Masterpiece Selection Resonating with the Themes of King of the Rod...

Dir: Henry MacRae

During the great drought on the South African veldt, bitterness erupts between the von Haagen and Townsend families when they quarrel over a cattle spring. Nevertheless, a romance grows between Gretel von Haagan and Ned Townsend, who, to escape their families' opposition, marry and leave for the interior. Three years later, Gretel's father Carl, unable to overcome his feelings of remorse, seeks his daughter out and discovers that he is now a grandfather. He arrives in the interior just as his grandson wanders off into the jungle. After several harrowing incidents, the infant is rescued by an elephant and returned to his home where the families are joyously reconciled.

Dir: Edgar Jones

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

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Charles Horan

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Eva, wo bist du? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

While working as a flower girl in Devlin Maddox's nightclub, Nellie Vaughan meets wealthy young Pelton Van Teel and falls in love. Maddox, desirous of using Nellie to blackmail Van Teel, spreads a rumor that she is his mistress. This makes Nellie uncomfortable, and she demands that Van Teel marry her immediately, to which he agrees. Meanwhile, Van Teel has been losing money gambling to Maddox, who threatens to break up the marriage by producing a worthless check that the young husband has written. Venturing to Maddox's apartment for a showdown, Nellie pulls a gun and demands the check, accidentally shooting Maddox when he throws a lamp at her. Maddox plans to charge Nellie with assault, but when the police arrive, his butler, actually a detective employed by the elder Van Teel, exposes Maddox, who is then arrested, clearing the path for the couple's happiness.

Dir: Unknown Director

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Henry MacRae

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Man's Plaything perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Henry MacRae

Dan McQuade, an old fisherman, finds a woman and a child cast up by the storm of the night before. The mother is beyond human aid, but the child is still alive and he takes it to his cottage. Years pass and the child has grown to be a beautiful young girl. She has filled a place in the old fisherman's heart left vacant by the death of his wife and baby many years before. She has a secret cave where she often goes, and as a means of amusement spends her time carving miniature sand statues, in which art she has become proficient. Old Dan has named the girl Coral, and one day the locket she wears falls open, showing a young man and woman. She shows them to Dan, and he tells her how he found her. After her grief has subsided the girl returns to her cave, and from the experience gets an inspiration which makes her carve a life size statue of a mother and babe lying on the rocks. In New York, Phillip Norton, a wealthy young artist and son of a diamond merchant, has been betrothed to Helen, a society girl. On the bridal tour Phillip discovers his wife to be self-centered and selfish and comes to the conclusion that she married him merely to satisfy her vanity. Every advance he makes to his wife is repulsed and he attempts to stifle his love for her. As the yacht upon which they are spending their honeymoon enters the little bay where Dan and Coral live, Phillip takes his painting paraphernalia ashore and makes some sketches to divert his mind. He is discovered by Coral, but she is in awe of him, and when he looks around she flees. As the days pass Coral again finds him, but this time he is downcast. She gives him one of her statues, and the friendship thus engendered grows as time passes. Helen, through marine glasses, espies her husband with Coral, and heaps her wrath upon him when he returns to the yacht. Phillip's pent-up emotions break their bonds, and gathering her up in his arms he carries her to the cabin, where he leaves her. While standing on the deck he sees Coral dive to the water below and swim about. Filled with longing, he seeks her out. Sympathy leads to love, and as Coral caresses the broken man she learns for the first time the meaning of love. Phillip, overcome with remorse at his double acting, asks Coral to forgive and forget him. That night old Dan dies and the girl is left alone. Despite his wife's anger and hate, he takes Coral to his parents' home in New York, where she is received with open arms. Coral's knowledge of sculpture is increased by Phillip's aid, and her happiness is punctuated only by the actions of Helen. A valuable diamond belonging to Phillip's father is missing. During a reception, one of Coral's statues is broken and the diamond disclosed. Coral is accused, but later Phillip's father learns that Helen contrived to have Coral disgraced. Seeing that she has been discovered, Helen hurriedly leaves the house and is killed in a railroad wreck. Meanwhile Coral, who has left the house, comes to the studio of Paul Dore, a sculptor, who offers to teach the girl free of charge. Later she is taken under the "wing" of the old janitor of the art school and his wife, who look upon her as their own child. Some time later the art school offers a price of $1,000 and a medal for the statue that wins the first prize at the Academy, and Coral decides to compete. Phillip has sought in vain for Coral after his wife's death and is persuaded to attend the exhibition at the Academy, and on the unveiling of a statue recognizes it as Coral's work. Coral is summoned to the studio and awarded the prize. After the committee have gone Coral tells Dore of her inspiration and shows him the locket. He recognizes it as a picture of himself and wife and tells the girl of the wreck. There is a happy reunion between father and daughter. Phillip enters and is overjoyed to meet Coral again. Coral makes a visit to the old janitor and his wife and leaves them the envelope with the prize money, which gladdens their old hearts. Some time later a white yacht drops anchor in the bay near where Coral was raised, and while Paul Dore kneels beside his wife's grave high on the cliffs above two figures appear and suddenly merge into one. Phillip and Coral are clasped in each other's arms and Phillip points out their yacht.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Trail of the Rails 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: Dallas M. Fitzgerald

Confidence artist Flossie Golden attempts to fleece foolish but wealthy James Venable with a breach-of-promise suit. Venable's shrewd attorney, Richard Harding, outwits Flossie by proposing that she marry Venable and live on an allowance of $3,000 per year. Flossie is determined to get even with Harding for ruining her plans. In an attempt to con him, she poses as Innocence Page, but falls in love and marries him instead. Larry, Flossie's former accomplice, endeavors to blackmail her with her errant past, but Harding is already cognizant of the facts and Larry fails.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

When famous opera singer Elinore Duane undergoes an operation on her throat, she has a series of ether-induced visions. In one, she is transported to ancient Rome where she appears as a much-admired woman in love with Paul, a young heretic, and at odds with Lutor, the high priest. To save her love, she poisons Lutor with her ring. After several other visions which involve variations on this love triangle, Elinore awakens to discover that Lutor is actually her doctor, Sascha Jaccard, and that Paul is the son of a friend who has come to visit the recovering prima donna.