Visionary Picks In Alignment with the style of The Broadway Bubble:...

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

A simple country girl, brutally mistreated by her stepfather, awakens first the sympathy, then the love, of The Boy. The Spider, who lusts after The Girl, makes a bargain with the stepfather and takes her to the city where, kept prisoner, she is soon broken in health and spirit. Cast out and near death, she is taken in by The Boy. Following the demise of The Spider, The Boy takes her to church, where he prays, and after many hours she is restored to health.

Dir: Edgar Jones

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

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

Dir: George L. Sargent

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Faro Nell, Lookout perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A lady marries a horse trainer but withholds herself until her crippled brother is cured.

Dir: George L. Sargent

Episode 1: Dr. Ralph Burke, a scientist and inventor, perfects an apparatus enabling submarine craft to remain underwater indefinitely without relying wholly upon compressed air stored in the boat. The discovery is perfected at the opening of the story and has been offered to the United States government. Lieut. Jarvis Hope. U.S.N., is dispatched to witness a practical demonstration of the invention. Arriving in the city where Dr. Burke lives, Lieut. Hope meets an old acquaintance. Hook Barnacle, whose life he once saved. Hook had his right hand bitten off by a shark, and an iron hook being substituted gained for him the odd sobriquet. Hook escorts the lieutenant to the Burke home and relates to Cleo, the doctor's "daughter," how his life had been saved by the young naval officer. Cleo and Hope become mutually interested. Hook is much given to talking and it is not long before the entire village knows the reason for Lieut. Hope's visit. Among those who learn the news are Sextus, a Russian, and Satsuma, a Jap, working under the orders of one Mahlin. The following day is set for the demonstration. Satsuma watching his chance has secreted himself aboard the submarine. Olga Ivanoff, head of the Russian bureau in this country, receives a visit from Sextus, who is commanded by her to obtain the secret of the submarine. Meantime Calvin Montgomery, a wealthy lobbyist, upon advices from influential friends at Washington, sends his nephew, Gerald Morton, an unprincipled rounder, to obtain the secret. Gerald is suspicious of his uncle's interest in Cleo Burke, but fails to learn anything definite before he leaves to see the inventor. On board the submarine the apparatus is being manipulated satisfactorily and Lieut. Hope is much impressed. The party repairs to the salon for lunch, affording opportunity for Satsuma to crawl stealthily from his hiding place. The Jap is examining the mechanism of the invention when he is surprised by Dr. Burke, who gives the alarm. Sailors rush in to overpower the Jap but he is desperate. Shots are fired, one of which disables the Burke apparatus. Satsuma throws over the lever opening the conning tower trap, leaps up the ladder, gains the top and dives off into the sea as the boat quickly sinking is almost lost to view. The water pours down through the open trap. The air machine is broken and with the boat uncontrollable, the inventor and his party battle for life in the watery darkness.

Dir: Bruno Ziener

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Alexander Butler

In Alberta, Canada, a Cornish emigrant unmasks a rustler posing as the girl's "blind" father.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

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

When famous opera singer Elinore Duane undergoes an operation on her throat, she has a series of ether-induced visions. In one, she is transported to ancient Rome where she appears as a much-admired woman in love with Paul, a young heretic, and at odds with Lutor, the high priest. To save her love, she poisons Lutor with her ring. After several other visions which involve variations on this love triangle, Elinore awakens to discover that Lutor is actually her doctor, Sascha Jaccard, and that Paul is the son of a friend who has come to visit the recovering prima donna.

Dir: William Parke

Bruce Wendell, the son of West Virginia coal mine owner James Wendell, graduates from West Point and prepares to lead a fighting unit to the front during World War I. As his father lies dying, however, he convinces Bruce to remain at home and guard the mine. Bruce's fiancée Ann Blair assumes that he is a coward and breaks off their engagement, but her brother Bobbie remains Bruce's loyal friend. Meyer, a German agent, persuades railroad president Parrish to refuse to transport Wendell's coal, but when Bruce adamantly refuses to close the mine, the spy's men decide to blow it up. While Ann is being abducted by Meyer, Bobbie is buried in an explosion at the mine. Bruce rescues Bobbie and then sends a plea to Lieutenant Parrish to rescue Ann. Meyer and his gang are captured and Ann renews her vow of love to Bruce.

Dir: George L. Sargent

Philip, a young dilettante, is a great disappointment to his brother, Miles, in whose home he is living when the story opens. Louise Holden, wife of Miles, labors valiantly to interest her dreamy young brother-in-law in something besides literature, but fails in this until, after great urging, Philip is induced to attend a bridge party given at the house. This marks the turning point in his career, for among the fashionable people in his brother's drawing room, he is presented to Helen Landon, daughter of a wealthy banker. In the moment that Philip looks into Helen's eyes, he loses interest in the book he is trying to write, and falls deeply in love with the girl. But he dares not tell her in so many words of his love, for just a few hours before they met, he was informed that his account is overdrawn at the bank. Miles denounces Philip as a waster, doomed to a miserable end. Helen's father, Robert Landon, is in league with Miles to corner a certain mining stock, D.L. and B. Their intention is to hammer the stock until nobody wants it and then buy into the concern on some inside information they have obtained as to its real value. Pushed to consideration of material matters by the constant urgings of his brother, and by the necessity for bestirring himself if he is ever to meet his beloved Helen on equal terms financially, Philip starts out looking for work. The dabbler in literature announces to the head of a big business concern that he wants a job at $6,000 a year as a starter, making himself ridiculous. The young fellow is turned away wherever he goes, until, entering the office of a mining stock shark, he finds an opportunity to sell stock on commission, taking his commissions in stock, which the promoter himself believes worthless. Philip carries a collection of pictures of the mine location with which to sell stock. He expounds to wealthy women on the beauty of the scenery surrounding the mine property, and with extraordinary good luck, sells the stock like hot cakes. Then comes a surprise; the promoter receives a telegram, which apprises him that large quantities of ore have been uncovered. The stock that Philip has been carrying round in his pocket is now worth a fortune. While trying to talk to his fiancée - for by this time he has proposed to Helen Landon - he overhears a plot between his supercilious banker brother and Landon, Helen's father, to corner the market in D.L. and B. stock. Philip enters the stock market against the two plotters and buys the mining stock as fast as they hammer it down, obtaining it practically at his own figure before Landon and the elder Holden realize that they have been caught short. In this dilemma they discover that much of the stock they have been selling has fallen into the hands of Philip, and Landon telephones in desperation to his putative son-in-law to "come on over." Philip is appealed to by the two market-riggers to let them have enough of his stock to cover their shortage. Copying the superior air of his brother, Philip keeps them on the anxious seat for a time, but finally yields, with the smiling consent of Helen.