Editor's Top Picks Following the Footsteps of The Devil at His Elbo...

Dir: Burton L. King

Extravagance has always marked the lives of Norma Russell and her father, Courtland Russell. As a consequence, debt overtakes them, and Russell is forced to borrow a large sum of money from Howard Dundore, the banker. Even this hint of coming trouble does not cause them to economize, and soon Russell has to ask Dundore for an extension of his note. This the banker refuses to do unless the note is accompanied by the signature of a depositor of the bank. Russell forges the name of Robert Mackay, one of the bank's wealthiest depositors. Dundore knows the name is forged, but instructs his confidential man, Horace Scott, to pay the note and subtract it from his private account. He then accuses Russell, and to save her father from the consequences of his forgery Norma is obliged to consent to marry Dundore. She cables her lover, Franklin Hall, a businessman, who has gone to South America to look after a rubber investment, that she cannot marry him. Hall returns at once, pays back the amount of the note, thereby beggaring himself, and marries Norma. Dundore pretends to be friendly to the young couple, tells Hall he knows his investment has gone badly, and offers him a position in the bank, which Hall accepts. Dundore then seizes the opportunity to have Hall's accounts falsified in order to make it appear that he has stolen large sums of money. He continues to call at the Hall's home, and on one occasion makes love to Norma. Hall comes in unexpectedly, the men come to blows, and Dundore accuses Hall of having taken money from the bank. He is arrested, brought to trial and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. The only man who could have testified in his behalf, Horace Scott, has been given money by Dundore, with orders to leave the city. Norma feels that her husband's trouble is a judgment upon herself for her extravagance, since he has always gratified her every wish. Left without means by his imprisonment she turns her talents to scenario writing, at which she is immensely successful. Her father, who has been ousted from his clubs for non-payment of dues, and who lives in a little apartment with his daughter, secures work as a motion picture actor. One evening when they are returning from the studio in the motor car of the director, they see an old man run down by another car. Norma takes the injured man home. When he regains consciousness days later his mind is a blank. During his ravings Norma gleans enough to suspect that he has knowledge of her husband's supposed crime, and tries in every way to bring back his memory. All efforts fail. She takes him to the prison to see her husband, and Hall recognizes him as Scott, but he does not recognize the husband. Norma decides upon an idea, and with the aid of her director carries it out. She writes a scenario embodying the facts in the case of her husband's false accusation, and has it acted for the screen. Then she invites Dundore to see her latest picture at a special showing, and has Scott present. The picture is called "The Banker." As its action progresses there is a shout from the auditorium. Scott jumps to his feet wildly exclaiming: "That's the way he did it; Hall was not to blame. Dundore made me do it." In the ensuing excitement Dundore escapes. He hurries to the railroad station, engages a special and leaves the city, but fate follows him, and he is killed when his engine crashes into a line of "dead" freight cars. Hall is released on the testimony of Scott, whose memory has been brought back by Norma's plan, and Norma and her husband begin life happily once more, both she and her lather having learned a bitter lesson on the folly of extravagance.

Dir: Burton L. King

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

When the dominating financier takes the girl as his private secretary he secures not only an efficient girl but a beautiful one. It is then that his son decides to take an interest in business. His father suspects that his son has suddenly become imbued with business affairs because of the striking young woman secretary he has engaged and tells him that if he intends to go into business he can do so but he does not want him about the office. The son is unsuccessful in many deals and when some bonds are missing the guilty parties manage to successfully charge him with stealing them. In the meantime he had been visiting the charming young secretary of his father and often met his father's cashier coming out of the apartment. He had become furiously jealous and the climax came when he discovered his sweetheart in the arms of the cashier. It is when he is accused of stealing the bonds that he begins to realize that his father's cashier and the pretty secretary are in a plot to ruin his father. And right here is where the story becomes intensely interesting and the suspense is finally lifted. Of course the business rivals become staunch friends again as of yore. But the lovers have come over a rough road in their romance and a pleasant future is also assured for them.

Dir: Burton L. King

Having forced Jim Carson to leave town in order to avoid a trumped-up embezzling charge, now Albert Temple is rid of his only serious rival for Helen, whom he soon marries. Jim goes to Alaska, where he adopts Bob Adams, the son of a murdered friend, and then makes a fortune in a gold strike. After eighteen years in the Yukon, Jim returns to his hometown with Bob, who falls in love with Helen and Albert's daughter Dorothy. Because he so hates Albert, however, Jim refuses to consent to a marriage between Bob and Dorothy until Helen tells him that Albert is not the young woman's father. In reality, Dorothy is Jim's own daughter, and when he learns this, Jim quickly changes his mind about the marriage.

Dir: Burton L. King

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

Nancy Page is a frivolous socialite until her husband Richard becomes entangled in his employer David Davenport's shady business dealings. Davenport, a building contractor, had secured Richard's signature on several papers that promised payment of over a million dollars, even though the firm was insolvent. At a party held in honor of wealthy Japanese agent Tato Usaki, Richard tries to convince Davenport's wife Lila, who is in love with him, to obtain the vouchers, and Nancy attempts to charm Usaki into signing a building contract that will save the firm. Usaki and Nancy arrange to meet at the vacant house next door, where he signs the contract but then locks the door and attacks her. Nancy escapes through a window and returns to the party with the contract, while Davenport, having discovered that his wife has destroyed the incriminating vouchers, shoots himself.

