Underground Favorites Mirroring the Impact of Shadow of Chinatown: ...

Dir: Joseph Henabery

When respectable Lloyd Norwood becomes infatuated with moll Goldie Lewis, he falls into a life of debasement that results in his being accused of the murder of gangland henchman Joe the Swell. Norwood's wife Mary, convinced of her husband's innocence, determines to clear his name. Disguising herself as a vamp and infiltrating the underworld, Mary extracts a confession from the real murderer, Pussyfoot Connor, whom she dupes into believing that he sees the ghost of the murdered man. Later, to have witnesses to the story, Mary takes a midnight dinner with gang leader Jack Frost, arousing the jealousy of Connor, who enters and accuses Frost of instigating the murder. The police, alerted to the scheme, rush in and arrest the criminals. Finally, a phone call to the prison warden results in Norwood's release as a wiser man.

Dir: Robert F. Hill

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

Criminals steal a death ray that concentrates the rays of the sun. The inventor's daughter and a government agent try to retrieve it.

Dir: Ewald André Dupont

Fred Hopkins, a jeweler's assistant, replaces the pearl necklace Lord Reading bought as a wedding present with a worthless imitation. A hunt begins, which the flower seller Rahel and the jumping jack dealer David are able to end by finding the jewelry. Hopkins, who is convicted, then commits suicide for fear of being punished with poison.

Dir: Robert F. Hill

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

Jim Crosby has shifted for himself since his early childhood. He has become a gangster, feared by all his companions because of his strength. In a fight, which he enters for his sister's sake, he is arrested and sent to jail for a term of months. In the meantime Ann Payton, a society girl, has rented a saloon which she has turned into a mission. She is engaged to be married to Temple Vaughn, her father's young secretary, but decides to wait a year before marrying. The day that Jim is released from prison he gets mixed up in a brawl, and knowing that the police are just waiting a chance to arrest him again, he seeks refuge in the old saloon, a former hangout. Ann takes him in and shelters him from the police. Vaughn has been leading a fast life and has become involved with a woman by the name of Costello and a gambler called Johnson. He loses heavily, and to pay the debt forges a check. Jim, who has been given a position in the bank, recognizes Johnson when he comes to cash the check. He discovers that Vaughn is not able to meet the check, and in lieu of settlement Johnson forces Vaughn to invite a number of his wealthy friends to his house for a game of cards. Jim overhears the two planning the card party and, knowing Ann's love for Vaughn, he decides to get the check and so prevent any further blackmail. At the party Vaughn stands seeing his friends fleeced as long as he can and then accuses Johnson of cheating. Then a figure appears at the door, holding a pistol. He rifles all their pockets, taking the money on the table and the forged check. But in robbing Vaughn, Jim slips in his pocket the forged check. Jim is caught while trying to make his escape and is sentenced to a term in prison. Some time later Vaughn finds in his pocket the forged check and realizes that Jim has committed the crime only to save him. He offers to take all the blame, but Jim will not listen. After his marriage Vaughn again gets connected with Johnson and his mistress. There is a quarrel and Johnson is arrested for running a gambling house. In prison he meets Jim and tells him that the first thing he does upon his release from prison will be to kill Vaughn. Later they are both released on the same day. Jim goes at once to warn Vaughn who arrives a few moments after and who accuses Jim of paying attention to his wife. Jim tries to warn him, but Johnson steps out from behind a screen and shoots him through the heart. In the last scene Jim and Ann are seen together, establishing another mission in the Bowery. It is left to the spectator whether or not Jim will ever succeed in overcoming the great social gap which lies between them.

Dir: Harry Southwell

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

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

Dave Henderson, an orphan who has become the beneficiary of a rich man's will, falls in with race-track crooks Martin Tydeman and Bokky Sharvan who bilk him out of his $100,000 inheritance. In retaliation, Dave steals the money from Tydeman's safe, but is caught and sentenced to five years in jail. In prison, Dave becomes friendly with Millman, who is about to be released, and reveals the money's hiding place to him, arranging to rendezvous at the end of Dave's term. Once released, Dave is hounded by members of Tydeman's gang as well as the police, who are waiting for him to retrieve his bounty. While taking refuge at the house of Capriano, an old bomb maker, Dave falls in love with the old man's daughter Teresa. However, Capriano sets a trap for Dave, who awakens in a drugged state to find the $100,000 missing. With the help of Millman and Teresa, Dave recovers the money, turns it over to the police and resolves to go straight.

Dir: Josef Stein

Bela Lugosi plays a lascivious Arab sheikh confronting European travelers in the desert in an adventure story set in the Sahara.

Dir: Victor Heerman

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

In the gold fields of the Canadian Northwest, a man is falsely accused of a crime and determines that a lookalike is responsible.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

Desperate because a wealthy man has reduced her father to thievery, Rhoda agrees to rob the poor box of the church, although she finds the act abhorrent. During the robbery, Rhoda's father is shot and dies in the priests's arms, seeking absolution, while the man who ruined him looks on. Penitent, the man appoints Rhoda as his representative to return the ill-gotten gains to those he has robbed. Rhoda enters the underworld as an angel of mercy, gaining the sobriquet of "The White Moll." After many thrilling escapades, she brings The Dangler, the leader of a gang of crooks, to justice, saves others from death and finally wins The Pug, the man of her choice.

Dir: J. Gordon Edwards

William Farnum is Drag Harlan, a tough cowboy vigilante. After learning about a gold mine from a dying man, he seeks his daughter (Jackie Saunders) as well as the gold. He falls in love with her, but the same gang that shot the old man is after the gold.