The Recommended Vault Parallel to the Artistry of Nugget Nell: Cult Guide

Dir: Elmer Clifton

After his mother's death, John Gregory becomes the "Eagle," a thief determined to get even with the mining company that stole his family's fortune. No one suspects that he is a bandit, not even Lucy, the girl he loves, and her brother Bob. John finally breaks into the mining company's main office, but discovers that another robber has preceded him and killed the night guard. The robber is Bob, and when the boy is arrested, John interrupts the trial and takes the blame himself for Lucy's sake. Bob commits suicide, and Lucy, who discovers his written confession just before John is to be hanged, rides wildly to the jail and saves John's life.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

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

Saul Chadron, a brutal cattle baron, is distressed that homesteaders are intruding on his domain and hires outlaws to drive them away. Alan MacDonald, who leads the homesteaders, learns that Chadron has hired Mark Thorne, a vicious criminal, to kill him. His growing love for Frances Landcrafe, a visitor at the Chadron ranch, makes Alan bold, however, and he attends a masquerade held in her honor. Meanwhile, Thorne, claiming that he has killed Alan, demands payment from Chadron, and when the cattle baron refuses, the outlaw kidnaps Chadron's daughter Nola. Alan rescues her, but Chadron's troubles continue as the townspeople, angered over the murder of a child, decide to hang him. Alan intercedes, but Thorne, just before his own murder, shoots Chadron. Alan is then free to turn his attention to Frances and his land claim.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

Polly has herself arrested and committed to a reformatory in order to investigate conditions at the institution, after the committee charged with the investigation whitewashes the facts.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

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

When young inventor Bob Moore fails in his efforts to provide his father, a safe manufacturer, with a lock that is burglar proof, he contacts The "Eel," the most talented safecracker in the city, to offer him a job in his factory. The Eel, deciding to go straight, accepts the offer, but when he later learns that Irene Hardin has been given a valuable necklace by her father, The Eel plans one last job to secure Irene's pearls. Meanwhile, Irene's father, also a safe manufacturer, places the pearls in his own safe and tells Bob that if he can open it, Irene will be his. Bob, in love with Irene, opens the safe and places the pearls on the handle. After he departs, The Eel enters the house and steals the pearls. Bob is accused of the crime, and to exonerate himself, pursues The Eel. After a lively fight, Bob recovers the necklace and returns home to claim his bride.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

James Gordon, Sr., owner of the Gordon syndicate, dispatches his roughneck son Jimmy to investigate why production has fallen off in his opal mine on an island off the coast of lower California. After an argument with his fiancé, socialite Lucy Andrews, Jimmy leaves for the island where he is met by Juan, McCool's servant who, along with Jasper Sneedham, has been cheating the company. On the launch, Juan tries to eliminate Jimmy by hitting him over the head, but escapes and swims to shore where he is rescued by Sneedham's stepdaughter Nadine. Nadine takes Jimmy to the hut of mine foreman Fred Haimer, the only honest man on the island. When Nadine overhears her stepfather's plans to take his ill gained fortune and flee, Jimmy and Haimer team up to defeat Juan, Sneedham and McCool. After a number of grueling skirmishes, Jimmy, Haimer and Nadine escape to the mainland where they notify the police who return to the island and arrest the gang. Jimmy then introduces Nadine to his father and is thrilled to learn that Lucy has married a nobleman, thus freeing Jimmy to marry Nadine.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

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

When Janice Webster's (Dorothy Gish) father dies and leaves her guardianship to Ethan Dexter and Henry Jarvis, the vice presidents of the Webster Trust Co., which holds her fortune until she reaches 18, her official fathers become alarmed by her quirky shenanigans. Deciding that marriage is the way to tame her, Dexter proposes and is accepted. Then Winfield Jarvis, Henry's son, proposes and is also accepted. In a muddle as to which to marry, Janice confides in bank teller Steven Peabody, who loves her himself. Later, Steven overhears Dexter boasting of his future control of the Webster millions, but before he can warn Janice, the banker locks Steven in the closet and goes to meet his bride-to-be. Steven escapes and arrives in time to find Dexter and Jarvis arguing over Janice who then reads aloud a letter written by her late father denouncing both vice presidents and announces that she will marry Steven.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

During the Alaskan gold rush, two unscrupulous fortune-seekers, Amy and her husband Gambler Joe, rob Mathew Smith, who has offered them shelter from a snow storm. Mathew pursues them but loses his way, and by the time Harkness finds him, he is nearly dead from exposure. Mathew, nicknamed "Silent" Smith because the storm has robbed him of his voice, lives in friendship with Harkness until the latter marries Amy, who has found employment in a local dance hall. After the ceremony, Harkness is called away to protect his mining interests, and in his absence, his daughter Mary arrives for a visit. Silent and Mary fall in love, but Mary's suspicions are aroused when Amy gives birth to a child. Shortly afterwards, Harkness returns. Amy insists that Silent is the baby's father, whereupon Harkness shoots his friend, wounding him in the shoulder. Smith regains his voice, and through the help of an Indian who is familiar with Amy and Joe's treachery, reveals that she was a married woman long before she met Harkness. Mary returns to Smith, and the two settle down with Harkness.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

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

Colonel Court, an agent in the Secret Service, is distressed by the occasional lapses of courage in his son Henry, a college athlete. Unknown to him, Henry's sweetheart Ellen is also an agent working on a case involving a radium smuggler, "National" Jim. To build his son's character, Court puts him on the same case that Ellen has been assigned to, but his courage again fails him. Henry decides to turn to the powers of the psyche and hires three men to communicate power and courage to him through intense concentration. The scheme works: Henry enters Jim's house in time to defeat him in a fight, locate the hidden radium and save Ellen.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

While relaxing in his cabin one stormy night, John Winton, a rising young businessman who has successfully resisted the institution of marriage, is interrupted by cries for help. Opening his door, he finds a soaking wet, pretty girl, who pleads with him to come to her aid. She guides him to a swamp where a man is lying insensible. John carries the man to his bungalow and goes for a doctor. On his return, both have disappeared. John, his curiosity thoroughly aroused, follows the only clue that has been left to him, a glove that is lying on the cabin floor. After a series of mysterious encounters in which the girl is involved, John marries her without knowing who or what she is. Then it is revealed that the whole mystery has been a scheme contrived by John's father to marry his son off by employing the romance of mystery.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

In order to be admitted to his school fraternity, David Bruce is told to impersonate a Balkan prince. In that guise, Bruce leaves for the prince's tiny principality. En route, he becomes involved with a gang of anarchists who order him to kill the prince he is supposed to be impersonating. After escaping from the anarchists, Bruce arrives at the Balkan state and learns that he is to marry a princess from a neighboring land. Bruce willingly agrees to the ceremony when he learns that the princess is Hulda Maroff, the college coed with whom he fell in love back home. After the marriage, the anarchists arrive to kill Bruce and his bride, but they escape. At that moment, the telephone rings and awakens Bruce from his dream. On the line is Hulda, calling for help. Bruce rounds up his college chums, goes to Hulda's rescue and the two are married.