Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of The Expectant Father:...

Dir: Al Christie

Edith and Neal have just been divorced and the judge ordered Neal to pay $300 a week alimony. Neal tried to slip out of the country on the first alimony day, but was caught in an airplane chase. Then next alimony day he got what he thought was a brilliant idea. He left his clothes on the beach and pretended to have killed himself. So Edith took possession of the house and the judge started courting her. Then Neal was informed by his lawyer that he was legally dead and his wife automatically inherited everything and in order to get his money back he would have to marry her again. So Neal disguised himself with whiskers and had a couple of thugs accost Edith so he could play the hero with her. But in the sham fight one of the thugs apologized to Edith for hitting her husband so hard and spilled the beans generally. So Edith took him in the house and nursed him back to health and he proposed. After telling him how like her poor, dear, dead husband he was, she consented, and he had to wear a suit of her supposed dead husband's to get married in. The "guests" were all detectives, the minister himself being a detective. Just as Edith was about to say "I do," she said "I don't " instead and disclosed Neal's identity. The lawyer arrived just then and said in reading over the old will he found a clause saying that quarrels in the family would have to be patched up or the money would go to charity. So they were married all over again - by the judge of the divorce court. Motion Picture News, November 1, 1919

Dir: Al Christie

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Al Christie

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Al Christie

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Too Many Wives perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Al Christie

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Al Christie

A company of barnstormers goes on strike in the middle of a performance and a number of local amateurs are prevailed upon to furnish the show, which they do in more ways than one.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Flirt There Was perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Al Christie

On the strength of father's promise of a $10,000 check to the happy bride and groom, a truckload of furniture arrives with which newlywed Mary desired to furnish a city flat.

Dir: Al Christie

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Al Christie

Bobby, a clerk, is sent on a hurry trip by his boss to deliver a $5,000 check to Mr. Brown. Bobby meets a girl while on the train. At the junction they miss another train, wait three hours, arrive at the home of Brown - and then the plot deepens when another plot in the making makes it appear that the girl is Brown's wife.

Dir: Al Christie

After Eddie Plum discovers oil on the family ranch, he and his widowed mother move to the city where they meet Lord Burlington, a British fortune hunter. Burlington introduces the Plums to two socialites, Mrs. Van Zant and Betty, her daughter, and while Burlington woos Mrs. Plum, Eddie falls in love with Betty. A double wedding is arranged, but on the day of the ceremony, Mrs. Plum announces that the deed to her land has been stolen and without it she has no claim. Devastated by the news, Burlington requests a postponement and leaves. In spite of the apparent disaster, Eddie and Betty elope while Mrs. Plum, hurt by the Lord's sudden departure, plans to return to the country. Realizing that his affections for the widow are genuine, Burlington asks for her forgiveness and insists on the marriage. Her faith restored, Mrs. Plum reveals that the stolen documents were fakes, and that her oil millions are safe.