The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of The Bushranger: Cult Guide

Dir: Chester Withey

Maggie Pepper, a strong-willed, sharp-witted saleswoman for a dry goods store, raises her deceased brother's daughter, Claire, to shield the girl from her thieving mother, Ada. Unaware that she is speaking to her employer, Joe Holbrook, Maggie shares her ideas for improving the store. Maggie is fired by the insecure manager, but rehired as Joe's assistant, and the store prospers with the help of her innovations. After Ada marries Sam Darkin, she reclaims Claire and teaches the girl to be a pickpocket. The mother and daughter are soon apprehended in Joe's store, and Claire is returned to Maggie's care while Ada is sent to prison. Realizing that Joe's interest in her has ended his engagement, Maggie quits her job and takes Claire to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as protection from Darkin. Joe arrives soon after and rescues Claire from being kidnapped by her stepfather. Although he sustains only a minor wound, Joe pretends to be seriously hurt so that Maggie will nurse him through the night. The next day, Joe proposes marriage and she accepts.

Dir: Chester Withey

When Marie Callender is left a fortune by a wealthy old admirer on the condition that she marry the man she loves, Marie targets Ernest Lismore but is too shy to ask him to marry her. Instead, Marie disguises herself as an elderly woman of considerable wealth and offers to bail Ernest out of his impending bankruptcy in exchange for marriage, with the understanding that if Ernest ever falls in love with another woman she will grant him a divorce. Then Marie disguises herself as June Dayne in order to make her husband fall in love with her. She succeeds, and when Ernest confesses his love for another woman, Marie discards her disguise and Ernest discovers that the woman with whom he is in love is his own wife.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of She Loves and Lies perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Chester Withey

When innocent country girl Paula Letchworth comes to the big city she foolishly allows herself to be influenced by her superficial friends while ignoring the wise counsel of Allen Cotter who truly cares for her. Paula's frivolous life leads her into a marriage with Lawrence Topham, a worthless louse who abuses her and squanders her money. Desperate, Paula offers to buy a divorce from Topham, and turns to Allen for the money. After Topham spends his fee, however, he refuses to go through with the deal, and Paula's invalid mother, unable to endure further cruelty to her daughter, shoots him. Paula and Allen both have reason to believe that the other is guilty of the murder, although the evidence points to suicide. Realizing that the lovers' suspicions are keeping them apart, Paula's mother confesses to the shooting shortly before her death, thus eliminating the barriers between Allen and Paula.

Dir: Chester Withey

Carmen Wagner is an orphan, the daughter of a musician whose career was ruined by the nagging of her stepmother. Her grandfather, also a violinist, hates all women because of his son's ruined career. He tries to save his granddaughter, whom he adores, from the stepmother. He also makes his granddaughter a woman hater and brings her up disguised as a boy. While in this garb she meets Edward Holmes, a law clerk, and the two become friends. The stepmother, catching the grandfather giving Carmen music lessons, drives him from the house. Carmen runs away, joins him, and they become vagabond musicians. They take passage on a ship, and Edward is consulted by the stepmother and delegated to find them. He takes passage on the same ship, identifies an innocent Italian musician and his daughter, whom he arrests. For this false arrest Edward is discharged. And in this plight he meets Carmen and her grandfather, who live on a derelict vessel and who make a living by playing violin in the streets. While protecting Carmen from a drunken sailor Edward is badly hurt and is taken in and cared for in the old hulk. Carmen throws aside her boy's clothes, puts on feminine apparel, imitates the dock watchman's daughter and coquettes with Edward, who at last identifies her as the girl whom he was originally employed to seek. They are in love, but keep it secret from the woman-hating grandfather. Other detectives, employed by the stepmother this time, have located Carmen, and Edward is knocked out defending her, while the stepmother and Carmen take a steamer home. Edward follows in a fast motorboat with a friend, and Carmen jumps from the steamer and is rescued by Edward. The stepmother pursues in a pilot boat, but they finally make their escape to marriage and happiness.

