Rare Cinematic Gems Exploring the Legacy of Tangled Fates: Cult Guide

Dir: Travers Vale

Dane Ashley, a successful young author, is informed that he has inherited an old estate in a small village, and being tired of his work and life in the city, he decides to go down and stay on the place for a brief rest. One day Dane is amazed to find a crowd of boys and girls pelting a young girl. He rescues the girl and would punish her tormentors, but she begs him to let the matter drop and hurriedly disappears through the door in the stone wall which separates his house from the one next to it. Much impressed with his young neighbor, Dane makes inquiries about her and learns that she is a Miss Virginia Carlton and that nothing is known concerning her except that she is crazy. Disbelieving the rumors as to Virginia's insanity, Dane uses clever little ruses to further his acquaintance, and the friendship so strangely begun, soon develops into love. Although Virginia cannot conceal her love for him, she tells him their friendship must cease, that there is a wall of shame and misery between them which prevents their ever being anything to each other. Dane thinks he has guessed her secret when he hears a baby at play on her side of the wall; he believes she has been the victim of an unwise and too-great love, but when he is with Virginia her purity and innocence totally contradict this theory. One night he is startled to see a face, which he is sure is Virginia, which is lit is lit up by a wild and impish gleam, peering in at his window. When he reaches the window he sees the girl fleeing over the high stone wall. A few nights later he meets her on the road. She gives no sign of recognition, but leads him on. Dane cannot understand; his heart sick at the thought that the pure-souled Virginia, whom he loves could act thus wantonly, but the next day, when he meets Virginia, she is again the sweet simple girl and he becomes convinced that it must be during moments of temporary insanity that she makes her nocturnal excursions. Nightly the girl is seen in the village, a beautiful evil spirit luring men from their firesides, to render them mad with strange passions and unfulfilled desires, for she always escapes from her victims. At last Virginia can restrain her feelings no longer and she tells Dane that she wants him to hear her story and to help her. Two years before, her twin sister, Helen, had fallen in love with a young naval surgeon. When their father had sternly forbidden her ever to see him again, the impulsive girl left home and went to the surgeon's hotel. There she lived with him as his wife for two weeks, until he was suddenly called away to foreign waters. Returning to her father's home, Helen was injured in an automobile wreck and her mind shattered. The father died of the shock, and Virginia, realizing her sister's condition, had rented the house in the country. Here Helen's child was born. Dane is overwhelmed with happiness to know that the girl he loves is neither insane nor the mother of the child he had supposed hers. He tells Virginia he will locate her sister and bring her back. He sends his friend, Dr. Robert Haskell, to Virginia to aid her. Virginia denounces Dr. Haskell for his treachery to her sister, and before he can reply, Dane brings in the unconscious Helen, whom he found wandering about the streets. Doctor Haskell works over the wounded girl, and while they await anxiously the result of his operation, he explains to Virginia that she is doing both her sister and herself grave injustice. He tells the astonished girl that he and Helen were married on the day she left her father's home, and that ever since his return from the foreign parts he had been searching vainly for his wife. Gradually life and memory return to Helen and she throws her arms about her husband's neck as Virginia and Dane look on.

Dir: Travers Vale

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

Twin sisters Fanny and Evelyn Craig are unaware that their stepfather, Micah Parrish, is a fake spiritualist until his lack of money forces them to return home from boarding school. Evelyn eagerly assists Parrish and his even more unscrupulous partner, Esau Brand, while Fanny, disgusted, leaves home to become lawyer Bruce Taunton's secretary. Following the death of his mother at a séance, Bruce vows to place the city's fake clairvoyants behind bars, but when Fanny is killed on the day she was to marry Bruce, he becomes unbalanced. Seeing an opportunity to stop the lawyer's crusade, Brand forces the reluctant Evelyn to appear to Bruce each evening as Fanny's spirit, but his threat of shooting himself so that he might join her causes her to reveal the deception. Brand finally is released, while Bruce finds consolation in Evelyn's love.

Dir: Travers Vale

During a raid on a gambling establishment run by her father, Cosmo Lester, Diana Lester rescues Hugh Carton, a member of the English Parliament and a candidate for the Cabinet. Hugh gratefully offers Diana a position as his sister's companion, and soon, the two fall desperately in love. Diana's happiness is threatened, however, when she learns that Hugh is married to a woman who will neither live with him nor divorce him. Diana becomes Hugh's mistress for a time, but his afternoon visits with her cause him to neglect his work. To save Hugh's career, his sister urges Diana to leave him, whereupon the unhappy girl returns to her father. She eventually accepts the marriage proposal of her old friend, Phil Duran, but before the wedding, she suffers a breakdown. When Hugh visits her with the news that his wife has granted him a divorce, however, she regains her health and good spirits, and is joined to the man she loves.

