Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of Tarzan Escapes: Cult ...

Dir: Raoul Walsh

Dave Henderson, an orphan who has become the beneficiary of a rich man's will, falls in with race-track crooks Martin Tydeman and Bokky Sharvan who bilk him out of his $100,000 inheritance. In retaliation, Dave steals the money from Tydeman's safe, but is caught and sentenced to five years in jail. In prison, Dave becomes friendly with Millman, who is about to be released, and reveals the money's hiding place to him, arranging to rendezvous at the end of Dave's term. Once released, Dave is hounded by members of Tydeman's gang as well as the police, who are waiting for him to retrieve his bounty. While taking refuge at the house of Capriano, an old bomb maker, Dave falls in love with the old man's daughter Teresa. However, Capriano sets a trap for Dave, who awakens in a drugged state to find the $100,000 missing. With the help of Millman and Teresa, Dave recovers the money, turns it over to the police and resolves to go straight.

Dir: Bud Fisher

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

Mutt and Jeff go on strike and make their own film.

Dir: J. Gordon Edwards

William Farnum is Drag Harlan, a tough cowboy vigilante. After learning about a gold mine from a dying man, he seeks his daughter (Jackie Saunders) as well as the gold. He falls in love with her, but the same gang that shot the old man is after the gold.

Dir: William F. Adler

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

A travelogue/documentary including explorations of the fauna and people of Siam, New Guinea, and Java, with interpolations of an apparently fictitious encounter between the filmmakers and cannibalistic natives of Frederick Henry Island in the South Pacific.

Dir: Charles Swickard

A young Egyptian goes to the rescue of his employers, a wealthy European family, when they are menaced by a local strongman and his gang.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

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

A lady marries a horse trainer but withholds herself until her crippled brother is cured.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

A Royalist and his unknown son seek vengeance on his murdered wife's brothers.

Dir: Aubrey M. Kennedy

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

Wealthy oil magnate Harry Mangin is in love with his competitor James Murdock's daughter Blanche. Mangin schemes to ruin Blanche's father so that the girl will be forced to accept his attention. However, Blanche loves "Sky Eye" Blake, an aviator at the adjoining U. S. aviation field. When Mangin is driven in desperation to muster his own private air force in order to destroy his rival's oil plants, "Sky Eye" takes to the skies to quell the riot. After several daring escapades, "Sky Eye" captures Mangin and wins Blanche for his bride.

Dir: Josef Stein

Bela Lugosi plays a lascivious Arab sheikh confronting European travelers in the desert in an adventure story set in the Sahara.

Dir: Victor Heerman

In the gold fields of the Canadian Northwest, a man is falsely accused of a crime and determines that a lookalike is responsible.