Visionary Picks Drawn from the Same DNA as Marriage for Convenience...

Dir: Sidney Olcott

When M. Beaucaire, a handsome barber, catches the Duke of Winterset cheating at gambling, Beaucaire exacts Winterset's cooperation in sneaking Beaucaire into a great ball, disguised as the Duke de Chartres, and to introduce him to the beautiful Lady Mary. The disguised barber successfully pulls off the masquerade and is soon the toast of society. But Winterset is embittered at having been blackmailed so, and he sets out to destroy Beaucaire if he can do so without revealing his own duplicity.

Dir: Sidney Olcott

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

A traveling theatrical troupe is stranded in a small town, and the leading ingenue, Polly, returns to her New York City hometown broke. She and her friend Bunny, desperate for a job, convince the Hawkers, a "nouveau riche" family from Kansas, that they are French and an experienced maid-and-butler team. Young Zeke Hawker is smitten with Polly, but Polly is attracted to their neighbor, a famous actor named MacGillicuddy. One night at a swanky party given by Mrs. Hawker, her jewels wind up stolen, and Polly is suspected of it. Complications ensue until Polly discovers who the real thieves are.

Dir: Sidney Olcott

A little girl is kidnapped by the Mafia in revenge for her father's help in capturing one of the mobsters. She is presumed dead, but in reality is spirited away to Italy, where she is raised as the daughter of a kindly couple. When she is betrothed to the cruel padrone, she disguises herself as a boy and stows away to America, where she finds herself once again in the clutches of the mobster who originally kidnapped her. But this time luck and her own pluck are with her, and the tables are soon turned.

Dir: Sidney Olcott

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

An account of the life of Jesus Christ according to the New Testament, told as a series of tableaus interspersed with Bible verses.

Dir: Sidney Olcott

An Irish girl comes to America disguised as a boy to claim a fortune left to her brother who has died.

Dir: Sidney Olcott

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of From the Manger to the Cross perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Two young boys get in trouble with the law and wind up in prison. One, who was raised in poverty in the slums, goes to a reformatory and picks up tips on how to become a master criminal. When he gets out he refines his criminal skills, but a stool-pigeon rats him out and he winds up in an adult prison, where he is subjected to severely-regimented behavior, inhuman conditions, and brutal guards. The second boy comes from a wealthy family and is sent to prison for forging his father's signature--coincidentally, the same prison where the poor boy, who had been released but is back in for assaulting the stoolie, and he become friends. When a member of the poor boy's gang is unjustly sentenced to death for the stoolie's murder, the two boys escape to try to clear his name and find the real killer.

Dir: Sidney Olcott

Dora and her mother decide to go to Europe to find a wealthy husband as their funds are diminishing. Much to her mother's disapproval, Dora falls in love with a penniless nobleman, Julian Beauclerc. His marriage proposal is eventually approved after he inherits millions and is appointed attaché to the British embassy. When he discovers important defense papers entrusted to him have disappeared, he suspects Dora of stealing. Julian's brother Henri stumbles upon the papers and, sniffing them, recognizes the perfume of the Countess Zicka. With this evidence, Henri charges the countess with spying, thus mends the faltering relationship between Julian and Dora.

Dir: Sidney Olcott

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Little Old New York perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

'Poleon and his daughter Oachi live a quiet existence in the North Woods, as do their neighbors, André and Marie Beauvais. Doré, a villainous whiskey runner fleeing from the Northwest Mounted Police, is hospitably welcomed by 'Poleon; but when he forces his attentions on Oachi, her father drives him away. Terror-stricken by the loss of his rattlesnake idol, and thus deprived of communion with the evil spirits, he is welcomed at André and Marie's cabin but is likewise thrashed soundly and sent on his way. Doré returns when Marie is ill, in André's absence, and kidnaps her during a storm; she escapes and leaps over an embankment, there to be found unconscious by Oachi the next day. Doré, driven mad with fear, returns to their home wounded, and a vision of Marie brings his death.

Dir: Sidney Olcott

Nora O'Brien leaves Ireland to visit her brother in America. On the trip she suffers a concussion, and soon is mistaken for another Irish girl named Nora who is on her way to visit her aunt in the US, Mrs. Watson, who has not seen her niece in many years. Nora, still somewhat dazed from her injury, is taken to the Watsons' home, and when Mrs. Watson's son Jack returns from college, he falls in love with her but cannot express it to her because he believes she is his cousin. Complications ensue.

Dir: Sidney Olcott

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.