The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of Little Eva Ascends...

Dir: George D. Baker

A gypsy girl whose mother committed suicide after being seduced and abandoned by a rich man finds herself twenty years later being wooed by the same man.

Dir: George D. Baker

Ira Wilton and his son-in-law Harry Bennett resort to the subterfuge of telling their wives that they are members of the Thirteenth Regiment, to be sure of having a night off each week, Friday night, for the regiment drills. They substantiate their deception by bringing into their little game Ira's daughter Laura and her fiancé Jack Brent, a genuine member of the Thirteenth. Their deception runs along nicely until one Friday night when the men have gone to the club, their wives find the invitation, and are just about to start out when they discover that the water pipe has burst. Laura informs the men by telephone what is discovered, and warns them to hurry home. They arrive and find that the kitchen and dining room are flooded, and, after all has been given a good soaking, Lord Dudley, an admirer of Laura, manages to stop the flow of water. Just as the trouble concerning the flood has subsided, Jack Brent arrives home and tells the men that the Thirteenth has been ordered to the front. The husbands, seeing a good chance to take a little vacation, purchase soldiers' clothing and fall in behind the Thirteenth Regiment as it passes their wives, but slip out as soon as it is out of sight. They then go to the barn, where they substitute their soldiers' habiliments for civilian clothes and then make all possible haste to the lake, where they intend to spend a little vacation. But their vacation is short-lived, for one day they see in the newspapers that the entire Thirteenth regiment has been wiped out. They hurry home to the old barn, where they get into their regimentals as quickly as possible--not forgetting to add a few rents here and there, to make it appear as if they have had a terrible struggle at the front and in escaping. When they arrive home they observe that Mrs. Wilton's brother has returned from the West and promised to take care of the "widows." In reply to Lena's (the fat cook), question concerning her lover Conrad, they were just about to tell her that he died with her name on his lips, when in come Harry and Conrad with the news that the newspaper report was all wrong. Ira and Harry fix it up with Conrad, and Jack, desiring to keep on the right side of the old man, tells the women that the men had a terrible fight, and brother Tom forgets about asking questions when a couple of good cigars are shoved into his mitt.

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

Dir: George D. Baker

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: George D. Baker

When Silas Pettingill strikes oil and becomes immensely wealthy, his wife Maria and their daughter Helen demand to move from their Middle-Western home to a mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Even then they are dissatisfied, for they have so fashionable friends. Helen is constantly reading books about royalty, and she bewails her fate because she knows no lords or earls. Wearying of their complaints, Silas goes out and makes friends with a taxicab driver, as agreeable young man named Hubert Stanwood, and as the hour grows late, takes him home with him to bed. In the morning Mrs. Pettingill demands to know who the stranger is. Not daring to tell her he has brought home only a chauffeur, he introduces Stanwood as Count Erfitt. Mrs. Pettingill runs to tell Helen the glad news, and they plan a series of social functions to introduce their guest. Soon the "Count" is seen everywhere with Helen. He does not want to pose under false colors, but Pettingill implores him not to let them know that he has deceived them. At a tea-dance they met Macklin Thurston, who is introduced to them as the Earl of Bradwood. Stanwood starts when he hears the name, for his own grandfather is the heir. He does not know that both have died, and that Thurston, discovering that the second son, Hubert, has been missing for several years, has appeared as a false claimant for the title. Stanwood decides to say nothing, but to investigate. Thurston is really the proprietor of an international employment agency. He uses this position to supply Huntington Lodge, the Adirondack home of the Pettingills, with two servants, Rita and Dugan, who are clever crooks. Both Thurston, as the Earl, and Stanwood, as the Count, are invited to a house party at the Lodge. Helen and Stanwood have fallen in love with each other at their first meeting. Stanwood proposes, and Helen accepts him. But Thurston tells Rita she must find a way to compromise Stanwood. She does so, and Helen breaks her engagement to Stanwood, and announced her engagement to Thurston, known as "the Earl." Stanwood engages a detective to unmask Thurston, but he has manufactured credentials, and Stanwood himself is unmasked as a false count by a man who knew him as a chauffeur. Helen orders him to drive her guests back to their hotel from the lawn fete that is in progress. Thurston goes to Helen's room and tries to persuade her to elope with him, but she refuses. Under cover of night, Rita and Dugan attempt to steal Helen's jewels. Stanwood returns in time to prevent them, but he is injured in the struggle, and when Helen enters she thinks it is he who is the thief. Still loving him, however, she urges him to escape, but the real thieves are apprehended. Detective Burke is about to take both Thurston and Stanwood into custody, not knowing which one of them is the tales Earl of Bradwood, when the lawyer arrives from New York and identifies Stanwood as the genuine Earl. Thurston is led away, and Stanwood and Helen, soon to be Lady Bradwood, are reunited.

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

Dir: George D. Baker

Joline, a "Daughter of Joy," becomes enamored of Paul Granville, a poor artist, and as his model enables him to win fame in a series of startling canvases. A wealthy patron of art commissions Paul to paint "The Madonna of the Rose Bush," and he feels that a new model is needed, but the jealous Joline drives them away, and they start for the monastery, where the miracle of the rose bush is supposed to have occurred. There a monk declares that in Joline he has seen the Virgin, and some chord in her better nature is touched. She leaves Paul, but is reunited when she, a Red Cross nurse, finds him wounded upon the battlefield.

