Deep Archive Finds Movies That Echo the Spirit of Second Youth: Cul...

Dir: Reggie Morris

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Albert Parker

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

A woman runs away from an arranged marriage. Her father finds her and plans to send the man to the same rooming house so they might fall in love. Plans go awry when a police reporter accidentally assumes his place while on a case.

Dir: Charley Chase

A young married couple volunteer to take charge of several orphans after the asylum has burned down. Of course they find their hands full with their troublesome charges.

Dir: Albert Parker

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

In a prologue, Douglas Fairbanks appears in a chef's outfit mixing a cake with action, mystery, adventure, romance and comedy, seasoned with pep and ginger. The finished cake is The Knickerbocker Buckaroo. The story begins as buoyant Teddy Drake, expelled from his exclusive Fifth Avenue club for playing practical jokes and leaping over furniture, decides to reform his selfish impulses. Anxious to do "something for somebody," he boards a train bound for the Southwest. After helping an old woman off the train, Teddy takes the wrong train and meets Manuel Lopez, a Mexican bandit, going to visit his sick mother. To hide Lopez from a crooked sheriff, and because Teddy left his shirt in the first train, Teddy exchanges clothes with him. At the border town of Sonora, the sheriff chases Teddy along the roofs until, seeing a girl in jail, Teddy lets himself be arrested. Learning that the girl, Rita Allison, has money hidden that the sheriff wants to steal, Teddy escapes. After Lopez saves him from a lynching, Teddy finds the money, holds off the sheriff's gang until a U.S. Marshal arrives, and then returns to New York with Rita, now his fiancée.

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: Albert Parker

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

Designated to write an article on the high price of food, reporter June Justice visits the tenement districts where there have been food riots and where the women of the neighborhood have rebelled against the food retailers, thinking that they are to blame for high food prices. June then visits the retailers, the middlemen, and finally interviews Henry Havens, the leader of the ring of food speculators. Havens attempts to bribe June to slant her story, but finds himself falling in love with her instead. Under June's influence, Havens sees the hardship that his policies have wrought, and finally joins her in her push for legislation which would dissolve the food trust.

Dir: Richard Smith

Two female candidates for Chief of Police live across the hall from each other, and their political rivalry follows them home, leading to plenty of hi-jinks.

Dir: Albert Parker

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

Phemie Sanders, confronted with the unhappiness of her parents because of the perpetually drunken state of her father, harbors a hatred towards men which even extends to Joe Stull, the village blacksmith who wants to marry her. Upon her mother's death, Phemie takes her younger sister and goes to Joe to accept his proposal while announcing that she will never love him. Joe accepts her conditions, thinking that she will soon change her attitude, but Phemie remains steadfast. Having read in the paper of the power of matrimonial jealousy, Joe decides to write anonymous letters to Phemie, mentioning another woman in his life. These have no perceptible effect on the man-hater until another woman, in reality, looms upon the horizon. She is Lucy Conyer, a former admirer of Joe's who is now a widow. Lucy makes a play for Joe's attentions and this finally has an effect on Phemie, who upbraids her husband for neglecting her and, then forced to a confession, declares her love for him.

Dir: Albert Parker

Melia Nobbs, a young Canadian woman, supports both her invalid father Ambrose and brother Henry. When Henry faces arrest for helping himself to his employer's cash, Melia steals the amount from the star of the theater where she has been dancing, and offers it to her brother provided that he will enlist in the army. Henry agrees and goes off to war, making Ambrose proud of his son, but when Ambrose learns that his daughter has been arrested for theft, he disowns her. Melia does not reveal the reason for taking the money and is sent to prison. Meanwhile, Henry fights bravely in France and returns home minus an arm but wearing the Victoria Cross. He finds his sister, weak and worn from overwork, in the prison hospital. Seeing her brother with his medals, Melia realizes that her sacrifices for him and her country have not been in vain, and that in her own way, she has served her country.

Dir: Albert Parker

Young lawyer Billy Dow vows not to marry a woman who has more money then he does, which causes problems when his girlfriend inherits a million dollars from an aunt she has never seen. In keeping with his promise, Billy breaks up with her. Desperate to get him back, she turns over the money to George Frayne, an "investor" with a long record of losing money for his investors, in hopes that he will lose all of her money and Billy will take her back. Complications ensue.