The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of The Bargain of the...

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

While walking along the street one day, Arthur P. Hampton, an impoverished young doctor, and his chums, Stub Masters and Johnny Stokes, are persuaded to part with their last remaining funds by tag day solicitor Mary Jane Smith, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Doc's friends then hit upon a get-rich-quick scheme. Knowing that his Uncle George has promised a large sum of money upon his nephew's marriage, they persuade Doc to send out fake wedding invitations naming Mary Jane as the blushing bride. Uncle George, elated at the good news, writes to Mary Jane's aunt, Angelica Burns, an old sweetheart, to invite Mary Jane and Angelica to be his guests on an ocean voyage. Meanwhile, Mary Jane pays a visit to the doctor's office and, upon seeing the wedding invitations, becomes so flustered that she trips and sprains her ankle. Doc comes to her rescue and then begs her to pose as his wife. She agrees, but at ship-side, Stub and Johnnie confess all to Uncle George, who flies into a rage until Doc announces that he and Mary Jane have chosen a wedding at sea.

Dir: Charley Chase

Misadventures of a traveling company of actors performing for one night in a small town. When the troupe's leading lady deserts the show for a better paying job as a waitress, a young woman from the town gets the role for one night.

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

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: Charley Chase

The premise of this film is two rival men pursuing the same girl. In the mean time a gang of car thieves are going around town stealing cars and then reselling them to their original owners. The rich man takes the girl to see a minister to get married so the other man comes up with a plot to have the car thief gang help him win the girl back.

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

Dir: Charley Chase

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Charley Chase

Snub and his girl break a mirror, walk under a ladder, a black cat crosses their path, and they meet a cross eyed man. Some amusing misadventures follow.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Don't Park Here perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Richard Smith

Two female candidates for Chief of Police live across the hall from each other, and their political rivalry follows them home, leading to plenty of hi-jinks.

Dir: Charley Chase

Billy is mistaken for a dangerous Bolshevik, and thrown into jail.

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

Dir: Reggie Morris

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Charley Chase

Charlie (West) stays at a seaside lodging house frequented by sailors. He gets involved with a gang of crooks when a sea captain attempts to kidnap his landlady's daughter.