The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of Sold for Marriage:...

Dir: Christy Cabanne

In Mexico, a humble peon has great difficulty retaining his small farm because of the greediness of those controlling the government. While he is in another town, two federal officials search for loot in his cottage and attack his two sisters. The elder, lame from birth, shoots herself rather than succumb to their lust. Her 14-year-old sister loses her mind and dies after telling her brother what occurred. The peon vows vengeance and is branded an outlaw by the frightened officials. After he escapes from jail with help from an old family servant, he is aided in eluding his pursuers by Americans traveling in a covered wagon. Years later, the outlaw, now the commander-in-chief of the Constitutionalist Army, wins many victories and kills one of the officials who attacked his sisters. When he learns that the Americans who helped him are in trouble, he leads a cavalry charge to rescue their wagon train from being attacked by revolutionists. He recognizes one of the attackers as the other official and is about to exact vengeance as the film ends.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

The Prologue shows man as 'Power,' garbed in Greek-classic costume, standing at the parting of life's highway. One road leads to 'Success' - the other to ''Failure'. He (Power) is confronted by a figure emblematic of 'Pleasure,' who points out to him "the easiest way," then 'Ignorance' leads him to the end of the road. where 'Destruction' stands. The classic figures disappear and the story begins: 'Power-The Absentee' leaves his factory in charge of his manager 'Might." who wrecks the property in order that his wife, 'Extravagance," and his daughter, 'Vanity,' may devote themselves to lives of selfish pleasure. It is only when 'Justice,' the office stenographer. forces 'Power' to right the harm done to his employees that he sees the error in believing that 'Might' is right. Then comes the realization that 'Justice' should go hand-in-hand with 'Power," and so they are wed, and 'Ambition,''Opportunity' and 'Success' array themselves on his side.

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

Dir: Christy Cabanne

Theatrical manager Isaac Shuman has a reputation for taking advantage of young girls who want to become stars on Broadway. Reporter Tom Warder investigates these stories and exposes Shuman in his newspaper. Shuman threatens to kill Warder, then leaves town. He returns several years later and hatches a scheme to frame Tom and have him sent to prison. He succeeds, but Tom hatches his own plan to get his revenge.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

A wealthy young athlete comes to the aid of a beautiful heiress, whose fortune is being threatened by two arch villains, The Great Master and Doctor Zulph.

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

Dir: Christy Cabanne

Gerald, the somewhat frail son of a wealthy New York family, is bested at the beach by Bill, a strapping young cowboy from Arizona. His fiancée Mary, ashamed of his "yellow streak", leaves him and goes by train to visit some friends in Arizona, with Bill in tow. Gerald follows them, and he and Mary wind up captured by Yaqui Indians and Gerald must prove to Mary that he is not the "weakling" she thinks he is by coming up with a plan for them to escape their captors.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

Robert Wallace, the elder son of a rich and indulgent father, marries Margaret Christy, a spirited patriot, so that he can escape the call to war. Discovering the reason for Robert's haste to get married, Margaret is appalled and resolves to bring home to her husband a sense of his personal responsibility. In order to instill patriotism in Robert, Margaret contrasts him with John Harding, the man who gave her up to go to war. When Robert protests his wife's tactics, Margaret accuses him of being a contemptible coward. The next day a German insults the American flag, and Robert, his sense of justice aroused, makes him salute it. He then bids Margaret farewell and marches off to war. Margaret sees him off without divulging the secret that she is pregnant, thus sacrificing her own welfare for that of her country.

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

Dir: Christy Cabanne

Mary Alden and her brothers Matthew and George have extremely different political views. Matthew is a committed pacifist, and is constantly giving speeches against war. George is notified that his draft number, 258, has been called and to report for induction, but he refuses. Mary, on the other hand, is intensely patriotic and comes up with a plan to shame him into reporting for induction. Meanwhile, Matthew is being set up for a patsy by a gang of German secret agents led by Van Bierman who are planning to blow up an airplane factory.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

While with the French Foreign Legion in Algeria, Lt. Dubois seduces the lovely Zora, leaving her with a child and his medal for bravery. Sheik Achmed generously befriends Zora, and when she is killed in an accident he raises her son, El Rabb, as his own, and soon El Rabb and Achmed's biological son Bel Khan become best friends. Years later Lt. Dubois, now a general, is dispatched to Algeria to crush a revolt led by El Rabb and Bel Khan--and he doesn't know that El Rabb is his son--who wears his father's medal around his neck.

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

Dir: Christy Cabanne

The life and career of Pancho Villa from young man to revolutionary leader is chronicled.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

Naive country girl Jigs Blodgett makes friends with Gene Giles, the nephew of a wealthy judge. Shady John Harland is courting the judge's daughter Blanche because of her father's money and position. To amuse herself, Blanche invites Jigs to a party with her "sophiscated" friends, intending to humiliate and embarrass Jigs. Things don't quite go the way Blanche planned.