Hand-Picked Alternatives for Fans of Princess of the Dark: Cult Guide

Dir: Charles Miller

Wee Lady Betty rules the O'Reilly castle with a stern hand and a big heart until she learns that Roger, the O'Reilly heir, is coming to take possession of his estate. Unable to provide for her aged father, Betty conceives of a scheme. Feigning to leave the castle, she returns after dark with her father and installs him in the haunted chamber. The next day when Roger arrives with his mother, he is met by villagers angry at Betty's banishment. In the guise of a maid, Betty shows the O'Reillys through the castle, laying special emphasis on the haunted chamber. That night, while bringing food to her father, Betty hears Roger opening the chamber door. Attempting to frighten him away, she jumps behind a suit of armor, but he shoots at the "ghost." Meanwhile the villagers storm the castle and Roger goes to appease them. Betty saves Roger by commanding them to leave, and her future at the castle seems secure when she and Roger embrace.

Dir: Charles Miller

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

Young Polly-Ann works in a small town inn as a maidservant. A troupe of actors comes to town and the innocent girl falls in love with one of its members. Howard Straightlane is sent to the small town by his father, to work as a schoolteacher in hopes of smartening up the young man from his wild ways. Howard soon meets Polly-Ann and saves her from the unscrupulous actor, meanwhile Howard's father has discovered Polly-Ann is his niece and sends for her. Another niece, greedily tries to force Polly to give her, all of her share of the family fortune. Upon hearing this the father insists that Polly return and since she and Howard have fallen in love, his son is now forgiven.

Dir: Charles Miller

Young Samson Oakley III is the only son of Samson Oakley II, the distinguished head of a prominent Wall Street firm. When he is expelled from college--although for an offense he didn't commit--his angry father puts him on a small allowance and basically exiles him. However, when he marries a chorus girl, his father disinherits him altogether. Desperately trying to make some money, the young man discovers he has an innate talent as a safecracker. His newfound skill is put to the test, though, when he discovers that several of his father's crooked colleagues are plotting to take over his father's firm by spreading false rumors about his death and stealing some valuable securities.

Dir: Charles Miller

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

In a prologue, Wilhelm II is born into opulence to continue the Hohenzollern dynasty of his father Frederick III, while Woodrow Wilson is born into the modest manse of his father, a Presbyterian reverend who tells his wife that the boy must be brought up "in the fear of the Lord." Conrad Le Brett from Alsace-Lorraine is forced to fight for Germany because his land has been conquered. Conrad, seeing other soldiers take girls into a church to rape them, kills one who murders a baby, and is then shot and taken to a Brussels hospital run by famous nurse Edith Cavell. He and his American nurse, Amy Gordon, fall in love. After Cavell helps Amy escape the pursuance of General von Bissing, the German governor, von Bissing has Lieutenant Ober execute Cavell. Learning of the Kaiser's order that all unmarried women be given to soldiers so they can bear sons for the army, Ober returns to Alsace-Lorraine, where he earlier insulted Conrad's sister Vilma. Ober kills Conrad's grandfather and rapes Vilma. Conrad honors her dying request that he go to America and defend Alsace-Lorraine's reputation. He marries Amy and convinces President Woodrow Wilson that Alsatians should be allowed to enlist. Fighting with the "doughboys," Conrad kills Ober, and after the armistice, returns to Amy.

Dir: Charles Miller

Janet sets out to find her circus ringleader father, who her mother abandoned believing him to be unfaithful. Along the way, Janet and her friend Peter join Colonel Simmonds's circus, she as a trick horse rider and he as a clown, but Janet cannot help but wonder why she finds Simmonds so familiar.

Dir: Charles Miller

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Great Victory, Wilson or the Kaiser? The Fall of the Hohenzollerns perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Widow Catherine Winship treasures the memory of her late husband so greatly that she has given up her life to the adoration of his memory, spending her days strewing flowers on his grave. Catherine's idealism is rudely shattered, however, when she discovers a package of love letters in a secret drawer in Winship's desk. Deciding to throw aside her widow's weeds, Catherine's next hurdle is to choose a spouse from the many male admirers who are pursuing her. Among her suitors are the sentimental bore Archibald Herndon and Morley Morgan, a determined young man. After many misadventures, Morley finally beats out Herndon and marries Catherine in an impromptu ceremony at a hunting lodge.

Dir: Charles Miller

Sylvia Maynard is a stenographer for a theatrical producer and tries to prove to her boss, that she can act by posing as a society woman at a lavish house party. Don Meredith, the struggling playwright who wrote the work in which Sylvia wishes to star, also masquerades as a famous writer at the party in order to prove that the central thesis of his play is valid: that one can pose in any role in high society and get away with it. Sylvia, introduced as the widow of Captain Milton Brown, falls in love with Don, but her joy turns to panic when her supposedly dead husband suddenly appears. The amused captain allows Sylvia to continue her impersonation for a time but advises her to leave the party. Don, heartbroken, also leaves, but after several adventures in which he helps Sylvia retrieve papers stolen during the party by a German spy, the two lovers are reunited in their true identities, and the play debuts successfully.

Dir: Charles Miller

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

The Flame, a dance hall girl who rules the Midas Café, is notorious from Nome to Dawson. She meets her match in a youth named George Fowler, whose good looks and raw nerve compel her to grubstake him and go straight while awaiting his return from the gold fields. One day, a young girl and her baby arrive at the camp, looking for her husband, George Fowler. Shaken, the Flame takes the girl home and when the youth returns he is informed that the Flame is dead. Forlorn, the boy decides to break the bank but the saloon's proprietor plans to rob him instead, and only the Flame's appearance with her six guns saves his life. Not having the courage to tell the boy about his wife and child, the Flame takes her lover to the hotel where she battles with her conscience. Her better nature finally wins, however, and the Flame discovers that there are actually two George Fowlers and that the one she loves is single.

Dir: Charles Miller

Vera Souroff, a young Russian girl, is seized on the street and dragged into a room where three officers of the Czar's guard have been dining. The lights are turned out and the girl is outraged. The crime is brought to the attention of the Czar. Vera cannot tell which of the three officers is the guilty man. The Czar orders Count Nicho, the eldest of the three officers, to marry the girl, and makes them all turn over their fortunes to her. They are then sent to prison. The revolution breaks out. Vera saves her husband at the risk of her own life, as she wishes to wring from him the name of the man that violated her. Nicho, now honestly in love with his wife, admits that he was her assaulter, and the couple clasp each other in a fervent embrace.

Dir: Charles Miller

Elderly millionaire James Rance, whose only passion is chess, warns his grandson Tommy, who missed the previous evening's game because he played poker with his uncle Gilbert, that should he miss another game, Gilbert will gain the boy's inheritance. During another poker game the next night, Gilbert provokes a fight between Tommy and another player that results in the other player's supposed death. Meanwhile, Terrence Redmond, the guardian of an orphan he found while fighting in France, falls in love with Dawn Moyer. During Elsie Rance's party at the Hotel Plaza, Terrence gallantly offers to assist Elsie whenever she needs him. The next morning, when Tommy's absence is discovered, Elsie calls Terrence, who, after beating Gilbert's Japanese servant in jujitsu, locates Tommy and Dawn at Gilbert's country home. After Gilbert's attempt to poison Terrence is discovered when a cat dies after drinking Terrence's cream, Terrence fights Gilbert's henchmen with broadswords and wins because of his inherited penchant for violence. Tommy returns in time for the chess match, and Elsie becomes engaged to Terrence's friend Bruce, leaving Terrence free to romance Dawn.