Masterpiece Selection that Capture the Essence of Peppy Polly: Cult...

Dir: Elmer Clifton

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

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Two-Soul Woman perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Two men, one of them a villainous hypnotist, contend for the same woman, unaware that she suffers from dual personality disorder.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

When an aviator dies performing in a traveling circus, the circus closes and side show con men "Sky-High" Billy Wardell and "Domino" Dominick are arrested for giving out fake watches to wheel of fortune winners. After Domino springs the jail's lock, they jump a freight train and arrive in the next town, where Billy falls in love when Jane Higgenbotham allows them to breakfast on her freshly baked pies. When Billy, who gets a job as a reporter, learns that Jane's father Dave, an inventor, has no money to manufacture his "aerochute," designed to insure airplane safety, Billy opens a stock company and sells shares to villagers and farmers. After Ed Warmbath, a disappointed rival for Jane's affection, learns that Billy is wanted for jailbreak, he informs the townspeople, who demand that Dave return their money. Because Billy sees that Jane doubts his honesty, he volunteers to test the chute in a plane piloted by Murphy, a circus friend. Murphy's drunkenness inspires Billy to jump, and he lands safely, thus winning back the townsfolks' confidence, and Jane's love.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

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

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

Down on his luck after his discharge from the Armed Services, Henry Warner snatches a gentleman's wallet, then rushes into the home of a wealthy man named Middleton to escape the police. Middleton threatens to expose Henry unless he steals a certain document for him which is hidden in the home of his nephew Craig. Henry traces Craig to the modest abode of Ruth Orton, who has been left penniless by her father's death. Through Ruth, with whom he has fallen in love, Henry obtains an invitation to a reception at which Craig intends to announce his engagement to Ruth. The document in Craig's safe is the late Mr. Orton's will, in which he bequeathed his entire fortune to Ruth, but which Middleton had earlier falsified to his own advantage. Having saved Ruth from the machinations of both crooks, Henry gives her the will with a declaration of his love.

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.

Big Hearted Jim, the sheriff, loves the tomboyish Nugget Nell ( Dorothy Gish ), who runs a hash house in the mining country, but although she has romantic feelings, they are not aroused by Jim. Nell agrees to an old miner friend's request to care for his "child," Nell is shocked to meet the six-foot girl, but she cares for her just the same. Nell falls in love with the City Chap, out West to look after his mining property, but he barely notices her, having become intrigued by the Ingenue, whom he met on the stagecoach. The jealous Nell steals stylish clothes to allure him, but she has trouble walking in French high-heels. After rescuing the City Chap from outlaws robbing the stage, Nell takes him to a deserted shack. Although the outlaws kidnap the "child" and set fire to the shack, Jim, lassoing them one-by-one, rescues Nell, who, having seen the City Chap's cowardice, now yields to Jim's embrace.

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

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

Jane is a rootless young lady who finds an abandoned child and adopts it as her own. The decision, however, leads to great conflict with the child's vicious outlaw father.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

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

Daughter of impoverished vaudeville actor Lew Moore, Sheila ( Dorothy Gish ) works as a waitress in a chocolate manufacturer's candy shop, where she delights the customers with her tomboyish antics. Tom Ballantyne ( Richard Barthelmess ), the proprietor's son realizes that Sheila is excessively fond of dancing, asks her out without the benefit of a proper introduction, and she indignantly refuses. Soon afterwards, however, the two fall in love and secretly marry. Sheila's father insists that Tom's parents be informed, but when the young groom breaks the news, they react with such anger that Tom leaves home. Meanwhile, Sheila remains with the Ballantynes as their ward on the condition that she keep her marriage and her lineage a secret. One evening, Sheila decides to visit her father's theater but is discovered there by the Ballantynes. Infuriated, she vents her anger at the snobbish family and returns home with her father, but Tom follows her, and in the end, all of the parties are reconciled.