Visionary Picks Drawn from the Same DNA as Recaptured Love: Cult Guide

Dir: John G. Adolfi

French Secret Service agent and boxer Henri D'Alour uncovers a plot to con the government out of millions of francs in its purchase of machinery.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

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

In Washington, D.C., Betty Lansing renews her acquaintance with young Congressman Brandon Kent and a romance blossoms. Betty and her mother conduct whist games at their home, the proceeds of which are donated to charity, but at one of these parties, Drake, an embezzler, is arrested. Because Kent arrived during the party, Oakland, a rival for Betty's heart, visits the campaign headquarters of Johnson, who is running against Kent for the gubernatorial nomination, and reports that the congressman was involved in a gambling raid. When it becomes clear at the state convention that few delegates plan to vote for Kent, Betty, with the aid of suffrage leader Mrs. Ogden, mounts the platform and delivers a rousing speech exposing Oakland as a liar. Exonerated, Kent wins the nomination.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

Wealthy playboy Jack Edmunds spends some time in a small mountain town, where he makes the acquaintance of local girl Caprtice Talbert and invites her to his apartment. When Caprice's father finds out about it--although nothing happened--he forces the two to marry, and the newlyweds move to Jack's home in the city. Tensions arise between the two as Jack is still resentful over the "shotgun wedding" and Caprice finds that she can't bear living in the big city and wants to return home.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

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

Schoolteacher Frances Angel finds herself attracted to wealthy rancher Jim McPherson but finds his rough-hewn ways objectionable, so when he proposes marriage she rejects him. Her father asks her to return to his home in the East, where her former boyfriend Chet Condon now holds the mortgage on the family home and is threatening to foreclose on it unless Frances marries him. When she also learns that her recently-widowed sister Jane is also moving back east with her newborn, Frances is torn between her duty to her family and her love for Jim.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

June, a country girl, comes to New York to take care of her aunt's little girl Jane. In a squalid First Avenue tenement, she meets Frank, her old sweetheart from back home who had come to the city to make good. In the same house lives a band of thieves who steal a jewel and hide it in a slipper belonging to Mame, one of the members of the gang. One day Jane finds the shoe and begins to play with it. When she accidentally tears off the heel, the gem falls to the floor. Frank, recognizing it as the stolen jewel, rushes off to get the police. Meanwhile, the crooks discover the loss of the slipper and Mame learns that June has it. They all converge upon June just as the police arrive. The crooks are arrested, and June and Frank return home for their honeymoon.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

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

Harry Ogden - ne'er-do-well - is caught by a sheriff's posse and is about to be hung when he is saved by Betty, the daughter of a Kentucky Colonel, who is traveling in the West for his health. Ogden is addicted to a morphine habit and Betty, who is a doctor, hides him in their house and nurses him back to health. Ogden asks Betty to be his wife, and he is returning to his family home to get some money. The Colonel, mistaken for Ogden by Taylor, a rival for Betty's hand, is shot and killed by Taylor, who leaves evidence pointing to Ogden as the killer. Betty plans to turn him over to the law when he returns. Meanwhile, Taylor is killed by Choo, who is secretly in love with Betty, and she learns through Choo that Ogden is innocent of her father's murder.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

A teacher begins a school in the Tennessee mountains. His prize student is a charming but uneducated young woman named June. Their relationship turns to love, but a bullying, jealous rival tries to break them up by telling her that the teacher's sister and niece are actually his wife and daughter.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

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

An English aristocrat visiting Norway falls in love with Thelma, daughter of a Viking-like Norse landowner, and this first part is an idyllic story. He marries her and takes her to England. Society women, one of whom has been infatuated with the young man, are disappointed, because Thelma is not only beautiful but has pretty manners and is popular. There is a very melodramatic conspiracy to break her heart by making her suspect her husband. It works and she runs away back to her Norway home. Her husband follows and the happy ending unites the two in the old Norse homestead.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

Stephen Field, a Jewish financier, takes great pleasure in philanthropic work at a community service center in the U.S. His daughter Esther devotes her time to entertaining returning soldiers in a canteen. When he reads in a newspaper about massacres of Jews and Armenians in Europe, and the suffering and starvation among other peoples there, Stephen remembers having lost his own wife and young son in a massacre years earlier. At the canteen, Esther meets Robert Graham, who suffers from fainting spells, the result of a war wound. Graham falls in love with Esther, much to the chagrin of his anti-Semitic father. Esther is also courted by the brilliant Jewish surgeon, William Morris. Esther's affection for Morris leads the jealous Graham to lash out at his rival with anti-Semitic invective even though Esther gently refuses Morris' marriage proposal. Graham loses control of his high-powered car due to a fainting spell, and the car goes over a precipice and turns over on top of him. Morris is the only person who can save his life, but the surgeon hesitates, fearing that failure would be interpreted as jealousy and thus compromise his professional integrity. Esther pleads with Morris to perform the operation, and he finally consents, sacrificing his own happiness for the woman he loves. The operation is proclaimed a surgical miracle, and Esther chooses to marry the man who performed that miracle.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

Elaine Brooks marries Robert Ames, a member of the United States Department of Justice. The Germans, who are anxious to secure some papers that Robert possesses, employ Viola Durand to get to Robert through Elaine. Viola tricks Elaine into giving her the papers and also procures a letter that seems to establish Elaine as the traitor. George Blair, an official at the Department of Justice, finally tricks Viola into confessing her guilt, thus clearing Elaine's name.