The Essential Watchlist that Capture the Essence of So This Is Afri...

Dir: Edward F. Cline

When a hotel orchestra leader starts to flirt with a girl in the audience, her fiancé is very displeased. Then the orchestra leader finds out that the hotel flower girl is really a rich heiress, and he shifts his attentions to her. Now the flower girl's boyfriend is unhappy, and soon there are even more complications.

Dir: Unknown Director

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Fitting Gift 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: 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: Malcolm St. Clair

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

A dancing instructor gets involved with a newly rich family.

Dir: Edward F. Cline

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Reggie Morris

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Don't Weaken! perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Edward F. Cline

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Edward F. Cline

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

It's all there - the deserted mother with her child in her arms, followed all around by a fiendish wicked snow storm, the heroine lashed to the rails by the scoundrelly villain, the young woman fastened to the buzz saw of a lumber mill and about to be reduced to mincemeat. And hist. The wicked villain with a mustache and cigarette - the noble hero and the persecuted heroine. There are two drunks sitting in one of the boxes of the theater, who get so excited that they insist upon helping out the action of the melodrama. In the middle of the play, the head scene shifter gets jealous of his wife, who is the leading woman of the show, and drags her from the stage. Nothing, if not resourceful, Ben rushes down into the audience and kidnaps a beautiful young woman to play the leading woman's role. Then comes a startling climax, when the snow storm is shut down by a queer accident. And an equally tragic catastrophe jazzes up the ocean when a storm and a submarine play at cross purposes.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

While walking along the street one day, Arthur P. Hampton, an impoverished young doctor, and his chums, Stub Masters and Johnny Stokes, are persuaded to part with their last remaining funds by tag day solicitor Mary Jane Smith, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Doc's friends then hit upon a get-rich-quick scheme. Knowing that his Uncle George has promised a large sum of money upon his nephew's marriage, they persuade Doc to send out fake wedding invitations naming Mary Jane as the blushing bride. Uncle George, elated at the good news, writes to Mary Jane's aunt, Angelica Burns, an old sweetheart, to invite Mary Jane and Angelica to be his guests on an ocean voyage. Meanwhile, Mary Jane pays a visit to the doctor's office and, upon seeing the wedding invitations, becomes so flustered that she trips and sprains her ankle. Doc comes to her rescue and then begs her to pose as his wife. She agrees, but at ship-side, Stub and Johnnie confess all to Uncle George, who flies into a rage until Doc announces that he and Mary Jane have chosen a wedding at sea.

Dir: Edward F. Cline

Heretofore running a shoe store has been considered a quiet, respectable business, but Ben and his partner make the interior of their emporium of fashionable footwear look like the finish to a feature number at a smart cabaret. They also put new life and the joy of winning into a gambling joint, until they are discovered cheating. This so shocks the proprietor and his regular customers that they lose their faith in human nature and send for the police. And so the merry game is kept up.