Must-Watch List Comparable to the Style of Kitty MacKay: Cult Guide

Dir: Wilfrid North

Wealthy heiress Clover Dean has three suitors: Duke Boris, promoted by her aunt, Bucky Raine, a wealthy idler sponsored by her uncle, and struggling young doctor William Dunn, who is her own choice. Clover's engagement to the duke is to be announced at a dance, but she rebels before the gathering and refuses to go on with the marriage. Clover leaves hurriedly, a shot is heard and the duke found dead. Bucky Raine, discovered wandering about the garden with a revolver in his hand, is arrested for the crime, but his testimony convicts the doctor as the person who had possession of the gun during the shooting. The doctor and Clover are both arrested for suspicion, but a guilty conscience forces Rita, a former sweetheart of the duke to confess to the crime. Clover then has her own way and marries the doctor.

Dir: Wilfrid North

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

Jack Duncan returns from the war in France to his wife and baby and learns that his job as a draftsman at the Loring Steel Mills has been taken. Given work in the machine shop, Jack becomes the prey of Red agitators who want him because of his popularity with soldiers. The Reds cause Jack's discharge just when his house payments come due, and when they convince him of the injustice of his situation, he joins their ranks. After learning of plans to burn the factory and Loring's home, and start a riot in the town, Jack is won over by a socialist's arguments advocating mild reforms. At a meeting of workingmen, Jack praises Americanism. He warns Loring and, with soldiers at a nearby camp, quells the riot. After a woman agitator kills her comrades and then shoots herself, Jack arrives home to save his wife from an attack by a Red ringleader. Jack is then made a foreman at the mill.

Dir: Wilfrid North

Four winners, out of 75,000 entrants, of a beauty contest supported by movie fan magazines appear in this film.

Dir: Wilfrid North

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

Rex Radcliffe, vice president of the Northern Atlantic Railroad, is opposed by company president William Harding in his desire to put over a deal that would jeopardize the stockholders of the Interstate Railroad. Using thought control, he causes Weer, Harding's discharged secretary, to murder his ex-boss. Weer is arrested for the murder. Radcliffe then puts Harding's daughter, Helen, also under his influence. John Bonham, Interstate president, becomes interested in the case, and with the aid of Mrs. Weer he exposes Radcliffe, who then commits suicide.

Dir: Wilfrid North

Marcellus Holloway, a rich widower, buries himself among his books and allows his only daughter, Penelope, to bring herself up. At the age of eighteen she was courageous and self-reliant, also self-willed and independent, with a disregard for the restraints of convention. She caused gossip by fishing on Sunday and galloping wildly about on her colt. An old friend, Mrs. Travers, and her son, Jimmy, visit them. Jimmy and Penelope become friendly. Mrs. Travers induces the father to allow Penelope to enter a fashionable boarding school with her daughter. Marjorie. At the school Penelope's behavior is not as dignified as it should be. Her father dies and Penelope refuses to see her friends or return to school. Jimmy finally persuades her to come and make his mother a visit. She goes and at a party in her honor meets Mr. and Mrs. Rivers and enjoys Rivers' company, causing his wife much anger. At the golf club she continues flirting and Jimmy remonstrates with her without success. Mrs. Rivers puts detectives on her husband's trail and they follow Rivers and Penelope to a roadhouse. On the way Jimmy joins them. They arrive just as Rivers is beginning to show his real self to Penelope and she faints. The detectives take Rivers away, while Jimmy goes to Penelope. Mrs. Rivers starts a divorce suit, naming Penelope as a co-respondent. Penelope goes to Mrs. Rivers and pleads with her. Mrs. Rivers sees she is innocent and returns with her to the Travers' home, where Jimmy takes her into his arms.

Dir: Wilfrid North

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

Lily Upjohn leaves the London slums after her father dies and becomes a chorus girl at the Pandora Theatre. When a scene painter drops some paint from a scaffold, Lily's screams prompt the show's composer to create a hit song entitled "Mind the Paint Girl," which warns men about made-up actresses. After Lily becomes an overnight sensation singing the song, she is courted by Nicholas Jeyes, a young officer who gives up his commission so he can remain near her, and by Lord Francombe. Jeyes' increasing jealousy causes Lily to become distant, which further intensifies his degeneration. After Jeyes bursts into Lily's birthday celebration and discovers her embracing Francombe, who has just proposed, Jeyes' anguished tale of his ruin due to being dangled by Lily, moves her to promise him marriage, but at the end, Jeyes and Francombe become friends and neither marries Lily.

Dir: Wilfrid North

Ann reluctantly agrees to leave her beloved New York City to accompany her sick brother on a trip out West, which he must take for his health. There she meets hunky ranch foreman Bob Raymond. He's interested in her, but she feels so lost outside of New York that she rebuffs his advances. However, the more she gets to know him, the more she begins to rethink her attitude--although she still cant wait to get back to New York. Bob has his own ideas about that.

Dir: Wilfrid North

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

Having lost all his funds betting on the races in London, John Peters contemplates suicide; then, overhearing the conversation of two men, he considers a new course of action. He stuns one of them--Kluck--and after changing clothes with him, he makes his way to the United States, where he wins at the races, speculates successfully on Wall Street, and amasses a fortune under the sobriquet "Lucky" Carson. Kluck arrives in America, makes Carson's acquaintance, and begs for his help, which is freely given. Carson manages to retrieve some incriminating correspondence between Kluck and an adventuress, Madame Marinoff, who is threatening him. Kluck accuses him of a conspiracy, and a quarrel ensues when Carson reveals his true identity; but Doris Bancroft, Kluck's sister-in-law, discovers that he is innocent.

Dir: Wilfrid North

The Earl of Clanranald, obliged against his will to attend a meeting of conspirators against King James (II) of England, is arrested. His death warrant is signed by the King and dispatched to Edinburgh by Sir Harry Richmond of the King's Bodyguard. Lady Katherine, the Earl's daughter, dresses up as a highwayman meets and later holds up the King's messenger. She receives a sword wound in her shoulder, but secures the warrant and burns it. Upon hearing her story, Sir Harry promises to do all in his power to secure the release of Lady Katherine's father.

Dir: Wilfrid North

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.