Top-Tier Alternatives In the Shadow of Set Free: Cult Guide

Dir: Tod Browning

An English nobleman, known only as Victor, arrives in Algiers and joins the French Foreign Legion as a private without revealing his true identity. He attracts and is loved by Cigarette, a French-Arab girl and "daughter of the regiment," but does not return her attentions. She is at first furious, and when she learns Victor's past and the name of his true love she goes to the Princess Corona with the intention of killing her. But Cigarette's hate turns to admiration, and she reveals Victor's identity to the princess. Learning of Sheik Ben Ali Hammed's plots against Victor and Algiers, she gives evidence that clears him of treason, makes a wild ride ahead of the Arabs to warn the troops, and dies in Victor's arms after shielding him from the executioner's bullet.

Dir: Tod Browning

Carma Carmichael, who lives with her uncle Quincy, is kidnapped by her renegade father Roger and taken to his ancestral Southern home. Uncle Quincy sends young Jack Carrington to investigate and goes into hiding, leading the Carmichaels to believe he is dead. Carma is at first suspicious of Jack's intentions but soon learns that the man who abducted her is actually an impostor who murdered her father and now lives in the plantation with a group of thugs. Despite "Roger's" attempts to take Jack's life, the young man incites the thugs against him and they attack the house. Uncle Quincy arrives with a posse, and after their rescue, Carma and Jack embrace.

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

Dir: Tod Browning

Jacala, a strong-willed, temperamental ranch girl, inherits her father's millions and moves from Montana to New York, determined to earn a place in society. There she meets and is strongly attracted to Kenneth Hyde, but believing him to be a worthless man-about-town with a neglected wife, she hires Tony Dewey to pose as her fiancé. Tony wants a wealthy wife, and when his attentions toward Jacala are sternly rebuffed, he spreads scandalous stories about her. Jacala learns that Kenneth's supposed wife is actually his sister, and he, in turn, believes her claims that Tony's stories are untrue. With Kenneth, Jacala retreats from the superficial society life she had once coveted.

Dir: Tod Browning

In Winnebago, Wisconsin, the Jewish Brandeis family--Molly, Ferdinand, and their two children Fanny and Theodore--run a modest dry-goods store. Theodore is studying violin and auditions for a famous violinist, The Great Schabelitz, who is giving a local concert. Schabelitz is impressed by the boy's talent and recommends that he plan to study in Dresden, Germany. After Ferdinand dies, the family makes many sacrifices to enable Theodore to study in Dresden, where he eventually marries a worthless chorus girl and causes his mother's death from a broken heart. Although she continues to contribute to Theodore's support, Fanny decides to live her own life and moves to Chicago. There she becomes a highly-efficient businesswoman in a department store, spurred on by her colleague and admirer Michael Fenger, who is trapped in a loveless marriage. A former school friend, Clarence Hyle, also attempts to woo her. Later, Theodore, deserted by his wife, returns from Europe with his baby daughter and comes to live with Fanny. When he eventually becomes a successful performer, he leaves Fanny a message saying that he is returning to his wife. After so much self-sacrifice, Fanny decides to live only for herself and is about to sail to Honolulu with Fenger when Clarence makes her realize that her true happiness lies with him.

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

Dir: Tod Browning

Stella Schump is a shop girl and very devoted to her mother, who desires her to marry. Stella befriends her shoe store co-worker Cora Kinealy, who invites Stella to a party to meet the hero of a munitions plant fire. The young man does not attend, and Stella is pressured into over-drinking. She wanders into the street, is picked up by a detective, taken to night court, and sentenced to ten days in jail. Stella writes to her mother, and the shock of the news causes her mother's death. Upon release, Stella is relieved of her job and without a home. While wandering the streets, she is picked up by a man and taken to a Salvation Army home. The man is John Gilley, the munitions plant hero. The two find happiness together.

