Visionary Picks In Alignment with the style of The First Born: Cult...

Dir: Colin Campbell

Caleb Conover, a railroad section boss, marries Letty, the daughter of a man of higher social standing, after rescuing her from harassment in a rough Italian neighborhood. By unrelenting force and tenacity, Conover becomes the corrupt political boss of his county, and the railroad president. His son Gerald refuses to work, and marries a chorus girl who is after his money and who retains her former lover. When Conover's daughter Vera returns from Europe supposedly married to a prince, Conover throws an elaborate reception and drunkenly nominates himself for governor. Anice Lanier, Conover's trusted secretary, to whom he is attracted, likes Clive Standish, a lawyer Conover cannot corrupt. After she steals compromising letters Conover wrote to his broker, Conover learns that Anice is the daughter of a man he earlier ruined. When Letty informs him that Vera's "prince" was untitled, the marriage not legal, and that she is starving in Paris, Conover, his drive now gone, loses the election to Standish.

Dir: Colin Campbell

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

The first of many filmed adaptations of Rex Beach's adventure novel of the Alaskan gold-rush.

Dir: Colin Campbell

A scientist who is married to an amoral woman lives next door to a happily married couple. At first envying their happiness, the scientist eventually falls in love with his neighbor's wife. When her husband goes on a business trip to Africa, the scientist also goes abroad to avoid temptation but finds himself sailing from Cairo aboard the same ship as his neighbor's wife, who is traveling to join her husband. The ship is wrecked when it collides with another vessel, and the two are marooned together at the edge of the jungle, with the woman suffering from amnesia and mistaking the scientist for her husband. About to kill himself to save the honor of his neighbors' marriage, the scientist is saved by the return of the woman's memory and by the subsequent arrival of her husband. Electing to remain in the jungle, the lonely scientist toasts the couple's happiness from afar.

Dir: Colin Campbell

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Thou Shalt Not Covet perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Living with her cruel and greedy father on their Indiana farm, Pretty Patience Thompson, is a "girl with a singing soul," However, her life of drudgery is brightened by John, the hired hand, but when he asks for her hand in marriage, the old man flies into a rage and discharges him. Soon an aged but wealthy widower courts Patience, and although she still loves John, her father orders her to marry the widower. Aware of her unhappiness, the kindly squire and his wife arrange for John to hide in the Thompson home on the day of the wedding. With all of the guests assembled, Patience runs from the room and pretends to escape on a horse, and while the two old men search the fields for her, she quietly marries John.

Dir: Colin Campbell

U.S. Secret Service agent Truxton Darnley attires himself as a sailor and boards a schooner owned by Gus Olsen, who has been employed by a German spy named Von Linterman to smuggle arms to German raiders in the South Seas. During the voyage, Truxton learns that Gus and his men plan to blow up the National Munitions Plant in San Francisco, but Gus discovers his identity and throws him overboard. Truxton is washed ashore on the island of Moana, where he meets and falls for Lurline, the daughter of beachcomber "Brandy" Cain. Promising to return to her, Truxton boards a steamer bound for San Francisco in the hope of saving the munitions plant, and soon afterwards, Brandy sells Lurline into marriage with Gus. Seeing Truxton's steamer, Lurline dives from Gus's schooner, and her sweetheart rescues her. In San Francisco, Gus abducts Lurline and forces her to dance in his Barbary Coast saloon, but Truxton and his men raid the bar, and Gus is killed. After receiving the happy news that her real father is the owner of the munitions plant, Lurline joins Truxton, the man of her dreams.

Dir: Colin Campbell

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

A man is found guilty of murdering a woman by way of circumstantial evidence, and is executed. Afterwards, it is discovered that his supposed victim is not dead at all, but working as a prostitute in a Western city. Scenario was written for the screen by Maibelle Heikes Justice, who was an outspoken opponent of capital punishment.

Dir: Colin Campbell

In the small shipbuilding town of Danforth, Albert Walker realizes, to his distress, that German sympathizers, spies and draft evaders, by voicing doubts about the United States' involvement in the war, are having a disastrous effect on the patriotic spirit of the townspeople. In order to silence these "yellow dogs," Albert organizes the boys of Danforth into a club, to be headed by a young patriot called "Nosey" White. The boys pledge to challenge unpatriotic remarks by handling the speaker a card labeled "yellow dog." While Nosey is in the home of his sweetheart, Kate Cummings, one day, he overhears her father, Alexander Cummings, in conversation with a group of German spies. Learning that the agents plan to set fire to the shipyard, he informs his father, who rushes to the scene and engages one of the spies in a fight. The spy is shot, and when Albert and Nosey expose Cummings, the German is sent to prison.

