Masterpiece Selection Resonating with the Themes of The Confession:...

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

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

Marcia Glendon an expatriate, has lived in Berlin for years. Courted by both German General Von Lentz and American spy Frank Graham, Marcia attempts to aid her country when war breaks out by capitalizing on the general's attraction to her. Misunderstanding her actions, Frank repudiates Marcia as a traitor. Subsequently, the spy is caught, and Marcia purchases his freedom by offering herself to the general. Frank is freed and transports the German secret plans across the German border to the American lines. He returns immediately leading an American regiment just in time to save Marcia's honor.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

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: Bertram Bracken

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

Harry Larrabee, a young playwright, lives in the same studio apartment house with Carolyn Vaughn, a painter of miniatures, with whom he falls in love. "The Wolf," a famous criminal, supposed to be dead, returns and communicates with his wife, a friend of Carolyn's. He forces his wife and her brother to aid him in a plot to rob Carolyn of her valuable jewels. Harry, by one of his famous "inspirations," discovers that a crime is being committed, rescues Carolyn and bears her away in a taxicab. He is himself suspected of the crime, but, undisturbed by the web of circumstance by which he is entangled, his wonderful inspirations give him the key to the conspiracy which led up to the crime. In an unusual and powerful finale the guilty parties fight among themselves and justice triumphs in an exciting climax.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

To escape the title-hunting suitors with whom her mother and aunt have surrounded her, Barbara Chichester disguises herself as a gypsy, and after buying a gypsy wagon, roams the countryside "in search of Arcady." Meanwhile, the Earl of Chamboyne, beset by title-hunting women, has attired himself in the outfit of an itinerant peddler and set off for the country. After a gypsy tells Barbara that she will marry a traveling man, she meets the Earl when they both seek refuge from a sudden storm in an abandoned hunting lodge. They have a series of adventures together, and fall in love before they reveal their true identities to each other.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

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

Architect John Chance, before building a "Dream City" for a religious cult leader, Prophet Stein, visits Paris and rescues an American girl, Cynthia Grey, from riotous masqueraders at a carnival. After they part, Cynthia returns home. Meeting Stein aboard a ship, and having an idealistic nature, she becomes a follower of Stein, who thinks her beauty will attract others. Chance builds the city, agreeing to say it was made by the "comrades" so that Stein's motto, "Beauty Through Toil," will seem to be true. Cynthia and Chance fall in love and when Stein, a married man, attempts to seduce Cynthia, Chance tells the newspapers, which expose Stein and his financially fraudulent practices. The "comrades" burn the "Dream City" and Chance saves Cynthia, while Stein, attempting to leave with his ill-gotten money, dies when a burning beam falls on his head.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Cashier Clay Randolph is taken by Richard Dunlap, a swindling gambler, into embezzling $5,000. When Richard loses the money, Clay assumes the responsibility for the crime to protect his former sweetheart, Mary Singleton, who has married Richard. Mary's father, Col. Robert Singleton, gives Clay a copy of Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health to help him start a new life, but the young man ignores the book and leaves for New York, where he becomes a gentleman thief. Mary and Richard soon leave the South and join him. When Steele, a millionaire, tries to implicate Mary in the supposed theft of a diamond necklace, Clay retrieves the jewels and returns them to the safe. Reciting from Science and Health , Mary telepathically warns Clay not to rob Steele's safe, and later Richard is killed while committing the crime Clay had planned. To redeem himself, Clay enlists in the army to fight in World War I, promising Mary that he will return.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

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

A woman leaves her husband and children for mistaken reasons. After being thought killed in a train crash, she returns in disguise to be the children's governess.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

In a prologue set in ancient Rome, the pagan Valerain attempts to abduct St. Cecilia to his debauched birthday feast, but her spiritual beauty stops him, and he kneels before her. In the main story, Conchita Cordova sings in the cathedral choir in her village of San Miguelito near the Rio Grande. Millionaire oil man John Rannie, whose oil fields have displaced the peasants, desires Conchita, and when he learns that her fiance, Juan Mendoza, has been employed by Adolf Wylie, a German spy, Rannie threatens to expose Juan unless Conchita gives herself to him. Although disillusioned, Conchita decides to save Juan, but as she removes her cross, Rannie is moved by her sacrifice, and begs forgiveness. Meanwhile, the villagers, incited by Wylie, set Rannie's fields on fire. When Juan, thinking that Conchita loved Rannie, throws her cross in the fireplace and places it on her breast as a brand of shame, she rebukes him. After Conchita saves Rannie from being burned by the villagers, he kneels beside her in church. In Rome, Valerain kneels before St. Cecilia.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Dave Scott, a wealthy mine owner, is killed. His daughter, Marie, goes to her father's old friend Richard Clark, knowing that he will take care of her interests. Clark and his grown son, Ted, become attached to Marie. Innocent in manner, she sees no necessity for concealing her preference for the elder Clark. In time, Ted's attachment culminates in a proposal, which is rejected. Ted accuses his father of standing in his way and the father makes Marie promise that she will accept Ted. A few minutes before the time set for the ceremony, a note from Ted explains that he realizes the love that exists between Marie and his father, and rather than exact the sacrifice, he has left his father's home, leaving them free to marry.