Curated Recommendations Seeking the Same Brilliance as Lucky Star: ...

Dir: Frank Borzage

Shopgirl Rhoda Regan is in love with the Harmony Lad, the leader of a New York street gang called the Hudson Dusters. After two gang murders are committed in the Pepper Box, a local cabaret, the Harmony Lad promises his worried sweetheart that he will abandon the gang for a singing career, and true to his word, he soon accepts a job on the Pepper Box stage. When Stumpy Darcy, the new leader of the Dusters, kills rival gang leader Wedge Barker, who had flirted with Stumpy's girlfriend, Mamie Conlon, the Harmony Lad flees to New Jersey to escape police interrogation. In order to throw the police off the track while her lover escapes, Rhoda dances all night long with Stumpy, who has come to a masked ball dressed as Charlie Chaplin. Stumpy follows Rhoda home, where the police, imagining him to be the Harmony Lad, arrest him. His name cleared, the Harmony Lad marries Rhoda and embarks on a promising career in vaudeville.

Dir: Frank Borzage

Giulia, a Neapolitan girl, much against her will, becomes the mistress of a wealthy gangster. Her "protector" is stabbed to death by Giulia's hot-headed musician lover Tony (Francis McDonald), whereupon the heroine takes refuge in the villa of French playwright La Farge. Under La Farge's careful tutelage, Giulia develops into a famous actress, capturing the heart of the Duke De Chaumont. Though LaFarge himself has fallen in love with the girl, he does not stand in her way when she accepts the Duke's proposal. But Giulia has not reckoned with Tony, who is still crazy about her and still willing to kill any man who stands in his way. Tony murders LaFarge, then sets his sights on the Duke, intending to kill the poor fellow during the wedding ceremony. Hoping to save the Duke's life, Giulia pretends to have fallen out of love with him and returns to Tony.

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

Dir: Frank Borzage

Kirby kills a man in self-defense and becomes a fugitive from the police.

Dir: Alexander Butler

In Alberta, Canada, a Cornish emigrant unmasks a rustler posing as the girl's "blind" father.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Until They Get Me perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Frank Borzage

Prudence's ( Olive Thomas ) parents send her from their Pennsylvania Quaker colony to a fashionable girls seminary, hoping she can learn about the devil's tricks, instead she engages in girlish pranks, but uses her pure appearance to escape blame. Later, Prudence visits her New York aunt, a society matron, and soon attracts an array of male admirers. She falls in love with wealthy Grayson Mills, but John Melbourne, who lives off of his wife's wealth, plots to seduce her. After Melbourne loans Prudence $200 to pay a gambling debt, he forces her to go to a roadhouse by threatening to show her stern father her canceled check. At dinner, Prudence produces a love letter which Melbourne had earlier written to an actress, and says that if she is not back by midnight, her hotel clerk will show Melbourne's wife his nineteen other love letters. After Melbourne hurries her back, he discovers that she only had the one letter. Prudence now becomes engaged to Grayson.

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Frank Borzage

American sailor Allan Carroll, an American sailor, is shipwrecked of the coast of Japan in the 19th century. He makes it to shore and is rescued by kind Yori. The local ruler, Prince Iku, has ordered that all foreigners who are "trespassing" on Japanese soil should be killed. He hears about a foreign sailor who washed ashore and has been hidden by villagers, so he sends his sister Omi San to investigate. She finds Alan, and instead of turning him in to be executed, she falls in love with him. Prince Iku captures both Allan and Yori and intends to execute both of them. Complications ensue.

Dir: Frank Borzage

A saloon owner loans her lover the money to buy a house, which he has led her to believe they will live in after they're married. Instead, he takes the money and buys a saloon in another town.

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

Dir: Frank Borzage

The matriarch of a poor Jewish family nurtures her talented son's dream of being a great violinist, but as an adult, global events call for him to postpone his dream.

Dir: Frank Borzage

Brent Brewster, formerly a Yale athlete known for his pole vaulting prowess, is unsuccessful in business. When his wealthy relatives send him out to fend for himself, Brent joins a detective agency. After Craig Lansing, a family friend, hires Brent to investigate the numerous jewel thefts in Poughkeepsie, Brent works undercover at Lansing's house party and recognizes Captain Drake, an English crook. Although Brent temporarily forgets detective work when he meets Ann, the beautiful sister of Lansing's wife Ruth, Ann's remark that $40,000 a year would be enough for her to live on brings Brent back to the job. Meanwhile, Drake is intent on compromising Ruth, who flirts with him while Lansing is away. When Lansing returns unexpectedly, Brent accepts the blame for the flirtation to protect Ruth's honor, because of his love for Ann. After Brent vaults with a clothes pole through a window to prevent Drake's escape, Drake is exposed. Brent then learns that he has inherited a legacy which will enable him to satisfy Ann's monetary needs.