Cinematic Discoveries Following the Footsteps of The Face on the Ba...

Dir: Bertram Bracken

To escape the title-hunting suitors with whom her mother and aunt have surrounded her, Barbara Chichester disguises herself as a gypsy, and after buying a gypsy wagon, roams the countryside "in search of Arcady." Meanwhile, the Earl of Chamboyne, beset by title-hunting women, has attired himself in the outfit of an itinerant peddler and set off for the country. After a gypsy tells Barbara that she will marry a traveling man, she meets the Earl when they both seek refuge from a sudden storm in an abandoned hunting lodge. They have a series of adventures together, and fall in love before they reveal their true identities to each other.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

When famous opera singer Elinore Duane undergoes an operation on her throat, she has a series of ether-induced visions. In one, she is transported to ancient Rome where she appears as a much-admired woman in love with Paul, a young heretic, and at odds with Lutor, the high priest. To save her love, she poisons Lutor with her ring. After several other visions which involve variations on this love triangle, Elinore awakens to discover that Lutor is actually her doctor, Sascha Jaccard, and that Paul is the son of a friend who has come to visit the recovering prima donna.

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

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Dave Scott, a wealthy mine owner, is killed. His daughter, Marie, goes to her father's old friend Richard Clark, knowing that he will take care of her interests. Clark and his grown son, Ted, become attached to Marie. Innocent in manner, she sees no necessity for concealing her preference for the elder Clark. In time, Ted's attachment culminates in a proposal, which is rejected. Ted accuses his father of standing in his way and the father makes Marie promise that she will accept Ted. A few minutes before the time set for the ceremony, a note from Ted explains that he realizes the love that exists between Marie and his father, and rather than exact the sacrifice, he has left his father's home, leaving them free to marry.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

In Paris, wealthy young American Horace Martinache takes a young flower girl to a hospital after knocking her down in his auto, and leaves money with friends to pay for her education. Years later, when Horace's nephew Eric plans to bring home a young actress whom he met in Europe and wants to marry, Horace's mother and sister ask for his help in breaking up the romance. Horace, an unmarried colonel, indulges them and agrees to court her to make her lose interest in Eric. The actress, Sara St. Ypriex, recognizes Horace as her benefactor and encourages him. Horace, unaware that Sara was the flower girl, falls in love with her. After Eric fails to respond to Sara's cries of alarm when one of her other suitors, Roscoe Vandercourt, tries to attack her, Horace protects her, but Vandercourt escapes. Sara accepts Horace's marriage proposal and Vandercourt, really an international crook, is trounced by Sara's father, who earlier served a prison term because of Vandercourt's treachery.

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

Dir: Bertram Bracken

In a prologue, blind poet John Milton dictates Paradise Lost to his daughters. Serama, the consort of Lucifer, is driven from Paradise by the Archangel Michael, who commands Conscience to enter human souls to judge and punish them. In the main story, society girl Ruth Somers, a reincarnation of Serama, prepares to marry Cecil Brooke, the wealthiest man of her set. Her guardian, Dr. Norton, an incarnation of Lucifer, constantly accompanies her. Ruth is summoned to the Court of Conscience, where the witnesses, Lust, Avarice, Hate, Revenge and Vanity, testify about Ruth's history of seducing and abandoning men. This behavior resulted in the suicide of Madge, the lover of Ned Langley, whom Ruth enthralled and promised to marry, and also the deaths of two rivals for her love. Ruth is ordered back to earth to learn her sentence. When Ned interrupts the wedding, Ruth scorns him and he shoots himself. After Brooke leaves her, the Court dooms Ruth to live with the torment of remembrance. Ruth sends Norton away, then kneels and repents.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Architect John Chance, before building a "Dream City" for a religious cult leader, Prophet Stein, visits Paris and rescues an American girl, Cynthia Grey, from riotous masqueraders at a carnival. After they part, Cynthia returns home. Meeting Stein aboard a ship, and having an idealistic nature, she becomes a follower of Stein, who thinks her beauty will attract others. Chance builds the city, agreeing to say it was made by the "comrades" so that Stein's motto, "Beauty Through Toil," will seem to be true. Cynthia and Chance fall in love and when Stein, a married man, attempts to seduce Cynthia, Chance tells the newspapers, which expose Stein and his financially fraudulent practices. The "comrades" burn the "Dream City" and Chance saves Cynthia, while Stein, attempting to leave with his ill-gotten money, dies when a burning beam falls on his head.

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

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Cashier Clay Randolph is taken by Richard Dunlap, a swindling gambler, into embezzling $5,000. When Richard loses the money, Clay assumes the responsibility for the crime to protect his former sweetheart, Mary Singleton, who has married Richard. Mary's father, Col. Robert Singleton, gives Clay a copy of Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health to help him start a new life, but the young man ignores the book and leaves for New York, where he becomes a gentleman thief. Mary and Richard soon leave the South and join him. When Steele, a millionaire, tries to implicate Mary in the supposed theft of a diamond necklace, Clay retrieves the jewels and returns them to the safe. Reciting from Science and Health , Mary telepathically warns Clay not to rob Steele's safe, and later Richard is killed while committing the crime Clay had planned. To redeem himself, Clay enlists in the army to fight in World War I, promising Mary that he will return.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Marcia Glendon an expatriate, has lived in Berlin for years. Courted by both German General Von Lentz and American spy Frank Graham, Marcia attempts to aid her country when war breaks out by capitalizing on the general's attraction to her. Misunderstanding her actions, Frank repudiates Marcia as a traitor. Subsequently, the spy is caught, and Marcia purchases his freedom by offering herself to the general. Frank is freed and transports the German secret plans across the German border to the American lines. He returns immediately leading an American regiment just in time to save Marcia's honor.

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

Dir: Bertram Bracken

From Alphonse Daudet's 1884 novel comes a variation: A scheme by a beautiful vamp to marry a wealthy young man fails, and the woman returns to her former lover, a sculptor. She is shocked to discover he has committed suicide, and the tragedy catapults her into insanity.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

In a prologue set in ancient Rome, the pagan Valerain attempts to abduct St. Cecilia to his debauched birthday feast, but her spiritual beauty stops him, and he kneels before her. In the main story, Conchita Cordova sings in the cathedral choir in her village of San Miguelito near the Rio Grande. Millionaire oil man John Rannie, whose oil fields have displaced the peasants, desires Conchita, and when he learns that her fiance, Juan Mendoza, has been employed by Adolf Wylie, a German spy, Rannie threatens to expose Juan unless Conchita gives herself to him. Although disillusioned, Conchita decides to save Juan, but as she removes her cross, Rannie is moved by her sacrifice, and begs forgiveness. Meanwhile, the villagers, incited by Wylie, set Rannie's fields on fire. When Juan, thinking that Conchita loved Rannie, throws her cross in the fireplace and places it on her breast as a brand of shame, she rebukes him. After Conchita saves Rannie from being burned by the villagers, he kneels beside her in church. In Rome, Valerain kneels before St. Cecilia.