The Auteur's Selection In the Shadow of Sapho: Cult Guide

Dir: Léonce Perret

At a house party given by Doris Parker, the daughter of a retired sea captain, Doris' friends congregate to receive mail from their "adopted" soldiers in France. When one of them suggests that Doris write to Harry Townsend, who has no family or friends outside of the army, she writes a note and he sends her a friend's photograph since he has none of himself. Harry's letters awaken a love in Doris which causes her to deny the ardent entreaties of Captain Jack Tims. After Harry is wounded and thinks he will die, his farewell note inspires Doris to visit. After Doris convinces Tims to take her aboard his transport ship against naval regulations, a submarine attack results in Tims' death and burial at sea. Finding Harry's face covered with bandages, Doris nurses him to health, and then discovers that he is not the soldier in her photograph, but she realizes she loved him because of his letters. After the armistice they marry.

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Eva, wo bist du? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Léonce Perret

The young daughter of an army captain missing in action runs away from school and is kidnapped by Parisian lowlifes. When the kidnapper flees to Nice with the child, the kind-hearted employee of one of his accomplices sets off in pursuit.

Dir: Léonce Perret

Matthew Versigny, the head of an American diamond concern, travels abroad with his sister Marguerite to learn the source of some imitation stones which are so perfect that even his company has purchased them. In Paris, they join forces with Paul Bernac, a special agent of the French Secret Service, and Andre Zarnoff, the chemist who invented the formula for the fake stones. The trail brings them into contact with Arthur Graves, the master mind of the counterfeiting ring, who determines to eliminate Versigny. After kidnapping his adversary, Graves employs the Baron de Lambri, Versigny's former manager, to steal the secret formula from Versigny's safe, thus making it appear as if Versigny had decamped with his company's papers. Versigny finally escapes and, with the aid of Bernac and Marguerite, tracks Graves down and captures the villains.

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

Dir: Edward LeSaint

When famous opera singer Elinore Duane undergoes an operation on her throat, she has a series of ether-induced visions. In one, she is transported to ancient Rome where she appears as a much-admired woman in love with Paul, a young heretic, and at odds with Lutor, the high priest. To save her love, she poisons Lutor with her ring. After several other visions which involve variations on this love triangle, Elinore awakens to discover that Lutor is actually her doctor, Sascha Jaccard, and that Paul is the son of a friend who has come to visit the recovering prima donna.

Dir: Léonce Perret

When her father's death leaves Virginia Hastins facing a life of poverty, she breaks her engagement to Robert Monti to marry millionaire James Vandam. Unaccustomed to wealth, she entertains lavishly and flirts with many men, although her husband's secretary Harry Torrence remains immune to her wiles. Using her old love letters, Monti attempts to blackmail Virginia, and when he attacks her, she throws the blame on Torrence, who is then discharged. As a result of the incident, Torrence loses his wife, child, and home and becomes a tramp. Later, upon seeing the wreck of a man that she ruined, Virginia dreams that she is Salome of the Bible; awakening full of remorse, she confesses the truth, and Torrence and his wife reconcile.Upon learning of his wife's plight, Vandam thrashes Monti, rehires Torrence, and forgives Virginia.

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

Dir: Léonce Perret

Robert Hyde is a confirmed bachelor who has sworn never to marry. Not even the pleading of his two close friends, the pastor and the lawyer, will move him. But an automobile accident brings Clarice to his home and during her recovery, she and Robert fall in love. After their wedding, Clarice's happiness is marred by Robert's preoccupation with hunting and fishing. The pastor then advises her that she will never know real happiness until she has children. Shortly after this, Clarice's aunt, Mrs. Grosvenor, brings a large party of friends to the Hyde estate for a visit. They all plan to give a performance of William Shakespeare's Othello for charity, but the count annoys Robert by his lovemaking scenes with Clarice. After a startling dream in which Robert's Othello kills Clarice's Desdemona, Robert finds the count making advances in earnest, and throws him out. Robert then begins to pay more attention to his wife and soon Clarice finds herself pregnant and happy.

Dir: Léonce Perret

Count Fernand De Keramic plots against his niece in order to acquire her wealth to pay his debts.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Sister to Salome perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Léonce Perret

Playwright Harry Bryant while driving in a rural area, happens upon orphaned Kate astride a white horse, he is so charmed that he arranges for her to work at a nearby inn. Unable to tolerate the cruelty of the innkeepers, Kate runs away and seeks out Harry at his house in Story Brook farm. Charmed by her youthful exuberance, Harry falls in love with the uneducated girl and they marry. Harry soon becomes disenchanted with his illiterate wife, however, and seeks solace in his former sweetheart Diana Nelson. When he discovers that Diana is using him to further her social ambitions, Harry returns to Kate, who provokes his jealousy by paying daily visits to a mysterious apartment house. Finding out that Kate's secret rendezvous was with her tutor, Harry's love for his wife is rekindled.

Dir: Léonce Perret

Valentin Marquis de Sombreiul, alias Monsieur Simon, is known as the great master because he is the leader of a band of Parisian Apaches who mete out their own private justice to individuals who have violated their code in a secret tribunal known as the court of St. Simon. In an effort to cure Eugene, a young American longing for excitement, Valentin induces the young man to witness these horrors with the result that the youth is drawn into the Apache gang and sentenced to prison for one of their crimes. Later, after the master has disbanded his secret society and married Virginia Arlen, a charming girl from an aristocratic family, he discovers to his horror that the boy whose life he has ruined is his wife's brother. When Virginia learns the truth, she refuses to forgive Valentin, but after a period of separation, the two are reconciled by their child.