Must-Watch List in the Vein of The Bride Comes Home: Cult Guide

Dir: Henry Edwards

A millionaire bets £25,000 that he can earn his own living for six months.

Dir: Wesley Ruggles

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

When World War I breaks out, young West Point cadet Gerald Ackland, who is studying in Paris, joins the French army as a fighter pilot. His French fiancee, Martha Landeau, and her father flee to the family farm, which is near the Marne River, for safety. When German troops take over the area, they raid Marthe's farm and attempt to ravage her--but suddenly, out of the sky, comes a French fighter plane that scatters the Germans--and its pilot is none other than Gerald. However, that's not the end of their troubles, by any means.

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: Wesley Ruggles

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

An epic of passion, intrigue, and espionage set in the African Jungle.

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: Charley Chase

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

A young married couple volunteer to take charge of several orphans after the asylum has burned down. Of course they find their hands full with their troublesome charges.

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: Richard Smith

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

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: Wesley Ruggles

American newspaper reporter Jim Crocker's madcap escapades in London earn him notoriety and the nickname "Piccadilly Jim." When he overhears his American cousin-by-marriage, Ann Chester, giving her candid opinion of him, he decides to return to America to try to reform. He meets Ann on the boat, using another name. Unable to find work in New York, he goes to his step-aunt Mrs. Peter Pett's home to be near Ann, then helps her kidnap pampered cousin Ogden Pett, whose overindulgence has created disruption in the household. The plans fail, despite Ogden's consent to the kidnapping in return for half the ransom money, but Jim succeeds in winning Ann's affections.

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.