Underground Favorites Parallel to the Artistry of My Lady's Garter: Cult Guide

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

After robbing a bank, a criminal is wrongfully pardoned from prison.

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

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

When he is ruined by speculating in the stock market by bogus tips given to him by Charles Wainwright, George Garrison commits suicide, but before his death he begs his son Henry to avenge him. Henry goes West and makes a fortune prospecting, then returns to New York and assumes the name of Henry Thompson. He becomes Wainwright's protege and falls in love with his daughter Dallas, then is elected mayor of New York, backed by Wainwright's friend, political boss Richard Horrigan. In return for Wainwright's support, he is supposed to sign a franchise binding the city to the financier's railway. Henry refuses, so Wainwright and his flunkies attempt to discredit him by dredging up an old murder charge, but the charge is proved false when the supposed victim, Henry's partner Joe Standing shows up. Finally, Henry confronts Wainwright, accuses him of causing his father's death and of attempting to defraud the city. Despite his denunciation of her father, Dallas proclaims her love for Henry. In an epilogue, the hands of the victims of political boss Horrigan clutch at him from the grave.

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

Mafflu, the old clown, out walking is greatly surprised to see a baby girl, fast asleep, holding in her hand a chunk of bread, at which a large number of sparrows are pecking. Mafflu decides to take the child away with him and care for it. He does this, but upon arriving at the circus where he is employed, the owner and the rest of the company have but a cold greeting for the little newcomer. However, Mafflu clings to the child. The Sparrow, as she is called, grows up and becomes the drudge of the circus. One evening, though worn out by fatigue and hunger, she must still prepare for the evening show. Scarcely has she mounted her horse and made a few rounds of the arena, when she falls and lies unconscious in the center of the arena. Romarin is in a rage and strikes the girl. Mafflu is disgusted and sends an official to the mayor. M. de Ganges, who that night happened to be a spectator. M. de Ganges takes the Sparrow with him to his home and she bids farewell to the only two beings she has ever loved, her adopted father and a poodle. Next morning, on awaking, she can hardly believe that all the beautiful things about her are a reality. The dream is indeed but a fleeting one. The Sparrow is received with jeers and mockery when she puts in an appearance in the servants' dining-room for her meals. A few days later a horse runs away in the park and the Sparrow cleverly manages to master it. This makes the groom, Charley, madly jealous. Charley abuses the Sparrow and a free fight ensues. M. de Ganges intervenes, and, disgusted with the groom's impudence, discharges him. The Sparrow is now received into the intimacy of the Mayor's family. She has fine clothes and jewels. A friend of the family, the banker Schlemmer, spends a few days at the mansion and is strangely attracted to the Sparrow. The attraction is not reciprocated, for, by degrees, the Sparrow falls in love with M. de Ganges. Alas, one day, she surprises him in a close embrace with his cousin. She is jealous. Schlemmer still persecutes the Sparrow to the extent of doing her violence. She decides to leave the house. In a few lines she thanks her benefactors for their goodness and announces her departure without, however, revealing its real cause. The Sparrow signs a very profitable contract with a new circus and she forgets, to a certain extent, her former disappointments. However, her troubles are not over yet. Charley, engaged as groom at the circus, finds occasion to exercise his hatred. After a first performance, the Sparrow goes to her dressing-room to change her costume for a second appearance. When, on hearing a noise, she turns around, and is horrified to see Schlemmer, introduced there by the groom, and who endeavors to abuse the girl, who defends herself energetically. Fortunately for her, Mafflu and the stage manager, wondering why she does not appear, enter her room and put an end to the trouble. Although not quite recovered from the shock, the Sparrow, nevertheless, takes her place on the central platform, where she is to perform her aerial act. M. de Ganges and his young wife are also spectators. In seeing the one she loves and who is forever lost to her, the Sparrow is painfully affected and, without ceasing to look at him, she makes a sudden leap, misses the rope along which she was to glide to earth, and crashes to the ground. Mafflu, in tears, picks up the girl, whose back is broken, and carries her away. M. de Ganges, deeply moved, comes to her and the Sparrow has, at least, the consolation of beholding before her death the dear face of the loved one.

