Underground Favorites Mirroring the Impact of The Corner Grocer: Cult Guide

Dir: George Cowl

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

Revolutionary War heroine Betsy Ross finds herself in competition with her sister for the affections of a British soldier.

Dir: George Cowl

After being betrayed and then cast off by attorney Phidias Trent, Rita Castle places her infant daughter Alicia in a convent. A short time later, Rita marries Ralph Christie, a widower and the father of a little boy, Dick. When Christie learns of Rita's past, however, he divorces her. Years later, Trent, now happily married, is nominated for district attorney, and Rita, who has become a political lobbyist, decides that it is time to extract her revenge and threatens to expose Trent. Trent's campaign manager, Hal Clement, in turn threatens to reveal Rita's former life to Alicia, who has met and fallen in love with Dick. Clement then assaults Alicia, and Rita, returning home, shoots and kills him. It is the duty of Trent, the new district attorney, to prosecute Rita. She informs him that her daughter is also his child. Ralph and Dick come to Rita's aid, but she dies of heart failure in Trent's office after declaring that Alicia is an adopted child, thus shielding her daughter's name from disgrace.