The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of Kiss and Make Up: ...

Dir: Al Christie

Rosie is a Y. W. C. A. gym instructor in the East. Coincident with her getting a little too rough with one of the girls, knocking her out and being fired from her job as athletic director, Rosie is advised of the fact that she has acquired a piece of real property in the form of the Rough Neck Rancho. There is nothing for her to do but go West, going Horace Greely one better by setting out for the Rough Neck Rancho with the idea of bringing it up right and proper with deft feminine touches. These touches turned out to be deft, but scarcely feminine, inasmuch as they were blows from Rosie's husky mitt. Naturally, a bunch of bewhiskered and devil-may-care cowboys resented the innovation of a woman manager, and when Rosie ordered the foreman and all the rest of them to shave their mustaches, it was a little too much for hard boiled Bill and his gang of leather-necked cowboys. Rosie imported a bunch of strikebreakers, some of her own girl pals, who were nicely settled in the ranch house. Bad Bill hit upon the brilliant idea of hiring a bunch of Indians to attack the ranch house, scare the wits out of the Eastern young ladies and otherwise maintain the morale of the men folks around Rough Neck Rancho. It was a bad day for the Indians and a worse day for the cowboys, as it turned out, for after Rosie and her cohort of Sure-Shot Susie's finished mopping off the Indians out of the barricades of windows, and after three or four Indians had bitten the dust after good old-fashioned melodramatic style, the redskins turned around and licked the tar out of all the cowboys for putting them up to such a hazardous undertaking. By this time one or two of the cowboys had fallen for the lure of the women folks and had sacrificed their flowing whiskers, their sole pride and joy, under the telling fire of Cupid's darts. Red Bill, the burly foreman, was finally vanquished by Rough Neck Rosie in a fist fight which was not exactly fair but thoroughly effective. Bill got the final wallop when he wasn't looking by one of Rosie's pals planted behind a carpet before which the fight took place. At the end of the second reel of desperate milling Rosie and her pals are victorious and the Rough Neck Rancho settles down to peace and quiet and every clean-shaven cowboy has a little milkmaid on his arm. Motion Picture News, November 1, 1919

Dir: Al Christie

Bobby, a clerk, is sent on a hurry trip by his boss to deliver a $5,000 check to Mr. Brown. Bobby meets a girl while on the train. At the junction they miss another train, wait three hours, arrive at the home of Brown - and then the plot deepens when another plot in the making makes it appear that the girl is Brown's wife.

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

Dir: Al Christie

On the strength of father's promise of a $10,000 check to the happy bride and groom, a truckload of furniture arrives with which newlywed Mary desired to furnish a city flat.

Dir: Al Christie

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Al Christie

After Eddie Plum discovers oil on the family ranch, he and his widowed mother move to the city where they meet Lord Burlington, a British fortune hunter. Burlington introduces the Plums to two socialites, Mrs. Van Zant and Betty, her daughter, and while Burlington woos Mrs. Plum, Eddie falls in love with Betty. A double wedding is arranged, but on the day of the ceremony, Mrs. Plum announces that the deed to her land has been stolen and without it she has no claim. Devastated by the news, Burlington requests a postponement and leaves. In spite of the apparent disaster, Eddie and Betty elope while Mrs. Plum, hurt by the Lord's sudden departure, plans to return to the country. Realizing that his affections for the widow are genuine, Burlington asks for her forgiveness and insists on the marriage. Her faith restored, Mrs. Plum reveals that the stolen documents were fakes, and that her oil millions are safe.

Dir: Al Christie

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Al Christie

A company of barnstormers goes on strike in the middle of a performance and a number of local amateurs are prevailed upon to furnish the show, which they do in more ways than one.

Dir: Al Christie

The mayor of a town out in Texas receives word that his niece from the East is about to pay him a visit. The young woman is shown on the train, then landing in the town. Here she finds that the place is literally going to the dogs. The sheriff cannot keep order, and a bandit is in the habit of riding into town and robbing it whenever he takes the notion. Her uncle is about to lose his office, and matters are in a bad way for him. Determined to help him out of his troubles, the girl has the mayor appoint her sheriff. With the help of a female police force, she starts a reform administration which amounts to a moral whirlwind. The bandit is captured after a terrific fight, and the girl herself, finding that the ex-sheriff is in league with the robber, goes gunning for him. She wakes up in the middle of a lively shooting match, to find herself still on the train. Apprehension of what the town may be like has caused her bad dream. Met at the station by her uncle, she discovers that the place is as quiet and well-behaved as a New England village.

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

Dir: Al Christie

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Al Christie

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.