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

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

Richard Duvall is a young American detective in the employ of the French Secret Police. While in Paris he meets Grace Ellicot, also an American, with whom he falls in love. He marries her and is about to start on his honeymoon when he is called on by Mons. Lefevre, chief of the secret police. The French Ambassador to England, Monsieur De Grissac, has lost an ivory snuff box which must be found. They depart for London to interview the Ambassador. In London they go to the Embassy. There the Ambassador tells them that he was robbed of the snuff box while he was dressing and suspecting his valet, Noel, he locked him in his room. When Duvall goes to interview the valet, he finds that he has been murdered. Meanwhile, in Paris, Lefevre has broken the news to Duvall's wife of his departure to London. She, wishing to follow Duvall, asks Lefevre where she can find him. Lefevre tells her that if she will help in the recovery of the snuff box she will find Duvall. She consents, and Lefevre tells her to go to Brussels and try to place herself in the sanitarium run by Dr. Hartmann. who is supposed to be a German spy and whom Lefevre believes to be instrumental in the theft of the snuff box, which box, Lefevre hints, is of diplomatic importance. Richard Duvall, aboard the boat for Antwerp, finds the man whom he is following, asleep in a saloon, and during the night he opens the stranger's suitcase. He finds the package given the stranger in the barber shop, and on opening it, discovers the contents to be rice powder. By this time Duvall has learned that Grace is in the sanitarium, and that she furnished the news to Lefevre's agents. He feels that Grace should leave the sanitarium as soon as possible. He goes to Mr. Phelps, the American Ambassador, and has him invite Grace to dinner, planning to escape after dinner. During dinner that night, Dr. Hartmann, who is beginning to suspect Grace and Duvall, turns up at Mr. Phelps' house as an unexpected guest. When Richard and Grace leave on the pretext of Duvall's escorting Grace back to the sanitarium, Hartmann asks if he might ride with them. Because of no plausible reason, Duvall is forced to consent. On arriving at the sanitarium, Duvall is taken prisoner by two of Dr. Hartmann's attendants. His failure to discover the snuff box angers Dr. Hartmann. He knows that Duvall must have it with him, as his luggage has been searched and his friends imprisoned on various trumped-up charges. He gives Duvall until the next evening to confess the whereabouts of the box. The time allotted him is up, and Duvall refuses to confess. Hartmann resorts to torture. Finally Richard, at night, finds his opera hat behind a packing case and secures the box from the hat. Experimenting with several ornaments on the top of the box, he discovers that it has a double top. Inside the box is a piece of tissue paper, on which a series of numbers are written. Duvall substitutes another set of numbers, and conceals the set found in the box. In order to make Grace confess where the box is, as Dr. Hartmann believes she knows, he lets her see Duvall being tortured. She is almost crazed by watching his pain, so gets the box and delivers it to Hartmann. They are at once released, and proceed to Paris. They are not able to deliver the box to Lefevre, but they give him the series of numbers. Duvall and Grace at last start on their delayed honeymoon.

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

A restless young girl yearns to leave her rural environment and "get away from it all." One day she stumbles upon a film crew shooting a Western near her home. She makes friends with the film's leading man, who encourages her to try her luck as an actress, so she leaves her small town and goes to the big city to break into the picture business. However, things don't turn out quite the way she planned.

