Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of The Awful Truth: Cult Guide

Dir: Marshall Neilan

Wealthy orphan Jean Hilton is in love with Jimmie Dexter, with whose mother she lives. Mrs. Dexter is about to send her son to college when she loses her small income, so Jean induces Mrs. Dexter to accept money from her guardian, Squire Padgate, and Jimmie goes off to school. There he meets young cabaret singer Diana Parish, becomes infatuated with her, and writes her a check for $25. Diana adds another zero to the amount and the check bounces due to insufficient funds. As Diana implores Jimmie to save her, Mrs. Dexter and Jean arrive and inform him that he has been squandering Jean's money. Enraged at being treated like a child, Jimmie vows to make it on his own. After working at hard physical labor, Jimmie returns home and all is forgiven.

Dir: Marshall Neilan

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Amarilly comes from a large family in a working-class neighborhood. She is happy with her family and her boyfriend Terry, a bartender in a cafe. But one day she meets Gordon, a sculptor who comes from a rich family, and she begins to be drawn into the world of the upper class.

Dir: Marshall Neilan

Melanie is captured by a Northern soldier while she is carrying secret Southern messages. She falls into the hands of her father's former superior, who attempts to compromise her. She is saved by a successful Confederate attack.

Dir: Marshall Neilan

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Those Without Sin perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A Belgian countess escapes to America to avoid a loveless marriage and finds romance and adventure in a mountain village in Tennessee.

Dir: Marshall Neilan

Jane Colby, doubting the honesty of Harvey Wilson, a member of the firm by which she is employed, discovers a discrepancy in his accounts, and his resignation is therefore requested by Edward Royle. his partner. Both these men are interested in Edith Preston. Wilson is her favorite, the fact that he is married having been kept from her. She accepts Royle's proposal of marriage. Wilson, revengeful, plans with David Pierce to effect Royle's financial ruin. Jane has saved nearly $10,000 with which to purchase a home. She is daily becoming of more value to her employer, and discovering that the stock in which he is interested is going down, and unable to reach Royle, forges his signature to a check and buys "Consolidated." Wilson learns that Jane has pulled Royle out of the hole and works through Edith to obtain her discharge. Royle quickly finds out how little he really knows of his own business and puts Jane back to work. Believing Jane out of the way, Wilson and Pierce are confident they can "clean" Royle and make a fortune for themselves. Jane learns it will take $10,000 more to make Royle safe, and buys the stock with her own money. Edith has refused to help Royle, forbidding him to touch her jewels. She leaves Royle and goes to Wilson's apartment, leaving a note for her husband. The latter learns from the chauffeur where she has gone and follows. Fearing trouble. Jane also goes to Wilson's apartment and hides Edith as Royle rushes in. He accuses her of also being under Wilson's spell and reveals the fact that he is married. Edith hears this, and mad with rage, bursts into the room, puts her arms around her husband, who repulses her. Wilson also states he wants nothing more to do with her. At the office Jane shows Royle a news item about a big foreign order which revives the stock, but he believes it has come too late. As Jane reveals to him how she has saved him, he tells her that she is no longer a silent partner, but a full partner, and the love which has never before been expressed lights up both their faces.

Dir: Marshall Neilan

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Out of a Clear Sky perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

In the Canadian Northwest, Jen Galbraith lives in a tavern with her brother Val and her father Peter, a bootlegger who sells whiskey to the Indians. Val's friend Pierre resolves to win Jen, even though she is in love with Sergeant Tom Gellatly of the Mounted Police. When Val tries to retrieve some liquor sold illegally by the elder Galbraith to an Indian named Grey Cloud, the Indian insults Jen and Val shoots him. Tom is assigned to track down the murderer, but after he arrives at the tavern, Galbraith and Pierre drug him. Jen delivers the papers he is carrying to police headquarters, but when she discovers that they contain orders to arrest her brother, she shoots Tom to prevent him from going after Val. Pierre appears and attacks Jen, and soon after, Val returns, followed closely by a squad of police. Val and Jen force Pierre to confess that he killed Grey Cloud, and Tom tells the police that he shot himself accidentally.

Dir: Marshall Neilan

Three men, disillusioned in love and intent on getting away from all women, rent a cabin and retreat there. But the young woman who owns the cabin, unaware that it has been rented, is on her way there to escape from an unhappy engagement.

Dir: Marshall Neilan

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

At the outbreak of the First World War, a mother and one of her two daughters are captured and debased at the hands of the Germans. The other daughter goes from America to find them in war torn Belgium.

Dir: Marshall Neilan

Little one-armed waif Freckles (Jack Pickford), who lives at the orphanage, has no remembrance of his parents. The object of other children's jokes, he finally runs away and after many struggles he meets lumber-camp boss John McLean, who admires the boy's spunk and selects him to be the watchman of Limberlost, a valuable timber swamp. There Freckles meets Angel (Louise Huff), who is spending the summer with the Bird Woman, an enthusiastic naturalist. Angel falls in love with Freckles, but he believes that her feelings for him spring from pity. While they are in the swamp one day, a huge tree topples, endangering Angel's life. Freckles throws himself in the path of the tree, which falls across his chest. Thinking that he is just a waif and therefore unworthy of Angel's love, Freckles does not care to live. As he lies near death, his English grandfather dies, leaving a portion of his estate to his grandson. Solicitors finally trace the lost child to Freckles in the hospital. The news of the good fortune is told to Angel, who goes to tell the dying boy. The realization that he is now on the same social level with Angel brings back his dwindling life, and the two face a happy life together.

Dir: Marshall Neilan

An orphan discovers that she has an anonymous benefactor who is willing to pay her college tuition, unaware he's the same man who has been romantically pursuing her.