The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of Prisoners: Cult Guide

Dir: William A. Seiter

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: William A. Seiter

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: William A. Seiter

A young wife is too fond of the frivolities of life to care about raising babies. But one day she finds herself called upon to help a woman in the street who is taken suddenly ill and is obliged to hand over her baby to strangers. The young woman takes the baby home and cares for it. The old trick of the husband misunderstanding a telephone message, and rushing home with an armful of toys for an anticipated heir, is worked in. The arrival of a nurse on the scene to claim the child leaves a vacuum in the home of the young couple, and the wife's hysteria causes the husband to hunt another baby. He arrives at home with it at the same time that the other child, whose mother is unable to care for it, is returned, causing amusing complications.

Dir: William A. Seiter

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

A simple country girl, brutally mistreated by her stepfather, awakens first the sympathy, then the love, of The Boy. The Spider, who lusts after The Girl, makes a bargain with the stepfather and takes her to the city where, kept prisoner, she is soon broken in health and spirit. Cast out and near death, she is taken in by The Boy. Following the demise of The Spider, The Boy takes her to church, where he prays, and after many hours she is restored to health.

Dir: William A. Seiter

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Edgar Jones

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

Dir: William A. Seiter

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: William Parke

Bruce Wendell, the son of West Virginia coal mine owner James Wendell, graduates from West Point and prepares to lead a fighting unit to the front during World War I. As his father lies dying, however, he convinces Bruce to remain at home and guard the mine. Bruce's fiancée Ann Blair assumes that he is a coward and breaks off their engagement, but her brother Bobbie remains Bruce's loyal friend. Meyer, a German agent, persuades railroad president Parrish to refuse to transport Wendell's coal, but when Bruce adamantly refuses to close the mine, the spy's men decide to blow it up. While Ann is being abducted by Meyer, Bobbie is buried in an explosion at the mine. Bruce rescues Bobbie and then sends a plea to Lieutenant Parrish to rescue Ann. Meyer and his gang are captured and Ann renews her vow of love to Bruce.