Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of The Canadian: Cult Guide

Dir: Roy William Neill

Mary Wayne (Constance Talmadge) is left alone and penniless in New York City after her father dies. She desperately needs a job after being thrown out of her apartment for causing a small fire while cooking. At an employment agency she becomes fast friends with a sick girl, Nell Norcross, and assumes her identity and good references to start work as a secretary for elderly socialite Caroline Marshall, which soon involves playing wrangler to the lady's college-dropout nephew William "Bill" Marshall (Vincent Coleman). Bill is much more interested in going to illegal boxing matches with his buddy Peter Stearns (Ned Sparks) than in throwing lavish dinner parties for his family's high-society friends. While Mary tries to do her job and keep her true identity from being discovered, William begins to fall in love with her.

Dir: Roy Clements

A man agrees to marry the daughter of a deceased friend - who is, in fact, being impersonated by the servant girl of the daughter, who has also already died.

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

Dir: William Beaudine

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

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

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Apartment 23 perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: F. Martin Thornton

In Paris an orphan cartoonist loves a man with a mad wife, who dies in time to prevent her marriage to a jilted Comte.

Dir: Jerome Storm

David Harrington plans to marry Betty Graves. He is an old-fashioned boy, believing in marriage, having children, and living a suburban life. Betty is more ultra-modern, and independent. When Betty gets a tour of the bungalow that David has built for them, she says it's cute but she would hate to have to live in it. The two break up and Betty goes back to a former sweetheart. Sybil, the wife of David's friend Herbert, has just has a row with her husband because he wouldn't buy her a new hat. So she takes their three children and hides in David's home, hoping to throw a scare into her husband. Now David tries to take care of the kids, hoping to forget his own troubles. Herbert phones David that he is coming over, but David tells his friend he has the measles. Meanwhile, Sybil's kids have gotten sick from eating too much taffy. So David calls Betty's father, who is a doctor. Betty comes over with her father, and David cooks up a scheme with the doctor to quarantine the house so that Betty will have to stay and help him take care of the children. Herbert arrives and chaos ensues when he discovers his wife and kids are there. Eventually, things get straightened out and David regains Betty's love.

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

Dir: Sidney Franklin

A chorus girl hopes to rise to stardom and thus accepts the advances of a wealthy man. But she becomes fearful of her reputation and safety. In an attempt to escape the rake's attentions, she hides out with a disparate group of men who room in a house called "The Barn." There she learns that there is more to life than that found on the stage.

Dir: Scott R. Dunlap

When saloon owner Bill Lark detects that gambler Jim Pemberton is cheating, both men draw their guns. In order to prevent a double killing, it is agreed that the first shot should be decided by a draw from a deck of cards. Bill loses and Pemberton gives him three days to live. Meanwhile, Pemberton has persuaded Jess Jones to leave her husband and ride with him to his cabin in the hills where he is chief of a gang of bandits. Upon discovering his wife's absence, Scipio Jones follows Jess but is driven away by Pemberton's gang. After Jones fails, Bill retrieves Jess and brings her home. The next day, Bill is severely wounded when he drives a stagecoach through an attack by Pemberton's gang, but escapes to keep his date with the outlaw. Arriving to accept his fate of the last draw, Bill discovers that the outlaw has been killed by Scipio Jones. Provided with a new lease on life, the honest saloon keeper marries his sweetheart Little Casino.

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

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: William Beaudine

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.