Deep Archive Finds in the Vein of Roaring Roads: Cult Guide

Dir: F. Martin Thornton

In Paris an orphan cartoonist loves a man with a mad wife, who dies in time to prevent her marriage to a jilted Comte.

Dir: Jack Conway

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

Lucy Hegan, the proprietor of a settlement house for the poor, is engaged to Hugh Gordon, the head of a large pharmaceutical and chemical firm who, unknown to Lucy, is also the ringleader of a powerful drug and white slave operation in the Chinese quarter. While conducting an investigation into illicit drug traffic for his paper, newspaper reporter Allan Martin meets Lucy and falls in love with her. In the course of her work, Lucy has befriended reformed crook Monk Mullen and his mother, and when Monk learns that she is to marry Gordon, the ex-crook provides Allan with proof of Gordon's underworld drug trafficking. Armed with his information, Allan leads a raid on Gordon's headquarters, and in the ensuing battle, the drug king is killed by his henchman, Ling Choo Fang, thus freeing Lucy to marry her young reporter.

Dir: Charles Swickard

A young Egyptian goes to the rescue of his employers, a wealthy European family, when they are menaced by a local strongman and his gang.

Dir: Arthur Rosson

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

The Hopkinses are a family of squatters struggling against the wealthy landowners or "hilltoppers." When Jerry Hopkins is unjustly imprisoned, his young wife and baby die as a result of the shock, but his sister Polly maintains the faith that has been instilled in her by her grandmother. Later, Polly meets hilltopper Robert Robertson and the two fall in love. Their courtship is disrupted when Robert's sister Evelyn is blackmailed by Oscar Bennett, the man to whom she is secretly wed. In her efforts to help Evelyn, Polly falls under unjust suspicion. Meanwhile, MacKenzie, one of the vindictive landowners, arrests Polly's father and sends her brother to an orphanage. Devastated by these events, Polly's grandmother dies of grief and Polly swears revenge. She has Evelyn kidnapped and brought to her cabin, but the memory of her grandmother prevents Polly from harming her tormentor. Polly's nobility inspires Evelyn, who exonerates Polly, thus clearing the path for her marriage to Robert.

Dir: Sidney Franklin

A chorus girl hopes to rise to stardom and thus accepts the advances of a wealthy man. But she becomes fearful of her reputation and safety. In an attempt to escape the rake's attentions, she hides out with a disparate group of men who room in a house called "The Barn." There she learns that there is more to life than that found on the stage.

Dir: Colin Campbell

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

Although separated at birth, Siamese twins Fabien and Louis de Franchi remain united emotionally. One day, Parisian Emilie de Lesparre arrives in their Corsican village with her father, and both brothers fall in love with her. Louis goes to Paris to study law and sees Emilie often, but Emilie loves Fabien who has remained in Corsica with their mother. While attending a dinner given by another admirer of Emilie's, M. Chateau Renaud, Louis is drawn into a duel with Renaud and killed. Back home, Fabien senses what has happened and journeys to Paris to avenge his brother's death. After he kills Renaud in a duel, Emilie finally confesses her love to Fabien.

Dir: Roy Clements

A man agrees to marry the daughter of a deceased friend - who is, in fact, being impersonated by the servant girl of the daughter, who has also already died.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

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

French dancer Sigrid, diagnosed with a weak heart, is ordered by her doctor never to dance again. But when her dancing skills are needed by her lover's father to help quell a native uprising on the East Indian frontier, she determines to dance whatever the cost.

Dir: George D. Baker

A prison inmate obtains his release from prison in order to rescue his daughter from the clutches of her unscrupulous mother's plot to implicate the girl in a blackmail scheme.

Dir: George B. Seitz

The adventures of a gentlemanly crook of astonishing resourcefulness.