Dir: Travers Vale

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

Louis La Farge journeys to a little Alsatian village and there makes love to a pretty shepherdess named Marie Beaupre. Following his departure, Marie is cast out of the village, and, forced to survive in the mountains alone, she goes mad. On a hunting trip, hypnotist Dr. Cochefort and his friend Delaunay meet the "witch woman," as she is called, and take her to Paris, where she is cured and then named the heir to Delaunay's fortune. Her adopted guardian introduces her to Louis's twin brother Maurice, and she, believing him to be Louis, flirts with him while searching for an opportunity to obtain revenge. Andrea Montignac, Louis's mistress, begs Marie to give him up, not realizing that it is Maurice who courts her, and, at a masked ball, Marie announces that Louis and Andrea are engaged. Louis only laughs and seizes Marie, whereupon Andrea shoots him. When Maurice enters, both women realize their mistake, and Andrea commits suicide. Maurice then gives Marie his forgiveness and his love.

Dir: Travers Vale

Sally McGill, a little Irish girl, brought up in a particularly sordid section, is compelled to work to support her entire family. Ben Blaney, the young foreman where she works, loves little Sally. Mrs. Rockwell, wealthy and childless, finds joy in taking a limited number of the poorest children to her country home each summer, and she selects those whom she will take. While visiting the lower East Side, which is distinguished by the name of "Pigtail Alley," she meets Sally and impulsively asks her to go along to earn her board and keep by caring for and helping with the children. Sally is overjoyed. Ben Blaney, however, proposes to Sally and is rejected. Mrs. Rockwell's niece, Isabelle, is jealous of Sally and takes a violent dislike to her. Sally's ambition is to become a refined lady like those about her, and she is attracted to Paul Taylor, but knows she is inferior to him. Isabelle succeeds in having Sally discharged. She then goes to work in a millinery store where she has opportunities to learn the refined ways she so admires, and joins a library to study on this subject. Mrs. Rockwell, in need of a maid, seeks little Sally out and offers her the position, and she again meets Paul, who proposes to her on her way home one evening, but she, realizing the great social gulf between them, does not consent and tells him he must never see her again. She leaves Mrs. Rockwell's employment to become an artist's model and because she pledged Mrs. Rockwell to secrecy about her new address, Paul goes to her mother, who, believing there is a possibility of a rich marriage, gives him Sally's address. Paul waits for Sally and escorts her home, standing in the doorway for a chat. Ben sees them just as Paul is embracing Sally and in a rage strikes Paul down. Later, when Ben learns that Paul has asked for Sally in marriage, he tells Sally that they are not made of the same clay, and that she has outgrown "Pigtail Alley," and he hopes that she will be happy with Paul. She goes to Paul and he holds her in his arms and finishes the sentence he started in the hallway, which Ben interrupted, "When do we start for South America?"

Dir: Travers Vale

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

Vesta Wheatley and Dick Mortimer have been friends from childhood, but when he declared his love and asks her to marry him, she tells him their friendship is too pleasant to spoil it by love-making. John Randolph, a wealthy city man, is attracted to Vesta and a romance develops which culminates in a quiet wedding. Although Vesta is happy she enjoys tasting of worldly pleasures unknown to her. However, after a short fling she returns to her husband with increased love and respect. Unable to stand village life, after Vesta's marriage, Dick comes to the city. He and Vesta meet by chance and he avails himself of her invitation to call. John, returning home unexpectedly, is surprised to find Dick talking to his wife; he recalls a scene in the country before his marriage, when he saw Dick making love to Vesta. However, he hides his suspicions and he and his wife go to their country lodge. Beset by thoughts of Vesta, Dick follows and during her husband's absence, enters the lodge. Vesta resents his declaration of love, and hearing a noise on the outside, begs him to leave before her husband returns. The door is burst open and Skinny, a gangster, enters. In the struggle that ensues Dick is killed by Skinny. Vesta grabs the pistol and holding Skinny at bay, prepares to call the police, but Skinny tells her that she bad better think before phoning, as the news will create a scandal. Cowed by his threats, Vesta is compelled to watch in silence as he drags Dick's lifeless body away. Although her husband suspects nothing, Vesta is haunted with memories of Dick's murder, and Skinny, by frequent blackmail, helps keep alive the memory. At last she feels that she can bear it no longer and when Skinny comes with a demand for an enormous sum, she seizes a pistol and kills him. She then phones to the police, telling them she is alone in the house and hears a burglar entering; there is a pistol in her husband's room. The burglar is approaching, what shall she do? The officer tells her to hold the burglar off until help comes. With the receiver down, she fires a shot into the air. When the officers arrive they pronounce the killing is self-defense, and Vesta is happy with her husband, knowing that her tormentor is out of the way.

