The Cult Collection Inspired by the Vision of Missing: Cult Guide

Dir: James Young

After his wife's death, Thomas Singleton suffers a temporary breakdown and is committed to an asylum by his scheming half brother, Jordon Morse. Although Jordon has been appointed the guardian of Thomas' little daughter Virginia, he shuns the responsibility, placing the girl in the care of an old mammy and planning to retrieve her only on her eighteenth birthday, when she comes into possession of her mother's fortune. Sixteen years pass. Thomas, deeply worried about his daughter's well-being, escapes the asylum, and after sending Virginia to live with a poor but kindly cobbler named Lafe Grandoken, he dies. Virginia's chance meeting with millionaire Theodore King leads to romance, and her happiness is complete until Morse, anxious to secure her money, hires Maudlin Bates to kill Theodore. When Bates, plotting to double-cross Morse, threatens Lafe, Morse enters and shoots the gunman, but Lafe is accused. Morse imprisons Virginia, but she escapes in time to free Lafe and bring the villain to justice.

Dir: James Young

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

American surveyor William MacDonald comes to an Ojibway village in the Canadian Northwest. He seduces half-breed girl Annette while her fiancé Baptiste and half-brother Jules Beaubien are away on a trapping expedition. After his work is over, MacDonald spurns Annette and leaves. When she realizes that she is pregnant, Annette wanders delirious into the forest and is devoured by wolves. On returning, Jules persuades Baptiste to let him avenge Annette's death. Jules and Baptiste go to the cabin of Andrew MacTavish, a wretched, self-exiled Scotsman who continually berates his daughter Hilda, whom Jules loves, because her mother left him years earlier. MacDonald arrives and convinces MacTavish that he will take Hilda to his mother in Scotland to educate her, after which they will send for MacTavish. Jules discovers MacDonald's identity when he drunkenly boasts of his previous conquests. Jules fights MacDonald and MacTavish, and escapes with Hilda in a canoe. After MacDonald's pursuing canoe smashes in the rapids, Jules duels with him and kills him.

Dir: James Young

In Tokyo, Japanese poet Akira loves American Ruth Vale, who was placed in Akira's father's care when her missionary parents died. Ruth returns Akira's affections until she meets Edward, but the American proves an unfaithful husband. Three years later, Ruth is gravely ill while Edward amuses himself with his new lover, Adrienne Chester, but Akira comforts the dying woman with the promise that he will protect her little daughter Blossom. Later Edward marries his mistress, and with Akira in charge of Blossom, they return to America, where Adrienne renews an old affair. When Edward discovers his wife with her lover, he kills him, but Akira accepts the blame to shield Blossom from humiliation. One night Akira breaks out of prison to visit Blossom and although a guard shoots him, he manages to reach Blossom. Carrying her in from the rain, Akira plays with the child until his strength finally deserts him and he dies.

Dir: James Young

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

A little country village comedy in which Mr. Costello plays a young grocer's clerk. This clerk and the daughter (Clara Kimball Young) of a G.A.R. fire-eater (Mr. Eldridge) are in love, much to the old man's disgust. He wants his daughter to marry a brave man, a soldier. AN unexpected denouement makes the clerk seem to be a hero. Moving Picture World

Dir: James Young

John Maddox, a man who has little use for women, travels out West to make his fortune. On the way he rescues a pretty young woman from a narrow ledge just below a steep cliff. She turns out to be Beatrice Clive, an English girl vacationing at the family estate with her wealthy father, Lord Bulverton. Six years pass and, now a wealthy rancher, Maddox discovers that the Bulverton estate is for sale. Finding himself still attracted to Beatrice, he contacts her about buying the estate, but finds that the Bulverton family is in such dire financial straits that Beatrice has been forced to become engaged to the wealthy but villainous Sir George Trenery.

Dir: James Young

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

During World War I, young Englishman Hawtrey Burke captivates New York society with his charming manner and his skill at polo, but he incurs the scorn of the woman he loves, Elinor Warden, who, having recently returned from war-torn Belgium, cannot understand why Hawtrey is not on the front lines. When shipping agent Joseph Fuhrman is murdered, Elinor's brother Dudley, who is on furlough from France, is tried for the crime based on the accusation of Eric Werner, who covets Elinor. During the trial, the lights are extinguished and Dudley is shot. Hawtrey is arrested but later released on a technicality. Later, when the British Commission sails to the United States, Hawtrey sends a wireless message to the steamer warning of a nearby U-boat, and upon the Commission's safe arrival in New York, he is revealed as a British Secret Service agent. Werner is arrested as the German spy who shot Dudley, who had been working for Hawtrey, whereupon a penitent Elinor confesses her love for the Englishman.

Dir: James Young

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: James Young

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

Robert Strickland, the self-confessed murderer of Gerald Trask, refuses to defend himself on the witness stand. His attorney, however, cross-examines Strickland's wife and by questioning his daughter Doris as well, he exposes the fact that years earlier Trask had seduced Mrs. Strickland. This evidence is sufficient to call for a verdict of not guilty from eleven of the jury, but the twelfth member holds out because money disappeared from Trask's safe the night of the murder, and evidence points to Strickland as the thief. When Glover, Trask's secretary, is cross-examined, however, he breaks down and confesses to the robbery, thus clearing the way for Strickland's acquittal and his reunion with his family.

Dir: James Young

With the electric-ray machine that he invented, a scientist brings his daughter back to life after she dies in a car crash but he fails to revive her soul at the same time.

Dir: James Young

Mountain girl Plutina lives with her grandfather, refuses to marry moonshiner Dan Hodges, preferring instead Zeke, a young farmer. When Zeke learns that Dan, in revenge, shot Plutina's pet trained bear, Zeke vows to kill him. After a revenue officer, shot by Dan, is cared for by Zeke's mother, Dan vows to kill Zeke. Dan and Zeke fight, and although Dan is beaten, he escapes into the mountains. Sometime later, the revenue officer secures for Zeke the position of overseer of government timber lands. As Zeke waits for a train after missing the first one, he learns that Dan, who has threatened to kill Plutina's grandfather and sister and set fire to their house unless Plutina marries him, has abducted her. Zeke arrives at a hidden cave where Dan has taken Plutina just as she is about to jump from a cliff. The ensuing brawl ends when Dan is plunged over the cliff. Finally, Zeke and Plutina marry.