Dir: Burton L. King

Laura Sutphen breaks off her engagement with Donald Loring because he drinks excessively and she refuses to see him socially. When her automobile breaks down in front of a friend's empty estate during a storm, Laura is forced to spend the night with Von Kolnitz, a rich foreigner also stranded by the weather. After ignoring Donald's advice to get out, Laura receives a threatening phone call from the editor of the Tattle Tale . To keep her name out of the gossip newspaper, Laura agrees to invite Sue Schuyler, her best friend and an incurable flirt, and Von Kolnitz to a party and to allow Donald to attend as an employee of the Tattle Tale . At the party, Sue and Von Kolnitz arrange a compromising midnight rendezvous at which Donald appears with a camera. After a series of misunderstandings with Laura, Donald reveals himself to be a secret service agent and exposes Von Kolnitz as a social blackmailer. Her faith restored, Laura is reconciled with Donald.

Dir: Burton L. King

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

Young Dudley Kent falls in love with Grace Vaughan and leaves his wife for her. The two are very happy until Kent learns that his young son has died. He blames Grace for "luring" him away from his family and leaves her. Alone and broke, Grace is tricked into working at a "sporting house" run by madam Marie D'Arcy. Desperate to escape her circumstances, she meets a young man who she believes can rescue her from her predicament. He eventually does, but complications ensue.

Dir: Burton L. King

Sonia Demitri, daughter of an exiled Russian nobleman, comes to this country almost penniless, teaches a while, and then, being a lover of books, starts a little second-hand bookstore. Sonia grows to womanhood unaware of her noble birth, she has a great singing voice. In an old Bible which her father treasures are the documents which will establish her claim to large estates, but her father tells her she will learn it all after his death. David Tryne, living in the same neighborhood, deformed and with a twisted mind, is a remarkable penman and a lover of the beautiful. He forges a letter of recommendation given to one man. The second man uses it and as a result the first man is accused of forgery. The neighbors try to mob Tryne, who takes refuge in the bookstore. Sonia pities his deformities, aids him, and wins his adoration. To the bookstore comes Sutton, a society man, with Kitty Fish, and an impresario. Later, with Schuyler, they all go to hear Sonia sing. She succeeds and it is planned that she shall go abroad and study. Tryne is with her father while she is away and when Demitri dies Tryne learns from the papers in the old Bible of Sonia's high birth. Sonia makes a great success, Schuyler falls in love with her, and Tryne, crazed with jealousy, forges a note which he places in the old Bible, saying that Sonia is the daughter of a disreputable woman. This he signs with Demitri's name, and gives the book to Sutton to give to Sonia, asking him to say that he found it in an old bookshop. Schuyler's mother asks Sonia about her ancestry, and learning nothing, decides to institute inquiries in Russia. Sutton sprains his ankle on his way to Sonia, and sends for her to come and get the book. Tryne learns of this and sends a note to Schuyler, telling him of her going to Sutton. Schuyler meets her there. She shows Sutton's note, and while Schuyler declares his trust in her, she feels that she cannot marry him with the stain on her birth, and sends him away. Sonia gives up everything, and with Tryne as her servitor, awaits only death. Kitty feels for her, and sends for Schuyler to come and see her. The day he is to come, Soma finds the genuine documents regarding her birth which had fallen from Tryne's coat pocket. Tryne sees the papers in her hands, and tries to get them back, but she holds him with her eyes, and as Schuyler enters the room, Tryne sees that he has lost and quietly slips away. With the barrier to their love removed, Sonia and Schuyler find their happiness.

Dir: Burton L. King

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

Engrossed in the perfection of a new high power explosive, the husband seems to neglect his wife. She is further piqued by the introduction into their home of a man whose presence is unexplained, but who is really a Secret Service operative guarding the invention. The Government has asked that the wife be kept in ignorance. In this frame of mind the wife lends a ready ear to Aachen, who suggests that the husband be taught a lesson by the abstraction of this all-absorbing formula. Through this means he gets the formula, but in the end the Government gathers him in, and the only permanent result is a needed lesson to the innocent little traitor.

Dir: Burton L. King

When Vera, the daughter of steel king Daniel Maitland, marries Blair, a young lawyer, her father cuts her off with only a small allowance. A few months later, Blair becomes famous by securing the acquittal of one of his friends who had killed his wife's lover, basing his plea on "the unwritten law." He then succumbs to the fascination of another woman. Vera discovers them in a compromising situation and shoots Blair. At her trial, her lawyer is pleading for mercy when Vera explains that she does not want mercy, but justice. She asks if there is one law for a woman and another for a man and explains that she shot her husband because he betrayed her trust. At that moment, it is revealed that the whole episode is being composed by novelist Elaine Esmond, who interrupts her story to go to the opera with her sweetheart.

Dir: Burton L. King

Sonia Smirnov, a Paris opera singer known as "The Black Butterfly", starts an affair with young Alan Hall. Hall, however, is still pining over his previous lover, a young peasant girl. Sonia--a former poor peasant girl herself--discovers a secret involving Hall and his former lover that neither knows about, but that involves an incident in Sonia's youth that could affect all of them.