Editor's Top Picks Following the Footsteps of Stepping Out: Cult Guide

Dir: Fred Niblo

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Fred Niblo

Agnes Cuyler, a cabaret singer in New York who loathes her work, is fired for slapping Grant Haywood, a customer from the West who tries to kiss her. Haywood begs forgiveness and after glorifying the clean Western life, proposes. To escape her circumstances, Agnes accepts, but soon learns that Haywood is a brutal drunkard. In the Arizona desert, when she tries to stop him from drinking while driving, Haywood hurls her out of the car. Hassayampa Hardy, an old desert rat, finds Agnes and revives her. She becomes a waitress and helps Arthur Gould, a penniless Easterner who is out West because of ill health. Agnes, Arthur and Hardy form a partnership and strike ore. After Haywood finds Agnes and convinces her to return, he steals her partners' claim notice and drains their water supply. While heading for town, Arthur collapses in the desert. When Agnes learns of Haywood's duplicity, he tries to kill her, but Hardy arrives and pursues Haywood to the desert where he shoots holes in Haywood's gas tank and canteen. Agnes rescues Arthur and they fall in love.

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

Dir: Fred Niblo

Mary Moreland discovers the photograph of a woman not her mother in her father's suitcase and sets out to find her in hopes of returning her father to his rightful place in the family.

Dir: Fred Niblo

Judith Westover files for a divorce from her wealthy young husband Billy because of his inability to remain faithful. As Billy bids goodbye to Judith, a call comes from his attorney notifying him that all his investments have been wiped out. Shocked, he leaves Judith and while crossing the street is run over and killed by a truck. Judith, grief-stricken, accepts the invitation of her doctor, Henrietta Carter, to recuperate at the Ogilvy estate, where she meets neighbor Princeton Hadley, an old friend of Billy's who, feeling duty-bound, has been paying Judith alimony. Hadley, unaware that she is his friend's wife, is attracted to Judith, but upon learning that Hadley has secretly been paying her alimony, Judith becomes furious at the deception and speeds away in her car. Hadley clings to the side of the automobile and the two are hurled into a ditch by a passing train. Awakening in the hospital beside each other, Hadley pleads with Judith to become his wife and she finally consents.

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

Dir: Fred Niblo

A seemingly idiotic fop is really the courageous vigilante Zorro, who seeks to protect the oppressed.

Dir: Fred Niblo

Because Amy Fortesque's dying grandfather advises her to get all the joys out of life, she marries Dick Gaylord because he is funny, rather than Walter Melrose, a staid young lawyer who loves her. Gaylord turns out to be a heavy drinker who treats his wife poorly. He tricks Melrose into a meeting in Amy's room, and in a drunken state he shoots him. Amy seizes the gun and kills Gaylord, but she eventually is found innocent of the crime and seeks happiness with Melrose.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Her Husband's Friend perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Fred Niblo

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Fred Niblo

A girl tries to save her brother from prosecution after he steals some money from his employer. She goes to work for the employer, who tries to take advantage of her. He is murdered, and the girl is suspected of the crime.

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

Dir: Fred Niblo

Impersonating Little Eva in a third-rate travelling production of Uncle Tom's Cabin fails to earn Nora enough for a square daily meal, and to make thing worse, her stage career comes to a sudden end when the sheriff arrives with a writ of seizure. Nora hops a passing freight but is frightened by a tramp, jumps off, and literally rolls into the town of Wattelville. After being arrested as a suspicious character, Nora is adopted by the kindly Ma Forbes, whose son James works in the local bank. "Pug" Hennessy and "Soup" McCool, two crooks, inveigle the scrupulously honest James into a poker game and, as a result, he is forced to steal $300 from the bank to cover his losses. Impersonating expert safe-cracker Velvet Mary, Nora helps the crooks to break into the bank, but upon opening the safe, she sounds the alarm, and the crooks are arrested. Having learned his lesson, James proposes to Nora, who never again is forced to go hungry.

Dir: Fred Niblo

Journalist Betsy Thorne travels from New York to Virginia to cover a story about the disappearance of Daniel Arnold at a supposedly haunted estate. In order to get into the house, she pretends to be a maid. In the household she meets Daniel's sister Dolores, the neighbor Dr. James Dunwoody who loves Dolores, and his son Roland, who is under suspicion. Betsy pretends to be tough, but when she sees a ghost emerge from the chapel, she screams. The result is that Dolores locks her in at night. The following night, Betsy climbs out of her window and sees the ghost again, this time in the graveyard. After some intrepid investigating, she finds that playing certain chords on the chapel organ cause a door to open, leading into a passage to a tomb. Betsy bravely pursues the ghost who turns out to be Daniel, though he has become deranged. Further, she discovers that he is actually desired by the law as an international forger.