Recommendations
Senior Film Conservator

Looking back at the 1926 milestone that is The Doughboy, the cinematic shorthand used by James D. Davis is both ancient and revolutionary. Dive into this collection and find the spiritual successors to James D. Davis's vision.
As James D. Davis's most celebrated work, it defines to articulate the unspoken anxieties of United States's 1926 era.
Snub joins the Army and is sent to France. There, while behind enemy lines, he meets a pretty orphan girl and her little brother and decides to help them. The inept Germans don't stand a chance.
Based on the unique unique vision of The Doughboy, our vault has identified these titles as the most compelling follow-up experiences for fans of Short cinema:
Dir: Maurice Campbell
Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.
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Dir: James D. Davis
Gale and Hughie, proprietors of a traveling lunch wagon, are captured by a band of brigands, headed by Dave Morris as Melachrino Mike.
Dir: Henry Edwards
A millionaire bets £25,000 that he can earn his own living for six months.
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Dir: James D. Davis
Down on the farm old Pop Hebenezer had his troubles keeping his two daughters from spooning with his hired help. Luke loved Lucy, the younger daughter, and Billy loved Sally, the older one. The girls were serving their sweethearts with food but they forgot the food and made love. In the meantime the animal family, consisting of a goat, a donkey, a dog and a pig, were hungry, too. The dog spied the tray of food on the table, jumped through the window, grabbed the food and, ran away. Charlie, the oriental cook, the greatest little K. P. that ever was. He happened to pass outside of the window where the lovers were deeply engrossed, when they suddenly discovered the loss of their food, and blamed Charlie. They threw a pail of water over him for revenge. Pop invented a Nutt motor that would make anything on wheels stand as permanent as rock. The girls are keen about this, invention and all have a hand in perfecting it. When Pop looks around for his help he discovers Luke and Lucy on top of the barn on a see-saw. They had assigned the goat to beat the carpet and water the lawn, the donkey to put the hay in the loft, and the dog to mow the lawn. Sally and Billy camouflaged themselves like trees and were having a wild time all by their lonesome. Pop chases the lovers back to work and all is peaceful again. Two crooks are on their way to steal Pop's new invention, but the chief of police advises Pop of their arrival. The daughters put a lion in the case where the Nutt motor originally was, and the crooks steal this case and are very much surprised to find a not too loving lion staring them in the face. An uproarious chase follows, wherein the lion scares nearly everybody half to death.
Dir: Richard Smith
Two female candidates for Chief of Police live across the hall from each other, and their political rivalry follows them home, leading to plenty of hi-jinks.
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Dir: Eduardo Notari
A crime drama in the Gennariello-series. The police detective in Naples that is confronted with modern gangsters and crime events.
Dir: James D. Davis
Magnolia Milkshake wants to help the war effort to compensate for her husband who is exempt for being overweight. She tries to join the Red Cross, then the rifle corps.
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Dir: Charley Chase
A young married couple volunteer to take charge of several orphans after the asylum has burned down. Of course they find their hands full with their troublesome charges.
Analysis relative to The Doughboy
| Film Title | Atmosphere | Complexity | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| An Amateur Devil | Tense | Linear | 98% Match |
| Cooks and Crooks | Ethereal | Layered | 91% Match |
| The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss | Gritty | Linear | 86% Match |
| A Lion Special | Gritty | Layered | 92% Match |
| Lunatics in Politics | Ethereal | Dense | 97% Match |
This guide was algorithmically generated using the cinematic metadata of James D. Davis's archive. Last updated: 6/24/2026.
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