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

Dir: Malcolm St. Clair

A dancing instructor gets involved with a newly rich family.

Dir: Ralph Ince

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Arvid E. Gillstrom

When their father is reported missing at the front during World War I, Jane and Katherine are stamped and sent by parcel post across the country to their Aunt Lucille Forrest in New Jersey. The two girls manage to smuggle their dog into the mail bag as well. Aunt Lucille is in love with Lt. Tom Hayes, but she is angry with him after he resigns his commission at the start of the war. She does not know that Tom is in the Secret Service, and she becomes jealous of a female spy whom Tom is trailing. Jane and Katherine's mischievous pranks finally assist in capturing the spy and the secret plans, and getting Aunt Lucille back together with Tom.

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 Smiles perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Reggie Morris

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Arvid E. Gillstrom

Billy is forced to become a messenger and through this he gets a position as leading man. However, his seriousness spoils the play and nearly results in disaster.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Deadlier Sex 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: Arvid E. Gillstrom

After a busy day of playing pranks on their father's servants and guests, Harry Williams' daughters Jane and Katherine tumble into bed and fall asleep. Having seen a film depicting World War I fighting in Europe, little Jane dreams that two armies, consisting entirely of mechanical dolls, are advancing against each other in battle. While Trik leads the German troops, who are guilty of committing a score of atrocities, Trak heads the Allied army, which ultimately wins the war. In the end, Jane awakens with a start to find that it has all been a dream.

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

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: Edgar Jones

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