The Recommended Vault Deeply Connected to O Táxi 9297: Cult Guide

Dir: Raoul Walsh

Dave Henderson, an orphan who has become the beneficiary of a rich man's will, falls in with race-track crooks Martin Tydeman and Bokky Sharvan who bilk him out of his $100,000 inheritance. In retaliation, Dave steals the money from Tydeman's safe, but is caught and sentenced to five years in jail. In prison, Dave becomes friendly with Millman, who is about to be released, and reveals the money's hiding place to him, arranging to rendezvous at the end of Dave's term. Once released, Dave is hounded by members of Tydeman's gang as well as the police, who are waiting for him to retrieve his bounty. While taking refuge at the house of Capriano, an old bomb maker, Dave falls in love with the old man's daughter Teresa. However, Capriano sets a trap for Dave, who awakens in a drugged state to find the $100,000 missing. With the help of Millman and Teresa, Dave recovers the money, turns it over to the police and resolves to go straight.

Dir: George D. Baker

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

A prison inmate obtains his release from prison in order to rescue his daughter from the clutches of her unscrupulous mother's plot to implicate the girl in a blackmail scheme.

Dir: George Beranger

Writer Frank Theydon goes undercover to research the criminal activity in New York City's Chinatown.

Dir: Chester M. De Vonde

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Number 17 perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Eileen O'Hara lives as a member of a cult in a remote retreat in the Adirondacks with her father, an embittered man since his wife's infidelity years earlier. One day, Peyster Sproul, the man responsible for her transgression, appears, and as president of the millionaire Sagamore Club, attempts to buy O'Hara's land for a summer resort. O'Hara recognizes him and a quarrel ensues, which results in the old man's death. Sproul then secures an illegitimate hold on the land by bribing Amasa Munn, the dishonest leader of the cult, with a small sum of money while pocketing the balance of the purchase funds. Upon receiving orders to produce the deed, Sproul attempts to steal the document from Eileen. His plan is thwarted, however, by Dr. Lansing, a young man who has fallen in love with Eileen. When Sproul's fraudulence is discovered, he is dishonorably dismissed from the club. Eileen retains her land and marries Lansing.

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

Having endangered his life by foolishly gambling away funds entrusted to him by the Carbonari, an Italian secret society, London banker Bernard Huddlestone appeals to Northmour, an adventurer, for protection. Northmour takes Huddlestone and his daughter Clara to his castle in Scotland, offering them safety in return for Clara's hand in marriage. There Clara encounters Frank Cassilis, an old adversary of Northmour's, and falls in love. Trouble brews between the two men, but when the Carbonari discovers Huddlestone's hiding place and storms the castle, the fugitives band together to fight the avengers. Coming to the realization that only his sacrifice will appease the attackers, Huddlestone steps out and meets his death. Northmour, deciding that married life would prove too monotonous, gives up his claim on Clara to Cassilis.

Dir: Emil Justitz

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Paul Powell

Laura, a blind girl, has been cared for since infancy by Mike, Whitey, and Sal, three crooks who have kept her ignorant of her true surroundings. After an operation restores her sight, Laura is disillusioned and embittered by the sordidness of her environment. She falls under the evil influence of the gang's leader, Dennis Sullivan, who teaches her the art of safecracking. Just as Laura is about to perform her first job, her three benefactors are released from jail because of insufficient evidence and rush to the scene of the robbery to prevent Laura's corruption. The owner of the safe gives the four a ranch in reward for thwarting the robbery, and they all start a new life in the West.

Dir: George Archainbaud

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

Upon leaving prison, an ex con vows to go straight, but circumstances force him to return to crime. Meanwhile, a gang of crooks kidnaps a visiting British aristocrat, but the ex-con has an incredible likeness to the Englishman, and his intended hosts take him home to their mansion.

Dir: Joseph Henabery

When respectable Lloyd Norwood becomes infatuated with moll Goldie Lewis, he falls into a life of debasement that results in his being accused of the murder of gangland henchman Joe the Swell. Norwood's wife Mary, convinced of her husband's innocence, determines to clear his name. Disguising herself as a vamp and infiltrating the underworld, Mary extracts a confession from the real murderer, Pussyfoot Connor, whom she dupes into believing that he sees the ghost of the murdered man. Later, to have witnesses to the story, Mary takes a midnight dinner with gang leader Jack Frost, arousing the jealousy of Connor, who enters and accuses Frost of instigating the murder. The police, alerted to the scheme, rush in and arrest the criminals. Finally, a phone call to the prison warden results in Norwood's release as a wiser man.

Dir: Charles Raymond

A magician helps outwit a Chinaman's gang.