Editor's Top Picks Following the Footsteps of Sweet Adeline: Cult G...

Dir: Hal Roach

An American book salesman (Lloyd) is persuaded to go to the kingdom of Thermosa to impersonate the Prince. He is greeted by a peasants' revolt before the real prince shows up to claim his throne and princess. The revolution succeeds, and the American is elected president of the new republic.

Dir: Jerome Storm

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

Cuthbert Trotman wants to be a writer. He becomes the protege of wealthy Harry Travistock, who shows him the ways of the big city. But Harry's girlfriend Anita begins to take more of an interest in Cuthbert than in Harry.

Dir: Jerome Storm

A young baseball pitcher in the bush leagues is discovered by a big-league manager and given his chance in the major leagues. But will he be up to the challenge?

Dir: Jerome Storm

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

Bill Henry Jenkins is a country boy on the lookout for a good career. He faces numerous obstacles, including losing his sales job when his bicycle is lost. A bigtime poker game turns out to be the key to Bill Henry's success.

Dir: Maurice Campbell

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: Reggie Morris

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Charley Chase

A young married couple volunteer to take charge of several orphans after the asylum has burned down. Of course they find their hands full with their troublesome charges.

Dir: Jerome Storm

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

Nancy, a naive young girl who works backstage at a musical-comedy theatre, learns from the chorus girls the notion of winning a man by the seductive method of "vamping" him. She tries the method on the shy minister she loves, and it works. They marry and resettle in a mining town where a German operative foments dissension amongst the miners. Nancy is called upon to use her vamping technique once more to get the best of the German spy.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Ulysses S. Grant Briggs, raised by his grandfather Thaddeus, who served under General Grant, grows up with the General as his hero even though his neighbor, former Confederate soldier Jeff Hanan, argues that General Lee was the better man. When war is declared, Thaddeus and Jeff forget their differences and train Ulysses for military service. At the camp amateur show, Ulysses falls in love with dancer Betty Martin, but remembering Thaddeus' admonition to "watch out for play actresses," Ulysses avoids her. When dissolute Harry Weller lures Betty to a notorious roadhouse, Ulysses follows, knowing he can be court-martialed. Hearing Betty struggle, Ulysses fights Weller and keeps the military police from entering until Betty can escape through a window. Ulysses then is sent to the guardhouse where Thaddeus and Jeff unsuccessfully try to convince him to talk. After Betty confesses, the commanding officer, Thaddeus and Jeff agree that Ulysses did what both Grant and Lee would have done.

Dir: Jerome Storm

A young man working in a steel mill falls in love with an old Scotsman's daughter. The young man saves the life of the steel-mill owner and is adopted by him. But then he learns that the Scotsman and the mill owner are mortal enemies.