneous with the Prince's departure for home comes a note to Blithers from his daughter that she has sailed for Europe to escape the Prince. Blithers is elated. He is certain they will meet on shipboard. The Prince does meet the girl he loves. In Paris he makes a tryst with her and they are arrested for speeding. Before any sentence can be passed upon her, however, a diplomatic document reaches the court and they are freed. The Prince believes the power of Blithers to be world-wide. The night of his return to Graustark with the welcome news of the loan, the Prince of Dawsbergen is a guest at the palace. A mysterious note calls the younger man to the terrace. There he meets the girl. He tells her that even though she is Blithers' daughter, he wants to marry her. Taking her into the palace he announces her to the councilors as his future bride. He cannot account for their approving smile. "There is your father," he tells the girl as Blithers, who followed them across the ocean, enters the room. She laughs. "No, my father is over there," she exclaims, pointing to the Prince of Dawsbergen. The energetic Blithers explodes when he learns the news. He recovers himself, however, and says: "Congratulations. Prince. I can be a good loser."