Deep Archive Finds in the Vein of The Devil Dancer: Cult Guide

Dir: Fred Niblo

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Fred Niblo

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of What Every Woman Learns perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Because Amy Fortesque's dying grandfather advises her to get all the joys out of life, she marries Dick Gaylord because he is funny, rather than Walter Melrose, a staid young lawyer who loves her. Gaylord turns out to be a heavy drinker who treats his wife poorly. He tricks Melrose into a meeting in Amy's room, and in a drunken state he shoots him. Amy seizes the gun and kills Gaylord, but she eventually is found innocent of the crime and seeks happiness with Melrose.

Dir: Fred Niblo

A sculptress is taken under the wing of an art patron, who is murdered.

Dir: Fred Niblo

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Fred Niblo

Impersonating Little Eva in a third-rate travelling production of Uncle Tom's Cabin fails to earn Nora enough for a square daily meal, and to make thing worse, her stage career comes to a sudden end when the sheriff arrives with a writ of seizure. Nora hops a passing freight but is frightened by a tramp, jumps off, and literally rolls into the town of Wattelville. After being arrested as a suspicious character, Nora is adopted by the kindly Ma Forbes, whose son James works in the local bank. "Pug" Hennessy and "Soup" McCool, two crooks, inveigle the scrupulously honest James into a poker game and, as a result, he is forced to steal $300 from the bank to cover his losses. Impersonating expert safe-cracker Velvet Mary, Nora helps the crooks to break into the bank, but upon opening the safe, she sounds the alarm, and the crooks are arrested. Having learned his lesson, James proposes to Nora, who never again is forced to go hungry.

Dir: Alexander Butler

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Officer 666 perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

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

Dir: Fred Niblo

Anne Mertons (Enid Bennett) is the unhappy wife of Hugo Mertons (Robert McKim), an unscrupulous brute. When the two struggle over a gun, Hugo is shot. Thinking he's dead, Anne flees to Hawaii, where she falls in love with Rodney Heathe (Jack Holt), who owns a sugar plantation. Hugo re-enters the picture and forces Anne to live as his prisoner in a hut. She overhears his plan to burn a sugar plantation. She is able to escape and saves the plantation, while Hugo is burned to death. Anne is now free to marry Rodney.

Dir: Fred Niblo

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of When Do We Eat? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Idealistic young American falls under the influence of Communist agitators.

Dir: Fred Niblo

A seemingly idiotic fop is really the courageous vigilante Zorro, who seeks to protect the oppressed.

Dir: Fred Niblo

Agnes Cuyler, a cabaret singer in New York who loathes her work, is fired for slapping Grant Haywood, a customer from the West who tries to kiss her. Haywood begs forgiveness and after glorifying the clean Western life, proposes. To escape her circumstances, Agnes accepts, but soon learns that Haywood is a brutal drunkard. In the Arizona desert, when she tries to stop him from drinking while driving, Haywood hurls her out of the car. Hassayampa Hardy, an old desert rat, finds Agnes and revives her. She becomes a waitress and helps Arthur Gould, a penniless Easterner who is out West because of ill health. Agnes, Arthur and Hardy form a partnership and strike ore. After Haywood finds Agnes and convinces her to return, he steals her partners' claim notice and drains their water supply. While heading for town, Arthur collapses in the desert. When Agnes learns of Haywood's duplicity, he tries to kill her, but Hardy arrives and pursues Haywood to the desert where he shoots holes in Haywood's gas tank and canteen. Agnes rescues Arthur and they fall in love.