Masterpiece Selection that Capture the Essence of Please Help Emily: Cult Guide

Dir: Dell Henderson

Alice Avery, the orphaned daughter of an actress, is raised to adulthood in a small town by her strict Aunt Jane and Uncle Ezra. When artist Richard Danforth comes to town to rest, Alice falls in love with him. When he leaves, he promises that if Alice comes to New York he will care for her, so Alice decides to follow him there over the objections of her aunt and uncle, who want her to marry a local boy. In New York, Richard is surprised by her appearance and sends for Sarah, Alice's childhood guardian, to look after her. Nancy Arnold, one of Richard's models, is in love with him and jealous of Alice, and Alice is jealous of her. When Alice interrupts a quarrel between Richard and Nancy over her, she decides to run away and get a job on the stage. She becomes a famous actress and eventually is found by Richard, who realizes that he is in love with her. She then gives up the stage to become his wife.

Dir: Dell Henderson

Nell Gordon is unfortunate in her ancestry; her father is a crook, but she possesses qualities of resourcefulness and loyalty. Though she loves her father, she detests his associates, particularly one, Bill Whipple, who is her constant suitor, Joe Dunham, who does the scouting for the trio, finds a likely bank in the town of Wheaton, the fact that a new bookkeeper is needed there opening a way for the gang to get into the bank, as Nell is an expert. Working on her love for her father, who is a very sick man, Whipple and Dunham persuade Nell to go to Wheaton and take the position. Boarding with the Rev. Dr. Singleton, Nell wins the confidence of Jim Brooks, the cashier of the bank, and of Tom Hoadley, his best friend and sheriff of the county. What the girl is working for, of course, is the combination of the safe, but before she has a chance to get it, she begins to realize that she is in love with the cashier. On the very day that she learns the combination and copies it. Jim proposes to her, and, after a mental struggle, she decides that her love for him is greater than her loyalty to the gang, and she surrenders, concealing her identity, she had come to the town under an assumed name. Becoming suspicious of Nell's delay in forwarding word to them, Whipple and Dunham attempt to force her father to write a note ordering her to act quickly, but the old man refuses and is shot. The crooks go to Wheaton and try to force Nell to rob the bank. She has undergone complete reformation and has even confessed her identity to Jim's friend and is planning to leave Wheaton rather than bring disgrace upon the man she loves. She discovers that her father has been murdered by the crooks and decides to be revenged. Apparently consenting to their demands, she gets them into the bank, but not until she has warned the sheriff. Nell is wounded in the fight which follows, and when she awakens finds herself in the arms of the man from whom she attempted to escape because she loved him.

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

Dir: Dell Henderson

Pretty young seamstress Doria Dane is discovered by a motion picture producer, who transforms her into a film star and then proposes. Doria, however, has fallen in love with a sculptor named George Steele, who has asked her to pose for his statue, "American Militant." Under Doria's influence, George concentrates on his work and avoids his frivolous Greenwich Village friends, with the result that he wins a prestigious award for the statue. Basking in the limelight, George neglects Doria and falls prey to the fashionable Mrs. Schuyler, a wealthy widow who wants him for herself. George's friends are horrified when Doria bursts into his studio and shatters his masterpiece, but soon afterwards, she leads him into artist Harry North's studio, where the statue is standing intact. After explaining that she destroyed only Harry's replica of the work, Doria accepts George's heartfelt apology, and the two are reunited.

Dir: Dell Henderson

After Miriam Gibson is seduced and abandoned by a handsome adventurer, who marries an old woman with money, she becomes a prostitute to get money for her new-born child. When the baby dies, Miriam, now without hopes, goes to London and becomes the mistress and housekeeper of barrister Geoffrey Sherwood, who has become a drunkard after having been jilted by his fiancée Valentine, when she married a wealthy baronet. Miriam hopes to marry Geoffrey, but when Valentine, who is unhappy with her baronet, begins to trifle with Geoffrey, he responds and discards Miriam. Geoffrey soon realizes the shallowness of his affair with Valentine, who has not divorced the baronet, and his sense of shame is awakened by Miriam's kindness and consideration for others. They marry in a little Scottish kirk, and sail for Buenos Aires to begin a new life.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Who Loved Him Best? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Dell Henderson