Dir: Colin Campbell

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

Daisy Brooks, wife of Roanoke Brooks, night watchman in the factory of Robert Garlan, does not love her husband or her daughter, Elizabeth. Instead, she loves his money and she enters the primrose path with Garlan in order to satisfy her love for finery. Garlan, a roué, also neglects his infant son, Wynne, for worldly pleasures. In time Daisy Brooks' double life is discovered by her husband, and she kills herself in Garlan's mansion. At the appearance of Roanoke, who has followed, Garlan jumps from a window and kills himself. Roanoke buys a little farm where he lives with his daughter. With the passing years, Elizabeth, daughter of Roanoke, reaches womanhood and is known to her father as "Sweet Alyssum." Wynne Garlan, son of Robert Garlan, has grown to manhood and has married a woman of the world. Wynne, a poor bank clerk, is unable to provide for his wife in the way she wishes and she enters into an affair with Thurlow, the cashier of the bank where Wynne is employed. Thurlow steals from the bank and causes Wynne to be suspected of the crime. Wynne, in terror of arrest, escapes, and arrives in the country near Roanoke Brooks' farm. Sweet Alyssum dreams that her father's land has developed into an immense oil field. She pleads with him to dig for oil and he does so. Wynne Garlan, who has assumed the name of Wyatt, secures employment on Roanoke Brooks' farm. Wynne, later becomes a school teacher and Sweet Alyssum, his pupil, loves him dearly. He, for a time, withstands the innocent young girl's endearments but finally succumbs to her beauty and they elope and are married. When Roanoke Brooks hears of the marriage he is overcome with anger, but as he confronts the pair upon their return to the farm, oil is discovered. Joyful because Alyssum's dream has been realized, Roanoke Brooks forgives the couple and they reside with him. Two years pass by and Sweet Alyssum has become a mother. The oil fields have prospered and all is happiness in Roanoke Brooks' home. Thurlow, the crooked bank clerk, has not prospered during these years and finally wanders to the oil fields. There he sees Wynne Garlan. Thurlow informs the sheriff of the county that Wynne Garlan, known there as Wyatt, is a crook, and that if he is married he is guilty of bigamy for he has a wife living. The sheriff, upon Thurlow's instigations, telegraphs to New York and receives a reply to hold Wynne Garlan, who is wanted by the law. The justice of the peace, who is a friend of Roanoke Brooks and of Sweet Alyssum, goes to Roanoke's home to break the sad news. Roanoke determines to take the law into his own hands. The prosecuting attorney of the county also appears to get information from Sweet Alyssum concerning her husband's actions. When Sweet Alyssum is informed that her husband is accused of bigamy, she sacrifices even her own reputation for him and exclaims: "He cannot be charged with bigamy, for we were never married." Wynne Garlan leaves the magistrate's office and goes to Roanoke Brooks' home. As he enters the gate, he is seen by Roanoke Brooks, who seizes a rifle. As he is about to fire on Wynne, Sweet Alyssum places her little child between her father's rifle and her husband. Then a message comes from the police department of the city which reads as follows: "Garlan obtained divorce two years ago. No charge against him for bank robbery. Hold Thurlow. He is your man." Then it is that the girl tells her father that what she said about Wynne not marrying her was false as she wanted to protect him from arrest. And as Roanoke Brooks gathers his beloved daughter into his arms and shakes Wynne by the hand, the magistrate and the prosecuting attorney retire from the scene and are later instrumental in capturing Thurlow.

Dir: Colin Campbell

"Bird," a clerk in Fordham's drugstore, agrees to place a large sum of money in the store's safe for a traveler, but when the man requests a bottle of medicine, Bird poisons the remedy, and the visitor is found dead in his hotel. Bird flees with the money, but several years later he returns, the money long since squandered. Unless Fordham's daughter Eleanor marries him, he threatens, he will tell the police that Fordham committed the crime. Eleanor's sweetheart, fireman Jack Manley, is puzzled by her involvement with Bird and decides to investigate. By chance, he meets an old alcoholic who once worked for Fordham and possesses the evidence to clear the druggist and convict Bird. The latter, fearing that he will be exposed, cuts the signal wires to Fordham's house and then sets it on fire, but Eleanor telephones the fire station, and the entire department is soon on the scene. Jack risks his life to save Eleanor and the old drunk, who finally exposes Bird. Soon afterwards, Jack and Eleanor climb aboard the fire engine to ride to their own wedding.

Dir: Colin Campbell

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.