Editor's Top Picks Following the Footsteps of The Eligible Mr. Bangs: Cult Guide

Dir: Unknown Director

The village youths are rivals for the hand of the local belle. Their battles lead them to the village store, where chaos soon reigns, terminating in the place being blown up, leaving Bobby a happy victor.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Ne'er-do-well Homer Cavender ventures to the city from Mainsville in an effort to find fame and fortune. Both elude him, and after clerking for two years, Homer returns home for a vacation. Impressed by his flashy clothes, the townspeople assume that Homer has achieved success. Attempting to win Rachel Prouty from his rival, Arthur Machim, Homer continues the deception by announcing that his employer, Kort and Bailly, has dispatched him to enroll stockholders for a proposed new plant to be built in Mainsville. Machim discovers the sham and denounces Homer as a crook. Meanwhile, Homer returns to New York, convinces his employers of the merits of his plan and comes home triumphant, with a proposal for both the new plant and for Rachel's hand in marriage.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Homer Comes Home perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Vernon Stallings

Krazy Kat is held in jail and Ignatz finally bails him out after encountering "guilt".

Dir: Unknown Director

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Great Cheese Robbery perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Henry Edwards

A millionaire bets £25,000 that he can earn his own living for six months.

Dir: Reggie Morris

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

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.

Dir: Mason N. Litson

Edgar and his chum try to amass a fortune in one day by cornering the fan market on a hot afternoon when the circus comes to the small town where they are spending their vacation.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Ralph Ince

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Frank Moser

The simple story is about two siblings, little brother Bud and big sister Susie. After they've been reading "Huckleberry Finn" they dream of adventures on the Mississippi River.