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

Dir: Edgar Jones

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

Dir: Chester Withey

When anarchist bombs disrupt the engagement ball of Princess Marie Pavlovna, her fiancé, Prince Michail Koloyar, helps her to escape in a carriage. Then Theo Kameneff, secretly in the pay of a foreign government, becomes dictator and, desiring the princess, issues an edict that all women between the ages of seventeen and thirty-two must register and become state property. Outraged, Marie, disguised as a shopkeeper, organizes women to refuse the order. After she is discovered by Orel Kosloff, Kameneff's henchman, Marie declines Kameneff's offer to repeal the edict if she will live with him. Kosloff then initiates mass brutality, killing women who do not register, including to Kameneff's dismay, his beloved sister, whom he tried to save. Meanwhile, Michail, who has infiltrated the Bolshevik ranks, is found out and narrowly escapes a firing squad. After he stops Kameneff's attack on Marie, Kameneff is shot by a potter, revenging his daughter's ravishment. Marie and Michail finally escape across the border.

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

Dir: Chester Withey

Betty Griffon delays her wedding to Harry Lindsey, because her brother Dick is late for the ceremony. Upon learning that her dear brother has been injured in an accident, Betty refuses to leave on her honeymoon until he has recovered. When Harry objects, Betty proclaims that he is insensitive and demands a divorce. To oblige his wife, Harry hires his friend Tom Robinson to testify as corespondent in a divorce case, and a separation is granted. Betty and Harry realize that they really love each other too late and decide to remarry, but are prevented from doing so by the divorce papers which forbids Harry from marrying again. They finally decide to circumvent the New York law by becoming really married in New Jersey, and all ends happily.

Dir: Chester Withey

Jim is the leader of the "Slouchy Seven," a gang of small town boys. He takes the gang for a swim in the reservoir, and is reported to his father, who, as a punishment, locks him in his room. Jim, however, escapes and goes to the assistance of Clarence, a "nice" boy, who is vainly trying to secure an apple for his sweetheart, Mary. Mary is won by the prowess of Jim, but he is indifferent to girls. Clarence and Mary go for a walk and Tom, the blacksmith's boy, pushes Clarence aside and takes his place beside Mary. Jim goes to find the gang at the railroad station he meets a girl, who asks him the direction to Mr. Morton's, who, she says, is her uncle. Jim offers to take her bags and show her the house. The boys see him and have fun at his expense. He leaves the girl, whose name is Ruth, at the gate and goes to meet the gang. They have lost a member who moved away, and initiate Clarence, who proves to be a good sport. Unaware of the interest he has aroused in Mary's heart, Jim fights Tom, when he again interferes with Clarence and Mary, and is accused by Ruth of being "stuck" on Mary. This he stoutly denies. He calls on Ruth and her uncle tells her to dismiss him, that he is a bad boy. Jim then joins the gang in a prank on the schoolmaster, and as a punishment his father orders him to chop a pile of wood. Jim is rebellious and, taking his dog, leaves the house. He meets Mary and tells her he is going to the city. His dog deserts him and he falls in with a band of tramps. His mother places an ad in a local paper asking him to come home and Mary takes care of his dog. Later he comes back and is induced by the tramps to assist in robbing the bank, of which his father is vice-president. He dresses up and goes to secure the combination. Mary is impressed by his prosperous appearance, and when he hears his mother talking he almost gives up the idea of aiding the tramps, but his father's gruff remarks determine him to keep on. On going back to the tramps he sees his mother's ad in an old newspaper and refuses to help the hobos, but they take the paper with the combination away from him and bind him in a freight car. He escapes and hurries back to the town and tells the gang. They go to the bank, but are not in time to prevent the robbery, and the tramps escape with the loot. The loss ruins the bank, and although Jim is hailed as a hero his conscience troubles him. Finally he tells his father and is forgiven. The money is discovered in a woodpile, and the next day Jim carries Mary's books to school.

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

Dir: Chester Withey

Genevieve Rutherford Hale, a pampered youngest child, reads an advertisement for women to work on farms to increase food production during World War I. After having her modiste make silk overalls which Genevieve models on Russian ballet attire, she arrives at the Hubbard ranch in New York State with her chauffeur, maid, and pet dog, to be a "farmerette." While Genevieve finds the chores difficult and the other girls unfriendly, Bobbie, the youngest Hubbard, discovers officer training camp to be equally discouraging. Although he is tempted to desert, Bobbie only leaves for one night to see his home again. He finds Genevieve crying in a potato patch, and together they resolve to do their patriotic duty. When a prying neighbor, seeing them together, tells the Hubbards that Genevieve was with a soldier, Genevieve remains silent about Bobbie's identity, and is banished from the ranch. After Bobbie gets a furlough and explains matters, the Hubbards apologize to Genevieve. Bobby proposes, and they plan to marry when he returns from "over there."

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.