Editor's Top Picks Sharing the Atmosphere of The Busher: Cult Guide

Dir: Charley Chase

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: Robert Thornby

Mary Willard takes over her father's railroad after his death. Her major competitor is a ruthless crook named Harvey Judson. She arranges for Judson to be kidnapped and taken to an isolated spot deep in the forest and turned loose to fend for himself. She accompanies the kidnappers to the wild and Judson, not knowing who she is, begins to fall in love with her. Complications ensue.

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

Dir: Unknown Director

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Edgar Jones

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

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

Dir: Vernon Stallings

Krazy Kat is held in jail and Ignatz finally bails him out after encountering "guilt".

Dir: Ralph Ince

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Reggie Morris

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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.

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

Dir: Jerome Storm

Ne'er-do-well Homer Cavender ventures to the city from Mainsville in an effort to find fame and fortune. Both elude him, and after clerking for two years, Homer returns home for a vacation. Impressed by his flashy clothes, the townspeople assume that Homer has achieved success. Attempting to win Rachel Prouty from his rival, Arthur Machim, Homer continues the deception by announcing that his employer, Kort and Bailly, has dispatched him to enroll stockholders for a proposed new plant to be built in Mainsville. Machim discovers the sham and denounces Homer as a crook. Meanwhile, Homer returns to New York, convinces his employers of the merits of his plan and comes home triumphant, with a proposal for both the new plant and for Rachel's hand in marriage.

Dir: Arvid E. Gillstrom

Andrew Sheldon is so busy perfecting a new explosive for the United States' effort in the Great War that he fails to realize that his butler, cook, housekeeper, and chauffeur are all German spies. However, his two mischievous daughters Katherine and Jane make life difficult for the spies by throwing pies at the Kaiser's picture and clipping the butler's long, Prussian-style mustache while he sleeps. When Andrew's wife announces that she is pregnant, he tells the girls that he has written a letter requesting a baby brother for them, whereupon they decide to steal the letter, convinced that two children are enough for their family. Breaking into Andrew's laboratory, they take the "letter," actually the secret formula, but after Andrew reveals that his plans are missing, the butler enters the laboratory and seizes the invention itself. Following an automobile chase and then a battle staged in rowboats on the Hudson River, the butler is apprehended by U.S. agents. Although he is the proud father of a new baby boy, Andrew gratefully blesses the impish little girls who saved his formula.