The Essential Watchlist that Capture the Essence of Sadie Goes to Heaven: Cult Guide

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Bob Cross is a newspaper reporter who, in trailing "Painter" Paul, a notorious crook, gets wind of a plot to kidnap Martha Steadman. The girl is grandniece of a millionaire named Biddle. Bob invades the Biddle premises, just in time to discover the body of Mr. Biddle after he has been murdered by his business associate, named Jules Fernol, who is in reality leader of a gang of crooks. Fernol has embezzled Martha's fortune and is trying to cover up one crime by committing another. Bob is so like the dead man's son, Dick Biddle, that the gangsters charge the crime to him, thinking to get him out of the way. Bob, realizing that he has been mistaken for another, allows himself to be sent to jail, but later, through collusion with the police, makes a getaway. He then begins an effort to rescue the girl from her danger and find the real murderer of Biddle.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Some of the most sanguinary feuds in America have been fought out, not in the mountains of the south, but on the deserts of the great west, where cattlemen and sheepmen often dealt out death to each other with the aid of their old friends, Winchester and Colt. Such a feud is in progress between the men of the desert when Jack, a nomadic cowboy, wanders into the scene. He is outspoken against the outlawry, and the sheriff, in jest, hands him his badge and asks him if he can do any better. Jack accepts the challenge and arrests one of the most recent slayers. The latter's companions immediately storm the jail and rescue him. In the fight Jack is desperately wounded. May, a girl of the ranch, finds the cowboy half dead and hides him in an isolated hut while she nurses him back to health. The feudists discover Jack's hiding place and attack him. He and the girl escape, and while Jack holds a narrow canyon against his pursuers the girl dashes across the desert in search of aid. Jack's life seems as good as lost when May returns with the opposing feudists, who save him. The wedding between Jack and the girl on the battleground reconciles the feudists and restores order on the desert.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Through a forged will, a crook assumes control of a valuable estate. He poses as the brother of a dead man, and endeavors to dispose of the deceased man's two daughters, one of whom is in love with the forger's son.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Hawk's Trail perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

In the land where the Sun hangs low and the hungry wolves shadows play ominously over the everlasting snow, Joe Mauchin meets Jeanne Verette. He is a trapper, come down to the little post of Mead's Pocket, a vicious mining town, for supplies. She, the daughter of a saloonkeeper who compels her to "drum up trade" among his maudlin patrons. Joe falls in love with Jeanne. A brute of a man seeks to interfere and in the resultant struggle falls dead. Joe and Jeanne flee to his camp miles away and a year's happiness follows. Then the trapper finds Constable McKenzie of the Mounted Police half dead in the snow. Joe revives the officer and carries him to his cabin. Straightway McKenzie arrests the trapper for the saloon death. A desperate fight ensues between the two and the constable, overpowered, flees for aid. He is last seen in the woods, staggering from the effects of a wound, and with a pack of wolves slowly drawing in on him. Joe, in the cabin, draws to his arms Jeanne who is shyly clutching a newly made bit of baby clothes. It is that for which Joe had fought.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Tom Bain was born with a tongue so glib that his parents, early in his career, predicted he would be a second Chauncey Depew. In college it developed until he was capable of selling Liberty Bonds in a poor house. But Tom was ambitious to be an inventor and so built a tunneling machine that "would start at one side of a mountain and propel itself through to the other without man's assistance." His gift of gab sold the rights to the machine to a big manufacturing firm, but they soon found it worthless and instead of building machines, Tom was placed on the payroll as a salesman. And then, after an exciting series of adventures, Tom finally wins the hand of Peggy, whom he had met and courted in his college days. The wedding occurs in a hospital where the couple meet accidentally as patients.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

James Manning comes to Chicago to achieve his fortune. Tug Wilson offers him a job running errands, then frightens him into taking a steady position when James realizes he is involved with opium smugglers. Milly Amory a ruse for the crooks, falls in love with Manning, but Manning has a sweetheart back home, Mary Slocum, and she comes to search for him. To get rid of the girl, Milly poses as a medium and warns her away, until Manning finds out and exposes her tricks to Mary, fights for his life with Wilson, who is killed by Milly, and returns to Harmony, Illinois with Mary.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Jack Derry accidentally becomes involved in a mystery surrounding Glory Billings, when fate makes him her rescuer in a kidnapping episode.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Gift o' Gab perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Out of the elite and civilized east into the rough and primitive west there comes a little party which judged the desert must be larger than all New York, and their trail a little longer than the Gay White Way. Ruth Harkness, who has inherited the Flying W ranch from a relative, heads the timid little band. A prim and conventional aunt and uncle and Willard Masten, her fiancé, all dolled up according to his Fifth Avenue tailors ideas of the west, accompany her. Headlong the little party plunges into the meshes of a conspiracy of two cowboys to mulct the girl of her holdings. Rex Randerson, a happy-go-lucky ranger with a clear-gray eye, steps in to frustrate the plot, and incidentally falls in love with Ruth. This enrages Masten, who joins the conspirators and extends their plot to include Randerson's death. The girl and the ranger are caught in their "death trap'' and count themselves lost, but the fearlessness of Rex in a single-handed battle with the villains saves the day. Ruth thanks him by consenting to become his bride, and an old-fashioned cowboy wedding ends the dark adventure.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Hugh Whittaker believes he is terminally ill, and, as an act of mercy, weds a young woman named Mary, who has been deserted by her lover. He travels to Europe, recovers his health, and returns to New York City, where he meets and falls in love with musical star Sara Law, unaware that she is actually his wife. Sara is abducted by kidnappers and Hugh undertakes a harrowing rescue before discovering her true identity.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Captain Duncan McTeague, ashore in Southport, finds a deserted baby boy with a note and half of a dollar bill pinned to its clothing. The note states that the mother hopes some day to return and identify the child with the other half of the dollar bill. McTeague raises the child. When he is four years old, the captain discharges his mate Martin Webber, who seeks revenge by kidnapping the boy. A woman turns up who proves to be the missing mother. Webber is killed and the mother and Captain McTeague are united.