Visionary Picks Drawn from the Same DNA as Once to Every Man: Cult Guide

Dir: T. Hayes Hunter

In Germany, young Marie Louise's foster parents commit suicide rather than face charges of treason. Marie emigrates to the US, but when she gets there she is met with contempt and suspicion because of her German nationality. She meets Davidge, who owns a shipbuilding company, and persuades him to get her a job in his shipyards, so she can prove her dedication to the war effort. One day at work she is approached by a man named Verrinder, who is in actuality a German spy. He and some fellow spies are planning to sabotage the shipyards and want Marie to help them.

Dir: T. Hayes Hunter

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

Cowhand Jim Cleve is wrongly accused of murder and rescued by Jack Kells, leader of a band of Idaho outlaws known as the Border Legion. But when the Legion takes Joan Randall prisoner and leaves Cleve to guard her, he realizes that he cannot remain part of an outlaw band and decides to rescue Joan.

Dir: T. Hayes Hunter

Gordon Kent, wealthy, is trying to paint the continent red. He meets Norma Selbee and marries her the next day. She runs away with Marchmont, and Kent condemns them to live together always. Later Kent finds he and Norma love each other and a reconciliation follows.

Dir: T. Hayes Hunter

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

The tale is hung upon the rivalry of Mrs. Winkle and Slocum, each the owner of a pickle factory. Some of the most unusual and humorous situations arise. Andrew Slocum sends Andy, his son, to Winkle's factory to spy on the latter's secrets. Many who have been buying the Winkle pickles are taken ill. Mrs. Winkle suggests a partnership. Winkle answers her scornfully. She enters Slocum's office and finds out his secrets. One night she blows up his safe and escapes with the formulas. Meantime Andy has confessed his real name to Matilda. They elope. Mrs. Winkle finds Matilda's note. She decides to take back the secret papers. But John Heaps has already stolen them. She learns that Slocum has gone to Shreveport. While Slocum is being engaged with his bath a thief steals his clothes. Wrapped in the curtains he rushes downstairs. The constable is called. He protests that he is Andrew Slocum, "the pickle king." Andy denies knowing him. Andy and Matilda then hurry to the station. Mrs. Winkle arrives and identifies Slocum. Andy and Matilda meet Heaps. Mrs. Winkle and Slocum follow. They turn Heaps over to the constable and recover the formulas. Now they are making pickles under the name of "The Slocum Company, Inc."

Dir: T. Hayes Hunter

After visiting her mother for Sunday dinner, Ellen Llewellyn, a chorus girl, is late for the rehearsal of a Boston musical, but she is spared the wrath of the stage manager when the orchestra leader, Andy Owens, diverts his attention until she is in place. Andy has often proposed to Ellen but is always refused, for she feels that marriage to him would mean an uncertain and marginal existence. Ellen meets aristocratic, wealthy Tony Winterslip, who soon proposes to her; she turns him down also, knowing him to be unambitious and dependent upon his name and fortune. When Ellen catches pneumonia, Tony provides her with a nurse and then persuades her to convalesce at the family mansion. Ellen is bored by the dull routine of life in the Winterslip home, and Tony's grandmother, realizing that Ellen would never be happy with Tony, reunites her with Andy. They are now married, on the promise of a rewarding career for Andy, who has just sold a musical to Broadway.

Dir: T. Hayes Hunter

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

Claire Barrington, who owns the Duffy racing stables, hopes that her sister, Myrtl, will marry Ralph Woodhurst, whose father is violently opposed to horse racing; in order not to jeopardize the match, Claire lets no one know of her ownership of the establishment. John Duffy, who holds the mortgage on the stable, attempts to use it to force Claire to marry him, but she refuses, citing her love for Garrison, who has been gone for 5 years. Garrison returns just before the big race and, recalling that Duffy persecuted him in the Army, sets out to bankrupt the Duffy stables, not knowing that he is working against the woman he loves. Garrison buys Jackdaw, the only racehorse fast enough to beat Wildfire, the prize Duffy filly. Duffy then sets the Duffy stables on fire in order to discredit Garrison, who is blamed for the fire, and to ruin Claire by killing Wildfire; the horse is saved, however. Duffy hires a jockey named Chappie Raster to ride Wildfire, plotting with him to throw the race. Claire outwits Duffy, however, and Wildfire wins by a nose. Claire and Garrison clear things up between them, and Duffy is left out in the cold.

Dir: T. Hayes Hunter

When Barton Baynes's mother and father die, his Aunt Deel and Uncle Peabody provide a home for him. He grows up with Amos Grimshaw, son of a miserly moneylender who holds the farmers of the area in his power, and falls in love with Sally Dunkelberg. Bart becomes friendly with Joe Wright, who arranges for his education in town. There he meets Roving Kate, the Silent Woman, who sees death and the gallows in the palm of Amos and for Bart a future of fame and success. When Kate's fatherless son returns home to see his mother, he is killed by Amos Grimshaw; and Amos' father, Ben, who fights to save him, proves to have been the father of Kate's son.

Dir: T. Hayes Hunter

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

A mechanic with the French Air Force, Vanesse sabotages the plane of Capt. Charles Nungesser, France's Flying Fiend, by placing Paul Willard's flying insignia in Nungesser's intake manifold. Paul is accused of the deed and sentenced to 20 years in a military prison. Six years later, the Willards, a wealthy American family, arrive in France, searching for Paul, who had run away to war. They interview Vanesse, who informs them that Paul died like a hero in the war. The Willards then meet Nungesser, who falls in love with Lucille, Paul's sister, and makes a silent resolution to arrange for Paul's pardon. This he does, and then goes to the United States to find Vanesse and to discover the truth about Paul's case. Nungesser discovers that Vanesse is planning to rob the air mail; with Paul's help, he captures Vanesse and recovers the loot. Vanesse dies from the effects of a plane crash; Paul is cleared of all guilt and marries his former sweetheart, Marie, with Nungesser and Lucille are swept to the heights on the wings of happiness.

Dir: T. Hayes Hunter

A dandy saves a wife from the guillotine by framing the woman who helped kidnap her.

Dir: T. Hayes Hunter

Hunting the desert for his daughter, Jonas Warren finds the man who took her away, who then produces a marriage certificate to pacify Warren's anger. After the husband finds a gold mine and uses the certificate to mark it, they die in a sandstorm. Later, Dick Gale, an Easterner in search of adventure, rescues his friend Captain George Thorne and the captain's sweetheart Mercedes Castenada from Mexican bandit Rojas. Dick takes Mercedes to Jim Belding's ranch, where Dick falls in love with Belding's adopted daughter Nell. When Rojas arrives with a band of outlaws, Dick and the ranch cowboys escort Mercedes to the mountains, led by Dick's Yaqui Indian friend. After the Yaqui throws Rojas off a cliff and locates a water source for the ranch, he shows Nell the gold mine. The marriage certificate of her parents proves that the mine is hers. Since she now knows she is not illegitimate, she can marry Dick.