Dir: Tod Browning

Achmet Bey, a Turkish chieftain, catches one of his many wives in adultery and murders her lover. Throwing aside the cuckolding wife, he abducts his harem an innocent girl. However, a brave American who loves her comes to her rescue.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of No Woman Knows perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Tod Browning

Henri Labordie's wife dies after giving birth to twin children, Jacques and Jeanne. Before he takes the children to the Canadian woods to live he makes an agreement with his friend Duval Hebert that when Jeanne is old enough she shall marry Hebert's son Louis. In their new home Labordie lavishes all his affection on Jacques, a weak and sickly youth. Francois, a half-breed, worships Jeanne as she grows up to winsome womanhood. Donald Duncan, a government surveyor, meets Jeanne. He becomes infatuated with her, and she with him. Jacques tells his father, now totally blind, and Labordie forbids Jeanne to see Duncan. Love finds a way, however, and Jeanne promises to wed Duncan when he has completed his work for the government. Jacques, who has injured his hand, persuades Jeanne to take him canoeing in the St. Lawrence. Francois sees the canoe upset. He saves Jeanne, but her brother is drowned. Jeanne has been warned that any great shock would kill her father, and so the girl cuts off her hair and tells her father that Jeanne is dead and that she is Jacques. When Duncan returns for his bride he is told of the death of Jeanne. On his deathbed Labordie asks Jeanne, whom he believes is Jacques, to go to Montreal to Duval Hebert, and resuming her own dress and name she does so. Hebert tells Jeanne that it was her father's wish that she marry his son Louis, a dissipated youth. She is horror-stricken, but to keep her father's vow consents that the marriage be celebrated after Louis' returns from the North where he has gone to settle a question concerning his father's land. In the north woods Louis meets Duncan, who is working for the Hebert firm, and when the young man quarrels with a guide, Duncan saves his life. Young Hebert insists that the surveyor return to Montreal and receive the thanks of his father and fiancée. Duncan accepts the invitation and he and Jeanne meet again. At first he believes that Jeanne tricked him, but when he has learned the truth, Duncan takes the unhappy girl in his arms and tells her again of his love. Louis, half intoxicated, sees them and insults Jeanne. Francois resents the affront to his idol, and throws Louis out of the room. Louis tries to get at the half-breed, but falls over the banisters and is killed. Not knowing this, Duncan goes away, fearing to cause Jeanne trouble. Months later, once again in the north woods, Francois is surprised to see Duncan riding toward him. The young surveyor asks whether Louis and Jeanne are happy in their marriage. By remaining silent, Francois might keep Jeanne and Duncan from meeting, and perhaps in time win her for himself. But his love for her is so sincere that he prefers her happiness to his own, and Jeanne and Duncan are reunited in the northern woods where they first met.

Dir: Tod Browning

Railroad president John Houston, along with his daughter Marjorie and his fiancee, Elinor Craig, are aboard the express train when it is held up by a gang of outlaws. Outlaw Dan Tracy is attracted to Marjorie, who, filled with dreams of romance, returns his interest. They exchange rings and later meet secretly in the city. When Houston learns that his daughter's new suitor is an outlaw, he hires a detective to investigate. The investigation indicates that Tracy is Houston's son by a former marriage, and Houston, mortified, allows the outlaw to escape. Tracy then persuades Marjorie to elope with him and takes her to his shack in the hills where she is rudely awakened to the realities of outlaw life. Houston arrives to save his daughter, and after Tracy is killed by Rosanne, the woman he betrayed, it is revealed that Tracy was not his son but an offspring of his former wife and an outlaw.

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

Dir: Tod Browning

A slum girl is forced to steal for a living. After she swipes a rich society's matron's necklace, she hides out at the home of a man who turns out to be the socialite's former fiance.

Dir: Tod Browning

Easterner Alva Leigh arrives in the mining town of Magnet just after her fiancé, Donald Jaffray, has been murdered. Because Alva has sworn vengeance, "Sudden" Duncan, the real murderer, accuses Donald's partner, Dick Randall, of the crime. Knowing that Dick is planning a journey across the desert, Duncan fills his canteen with poison, but Alva, who also is determined to kill Dick, drills a hole in the canteen so that the water will drain out. After Dick's departure, Alva learns from "Tiger Lil'," who is jealous of Duncan's attention to the Eastern newcomer, that it was Duncan who killed Donald. Frantic, Alva immediately mounts a horse and rides into the desert to save the man she now recognizes as her true love. Tiger Lil' shoots Duncan in a dance hall quarrel, and Alva marries Dick.