Visionary Picks In Alignment with the style of The Forged Bride: Cu...

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

Polly Vance is at a loss as to where to get the next day's food. The children scream, "Polly, put the kettle on," but she finds only a few tea leaves. The kids are disappointed when they find no jam. Polly, though only 18, has been mothering these children a long time. She enters her father's workroom, where he is poring over plans for the invention which he is confident will bring them riches. He becomes irritated when she reminds him of their poverty, and she leaves the room. She obtains a position with spinster Johanna Webb. Miss Webb's nephew, Chester Creigg, is preparing to leave home to return to college for his final year. Chester is impressed with Polly's good looks and there seems to be a mutual attraction. After some weeks Polly is overjoyed to learn that Chester is coming home. Chester has been awarded a prize at college for writing the best play. In the meantime Vance, Polly's father, has completed his invention. He takes the model to a well-known manufacturer, only to be told that the invention is already on the market. Chester has a tilt with his aunt because he will not submit to her arrangement for him to enter a bank, as he has chosen playwriting for his profession, and she disinherits him. Polly comes in with some wool and the old lady finds it is not the right color. Chester listens as the spinster scolds Polly. Polly is told to leave, and they go off together. Chester cannot convince Polly that it is the proper thing for her to allow him to help her until she gets another job. As he walks aimlessly, he is attracted by an excited crowd. He finds a man has fallen and been injured. He takes him home and has the doctor called. Polly comes home and finds Chester at her father's bedside. She is overcome with emotion at his goodness. Later Chester prevails on Polly to allow him to send her to the hospital for training as a nurse. While she is there Chester takes care of the family, though he is hard up, having sold none of his plays. On a visit to Polly's house he finds a fire started accidentally by one of the children. He is overcome by an explosion of the father's chemicals and is taken to the hospital, after risking his life in rescuing the children. One of the neighbors comes to the hospital and tells Polly she will care for the children if Polly will nurse Chester. Chester is made blind by the fire. Polly feels it is incumbent upon her to help him, so she secretly goes to the old aunt and tells her of her nephew's plight. She says that Chester has sworn not to touch a cent of hers. They hit upon the plan to tell Chester his aunt has suddenly died, leaving all her wealth to him. In this way he is brought to her old home with Polly as his nurse. Polly in the meantime has sent his finished play to a play-broker. A friend of Chester's, Pendleton, a famous oculist, comes rushing in his old boyish fashion and brings the newspaper speaking of the great new play, "Polly Put the Kettle On," and of the mystery surrounding the identity of the author. Of course, it is Chester's play, and he bemoans the fate that makes it impossible for him to see his first play. Pendleton suggests an operation. Polly takes care of the patient. Her sweet face is the first thing that greets Chester's restored vision. He is too overcome for words. But he finds the speech when he sees his aunt Johanna. Her spirit has been refined in the fires of adversity, and there is a happy reunion.

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Eva, wo bist du? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Dallas M. Fitzgerald

Confidence artist Flossie Golden attempts to fleece foolish but wealthy James Venable with a breach-of-promise suit. Venable's shrewd attorney, Richard Harding, outwits Flossie by proposing that she marry Venable and live on an allowance of $3,000 per year. Flossie is determined to get even with Harding for ruining her plans. In an attempt to con him, she poses as Innocence Page, but falls in love and marries him instead. Larry, Flossie's former accomplice, endeavors to blackmail her with her errant past, but Harding is already cognizant of the facts and Larry fails.

Dir: Harley Knoles

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

Jim McDonald, the foreman of a shipbuilding plant and head of the labor union, strives to combat the anarchistic propaganda being put forth by Klimoff, the leader of a Bolshevik gang whose goal is to disrupt the country with strikes and anarchy. Despite McDonald's efforts, a strike is called, resulting in chaos. McDonald's child is knocked down by runaway horses abandoned by their striking driver, and dies. Mob scenes take place in America, as well as in Russia. Eventually, the unrest is quelled with an armistice called between Capital and Labor for a year, during which time wages are to be increased to reflect the cost of living, and leaders are to work out a common plan for their mutual advantage. The strikers now realize that they have been pawns of the Bolsheviks and call off the strike, agreeing to the plan.

Dir: Edgar Jones

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

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

Traveling from the Latin Quarter of Paris to Brittany to seek inspiration for his painting, artist Paul Dachette finds it in the person of Mignon, an orphan who consents to pose for him. They fall in love, and when he leaves with his portrait completed, Paul gives her a ring and promises that he will always be true to her. Back in the Latin Quarter, Paul forgets Mignon and becomes enmeshed in the wild life that he had left behind. One day, Mignon reads a report of Paul's injury in an accident and, lacking the necessary funds to travel, walks all the way to Paris, collapsing on the doorstep of M. Blanc, the baker, who gives her shelter. Seeking Paul at his studio, Mignon finds him in the arm of models Mimi and Fifi. About to cast herself in the river in despair, Mignon is saved by François Gautier, the famous painter, who takes her home and treats her as a daughter. Upon Gautier's death, Mignon becomes a wealthy heiress and Paul, learning of her good fortune, goes to the Gautier mansion begging to see her. Mignon renounces their love and Paul despondently wanders through a blinding rainstorm. The next morning Paul is found near death. Paul's friends send for Mignon and at his bedside, she forgives him and agrees to marry him.

Dir: Douglas Gerrard

A wealthy old man is murdered after deciding to write his nephew out of his will. Fearing that he will be accused of the murder, his nephew takes flight, but with the help of a young woman whose life he saves, he sets out to try to track down the actual murderer.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

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

A simple country girl, brutally mistreated by her stepfather, awakens first the sympathy, then the love, of The Boy. The Spider, who lusts after The Girl, makes a bargain with the stepfather and takes her to the city where, kept prisoner, she is soon broken in health and spirit. Cast out and near death, she is taken in by The Boy. Following the demise of The Spider, The Boy takes her to church, where he prays, and after many hours she is restored to health.

Dir: Wilfred Lucas

Brian O'Farrell (Snowy Baker), is an English 'new chum' who takes a job at an Australian cattle station. He is teased by station hands because of his appearance (including spats and a monocle) but he soon impresses them with his skills at riding and boxing. The station manager, John MacDonald (Wilfred Lucas), takes O'Farrell to Sydney to meet his daughter Edith (Kathleen Key) who is working in the slums. Edith is kidnapped by criminals after witnessing a crime but O'Farrell rescues her. It is later revealed he is the owner of the station.

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.