Essential Cult Cinema Mirroring the Impact of The Eagle: Cult Guide

Dir: Elmer Clifton

When young inventor Bob Moore fails in his efforts to provide his father, a safe manufacturer, with a lock that is burglar proof, he contacts The "Eel," the most talented safecracker in the city, to offer him a job in his factory. The Eel, deciding to go straight, accepts the offer, but when he later learns that Irene Hardin has been given a valuable necklace by her father, The Eel plans one last job to secure Irene's pearls. Meanwhile, Irene's father, also a safe manufacturer, places the pearls in his own safe and tells Bob that if he can open it, Irene will be his. Bob, in love with Irene, opens the safe and places the pearls on the handle. After he departs, The Eel enters the house and steals the pearls. Bob is accused of the crime, and to exonerate himself, pursues The Eel. After a lively fight, Bob recovers the necklace and returns home to claim his bride.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Winner Takes All perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Saul Chadron, a brutal cattle baron, is distressed that homesteaders are intruding on his domain and hires outlaws to drive them away. Alan MacDonald, who leads the homesteaders, learns that Chadron has hired Mark Thorne, a vicious criminal, to kill him. His growing love for Frances Landcrafe, a visitor at the Chadron ranch, makes Alan bold, however, and he attends a masquerade held in her honor. Meanwhile, Thorne, claiming that he has killed Alan, demands payment from Chadron, and when the cattle baron refuses, the outlaw kidnaps Chadron's daughter Nola. Alan rescues her, but Chadron's troubles continue as the townspeople, angered over the murder of a child, decide to hang him. Alan intercedes, but Thorne, just before his own murder, shoots Chadron. Alan is then free to turn his attention to Frances and his land claim.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

Dave Marco, a claim jumper, and his boss Earl Foster, a crooked investment broker, hire chemist Ralph Brandon to sign papers proclaiming the wealth of a certain mine. Foster then convinces Ralph's mother to invest all of her money in the mine, which actually is worthless. While she and her pretty daughter Holly are waiting in Foster's San Francisco office, they meet Jack Mason, whose rich mine has not yet earned him any profits, and the two young people fall in love. Inspecting her mine in Keno County, Mrs. Brandon learns that it is worthless, but when she confronts Foster, he threatens to have Ralph arrested for signing false documents unless Holly agrees to marry him. Meanwhile, Marco tries to jump Jack's claim but is prevented from doing so by Jack and a sheriff's posse. Foster weds Holly in an illegal ceremony, but Jack and Ralph overtake their train with the aid of a car and then a motorcycle. Finally, Ralph kills Foster, freeing Holly and her mother from his clutches.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

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

In order to be admitted to his school fraternity, David Bruce is told to impersonate a Balkan prince. In that guise, Bruce leaves for the prince's tiny principality. En route, he becomes involved with a gang of anarchists who order him to kill the prince he is supposed to be impersonating. After escaping from the anarchists, Bruce arrives at the Balkan state and learns that he is to marry a princess from a neighboring land. Bruce willingly agrees to the ceremony when he learns that the princess is Hulda Maroff, the college coed with whom he fell in love back home. After the marriage, the anarchists arrive to kill Bruce and his bride, but they escape. At that moment, the telephone rings and awakens Bruce from his dream. On the line is Hulda, calling for help. Bruce rounds up his college chums, goes to Hulda's rescue and the two are married.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

During the Alaskan gold rush, two unscrupulous fortune-seekers, Amy and her husband Gambler Joe, rob Mathew Smith, who has offered them shelter from a snow storm. Mathew pursues them but loses his way, and by the time Harkness finds him, he is nearly dead from exposure. Mathew, nicknamed "Silent" Smith because the storm has robbed him of his voice, lives in friendship with Harkness until the latter marries Amy, who has found employment in a local dance hall. After the ceremony, Harkness is called away to protect his mining interests, and in his absence, his daughter Mary arrives for a visit. Silent and Mary fall in love, but Mary's suspicions are aroused when Amy gives birth to a child. Shortly afterwards, Harkness returns. Amy insists that Silent is the baby's father, whereupon Harkness shoots his friend, wounding him in the shoulder. Smith regains his voice, and through the help of an Indian who is familiar with Amy and Joe's treachery, reveals that she was a married woman long before she met Harkness. Mary returns to Smith, and the two settle down with Harkness.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

