The Cult Collection Inspired by the Vision of The Black Sheep of the Family: Cult Guide

Dir: Jay Hunt

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Jay Hunt

Bill Carmody, a likable young chap, is wasting his time in Broadway restaurants. His father loses a large amount of money because the youth forgets to deliver bonds entrusted to him. Bill quarrels with Ethel Manton, the girl he loves, and he makes up his mind to leave home and "make good" in his own way. Mistaking the bonds for a package of Ethel's letters, he puts them into his pocket and takes them with him. On the way west Bill meets D.S. Appleton, a lumber baron. The train is wrecked, and Bill, having saved Appleton's life, is taken from the wreckage unconscious and hurried to the Appleton home. Bill tells Appleton that he is looking for work, but refuses to reveal his identity. Appleton sends Bill to Buck Moncrossen's camp, believing the boy is made of the right stuff, and that the stern discipline of Moncrossen's place will bring it out. A clash of wills between Bill and Moncrossen takes place, and the big lumberman proves to have a cowardly streak in him. His hatred for Bill grows. Meantime Ethel has accepted the invitation of St. Ledger, a fortune hunter, to join his party on a cruise to Palm Beach. Ethel is accompanied by her aunt and brother, Charlie, who, loyal to Bill, loses no opportunity to balk St. Ledger's attentions to Ethel. Finally tiring of the fortune hunter, Ethel persuades her aunt to accept the invitation of Appleton to come north and inspect his lumber holdings. Moncrossen has taken a fancy to Jeanne, an Indian girl. Bill has protected her from Moncrossen, and the lumberman plans to be revenged. During the spring drive, when the logs are taken down to the mills, Bill almost loses his life when a log jam is dynamited. Hurled into the river, and believed by Moncrossen to have been drowned, he is rescued by Jeanne and taken to her tepee. While he is recovering Jeanne falls in love with him, and makes him promise that if Moncrossen ever tries to molest her again, he will come to her assistance. Then he goes farther up the river, where Appleton has another camp. Ethel, on her visit to the Appleton holdings, meets Bill. Their misunderstandings grow rather than lessen, and just when Ethel begins to realize the change that has come about in Bill, Jeanne comes into camp, telling him that Moncrossen is threatening her. Without explaining to Ethel, he goes away with Jeanne. Ethel, brokenhearted, is about to leave camp and return home, when Fallon, a friend of Bill's, tells her of the promise Bill has made to Jeanne. Moncrossen has imprisoned Jeanne's old grandmother. Bill goes to force Moncrossen to release her, and a fight, almost to the death, follows, in which the big bully's spirit is utterly broken, Bill being the victor. Jeanne wants to go to Bill after the contest is over, but her wise old grandmother will not permit it, saying that it is a divine law that the red shall not mix with the white. A complete reconciliation between Ethel and Bill follows. The father having learned the truth about the disappearance of the bonds, comes to express his joy in the regeneration of his son.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of My Lady Robin Hood perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Jay Hunt

A lady bandit steals from gamblers and gives to a poor family with a crippled daughter.

Dir: Jay Hunt

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

A young woman rejects the advances of a Mexican bandit. He kidnaps her sister, saying he will keep her until the woman changes her mind. She leads a posse to rescue her sister.

Dir: Jay Hunt

A young woman and her brothers go up against a gang of moonshiners.

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

Dir: Jay Hunt

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Jay Hunt

Widower Calvert Paige leaves his baby daughter Johnnie in New York and goes West, where he becomes wealthy as a mine owner and newspaperman. Lil Magill, who came to work on his newspaper, is lovestruck with Paige, as he is with her, and they become lovers. After several years Lil has become a successful author but Paige has tired of her. Their friction grows when Lil takes the side of striking miners against him. Because Johnnie has asked to be with her father, Paige now decides to break his relationship with Lil. He writes both women letters, but accidentally switches them. The result is that Johnnie sees something of what her father is like and resolves to go to him. Paige fires Lil because of her closeness with the miners and his growing resentment of her. When miners threaten violence, Johnnie, who has come to know Lil, begs her to intercede. When Paige sees this, he becomes enraged, but the scene is interrupted by a angry miner who shoots at Paige. Lil throws herself in front of her lover, saving his life, and when Lil recovers, Paige realizes that he still loves her.