Engrossed in his business affairs, John Kirby fails to assess the seriousness of his wife Helen's objections to the constant parade of business chums and their mistresses who come to dinner. When Kirby gives Helen the ultimatum of accepting the status quo or filing for divorce, she divorces him and obtains a position as a stenographer in the office of one of her husband's friends, but leaves after he makes advances toward her. Finding employment as a model in a dress shop, Helen is invited by one of the girls to attend a masquerade ball with two gentlemen friends. Helen agrees and discovers that her escort is her ex-husband. Although he cannot identify Helen because they are masked, Kirby suspects that his date is his ex-wife and arranges for another meeting in which he asks Helen to remarry him, and she agrees to make him her second husband.

Dir: Dell Henderson

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Dell Henderson

After his father's death, Charles de la Fontaine, the Marquis d'Aubeterre, learns that the family is penniless and journeys to America to earn a living for himself and his sister Helen. The Countess d'Este secures him a position in the home of Lathrop, a millionaire, and the young nobleman instantly falls in love with Lathrop's pretty daughter Marian. Supposing that Charles is after her fortune, Marian avoids him and becomes engaged to the wealthy Rudolph Miller. Charles changes her opinion of him, however, when he and Marian are locked in an old tower, and, after swearing that he will only marry her when the two are equally wealthy, he makes a daring escape. Unknown to the Lathrops, Charles backs Marian's brother Frank in a financial venture, as a result of which the two young men become rich. Marian discovers that Rudolph is unfaithful, and with the "golden wall" of wealth that had separated them now obliterated, she and Charles wed.

Dir: Dell Henderson

Traveling under the name "Charles Conant," the son of an American mine owner tries to enter England in 1916 after masquerading as a muleteer, but the captain of his ship, suspicious when he sees him looking through a spyglass, plans to take him back to the United States. Charles escapes and visits his relative, Lady Dartridge, and falls in love with her daughter, Lady Joan Templar, who is loved by her cousin, chief constable George Templar who, suspicious of Charles' manner and unexplainable meetings and activities, wants to arrest him as a spy. After Charles handcuffs two German agents, he reveals that he is a secret-service man. Earlier, he mistakenly sold titanium from his father's mine to a German agent. His successful mission recovered the titanium before it went to Germany aboard a U-boat. Promising to wed Lady Joan, Charles leaves to join the Lafayette Squadron in France.

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

Dir: Dell Henderson

To prevent her niece from becoming an old maid, Beatrice Hammond's aunt stipulates in her will that the girl must be married by the age of eighteen or sacrifice a million dollar inheritance. Beatrice is in love with Ronald Farwell, but he has been called to fight against the Germans in France, so Beatrice approaches her guardian, Gerald Eversleigh, with a plan: Gerald will marry her, thus insuring that she will inherit the fortune, but divorce her as soon as Ronald returns. The wedding is staged, and all goes well until Gerald falls in love with his wife. Meanwhile, Ronald falls in love with a French nurse and, upon his return home, offers to pay Gerald to remain married to Beatrice. Gerald happily accepts the offer but refuses the money, and Beatrice discovers that she has loved her husband all along.

Dir: Dell Henderson

Helene De Travillac, a sweat little French girl, loves her handsome cousin, Andre D'Eguzon, but a scheming aunt has engaged her to Valentin LeBarroyer, a methodical, statistic-loving "stick," but wealthy. On the wedding morning Andre suddenly appears on the scene and pleads with Helene. She hesitates, a little, tears off her veil and flees with her lover to her old home in the country. There her grandmother makes the natural mistake of thinking Andre is the husband. The resulting complications are amusing. Finally arrives the discarded Valentin, hunting for his bride. When he dins her he proves himself a man, and "The Beautiful Adventure" ends happily for the lovers.