The Definitive Guide Inspired by the Vision of Nearly Married: Cult Guide

Dir: Chester Withey

Wynne Mortimer, a pampered society girl and daughter of William Mortimer, a prominent business man, chances to meet David White, a young artist whose fame is already assured, at an art exhibit. Despite the fact that she is engaged to marry Hugh Gordon, the junior partner of her father, she falls in love with the artist. He invites the girl and her father to visit his studio and the invitation is accepted. Renee, a model, has been in love with David White for years and he has seemingly reciprocated her love. When Wynne Mortimer appears on the scene, however, he forgets all thoughts of love for Renee. The model is quick to realize the change in her lover. Secretly, she has been a user of cocaine. To forget the heartache the growing attachment between her lover and Wynne causes her, she turns to the cocaine. Wynne, led on by her interest in the artist and his insistence that she is the only one who can justly typify the spirit of a new picture at which he is at work, goes to the studio and poses for him. Hugh Gordon follows her and after a violent scene with the painter takes Wynne to her father, who upbraids her and forbids her to again see the painter. David is dejected at the loss of Wynne and finally takes to using cocaine. Before he has become a complete victim to the habit, however, Wynne dares her father's vengeance and returns to the studio. She and David finally run away and are married. In his anger Wynne's father turns her from home. David rapidly becomes an habitual user of cocaine and Wynne is forced to return to her home. Renee, heartbroken at the evil she has done by really being responsible for the drug habit acquired by David, tries to reform him. It is not until David hears his wife, however, declare that she will stick to him as long as he has need of someone to look after him, and he finally manages to throw off the habit he has acquired. He is determined to free his wife of whatever obligation she may feel binds her to him. Her loyalty to her husband leads Wynne to seek him. Her search takes her into an evil part of the city and she is attacked by a thug. David, who has returned to the city, however, learns that his wife is seeking him and goes to find her. He arrives just in time to rescue her from the den into which she has been carried. When husband and wife are reunited after the horrors through which they have passed the year past, they find that their love has grown stronger and eventually they find happiness.

Dir: Chester Withey

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Madame Bo-Peep perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Society girl Octavia rejects her fiancé, Teddy Westlake, and marries the elderly Colonel Beaupree, a wealthy rancher. When the colonel dies, Octavia discovers that he has left her only the ranch out West. When she goes to Texas to claim her inheritance, she discovers that Westlake has become manager of the ranch. Unknown to Octavia, even the ranch does not belong to her, but Westlake keeps this, and the fact that he still loves her, secret until Jose' Alvarez, the cruel overseer, tries to take advantage of her. In the end, Octavia realizes her love for Teddy and chases after him until he admits his feelings for her.

Dir: Chester Withey

Billy Jenks, a young bank clerk in a small town, goes to New York City in search of greater opportunity and becomes a cashier in a department store. When several dollar bills he is counting are blown out a window, he chases after them and, by coincidence, finds the money at the feet and on the hat of stenographer Phoebe Howard. They become so romantically overwhelmed that they neglect their jobs and are soon fired. Billy wires his aunt for money, but the next day, when he throws his alarm clock out the window, it hits, by coincidence, the head of a lawyer who has come to tell Billy that his aunt has died and left him $100,000 in thousand-dollar bills, which he duly presents to the stunned heir. When Billy gives Phoebe the news on a Fifth Avenue bus, con man "Handsome Harry" Brent overhears their conversation, introduces himself, and arranges to "help" them by investing the money the next day. However, Billy's money is stolen by John Carter, who is desperately in debt, and Billy, by coincidence, mistakes Stephen Fiske, Carter's creditor, for the thief. During a series of chases, notes and money are exchanged to the satisfaction of all parties, leaving Billy and Phoebe to get married.

Dir: Chester Withey

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

Living quietly under the assumed name Paul Sernine, reformed gentleman crook Arsene Lupin is summoned to protect his invalid, wealthy friend Henry Forbes. Despite the watchfulness of Paul and Alexandre Mazeroux, a fellow criminal turned detective, Forbes is murdered. French detective Jabot and the New York detective force have many suspects including Paul, Marie Forbes, the dead man's widow who is suspected on the basis of an apple found with an imprint of her teeth on it, Gordon Savage, her lover, and Florence Chandler, Forbes' secretary and beneficiary under his will. After a series of traps, false arrests, chases through secret passageways, and an escape from handcuffs, Paul deduces that the true criminal is Doctor Varney, who cared for Forbes. Paul prevents Varney from blowing up the house, and at the same time wins the affections of Florence.

Dir: Chester Withey

Polly, a young woman on the run from three unwanted suitors, checks into a hotel using an assumed name. This subterfuge leads a Secret Service agent to mistake her for a German spy, which in turn leads her to become unwittingly involved with real German spies.

Dir: Chester Withey

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

Adventures of King Richard when he travels with Queen Berangaria, the knights and ladies of his court, and his army of crusaders to Palestine to fight Sultan Saladin and the Saracen hordes for possession of the Holy Land.

