Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of The Black Pirate: Cul...

Dir: Albert Parker

In a prologue, Douglas Fairbanks appears in a chef's outfit mixing a cake with action, mystery, adventure, romance and comedy, seasoned with pep and ginger. The finished cake is The Knickerbocker Buckaroo. The story begins as buoyant Teddy Drake, expelled from his exclusive Fifth Avenue club for playing practical jokes and leaping over furniture, decides to reform his selfish impulses. Anxious to do "something for somebody," he boards a train bound for the Southwest. After helping an old woman off the train, Teddy takes the wrong train and meets Manuel Lopez, a Mexican bandit, going to visit his sick mother. To hide Lopez from a crooked sheriff, and because Teddy left his shirt in the first train, Teddy exchanges clothes with him. At the border town of Sonora, the sheriff chases Teddy along the roofs until, seeing a girl in jail, Teddy lets himself be arrested. Learning that the girl, Rita Allison, has money hidden that the sheriff wants to steal, Teddy escapes. After Lopez saves him from a lynching, Teddy finds the money, holds off the sheriff's gang until a U.S. Marshal arrives, and then returns to New York with Rita, now his fiancée.

Dir: Perry N. Vekroff

While in New York seeking work, Cynthia, a young English girl, meets Bruce Crittenden and George Rhode who introduce her to Madame Savarin, a wealthy woman seeking a companion for a sea voyage. She hires Cynthia, and while at sea, Cynthia discovers that Bruce is the ship's purser. Cynthia's father was a famous wireless expert who taught her how to read code, which enables her to overhear a plot to sink the ship and steal Mrs. Savarin's jewels. Soon after, the crew mutinies, and while Rhode and Bruce fight the crew, Cynthia sounds the alarm. As he is attempting to foil the jewel thieves, Bruce falls overboard, and Cynthia swims to his rescue with the jewels strapped to her back. They are rescued by a government patrol boat and taken back to New York where Cynthia and Bruce are married.

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

Dir: Albert Parker

On her way to New York City to complete her art education, Eleanor Gates meets Mr. Harrington, a broker, and the two become friends. When her work meets with great success in Greenwich Village, Eleanor consults with Harrington on investments. Bored with his wife, Harrington begins to fall in love with the fascinating young artist, and she returns his affections. After the death of the Harrington's' baby, Mr. Harrington completely neglects his wife, who soon realizes that he is having an affair. Unaware that Eleanor is the other woman, Mrs. Harrington confides in her, and Eleanor experiences a change of heart. After learning that Eleanor is Harrington's mistress, Mrs. Harrington denounces her, whereupon Eleanor castigates the wife for failing to provide her husband with sympathetic companionship. Mrs. Harrington resolves to become a better wife, while Eleanor returns to the sweetheart she left in the country.

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.

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

Dir: Albert Parker

Melia Nobbs, a young Canadian woman, supports both her invalid father Ambrose and brother Henry. When Henry faces arrest for helping himself to his employer's cash, Melia steals the amount from the star of the theater where she has been dancing, and offers it to her brother provided that he will enlist in the army. Henry agrees and goes off to war, making Ambrose proud of his son, but when Ambrose learns that his daughter has been arrested for theft, he disowns her. Melia does not reveal the reason for taking the money and is sent to prison. Meanwhile, Henry fights bravely in France and returns home minus an arm but wearing the Victoria Cross. He finds his sister, weak and worn from overwork, in the prison hospital. Seeing her brother with his medals, Melia realizes that her sacrifices for him and her country have not been in vain, and that in her own way, she has served her country.

Dir: Albert Parker

During World War I, John Stevens invents an anti-submarine device, but the plans are stolen by two German spies, the Baron von Wiederholtz and Madame Elsa, who flee to a New York hotel. Stevens' daughter Alice pursues the spies hoping to retrieve the plans. Also lodging at the hotel are Howard Skeele and Margaret Worth, childhood friends whose parents are forcing them to marry with threats of disinheritance. In attempting to escape, Howard finds himself in the baron's suite just in time to spy the German in the act of hiding the plans. Howard directs Alice to the plans, and then, because he must be wed before six o'clock that evening or lose his inheritance, he proposes to her. They marry with Margaret's blessing, the spies are arrested, and Alice returns home with the plans and a husband.

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

Dir: Albert Parker

Young lawyer Billy Dow vows not to marry a woman who has more money then he does, which causes problems when his girlfriend inherits a million dollars from an aunt she has never seen. In keeping with his promise, Billy breaks up with her. Desperate to get him back, she turns over the money to George Frayne, an "investor" with a long record of losing money for his investors, in hopes that he will lose all of her money and Billy will take her back. Complications ensue.

Dir: Albert Parker

Designated to write an article on the high price of food, reporter June Justice visits the tenement districts where there have been food riots and where the women of the neighborhood have rebelled against the food retailers, thinking that they are to blame for high food prices. June then visits the retailers, the middlemen, and finally interviews Henry Havens, the leader of the ring of food speculators. Havens attempts to bribe June to slant her story, but finds himself falling in love with her instead. Under June's influence, Havens sees the hardship that his policies have wrought, and finally joins her in her push for legislation which would dissolve the food trust.

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

Dir: Albert Parker

James Barclay is elected to the office of governor on the machine ticket. Sylvia Marlowe, a lawyer whom Barclay has loved for years, refuses to marry him because she fears that Barclay's ambition is causing him to disregard ethics and justice. When he is persuaded by the political boss to veto a child labor measure, Sylvia determines to run for the office of lieutenant governor and is elected. After war is declared, the political boss is bought by a German agent to kill an army appropriation bill, even though the money is urgently needed. Barclay lacks the courage to defy the boss, so Sylvia arranges to have him leave the state, and during his absence, she signs the bill. At first Barclay is angered, but soon he is reconciled, and his next proposal to Sylvia is accepted.

Dir: Albert Parker

A woman runs away from an arranged marriage. Her father finds her and plans to send the man to the same rooming house so they might fall in love. Plans go awry when a police reporter accidentally assumes his place while on a case.