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

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.

Dir: King Vidor

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

Nancy Scroggs, the daughter of the owner of a once-famous but now-struggling hotel, hatches a plan to draw in new customers. She picks up Peter Alstyne, a young man following his doctor's orders of a strict diet and a relaxing vacation, at the train station and convinces him--using the philosophy of Christian Science--to disregard his doctor's orders and stay at their hotel and eat all he wants. Soon he and Nancy fall in love and the hotel begins to pick up business again. But soon Peter receives a letter that changes everything for both him and Nancy.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Ne'er-do-well Homer Cavender ventures to the city from Mainsville in an effort to find fame and fortune. Both elude him, and after clerking for two years, Homer returns home for a vacation. Impressed by his flashy clothes, the townspeople assume that Homer has achieved success. Attempting to win Rachel Prouty from his rival, Arthur Machim, Homer continues the deception by announcing that his employer, Kort and Bailly, has dispatched him to enroll stockholders for a proposed new plant to be built in Mainsville. Machim discovers the sham and denounces Homer as a crook. Meanwhile, Homer returns to New York, convinces his employers of the merits of his plan and comes home triumphant, with a proposal for both the new plant and for Rachel's hand in marriage.

Dir: Unknown Director

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

The Judge needs a present for his wife's birthday, so Harry suggests a new corset. They go to the shop, but he's so embarrassed to ask the saleslady he hides in a phone booth.Harry goes in, but finds a GUY wearing one, and runs out.They both dress as women to get back in, but Mrs. Rummy gets there and chases him out.

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: Maurice Campbell

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

Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.

Dir: Henry Edwards

A millionaire bets £25,000 that he can earn his own living for six months.

Dir: King Vidor

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

Paul Perry, the son of Perryville's wealthiest citizen, marries Reverend Matthew Barker's younger daughter Evelyn, while her sister June, who disputes her father's sermons preaching that it is God's will that sends affliction, hides her own love for Paul. When Evelyn dies in childbirth, Paul nearly goes insane. His questions to Reverend Barker about God's role in Evelyn's death shake Barker's faith. Barker's new sermons, focusing on God's love, arouse his wealthy congregation to dismiss him. Meanwhile, Paul searches for God's truth but becomes a derelict in Chicago. June takes Paul's child Bob to Chicago, but returns after being fired for refusing her employer's advances. Paul's father Hamilton, who denies wage increases at his iron works, is about to be shot by his employees, when Bob, now six, visits with his six puppies. His lovable nature subdues the workers, and Hamilton, also softened, complies with their requests. After Paul returns and learns that Bob, whose philosophy of love has touched him, is his own son, his happiness returns.

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: Reggie Morris

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.