The Essential Watchlist Similar Cinematic Experiences to Neal of th...

Dir: William Bertram

Christine, known as Tiny, whose mother eloped with a circus clown and became a parachutist, spends most of her time with her lame dog and an elephant. When the circus passes through her home town, Tiny's mother is rejected by her sister Sylvia, thought to be an old maid because of her all-consuming interest in mathematics. Seeing her mother depressed, Tiny convinces her father to join her for her nightly stunt of parachuting from a balloon. While Tiny plays with a precocious black child, her parents' chute fails to open and they die. Thinking herself friendless, Tiny attempts to drown herself, but her dog brings Sylvia and Frank Dodge, who loves her. Sylvia lets her other suitor, Professor Caldwell, who wants her fortune, direct Tiny's upbringing "scientifically," but after Tiny and Frank expose the professor's plot to destroy Sylvia's book on the fourth dimension, because it is better than his own book, Sylvia, who now loves Tiny, accepts Frank's proposal.

Dir: William Bertram

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

Undercover Texas Ranger takes ranch job.

Dir: William Bertram

Mrs. Jasper Reading, an old woman whose concern for wealth has turned her heart to stone, turns her eldest son out of the house for no apparent reason and orders her youngest son Will to assume the management of her estate. Not without trepidation, Will installs his wife and little daughter Marie in his mother's house, but the old woman soon expresses her disapproval of both of them. Just as Mrs. Reading's heart is beginning to soften toward the charming little girl, Luther Parrish, who wishes to gain control of the Reading estate, convinces Will that his wife has betrayed him. Heartbroken, she departs with Marie, but Mrs. Reading soon misses the child and visits her to ask for forgiveness. Meanwhile, Will discovers Luther's dishonesty, and the entire family is reunited.

Dir: William Bertram

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

Blossom Ruggles, the fiercely independent daughter of Arizona cattleman Hank Ruggles, loves neighboring rancher Asa Harris. To pique Asa, however, she flirts with mining engineer Frank Stimpson, who unknown to her, has deceived pretty half-wit Amelia Young. While riding the range, Blossom is attacked by a Mexican bandit, but manages to overpower him, and deliver him to Asa and the cowboys, who throw him from a cliff. Later, the bandit is found unconscious by the sheriff and taken to jail. Learning of the half-wit's plight, Blossom mounts a posse, apprehends Frank, and forces him at gunpoint to marry Amelia. After the ceremony, Asa and Blossom are also wed.

Dir: William Bertram

The usual ranger played by Maloney, and he has the usual old mother that he takes care of. The girl is the daughter of the impoverished and aged prospector, who still holds faith in a hole in the ground that he has dug. The bold, bad heavy is the general storekeeper, whose advances have been repulsed by the girl. To get even he first tries to blow up the old man and fasten a murder on the favored suitor, who is the ranger. There is the regulation stuff that has its horse features, its automobiles ... and the heroine making her way down a log chute to be in at the death. ... At the finish is the usual fade-out with the hero clasping the heroine to his manly bosom.

Dir: William Bertram

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

A rancher stands up for an employee unjustly accused of cattle rustling.

Dir: William Bertram

Dolly lives with her aunt, who is a seamstress. The child is sent home from school because she has been naughty, and finds her aunt in the act of making a Red Cross costume for a huge mechanical doll. The doll can walk and talk and excites Dolly's interest intensely. Some of her playmates come and run away with the doll, which is later smashed by a runaway horse. Dolly then dresses in the Red Cross costume, hides in the big box, and is taken to the rich woman's home. She reveals her secret to the daughter, a little girl who is sick. The fairy story touches thrown in here are very fine and will appeal to the imagination of small observers. Dolly carries out her deception successfully at the Red Cross bazaar, but later is kidnapped by a gang who have been raiding the house of the wealthy woman. Dolly assists in rounding up the gang.

Dir: William Bertram

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

When Charles Lind is stricken blind, his brother John takes charge of his business affairs, while his little niece Marie reads his mail to him each day so that he may recite his replies into a Dictaphone. After John confesses that he has lost a great deal of Charles' money on the stock market, the two quarrel, and John nearly strangles his brother. Later, a shot rings out, and John is seen crouching by Charles' lifeless body. Following John's arrest, the detectives guarding Marie's house recognize Briggs, the butler, as a wanted criminal, and when he attempts to escape, they shoot him. Marie, in playing with her uncle's Dictaphone, discovers that his murderer's voice was captured on the recording. Played at the dying butler's bedside, the recording leads to Briggs's confession and John's release from prison.

Dir: William Bertram

Secret service man, posing as crook in order to capture counterfeiter, rescues girl from death in stream, but grandfather, recognizing the man as one whom he believes a crook, orders him not to try to see girl again. Crooks steal gold from mine of grandfather and are aided, apparently, by secret service man who desires to learn their secrets. Secret service man finally brings about capture of crooks, making a thrilling jump from cliff into automobile, driven by girl he loves, who is threatened by crook in car with her, in capturing the last of the crooks and recovering the grand- father's gold.

Dir: William Bertram

Instilled with the spirit of patriotism after her teacher reads to her the story of Joan of Arc, Marie Yarbell goes home, persuades her father to enlist and then organizes a "military company" comprised of her playmates. Wealthy old Nathan Mulhouser, who is financing the development of a torpedo, is so touched by the children's patriotism that he buys them a flag. Marie's mother rents out a vacant room to Hertz, a stranger, who instructs her to see that no one enters his room because he is working on an important invention for the government. Curious, Marie follows Hertz as he leaves the house carrying a suitcase. He goes to a building that houses Mulhouser's laboratory, tosses in a bomb and runs away. Marie disposes of the bomb in time, but is stunned by the explosion. Mulhouser finds Marie in a state of shock and takes her to his home. Meanwhile, Mr. Yarbell has returned home at his wife's alarm and finds Marie's soldiers holding the spies prisoner. Mulhouser finally ascertains Marie's identity, discovering that she is his granddaughter, and all ends happily.