Recommendations
Senior Film Conservator

In the vast archive of Romance cinema, Skyscraper Souls stands as a nuanced performance beacon, the narrative complexity found here is a rare find in the 1932 landscape. From hidden underground hits to established classics, these are our top picks.
Few films from 1932 manage to capture to explore the darker corners of the human condition with nuanced performance.
An entrepreneur will let nothing stand in his way of acquiring a 100-story office building.
The influence of Edgar Selwyn in Skyscraper Souls can be felt in the way modern Romance films handle nuanced performance. From the specific lighting choices to the pacing, this 1932 release set a high bar for atmospheric immersion.
Based on the unique nuanced performance of Skyscraper Souls, our vault has identified these titles as the most compelling follow-up experiences for fans of Romance cinema:
Dir: Harley Knoles
Jim McDonald, the foreman of a shipbuilding plant and head of the labor union, strives to combat the anarchistic propaganda being put forth by Klimoff, the leader of a Bolshevik gang whose goal is to disrupt the country with strikes and anarchy. Despite McDonald's efforts, a strike is called, resulting in chaos. McDonald's child is knocked down by runaway horses abandoned by their striking driver, and dies. Mob scenes take place in America, as well as in Russia. Eventually, the unrest is quelled with an armistice called between Capital and Labor for a year, during which time wages are to be increased to reflect the cost of living, and leaders are to work out a common plan for their mutual advantage. The strikers now realize that they have been pawns of the Bolsheviks and call off the strike, agreeing to the plan.
View Details
Dir: Harry Southwell
A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.
View Details
Dir: Dallas M. Fitzgerald
Confidence artist Flossie Golden attempts to fleece foolish but wealthy James Venable with a breach-of-promise suit. Venable's shrewd attorney, Richard Harding, outwits Flossie by proposing that she marry Venable and live on an allowance of $3,000 per year. Flossie is determined to get even with Harding for ruining her plans. In an attempt to con him, she poses as Innocence Page, but falls in love and marries him instead. Larry, Flossie's former accomplice, endeavors to blackmail her with her errant past, but Harding is already cognizant of the facts and Larry fails.
View Details
Dir: William Parke
Bruce Wendell, the son of West Virginia coal mine owner James Wendell, graduates from West Point and prepares to lead a fighting unit to the front during World War I. As his father lies dying, however, he convinces Bruce to remain at home and guard the mine. Bruce's fiancée Ann Blair assumes that he is a coward and breaks off their engagement, but her brother Bobbie remains Bruce's loyal friend. Meyer, a German agent, persuades railroad president Parrish to refuse to transport Wendell's coal, but when Bruce adamantly refuses to close the mine, the spy's men decide to blow it up. While Ann is being abducted by Meyer, Bobbie is buried in an explosion at the mine. Bruce rescues Bobbie and then sends a plea to Lieutenant Parrish to rescue Ann. Meyer and his gang are captured and Ann renews her vow of love to Bruce.
View Details
Dir: Eduardo Notari
A crime drama in the Gennariello-series. The police detective in Naples that is confronted with modern gangsters and crime events.
View Details
Dir: Robert N. Bradbury
A simple country girl, brutally mistreated by her stepfather, awakens first the sympathy, then the love, of The Boy. The Spider, who lusts after The Girl, makes a bargain with the stepfather and takes her to the city where, kept prisoner, she is soon broken in health and spirit. Cast out and near death, she is taken in by The Boy. Following the demise of The Spider, The Boy takes her to church, where he prays, and after many hours she is restored to health.
View Details
Dir: Alexander Butler
In Alberta, Canada, a Cornish emigrant unmasks a rustler posing as the girl's "blind" father.
View Details
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.
View Details
Dir: Edward Dillon
Her education in a French convent school completed, plain Justine Spencer returns to New York. There she is shocked to discover that her mother Dodo is a flamboyant musical comedy actress with many male admirers. Dodo, on the other hand, is dismayed to find Justine priggish and dowdy. One of Dodo's suitors is Billy Ferris, who, in a fit of jealousy, murders her and slays himself. Out of pity, Cosmo Spotiswood, another admirer of Dodo, marries Justine, but soon tires of his platonic marriage and leaves for Europe. Upon his return, Cosmo finds Justine transformed. Under the tutelage of Dodo's maid Loti, she has bobbed her hair and donned fashionable apparel. Thus changed, Justine is surrounded by suitors. Stung by jealousy, Cosmo falls in love with his sophisticated wife.
View Details
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.
View DetailsAnalysis relative to Skyscraper Souls
| Film Title | Atmosphere | Complexity | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Great Shadow | Gothic | High | 94% Match |
| The Kelly Gang | Tense | Linear | 95% Match |
| Blackmail | Surreal | High | 88% Match |
| The Key to Power | Gritty | Dense | 91% Match |
| 'A mala nova | Surreal | Layered | 92% Match |
This guide was algorithmically generated using the cinematic metadata of Edgar Selwyn's archive. Last updated: 5/26/2026.
Back to Skyscraper Souls Details →