Dir: Travers Vale

When lawyer Philip Wentworth goes hunting in the woods to escape a broken heart, he meets and later marries Joan Travers. Philip brings Joan to the city, but soon deserts her to resume an affair with his old flame, who is now married. Some months later, Joan dies of grief, leaving her baby daughter, also named Joan, to be raised by a pawnbroker and his wife. Eventually Philip helps his mistress to obtain a divorce and then marries her. Her son, Norman Dicks, flunks out of college, prompting Philip to send him into the Navy. Before he ships out, however, he meets and secretly marries Joan, who has grown to womanhood. Some time later, Joan is accused of murder after their baby dies because she was unable to care for it. She is taken before Judge Wentworth, who recognizes her as his daughter by the cross she wears around her neck. Norman returns home and the family is reunited.

Dir: Travers Vale

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

Told by her aunt Annabelle that she will be disinherited unless she earns her own living for a year, party going Sybil Drew sets out for New York, armed only with $125 and a sincere determination to succeed. Relaxing in the Plaza Hotel lobby, Dr. Ross Alger catches sight of Sybil at the registration desk and is strongly attracted to her, but because of her faltering manner, he begins to suspect that she is a crook. Following a difficult search for work, Sybil becomes a companion to the eccentric Oleander Berwick, who lives in the apartment above Ross's quarters. Although Ross's attraction has turned into love, circumstantial evidence convinces him that Sybil is a thief, and the situation becomes even worse for her when Miss Berwick's nephew Paul tries to seduce her. Miss Berwick dismisses Sybil, who soon afterwards is hit by a taxi. Mistaking her identity, a nurse has the girl taken to the home of Mrs. Alva Penfield, who operates a disreputable gambling establishment. Following several more adventures, Ross rescues Sybil and finally, realizing that she is not a crook, proposes to her.

Dir: Travers Vale

Betty Fairchild decides to follow the advice of her mother and marry for money. Thus, when Tom Connolly arrives from the West with his fortune, she accepts his proposal even though she does not love him. The idealistic Tom is completely disillusioned when he learns why his wife married him and promptly leaves her. Rupert Brantley, a wealthy cad, seizes this opportunity to win Betty, but she gradually realizes that she has been wrong and repulses him. One day a letter from Tom's mother arrives and Betty innocently opens it. It contains letters and a photograph of a man who betrayed Tom's sister, with a plea to Tom to avenge the family. Recognizing the man as Brantley, Betty rushes to his apartment to warn him and thus prevent her husband from becoming a murderer, but Tom follows her and accuses her of infidelity. To prevent a fight, Betty remains silent. When she returns home, however, she shows Tom his mother's letter, which leads to a reconciliation between them.

Dir: Travers Vale

When a woman becomes ill and dies on a journey through Pennsylvania with her little daughter, the girl is adopted by a local group of Shakers. In a nearby village, Scott Mallory becomes paralyzed while trying to save his fiancée, Faith Palmer, from drowning, but she loses interest in him and breaks the engagement, leaving him broken and bitter. Scott and Hopama, the Shaker girl, are brought together when Mrs. Mallory, on a visit to the Shaker community, offers to adopt the girl, whose high spirits and love of music are considered sinful by the sect. Under Hopama's influence, Scott regains his faith in life, and later a famous surgeon cures his paralysis. Because Hopama's background is unknown, however, Mrs. Mallory resolves to thwart the romance and tells her that Scott still loves Faith. Bewildered, Hopama runs away and becomes a famous violinist. Scott finds her and professes his love, and Mrs. Mallory, having learned that Hopama is actually Hope Palmer, Faith's sister, finally blesses her son's marriage.