The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of Passion Flower: Cu...

Dir: Herbert Brenon

Gennaro, the son of Lucretia Borgia, lives unaware of the identity of his mother, who has married the Duke of Ferrara. After Lucretia's brother is killed by five conspirators, the fathers of Gennaro's dearest friends, Lucretia tortures the old men to death. Later, Gennaro and his companions journey to Lucretia's domain, and she sees her son for the first time. The Duke, who believes him to be her lover, poisons him, but Lucretia administers the antidote in time and saves his life. Then she schemes to poison her sons' five friends for their fathers' mistake. She succeeds in poisoning them all at a dinner at which Gennaro is an uninvited guest. In dismay, she pleads for him to take the antidote, but he refuses and in a fury avenges his friends by stabbing Lucretia. As he lies dying, he learns that she was his mother.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Neptune's Daughter perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A mermaid princess plans vengeance against a prince whose net killed her sibling. But upon meeting him, she develops romantic feelings.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

Back from a crusade, the hero of Sir Walter Scott's novel fights for courtly love and Saxon honor.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

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

To a rooming house which has fallen on hard times comes The Stranger, an unknown but gentle man who is given the back room on the third floor. His arrival marks a change in the lives of all the boarders, from the girl resisting her parents' pleas that she marry the lecherous Mr. Wright, to an architect and a pianist, both of whose dreams are near destruction from their own discouragement.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

A French orphan girl is adopted by a wealthy British nobleman. The family lives happily, unaware that a plot is afoot to kidnap the girl and make away with the nobleman's fortune.

Dir: Alexander Butler

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Passing of the Third Floor Back perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

In Alberta, Canada, a Cornish emigrant unmasks a rustler posing as the girl's "blind" father.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

When Marcel, a waif, saves master crook Burke from the police, Burke adopts the youngster and teaches him his profession. Years later, Marcel has become a master crook himself, working under the name of Michael Lanyard. His clever work baffles the Paris police, who dub him "The Lone Wolf". The Pack, a gang of criminals, notifies The Wolf that unless he joins them, he is marked for destruction. Lucy, an undercover agent masquerading as a crook to expose the gang, helps The Wolf escape. This inaugurates a series of adventures in which Lucy and The Wolf are pursued by the gang, finally making their escape to England by plane. The Pack follows, only to meet their death in a plane crash. Liberated from his tormentors, The Wolf vows to go straight and marries Lucy.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of 12.10 perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

When famous opera singer Elinore Duane undergoes an operation on her throat, she has a series of ether-induced visions. In one, she is transported to ancient Rome where she appears as a much-admired woman in love with Paul, a young heretic, and at odds with Lutor, the high priest. To save her love, she poisons Lutor with her ring. After several other visions which involve variations on this love triangle, Elinore awakens to discover that Lutor is actually her doctor, Sascha Jaccard, and that Paul is the son of a friend who has come to visit the recovering prima donna.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

A sultan agrees to help a wicked witch destroy a mysterious young lady if the witch will bring his young son back from the dead with magic.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

Joan is loved by a young man of the village and they are married. In a few weeks the husband, a soldier, is sent to the war-front along with his three brothers. Word is received that her husband has been killed in battle and Joan's first impulse is suicide by she is pregnant and her prospective motherhood makes her realize her new responsibility. The military authorities start a movement to get the young women of the country to marry departing soldiers, so that the empire may have another generation of fighting men. Word is received that the King is to pass through their village and Joan organizes the women in a general protest against the war. She leads them all, dressed in black, in a long procession to meet the Monarch. The soldiers threaten to shoot her unless she turns the women back, buy Joan comes face-to-face with the ruler and kills herself, as her message from the women that they refuse to make another generation victims of a ruthless militarism.