The Essential Watchlist Similar Cinematic Experiences to The Crystal Cup: Cult Guide

Dir: John Francis Dillon

Brewster, the bean king, has an option of renewal on a certain bean canning plant owned by Ellis. Ellis does not desire to renew and hires Wingate, a shyster lawyer, to help him. Brewster has to send Betty to renew the contract. Later he sends his lawyer to help her and Ellis' man persuades her that he is a plotter. There follows plot and counter-plot, but all-innocently Betty carries the day.

Dir: John Francis Dillon

When her husband, struggling lawyer Horace Dillingham, is unable to provide adequate money for her insatiable desire for expensive cherries, Kitty Dillingham goes to work as a stenographer for him. One day while Horace is out of the office, Kitty mistakes Jonas Collamore, a defendant in a divorce suit for whom Horace is acting, for an important client. Kitty agrees to lunch, and, swallowing many maraschino cherries along with their cocktails, becomes drunk. Jonas takes her to a nearby inn where they are followed by Mrs. Collamore's detectives, who then summon Mrs. Collamore and her lawyer Horace. Kitty realizes Jonas is trying to create a compromising situation, and she leaves through the window. When the detectives break in, the only trace of Kitty is her hairpin. Kitty and Jonas then conspire to entrap their spouses. Both couples manage to straighten out their domestic problems at the last minute.

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

Dir: John Francis Dillon

Eddie appears as a squatter named "Black Jack," who makes a strong fight for his rights against armed aggression. In the course of the story he kidnaps his own boy.

Dir: Alexander Butler

In Alberta, Canada, a Cornish emigrant unmasks a rustler posing as the girl's "blind" father.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Prisoner for Life 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: John Francis Dillon

Working as a manicurist at the Ritz, Helen Thurston, is in love with her wealthy patron, Jack Standring, but the young man's mother wants him to marry a rich debutante. Helen is informed that she has inherited her grandfather's millions, and she proceeds as quickly as possible to acquire expensive clothing and jewelry on credit. Jack, however, is not impressed. Soon Helen learns that she has inherited only $1,000, the remainder of the fortune having gone to her cousin Spindrift. The creditors hound her for their money, and at a grand ball at the Standring home, a detective threatens to arrest her. Touched by her poverty, Jack decides to elope with her. Finally Spindrift violates the conditions of the will, and Helen inherits the entire fortune.

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

Dir: John Francis Dillon

A young lady, who "hates the law" rises from the tenements to society. Financial reverses lead her to commit a series of burglaries as "The Bird". She becomes involved with the detective investigating the burglaries. After she confesses and pays for her crimes, they marry.

Dir: Wilfred Lucas

Brian O'Farrell (Snowy Baker), is an English 'new chum' who takes a job at an Australian cattle station. He is teased by station hands because of his appearance (including spats and a monocle) but he soon impresses them with his skills at riding and boxing. The station manager, John MacDonald (Wilfred Lucas), takes O'Farrell to Sydney to meet his daughter Edith (Kathleen Key) who is working in the slums. Edith is kidnapped by criminals after witnessing a crime but O'Farrell rescues her. It is later revealed he is the owner of the station.

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

Dir: John Francis Dillon

Daphne Trowbridge, an impulsive and obstinate but nonetheless kindhearted young woman, lives with her aunt and uncle on their country estate. Daphne falls in love with Tom Dunstan, but when she learns that Mrs. Trowbridge favors the young man, she deserts him, whereupon he departs for the woods brokenhearted. Because her aunt dislikes Gerald, Daphne accepts his proposal, but on the day of the wedding, she discovers that Mrs. Trowbridge has liked him from the beginning. Furious at her aunt's scheming, Daphne hires the first man she meets, who happens to be a heavily bearded lumberman, to marry her and then leave. Later, however, her hired husband abducts her to his cabin in the woods, where he eventually succeeds in taming her. After he rescues her from two lecherous lumberjacks, Daphne discovers that her husband is Tom, whom she had loved all along.

Dir: John Francis Dillon

Gentleman crook Boston Blackie answers a want ad for an expert safe cracker placed by Doris Macon, who claims a moral right to the safe's contents. She hires Blackie, and they break into the house where the safe is kept. Blackie blows up the safe just as owner Captain von Hoffmeier returns home. Doris disappears with papers from inside the safe, while Blackie takes phonograph records, which, when played with a special needle, reveal secrets that implicate von Hoffmeier as a German political spy. Doris is actually the girl friend of a secret service man who has followed them to the house. Blackie's talents are praised, and he goes to work for the government.