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

When Janice Webster's (Dorothy Gish) father dies and leaves her guardianship to Ethan Dexter and Henry Jarvis, the vice presidents of the Webster Trust Co., which holds her fortune until she reaches 18, her official fathers become alarmed by her quirky shenanigans. Deciding that marriage is the way to tame her, Dexter proposes and is accepted. Then Winfield Jarvis, Henry's son, proposes and is also accepted. In a muddle as to which to marry, Janice confides in bank teller Steven Peabody, who loves her himself. Later, Steven overhears Dexter boasting of his future control of the Webster millions, but before he can warn Janice, the banker locks Steven in the closet and goes to meet his bride-to-be. Steven escapes and arrives in time to find Dexter and Jarvis arguing over Janice who then reads aloud a letter written by her late father denouncing both vice presidents and announces that she will marry Steven.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

While relaxing in his cabin one stormy night, John Winton, a rising young businessman who has successfully resisted the institution of marriage, is interrupted by cries for help. Opening his door, he finds a soaking wet, pretty girl, who pleads with him to come to her aid. She guides him to a swamp where a man is lying insensible. John carries the man to his bungalow and goes for a doctor. On his return, both have disappeared. John, his curiosity thoroughly aroused, follows the only clue that has been left to him, a glove that is lying on the cabin floor. After a series of mysterious encounters in which the girl is involved, John marries her without knowing who or what she is. Then it is revealed that the whole mystery has been a scheme contrived by John's father to marry his son off by employing the romance of mystery.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

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

Down on his luck after his discharge from the Armed Services, Henry Warner snatches a gentleman's wallet, then rushes into the home of a wealthy man named Middleton to escape the police. Middleton threatens to expose Henry unless he steals a certain document for him which is hidden in the home of his nephew Craig. Henry traces Craig to the modest abode of Ruth Orton, who has been left penniless by her father's death. Through Ruth, with whom he has fallen in love, Henry obtains an invitation to a reception at which Craig intends to announce his engagement to Ruth. The document in Craig's safe is the late Mr. Orton's will, in which he bequeathed his entire fortune to Ruth, but which Middleton had earlier falsified to his own advantage. Having saved Ruth from the machinations of both crooks, Henry gives her the will with a declaration of his love.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

Colonel Court, an agent in the Secret Service, is distressed by the occasional lapses of courage in his son Henry, a college athlete. Unknown to him, Henry's sweetheart Ellen is also an agent working on a case involving a radium smuggler, "National" Jim. To build his son's character, Court puts him on the same case that Ellen has been assigned to, but his courage again fails him. Henry decides to turn to the powers of the psyche and hires three men to communicate power and courage to him through intense concentration. The scheme works: Henry enters Jim's house in time to defeat him in a fight, locate the hidden radium and save Ellen.

Dir: Elmer Clifton

Big Hearted Jim, the sheriff, loves the tomboyish Nugget Nell ( Dorothy Gish ), who runs a hash house in the mining country, but although she has romantic feelings, they are not aroused by Jim. Nell agrees to an old miner friend's request to care for his "child," Nell is shocked to meet the six-foot girl, but she cares for her just the same. Nell falls in love with the City Chap, out West to look after his mining property, but he barely notices her, having become intrigued by the Ingenue, whom he met on the stagecoach. The jealous Nell steals stylish clothes to allure him, but she has trouble walking in French high-heels. After rescuing the City Chap from outlaws robbing the stage, Nell takes him to a deserted shack. Although the outlaws kidnap the "child" and set fire to the shack, Jim, lassoing them one-by-one, rescues Nell, who, having seen the City Chap's cowardice, now yields to Jim's embrace.