Editor's Top Picks Following the Footsteps of One Thousand Dollars: Cult Guide

Dir: Kenneth S. Webb

Ruth Hamilton, from a wealthy aristocratic family, cares little for society or its conventions and refuses the proposal of William Barton, a socialite of her parents' choice. While giving some poor children an outing on a beach, Ruth meets John Martin (Miles?), a young nouveau riche with no social standing who is snubbed by the aristocratic circles, and begins to visit him secretly. When Ruth visits John to show off a new costume, her father arrives to seek his financial aid. Ruth escapes, but she is observed by Barton, who informs her father. Hamilton insists that Martin marry his daughter, but Ruth refuses to be compromised by her father. Later, however, she consents to marry John, discovering that he really loves her.

Dir: Kenneth S. Webb

Socialite Leslie Brown, little more than an innocent schoolgirl, becomes engaged to wealthy playboy Dustan Renshaw who has broken his engagement with Janet Preece in order to marry a woman of breeding. After they are married, the Renshaws live abroad where one day, in her husband's absence, Leslie welcomes her friends the Stonehays as her guests, accompanied by their private secretary, Janet Preece. Janet's sudden illness compels her to remain with Leslie after her employers have departed, and the two women become fast friends. Leslie learns the story of Janet's betrayal by a man known to her only as "D. R.," and is shocked to learn upon Dustan's return that Janet's betrayer was none other than her own husband. Leslie leaves Dustan, but, with the passage of time, husband and wife are reunited at Janet's deathbed when Leslie learns to forgive her husband's past.

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

Dir: Kenneth S. Webb

Rosa Roma, an aspiring singer, is signed by backer Ogden Ward on condition that she not fall in love, appear in public, or use her own name. But she meets composer Griffith Ames, falls in love with him, and stars in his new opera. When Ward upbraids her, Rosa tries to satisfy her contract by means of a ruby necklace, which he has been secretly trying to obtain through devious means, but the rubies are stolen. Ames is accused of the theft, but the culprit finally confesses, and Rosa is reunited with Ames and her rubies.

Dir: Kenneth S. Webb

An artist pretends to be a valet to escape a woman's advances. He marries another woman but must keep painting in secret to make enough money.

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

Dir: Kenneth S. Webb

Vi Playfair confesses to her twin sister Tiny that she is planning secretly to meet Lent Trevett, who loves her, to say goodbye, on the eve of her wedding. Tiny, who herself loves Lent, meets him instead and passionately kisses him, leaving Lent, who thinks that Tiny is Vi, to assume that Vi loves him. The next day, after the marriage ceremony, Lent convinces the flighty Vi that her husband Joe is a bully and that she should leave with him. Tiny sees them embrace, and to teach Vi a lesson, she impersonates her sister and goes with Joe on their honeymoon. Vi, now jealous, follows, and in turn is followed by Lent. At the honeymoon cottage, Vi proves to Joe, by a mole on her leg, that she is his wife, and promises Tiny that she will give up flirting. After Tiny convinces Lent that it was she that he kissed, the couples are happily reunited.

Dir: Kenneth S. Webb

Margherita, an Italian girl, comes to America to avenge the murder of her fiancé by the mysterious Cardi.

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

Dir: Kenneth S. Webb

A bank clerk forges a check to help his girlfriend's father. He's found out, but instead of being arrested he becomes a member of a gang of forgers.

Dir: Kenneth S. Webb

To help her husband keep his job, a woman gives in to her employer's advances. When the husband finds out, he kills his rival.

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

Dir: Kenneth S. Webb

A woman struggles to overcome a cabal of blackmailers, but learns that the boss of the blackmailers is none other than her own father.

Dir: Kenneth S. Webb

After growing up in the West with her father, Drina Hilliard travels to New York to surprise her mother Marie, whose profitable Fifth Avenue millinery store has provided the means for Drina to go to college. Arriving while Marie is vacationing in Atlantic City, Drina discovers that Marie greatly overcharges her customers, then splits the profits with the women whose rich husbands or lovers pay. When Marie returns, she tries to get Drina to marry Colonel Lambert, an old rounder who pays the bills for a dozen women's hats, but Drina, attracted to Blair Carson, who drove bandits from their New York-bound train, refuses the colonel. After Drina sees Blair with Zelie, a showgirl the colonel has cast off, and realizes that Marie is ill and on the verge of bankruptcy, she nearly accepts the colonel's proposal, when Blair appears and confesses his love. Marie vows to run her store legitimately, and the colonel and Zelie console each other over their losses.