Curated Recommendations Seeking the Same Brilliance as The Exploits...

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

Sedgewick Blynn is a gigolo--albeit a broke one--determined to marry into money, no matter what it takes. One evening he saves a young child from burning to death in a fire and is hailed as a hero. Young heiress Bessie Morgan falls for him and vows to marry him, but her father puts a stop to the elopement. Soon after, Sedgewick is hit by some news that changes his life forever.

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

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

Wealthy Marjorie Stockton marries Monte Covington to protect herself from several overeager suitors. While Monte treats the marriage lightly, Marjorie quickly falls in love with her new husband. Peter Noyes, another of Marjorie's suitors, is blinded and she takes pity on him. Monte mistakes Marjorie's attention to Peter as love and decides to leave her. Marjorie declares her love for Monte, and Peter, who has also misinterpreted her actions, shoots them both in a jealous rage. Fortunately for the couple, their wounds are not serious, and they look forward to a bright future together.

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

Ottilie is forced to wed her cousin despite her love for Dick, the gardener's son. Dick leaves, vowing to return a wealthy man, only to find she has already married. Decades later, their grandchildren meet and fall in love.

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

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

Pauline, a young maiden, must protect herself from the treacherous "guardian" of her inheritance, who repeatedly plots to murder her and take the money for himself.

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

Laura Bedford marries poor taxi driver Jim Maberne, and her chum Claribel marries wealthy Richard Smith-Blanton. When the two women accidentally meet sometime later, Laura eagerly accepts Claribel's invitation to an artists' ball. Because of her poverty, Laura is obliged to obtain a ball gown on approval. At the ball she repulses the advances of Smith-Blanton. When her children ruin the dress the next day, Laura takes her husband's savings to pay for it. Jim discovers the loss and orders Laura out. When, later, he comes upon her struggling against Smith-Blanton, Claribel tells him the whole story. Jim gives Smith-Blanton a beating and takes his wife home.

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

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

Farmer's son David Wingate marries city girl Vianna Courtleigh over his parents' objections. Her father gives him a job with the company; a baby is born to the young couple; but their happiness is marred by David's desire for a quiet domestic life in opposition to Vianna's love of excitement. David's mother comes to live with them when her husband dies. She observes their unhappiness and, after deciding that Vianna is at fault, determines to teach her a lesson. She kidnaps the baby, threatening to keep him until Vianna reforms. Eventually Vianna sees the folly of her ways and seeks forgiveness from David.

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

John Warriner, facing financial ruin, accepts the proposal of a bootlegger, Benedict, to underwrite the business of illegal wine-selling. His daughter, Angela, takes up with the jazz set and is caught in a raid, at a cafe owned by Benedict. Her former sweetheart, Carl Graham, comes to the rescue and saves her from notoriety, while the family struggles back to its former respectability following Warriner's prison term.

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

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

Hazel Kirke, daughter of Dunstan Kirke, a miller, is sent off to be educated by Squire Rooney, who has promised to marry her upon her return. All this in repayment for a small sum which Rodney advanced to save the old mill from the auction block. Five years later, near the end of her school years, she meets Arthur Carringford. At home again, she renews her promise to Rodney. Some days later, Arthur on a hunting trip, meets with an accident near the mill, and is confined there for some weeks, during which time a new friendship springs up between the two. Some time later, when Rodney and Dunstan see Hazel and Arthur embracing, Dunstan denounces them and sends them away. Arthur's mother, to save the family fortune, wishes Arthur to marry Maude, her ward, who is loved by Pittacus Greene, and whose fortune was squandered by the elder Carringford before his death. She sends Pittacus and Arthur's valet to dissuade Arthur from marrying Hazel, and they arrive as the two are coming away. At a nearby village, the valet, thinking the ceremony is to be a fake, goes to a saloon for a "minister." He then notifies Mrs. Carringford by letter. A few weeks later that lady arrives during Arthur's absence and tells Hazel that she has been duped. The girl, distracted, runs away and upon Arthur's return the panic-stricken mother tells of the plot and passes away from a heart attack. After a day or two's search for Hazel, Arthur rides toward home, stopping at a small church. The parson proves to be the one who married them and he tells of his good work in the slums of nearby towns disguised as a "tough." The two ride off to the mill hoping to meet Hazel. Unknown to the young people, Dunstan's terrible denunciation of them has left him sightless and it is before Hazel's blinded father that the two are reunited with parental blessing, only after Arthur has rescued Hazel from the icy millpond waters into which she had thrown herself.

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

Maud Barhyte visits Paris with her fiancé, Gerald Welden, and her father. Sally Malakoff, Welden's childhood sweetheart whose marriage to the Duke Malakoff was arranged by her ambitious and title-hungry mother, entertains the three as her guests. By a series of misunderstandings Sally disrupts relations between Welden and his fiancée, causing Maud to return to America. Sally divorces the duke, and Welden, thinking Maud no longer loves him, marries Sally. Later, Welden discovers Sally's maneuverings and denounces her. Now an unhappy drug addict, Sally commits suicide, sending confessions to Maud exonerating Welden, already imprisoned on suspicion of murdering his wife. Maud presents the papers to police authorities, freeing Welden.

Dir: Louis J. Gasnier

Hajj, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself.