Underground Favorites Mirroring the Impact of The Demon Rider: Cult...

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

A simple country girl, brutally mistreated by her stepfather, awakens first the sympathy, then the love, of The Boy. The Spider, who lusts after The Girl, makes a bargain with the stepfather and takes her to the city where, kept prisoner, she is soon broken in health and spirit. Cast out and near death, she is taken in by The Boy. Following the demise of The Spider, The Boy takes her to church, where he prays, and after many hours she is restored to health.

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Eva, wo bist du? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Paul Hurst

Episode 1: "The Jackaroo" Maud Norman, the owner of the G Block Station, an Australian sheep run, points out to her manager, Glover, that her flocks have been seriously ravaged by the continued droughts of the past year. But her financial difficulties are somewhat lessened by the arrival of Jack Tabourdin, whose father sends Maud a check for one hundred pounds in payment for taking his son on as a "jackaroo" or apprentice on the sheep run. The following April when a payment of 500 pounds is due on the purchase of the sheep station, and Maud, foreseeing that, she will be unable to meet the payment, advertises for sale her favorite horse, Polly. Stingaree, the gentleman bushranger, and his partner, Howie, read this advertisement, and Stingaree decides that he must have Polly. Tabourdin, the jackaroo, overhears Maud and Glover discussing the sale of Polly. He remembers a handbill advertising 500 pounds reward for the capture of the bushranger, Stingaree. He wonders if he could spare Maud the loss of her favorite horse by capturing the outlaw. He receives an opportunity to do so, when, during the absence of Maud and Glover, Stingaree and Howie arrive at the station to get the horse. He fires at them as they are entering the stable. They run away, but by a subterfuge they make the jackaroo a prisoner. They take him to their camp, and are overjoyed to find that the jackaroo pursued them on the horse they had sought. In camp the jackaroo tells Stingaree the reason for his attempt to capture the bushranger. Stingaree, always too chivalrous to see a woman in trouble, proposes a plan to Howie and sends him away to the Kangaroo Hotel at Topanga. Then, feigning carelessness, he allows the jackaroo to make him a prisoner and take him to the troopers' quarters at Topanga, where Stingaree is locked up, and the jackaroo departs with his 500 pounds reward. Howie bursts into the Kangaroo Hotel at Topanga and holds up the bar. There is a trooper present, and Howie allows him to sneak away to give the alarm to the other troopers. The troopers rush away from the barracks, leaving only one man to guard Stingaree. Arriving at the hotel, they see what is apparently Howie riding away. They give pursuit and overtake the horse, only to find it is carrying only a dummy of straw, which Howie has rigged up for the occasion. Howie hurries to the barracks, where he overpowers the one trooper left in charge of Stingaree, and helps his partner to escape. Stingaree and Howie ride back to their old haunts, while the jackaroo returns to the G Block Station and persuades Maud to accept the 500 pounds as a loan to pay off the note on the sheep run.

Dir: Frank Beal

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

During a raging Montana snowstorm, Doctor Jim Barnes collapses at Esther Anderson's cabin door. Esther offers Jim refuge, but when he discovers that their food supplies are running dangerously low, he braves the journey into town in order to replenish them. On the way, he is overcome with exhaustion and fails to return. Esther, unaware of Jim's condition and abused by her stepfather, joins a theatrical troop and leaves home. Time passes and Jim finally finds Esther, but a vindictive member of her troupe accuses her of having an affair with the manager and Jim believes the accusation. He leaves and Esther goes to New York City where she becomes engaged to a jealous artist, although she still loves Jim. Sam Tuttle, a long time friend, is aware of Esther's continuing love, and so brings Jim to New York City in time to save Esther from an unhappy marriage.

Dir: Charles Horan

While working as a flower girl in Devlin Maddox's nightclub, Nellie Vaughan meets wealthy young Pelton Van Teel and falls in love. Maddox, desirous of using Nellie to blackmail Van Teel, spreads a rumor that she is his mistress. This makes Nellie uncomfortable, and she demands that Van Teel marry her immediately, to which he agrees. Meanwhile, Van Teel has been losing money gambling to Maddox, who threatens to break up the marriage by producing a worthless check that the young husband has written. Venturing to Maddox's apartment for a showdown, Nellie pulls a gun and demands the check, accidentally shooting Maddox when he throws a lamp at her. Maddox plans to charge Nellie with assault, but when the police arrive, his butler, actually a detective employed by the elder Van Teel, exposes Maddox, who is then arrested, clearing the path for the couple's happiness.

Dir: Colin Campbell

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

Zora, a girl of French origin, is raised by a wealthy Bedouin family after her mother Valerie dies while eloping with another man. Zora feels such great longing for the French artist Adrien that she accepts the offer of another artist, Raoul, to take her to Paris with the stipulation that if Adrien rejects her, she must give herself to him. Jan, the chieftain's son who is in love with Zora, follows the two to Paris. There Zora realizes that Adrien does not love her and discovers her real love for Jan. However, she feels bound to honor her pact with Raoul and is about to succumb to his advances when her father appears and recognizes Raoul as the man who destroyed his home years earlier. In the ensuing fight between the two men, Raoul is killed, thus freeing Zora to accept Jan's love.

Dir: Paul Hurst

Two prospectors, one the father of Skye "Lightning" Bryce and the other the father of Kate Arnold, find a large gold deposit belonging to an Indian tribe. They head for home but each sends a note to their respective off-springs advising them of their good fortune. One of the fathers conceives a plan of taking a dagger and wrapping a piece of string around the blade, after which he prints on the string with a lead pencil, the exact location of their find. If something happens to them, the string goes to the son and the knife to the daughter. That night an Indian approaches their camp and blows some mysterious wolf powder which causes a man to see wolves in place of human beings. Lightning's father see his partner as a wolf and stabs him to death; later he is brought into town in a dying condition but before dying, hands the knife and the string over to the sheriff with instructions to deliver to Lightning and Kate. The sheriff also informs Kate that Lightning's father killed her father, and she immediately turns against Lightning. "Powder" Solvang also knows the story behind the knife and the string, and is determined to gain possession of both, even to the extent of making Kate his prisoner in an opium den in Chinatown.

Dir: Dallas M. Fitzgerald

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

Confidence artist Flossie Golden attempts to fleece foolish but wealthy James Venable with a breach-of-promise suit. Venable's shrewd attorney, Richard Harding, outwits Flossie by proposing that she marry Venable and live on an allowance of $3,000 per year. Flossie is determined to get even with Harding for ruining her plans. In an attempt to con him, she poses as Innocence Page, but falls in love and marries him instead. Larry, Flossie's former accomplice, endeavors to blackmail her with her errant past, but Harding is already cognizant of the facts and Larry fails.

Dir: Paul Hurst

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Alexander Butler

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