The Essential Watchlist Similar Cinematic Experiences to Mistaken Identity: Cult Guide

Dir: Howard M. Mitchell

In an old Scottish village near Edinburgh, the schoolteacher, Adam Harden, is a lovable character, a faith healer who keeps people happy and well. His shepherd son David is in love with Peggy Laughlin, the niece of the town's man of wealth, Sir Kent MacGregor, who wishes her to marry a member of the nobility. Schemers George Kyle, an unsuccessful doctor, and his housekeeper, Meg Harper, try to bring about this marriage to benefit themselves by pretending that Kyle is the missing nephew of the deceased Lady Murrell. Peggy is in love with David, however, and falls ill as she is about to marry Kyle. Doctors cannot seem to restore her to health. Relenting, MacGregor has the faith healer Adam and his son David released from jail where he had them placed, and Adam cures Peggy. The schemers, Kyle and Meg, are found out and arrested, and MacGregor is now only too glad to give Peggy in marriage to David.

Dir: Howard M. Mitchell

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

Larry Hart criticizes his father, a newspaper publisher, for exploiting the plight of the poor to sensationalize the news, and to prove his point, Larry decides to reform an unfortunate slum dweller. While in the slums, Larry meets Jenny Carson, a waif dressed in boys' clothing, and finds her a job as a waitress. Larry falls in love with Jenny, but when his father meets her, he recognizes the waif as the daughter of his crooked ex-partner, Joe Farley, and forbids their marriage. Joe then appears and confronts his former partner with the proof that Hart and not Joe was the real swindler. After a series of misadventures, Hart admits his guilt, Larry and Jenny are married and Larry is able to implement his ideals when he takes control of his father's paper.

Dir: Howard M. Mitchell

During his daily duties, Casey the Cop rescues a woman who's soon his sweetheart. Later, she learns from her banker uncle that her inheritance has been stolen, and he's accusing Casey's own cashier brother. Casey is on the case.

Dir: Howard M. Mitchell

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

In Red Dog, Nevada, a lawless mining town, Ann Murdock attempts to oust the reigning politicians, all of them corrupt, by persuading women to run for office. Because the women cannot vote, they convince their husbands to vote for them, and as a result all of the elective offices in Red Dog come to be held by women. The men, meanwhile, remain at home to care for the houses and babies. Disgruntled by his loss of power, the former town boss has the new town officials locked in jail. Tenderfoot Leonard Blair tries to assist them but is arrested on a trumped-up robbery charge. Ann finally rescues Leonard, with whom she has fallen in love, and the women are released from jail to continue their petticoat politics.

Dir: Howard M. Mitchell

Larry Gilmore must marry by a certain date to inherit a fortune. He is besieged by women anxious to assist in getting the money. To escape them, he gets a job as a police officer and dons a uniform. He falls in love with Mollie Martin, a waitress who does not know his identity but agrees to marry him. Before the ceremony several complications occur, and Larry rounds up a band of jewel thieves. A few seconds before the expiration date he marries and gets the fortune.

Dir: Howard M. Mitchell

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

Carteret, an artist, adopts Célestine, a French orphan who makes evasive replies to inquiries about a certain young "man," her close acquaintance. A detective watches the movements of Célestine and the mysterious stranger, whom he believes to be implicated in a murder case. The artist, realizing he is in love with his adopted daughter, is about to propose to her when she "elopes" with the stranger, who is actually the girl he had adopted and who has married an army officer, Célestine acting as her proxy. Delighted with the turn of events, Carteret decides to marry Célestine at once.

Dir: Howard M. Mitchell

After wealthy young socialite Myra Hastings ensnares her latest victim, Kent Whitney, the son of an "oil can millionaire," Bob Harkness, one of her rejected suitors, warns Kent of Myra's flirtatious and fickle nature. Together they concoct a scheme to teach her a lesson. Kent invites Myra home to meet his family, and she goes, expecting to find an atmosphere of elegance and refinement. Instead, she is greeted by Kent's eccentric father, who affronts her with crude jokes; Kent's mother is introduced reclining on a couch, surrounded by yapping dogs. Upon discovering that the evening was a ruse, Myra decides to retaliate. She hires a fake minister, pretends to marry Kent and then deserts him, leaving behind a message explaining that the ceremony was a farce. Kent pursues Myra and persuades her that a real marriage is in order.

Dir: Howard M. Mitchell

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

In the absence of wealthy Malcolm Graham, his daughter secretly marries Philip Amory. Her eyesight is destroyed inadvertently by her husband; and when a baby is born, her father, not convinced that she is married, gives the child to a sailor to deliver out of the country. The sailor, however, keeps the child in his family. Cruelly mistreated, the child runs away and is taken in by an old lamplighter. Fortune brings Gertie into her grandfather's house, where she becomes companion to her blind mother. Willie Sullivan, the lamplighter's assistant, finds her father, who has been in India, and they return to America. When mother and daughter arrive to meet their ship, Gertie is rescued from a fire by the sailor who had kept her, and following Amory's reunion with his wife she becomes engaged to Willie.

Dir: Howard M. Mitchell

Prominent French diplomat Emile Coullard is preparing an important international trade agreement. When Belloc appears at Coullard's country home to help prepare the document, it becomes evident that Belloc had met Marguerite, Coullard's charming wife, before. It later develops that Belloc had deceived and taken advantage of Marguerite when she was an innocent girl just out of a convent. Fernand, the illegitimate product of the union, had been raised by her friend, attorney De Brionne who, on his deathbed, declares that henceforth Marguerite should care for her grown child, now a notorious drinker. Marguerite arranges for Coullard to take Fernand as his secretary. Meanwhile, Belloc attempts to obtain the secret agreement in order to sell the information to a stock brokerage that could then make a killing on the market. Belloc forces Marguerite to open the safe by threatening to expose her past. A fight ensues with Fernand, and in attempting to escape, Belloc falls from a window to his death. Coullard eventually discovers everything, but forgives Marguerite of her past mistakes.

Dir: Howard M. Mitchell

Beebe, a Belgian peasant girl of rare beauty, sells flowers in the marketplace where she meets unscrupulous artist Victor Fleming. Fleming eventually succeeds in making the innocent girl love him, much to the sorrow of Jeanot, a farm boy who loves the girl. Fleming has a sweetheart, however, Lady Magda, who begs Beebe not to take Fleming from her. The artist rejects Lady Magda but leaves Beebe behind when he returns to Paris. Beebe pines for her artist lover, and later, hearing that Fleming is ill, she goes to him. Arriving at his studio in the middle of a wild orgy, Beebe's illusions are shattered. She returns home to her village and accepts the simple love of Jeanot.