The Cult Collection Comparable to the Style of The False Faces: Cult Guide

Dir: Irvin Willat

A widely respected deep-sea diver is approached by a ring of con artists who want him to be the front man for a phony scheme to recover gold from sunken ships. When he refuses, they send a sexy young woman to seduce his son, and then blackmail the father into going along with their scheme.

Dir: Irvin Willat

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

When cowboy Nick McCredie notices in a second-hand book an inscription to "Emily, the prettiest girl in school," he writes to her and learns that she is a lonely Eastern farm girl living with her grandmother. Instead of sending his own picture to her, Nick encloses a photo of his handsome friend Pen Walton. After Nick sees Walton stealing two horses, Nick agrees to keep quiet, when Walton promises to reform. Meanwhile, Emily's grandmother dies, and her new guardian tries to force her to marry him. She writes to Nick, who proposes by letter. Nick meets her, but identifies himself as "Andy," and when she says she would be disappointed if Nick was not as handsome as his picture, he shows her the way to Walton, and rides off alone. After Walton rustles another horse and plants Nick's glove as evidence, he abducts Emily. She escapes, and riding the stolen horse, she leads the rest to the ranch in time to stop Nick's hanging. After the real identities are revealed, Nick and Emily marry.

Dir: Irvin Willat

Hung Chin Chung, a philosopher of noble birth, is deported from Hawaii to his native China, where he faces certain death at the hands of his enemies. American millionaire Henry Drew offers to reprieve Hung, if the young philosopher becomes his indentured servant for the next twenty years. Rage at his humiliation and inability to marry as a free man smolders in Hung throughout his servitude. Toward the end of his indenture, Hung sails to San Francisco, California, with Drew and his wife. Also on board is Drew's business associate, Ralph Coolidge, who is in love with Mary-Will Tellfair, the millionaire's stenographer. Shortly after their arrival, Drew is stabbed to death, and suspicion falls on Ralph, the owner of the curious Chinese dagger that is identified as the murder weapon. However, subsequent events lead Hung to confess to the crime.

Dir: Irvin Willat

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

Marie Dubois, deeply in love with young lawyer Claude Lescuyer, entrusts her honor to him, but shortly before the birth of their child, he abandons her. In order to legitimize her daughter Claudine, Marie weds Flambon, the brutal owner of a Paris café. Eighteen years later, Flambon orders Claudine to work in the café, where she falls in love with Gaston, a waiter. Because Flambon owes a large sum of money to Jean, the café's former proprietor, he promises him the hand of his daughter in marriage. Claudine refuses to part with Gaston, which so enrages Flambon that he beats the girl and nearly kills Marie. To save her mother's life, Claudine shoots her stepfather and is subsequently tried for murder. The prosecutor, Claude Lescuyer, learns to his shame that the defendant is his own child, and in the courtroom, he names himself as the guilty man. The jury exonerates Claudine, and she is united with Gaston.

Dir: Irvin Willat

Wu Fang rules the Chinese underworld with the aid of crooked politician Jim Murdock, who shields the criminal from the police in exchange for a share of the profits. When Wu Fang kills Sergt. Joe Duncan, however, Patrolman Terence Shannon decides to conduct a raid. Wu Fang, who is expecting to receive a large shipment of opium, kidnaps Chinatown mission worker Patsy O'Connell and threatens to harm her if the police interfere in the drug smuggling operation. Although Terence is attracted to Patsy, he places duty before his own feelings and goes ahead with the raid but is captured by Wu Fang. Patsy and Terence are about to be thrown into a rat-infested pit when Officer Michael O'Shea and his men arrive, and in the ensuing battle, Wu Fang is killed and Murdock arrested. Chinatown having been made safe, Patsy agrees to be the wife of the new police chief, Terence.

Dir: Irvin Willat

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

The Zeppelin's Last Raid concerns the conflict of a youthful commander of a German airship engaged in bombing raids, whose sweetheart is a member of a rebel group working to overthrow the German Kaiser towards the end of World War One.

Dir: Irvin Willat

A young woman inherits her father's large Texas ranch and plans to begin a cattle drive to Abilene, Kansas, 1000 miles away. The crooked State Treasurer plans to attack the cattle drive and steal all of the stock so he can gain control of her ranch.

Dir: Irvin Willat

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

A German-American naval officer takes revenge against the German submarine commander who brutalized his wife.

Dir: Irvin Willat

Harold Mark marries Thora after treating her injured grandfather, then migrates to New York City with his young wife to study surgery. While Harold devotes himself to his studies and to social problems, Thora seeks expression with Greenwich Village bohemians and falls prey to the flattery of sculptor Monsieur Duparc, who convinces her that she is neglected by her husband. After the Marks separate, Harold becomes chief surgeon of a state hospital, and Thora spends a year as the guest of Duparc's aunt. On his way to persuade Harold to divorce Thora, Duparc is injured in an automobile accident. Harold unselfishly performs lifesaving surgery on Duparc, while a crazed patient sets fire to the hospital. Afterward, Harold returns to Thora's country home. She follows and they are reconciled.

Dir: Irvin Willat

Alain de Montcalm is the son of a French trading post proprietor. When a murder and kidnapping occur, Alain pursues the abducted girl and her captor across the far northern wasteland of ice.