Deep Archive Finds Movies That Echo the Spirit of Moral Courage: Cult Guide

Dir: Romaine Fielding

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

The story of a man's gratitude to a snake for saving his life: He takes the snake home to live with him and then conceives the idea of having the snake kill the man who stole his sweetheart. He places it in the other man's bed. But when the little daughter of the girl he had once loved creeps into the bed, he has a change of heart.

Dir: Romaine Fielding

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

Young minister Brand Cameron meets stage star Adrienne Durant at her father's humble country home where she has gone to recover from the excitement of an attempted suicide by one of her admirers. Believing that Adrienne is an innocent country girl, Cameron falls in love with her until, in a fit of remorse, the actress tells him the truth and returns to her old life in New York. Cameron follows and, unable to give Adrienne up, is denounced by his parishioners and forced to resign. He takes his calling to a tough lumber camp while Adrienne accepts the charge of a school for poor children. At the camp, Faro Kate falsely accuses Cameron of fathering her child and the lumbermen, enraged, set fire to the church. When Cameron risks his life to save Kate's baby trapped in the burning building, however, Kate retracts her lie and the minister is finally accepted by the gruff inhabitants of the camp. Cameron's happiness is made complete when Adrienne comes to join him in his new ministry.

Dir: Romaine Fielding

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

Don "Smiler" Ward, a ranger, is about to marry Mary Alden when Eddie Loring, son of a wealthy lumber king, tricks her into marrying him, then deserts her. Smiler trails Loring to his office, then is arrested for attempted murder and sent to prison. Mary has a child that, upon reaching a knowing age, asks about his father. Mary goes to Loring's home, seeking to be recognized as his wife. That same night, Loring is killed--but by a French Canadian whose girl Loring had wronged. Smiler, now out of prison, with his sweetheart cleared of Loring's murder, at long last has reason to smile.

Dir: Romaine Fielding

"No. 17" is the only name of Gladys Claypool, an orphan in the unhappy charge, with others, of a brutal superintendent. However, he freedom is sought by financiers eager for the possession of some valuables to which she is entitled. A nurse agrees to help them in exchange for a sum of money, and the superintendent intervenes, hoping for a cut of the nurse's profit. The girl suffers greatly, and her life is threatened; but she meets a young man who helps her. He goes West, and the plotters try to remove him in a train wreck, but he survives to find the girl's grandfather and proof of her clear title to the disputed property.

Dir: Romaine Fielding

Gordon Harvey, a wealthy American, enlists in the American Legion of the Canadian Army to fight with the Allies even before his own country has entered World War I. He woos and weds Betty Milburn, and then, because the young bride cannot bear to be parted from her new husband, she disguises herself as a Red Cross nurse and accompanies him to France. Ralph Perry, a spurned suitor, reveals her presence to the authorities, knowing that the young couple will be sentenced to death for breaking military rules. Rather than send Betty to the firing squad, Gordon shoots her and then embarks on a suicidal combat mission. He is saved by Perry, however, and awarded a Victoria Cross for heroism. Betty, only wounded by the shot, recovers and is reunited with her husband.