Dir: George D. Baker

Clover Ames's life consists only of the drudge work that she performs at her Aunt Sarah's boardinghouse. No longer able to withstand her aunt's abuse, Clover runs away and obtains a job as a maid to a wealthy woman. Willed $7,000 by Pierre Dubois, a boarder at her aunt's house, Clover, inspired by a novel that she has read, poses as a duchess at a fashionable winter resort. There she meets and falls in love with Walter Gray, who is also traveling incognito as a ribbon clerk. When Clover's money runs out, her trick is discovered and she vanishes. Obtaining employment in Gray's department store, Clover learns that her ribbon clerk is actually the owner's son, who rushes her to the wedding bureau.

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

Dir: George D. Baker

A grandmother has an adventure for the first time in her life when she decides to have a night out.

Dir: George D. Baker

Although Earle Courtney has married factory girl Annie Leigh, his millionaire father, Major James Courtney, is determined that Earle will marry the wealthy Ethel Ainsworth. Courtney kidnaps his son and sends a message to Annie requesting an annulment, to which he signs Earle's name. All records of the marriage are then destroyed and Earle is led to believe that his wife has perished in a factory fire. Meanwhile, Annie goes to the city looking for her husband and there her child is born. While in the hospital, she reads an announcement of the wedding of Earle and Ethel. Obtaining employment in a film studio, Annie soon soars to stardom. When Mexican investments result in financial disaster for the Courtneys, Annie takes over the mortgage on their estate and produces a picture based on the story of her betrayal. When Earle views it, he learns of his father's treachery and the major, overcome with remorse, begs Annie's forgiveness. Nothing can undo Earle's unhappy marriage, though, until Ethel elopes with artist Paul Roubais, thus removing all obstacles in the path of Annie and Earle's reconciliation.

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

Dir: George D. Baker

Overcome with guilt after having an affair with her best friend's husband, Clorinda hopes to escape her past by moving to Europe, where she meets Malcolm, a decent man who falls in love with her. Unable to accept his love, she returns to America and confides her sin to Rev. Bainbridge. Malcolm has followed her, but when she discloses her past, he turns his back. Rev. Bainbridge proposes and before the marriage takes place, Malcolm returns, begging Clorinda's forgiveness. Preferring the worldly man over the minister, Clorinda marries Malcolm and they begin their new life together in France.

Dir: George D. Baker

College youth J. Dabney Barron regularly fails in his examinations; in disgust, his father deprives him of money and tells him to go to work, betting him $6,000 that he cannot hold a $60-a-month position for that time period. J. Dabney agrees, and with his valet Perkins he goes to look for a job. In a park he meets heiress Betty Arden, whose car has broken down. Her guest, Lord Lawrence, is incapable of helping her, and Dabney hastens to her assistance. She hurries away as soon as her car is repaired. Installing himself and his valet in a room in a lodging house, Dabney reads the want ads. Answering an advertisement for a bookkeeper, he stands in a long line of applicants until he grows tired; his valet, who has taken his place, gets the job. Finally Dabney obtains work through his friend Jim Foley of a detective agency. John Arden, millionaire gem collector, has a priceless emerald called "The Lady of the Sea." He fears it may be stolen and as a matter of fact his guest Lord Lawrence, better known to the English police as "London Larry," is planning to steal the emerald. Foley tells Dabney that to guard the emerald he must pose as butler in the Arden home. No sooner does Dabney enter upon his new work than he discovers Betty Arden, his employer's daughter, to be the girl he helped in the park. In an attempt to retain his dignity in her eyes he tells her he and his sister inherited an enormous fortune from an uncle; that the uncle had a secretary a villainous chap named Slime who forced him to make a will disinheriting Dabney and his sister; that Slime and his accomplices made the old man drink nitroglycerin but unfortunately for them permitted him to fall down when he exploded burning up the will; that the villainous secretary had then overpowered Dabney and run away with the girl, whom Dabney had ever since been seeking, hence his presence in the Arden household as butler. Betty pretends to believe the story, although she has been aware of Dabney's identity all along. Dabney continues to attend to his duties as butler and to guard the jewel from "London Larry." Finally the month is up, and Dabney, in great glee at having won the bet from his father, dares to make known his love to Betty. She returns his affection, and they are discovered in a fond embrace by John Arden, who instantly discharges Dabney. That night he is about to take his departure when he surprises "London Larry" opening the safe in Arden's library. He overpowers the would-be jewel thief, and throws him into the safe. Arden, coming downstairs, liberates Lord Lawrence, who tells him Dabney is the real culprit, and together they overpower him and tie him to a chair. Dabney urges them to send for Foley, to identify him, and the detective, arriving, makes haste to free Dabney and arrest "London Larry." Dabney, cheered by Betty's promise to marry him, goes home to collect his $6,000, having proved himself his father's son.