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

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

In order to save her mother from disgrace, Margaret marries Richard Harding even though she really loves Geoffrey Morton. Five years later, the Hardings have a little son, and Margaret's life has been made almost unbearable by her husband; she lives for nothing but her son. Morton, returning after an absence of two years, learns that Harding has made some false accusations against him and goes to his home to demand a retraction. While there, he witnesses an exhibition of Harding's cruelty as he whips his little son. After Morton leaves, Harding threatens to beat the boy again, and Margaret tells him that she will shoot him if he does. Harding defies Margaret's plea, and she carries out her threat. Together, Harding's secretary and Margaret place the revolver so that it will appear to be a suicide, but the police are not deceived. After a desperate defense by her lawyers, however, the death is ruled accidental and Margaret is free to begin life anew.

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

A hypnotic Svengali controls the singing voice of a young starlet, but he cannot control her heart.

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Girl's Folly perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

The wealthy but selfish parents of a lonely young girl begin to rethink what is important to them after a servant's irresponsibility results in a crisis.

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

A resourceful young girl struggles to free herself from slum life.

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

Among the simple fisher-folk of a little island off the west coast of Scotland lives MacTavish, head of a clan. Here he rules as a chieftain, and his word is law. One day a hurricane sweeps across the Hebrides and the fishermen turn their boats to the inlet for shelter. On the shore the women and children watch the fight of their men with the waves. Among those who wait is Margaret MacTavish, who sees her father's boat dashed to pieces in the roaring surf. A party of men headed by Jamie Campbell tries to rescue the old chieftain but the waves close over him before they can reach the battling craft. With MacTavish lost, according to the law of the island the succession of authority passes to his daughter Marget, just 18. She, with a spirit of kindness and in a tender, sweet and girlish way, rules the fishermen and their families. Her disposition wins them. Jamie Campbell, a young fisherman, has won Marget's heart. Jamie has always been regarded as the son of Mrs. Campbell, one of the clan. The old lady, realizing that Jamie is reaching his 21st birthday, feels that she cannot keep her secret longer. So she writes to the Countess of Dunstable that the baby of her first marriage, which she left with the old woman of the island, did not die but grew to be a fine young man, and is now known as Jamie Campbell. The Countess, accompanied by her husband, starts out to seek her son. It is on the eve of Jamie's betrothal to Marget that, the Countess finds the young man and tells him of his real identity. She swears him to secrecy even from his own sweetheart. The Countess goes to watch the quaint betrothal ceremony of her son and Marget. Meeting him they are seen by those who do not know the relation to embrace and this fact is told to Marget. The disappearance of the Countess has aroused the suspicions of the Earl, and he, having learned of her secret meeting with, Jamie and not knowing the relation, confronts her. The wife breaks down and confesses that the young man is her son. There having been no children by the second marriage the Earl is delighted with the news and at once starts to plan for Jamie's future. The Earl, however, means that Jamie shall cut loose from all of his former associates. He persuades Marget to believe that she is an obstacle to Jamie's future and she reluctantly decides to make the sacrifice and give up her sweetheart. As chief of the clan, Marget commands him to leave. Jamie with heart torn asunder departs for his mother's yacht. Marget decides to sail out to somewhere in the west where her father and his father were wont to sail with the fishing boats. Before she cuts the ropes that hold the frail old hulk in which she lives to the island shore she sets ashore her pets and writes a note, places it on the strap collar of her favored little goat, and sends it abroad. Grouchy, gloomy Pitcairn, the village atheist who feared no one and hated himself, has always refused to obey the rulings of Marget. Pitcairn is in a troubled sleep the night Marget cuts loose in her unseaworthy craft, and in a wakeful moment he hears the bleating of the goat at his door. He is about to drive the animal away when he finds the note Marget has written. Looking seaward he sees the old craft tossing in the sea and he realizes what has happened. The village is aroused and the church bell set to ringing. Down to the surf line rush the people. Pitcairn sends a messenger to the yacht to get Jamie. Lowering a boat he rushes to the hulk and just as the waters are closing in on the cabin he rescues his sweetheart and the atheist falls to his knees and utters a prayer for the first time in his life. Jamie takes Marget back to the yacht, a reconciliation between the girl and the Earl follows and the dreams of the courtship begin all over again but they are real dreams because they have come true.