Dir: Chester Withey

Carmen Wagner is an orphan, the daughter of a musician whose career was ruined by the nagging of her stepmother. Her grandfather, also a violinist, hates all women because of his son's ruined career. He tries to save his granddaughter, whom he adores, from the stepmother. He also makes his granddaughter a woman hater and brings her up disguised as a boy. While in this garb she meets Edward Holmes, a law clerk, and the two become friends. The stepmother, catching the grandfather giving Carmen music lessons, drives him from the house. Carmen runs away, joins him, and they become vagabond musicians. They take passage on a ship, and Edward is consulted by the stepmother and delegated to find them. He takes passage on the same ship, identifies an innocent Italian musician and his daughter, whom he arrests. For this false arrest Edward is discharged. And in this plight he meets Carmen and her grandfather, who live on a derelict vessel and who make a living by playing violin in the streets. While protecting Carmen from a drunken sailor Edward is badly hurt and is taken in and cared for in the old hulk. Carmen throws aside her boy's clothes, puts on feminine apparel, imitates the dock watchman's daughter and coquettes with Edward, who at last identifies her as the girl whom he was originally employed to seek. They are in love, but keep it secret from the woman-hating grandfather. Other detectives, employed by the stepmother this time, have located Carmen, and Edward is knocked out defending her, while the stepmother and Carmen take a steamer home. Edward follows in a fast motorboat with a friend, and Carmen jumps from the steamer and is rescued by Edward. The stepmother pursues in a pilot boat, but they finally make their escape to marriage and happiness.

Dir: Chester Withey

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

Senator John Coburn's son Steve, who associates more with gamblers, criminals and drug addicts than with his father's congressional cronies, impulsively murders his mistress' new lover. The senator tries to use his influence to have Steve acquitted, but all of the evidence firmly and correctly implicates him, and so the jury prepares to find Steve guilty without much deliberation. Before the verdict can be announced, however, Steve's mother rises in court to make an impassioned plea for her son. As a result, moved by the mother's grief, the jurors choose to ignore all of the evidence, and declare that Steve is not guilty.

Dir: Chester Withey

When anarchist bombs disrupt the engagement ball of Princess Marie Pavlovna, her fiancé, Prince Michail Koloyar, helps her to escape in a carriage. Then Theo Kameneff, secretly in the pay of a foreign government, becomes dictator and, desiring the princess, issues an edict that all women between the ages of seventeen and thirty-two must register and become state property. Outraged, Marie, disguised as a shopkeeper, organizes women to refuse the order. After she is discovered by Orel Kosloff, Kameneff's henchman, Marie declines Kameneff's offer to repeal the edict if she will live with him. Kosloff then initiates mass brutality, killing women who do not register, including to Kameneff's dismay, his beloved sister, whom he tried to save. Meanwhile, Michail, who has infiltrated the Bolshevik ranks, is found out and narrowly escapes a firing squad. After he stops Kameneff's attack on Marie, Kameneff is shot by a potter, revenging his daughter's ravishment. Marie and Michail finally escape across the border.

Dir: Chester Withey

Jim is the leader of the "Slouchy Seven," a gang of small town boys. He takes the gang for a swim in the reservoir, and is reported to his father, who, as a punishment, locks him in his room. Jim, however, escapes and goes to the assistance of Clarence, a "nice" boy, who is vainly trying to secure an apple for his sweetheart, Mary. Mary is won by the prowess of Jim, but he is indifferent to girls. Clarence and Mary go for a walk and Tom, the blacksmith's boy, pushes Clarence aside and takes his place beside Mary. Jim goes to find the gang at the railroad station he meets a girl, who asks him the direction to Mr. Morton's, who, she says, is her uncle. Jim offers to take her bags and show her the house. The boys see him and have fun at his expense. He leaves the girl, whose name is Ruth, at the gate and goes to meet the gang. They have lost a member who moved away, and initiate Clarence, who proves to be a good sport. Unaware of the interest he has aroused in Mary's heart, Jim fights Tom, when he again interferes with Clarence and Mary, and is accused by Ruth of being "stuck" on Mary. This he stoutly denies. He calls on Ruth and her uncle tells her to dismiss him, that he is a bad boy. Jim then joins the gang in a prank on the schoolmaster, and as a punishment his father orders him to chop a pile of wood. Jim is rebellious and, taking his dog, leaves the house. He meets Mary and tells her he is going to the city. His dog deserts him and he falls in with a band of tramps. His mother places an ad in a local paper asking him to come home and Mary takes care of his dog. Later he comes back and is induced by the tramps to assist in robbing the bank, of which his father is vice-president. He dresses up and goes to secure the combination. Mary is impressed by his prosperous appearance, and when he hears his mother talking he almost gives up the idea of aiding the tramps, but his father's gruff remarks determine him to keep on. On going back to the tramps he sees his mother's ad in an old newspaper and refuses to help the hobos, but they take the paper with the combination away from him and bind him in a freight car. He escapes and hurries back to the town and tells the gang. They go to the bank, but are not in time to prevent the robbery, and the tramps escape with the loot. The loss ruins the bank, and although Jim is hailed as a hero his conscience troubles him. Finally he tells his father and is forgiven. The money is discovered in a woodpile, and the next day Jim carries Mary's books to school.