The Essential Watchlist that Capture the Essence of The Golden Gall...

Dir: Paul Scardon

A doctor transplants the brain of a girl who is in love with him into a girl he is in love with.

Dir: Paul Scardon

After landing a big "haul," Dave Darcey, a crook, decides to spend part of his booty by holding a dance for his followers. Paddy Burns, leader of a rival faction, decides to settle an old score with Dave by breaking up the affair. On the night of the dance he goes at the head of his gang with the avowed intention to "get" Dave. In the struggle, Dave shoots Paddy and makes good his escape. He is seen by Phillip Brenton, the son of the owner of the steel works, who thinks he is there to rob the house and demands an explanation, Dave explains the whole affair to him, and Phillip gives him a chance to make good by giving him a job in the steel plant. Phillip's father is not so sure of Dave's reformation, and tests him by leaving a large roll of bills exposed. Dave sees the money and a struggle with his other self follows. The new Dave comes out the winner and he returns the money. The Baroness Von Ehrenstein, a secret agent for a foreign government, learns that the Benton Steel Works have accepted a huge war order for a nation hostile to her own. She gets permission from Phillip to visit the plant on the pretext of getting local color for a novel she is writing. Phillip personally guides her and her accomplices through the plant and they make a thorough study of the place. Phillip has become greatly interested in the Baroness and is neglecting his fiancée, Grace. The latter notices his continued absence and asks Dave the cause. The latter, in order to protect Phillip, tells her that it is business. Dave, suspicious of the Baroness, warns Phillip of her and his young employer resents his interference and discharges him. While Phillip is in a drunken stupor, the Baroness steals his office keys from him and gives them to her confederates who hasten to the steel works. Suspicious of their actions, Dave follows them and sees them plant bombs in the factory. He tries to foil them and a fight follows. Dave is finally subdued and is left, bound hand and foot, by the burning bombs. He rolls himself over to a saw and works frantically till he severs his bonds. He then starts to stamp out the fuses of the bombs, but one of them explodes and he is caught in the wreckage. The watchman, having seen part of the struggle, follows the conspirators. The police arrive at the scene and are closely followed by Phillip and his father. The latter accuses Dave of attempting to destroy his plant, and also charges him with the murder of Paddy Burns. The watchman returns with the real culprits and tells the true story, thus clearing Dave of guilt. One of the policemen then tell Dave that he need not fear of trial for murder, as Paddy is still alive, having been only slightly injured by the shot. Dave is acquitted of the charge of assault which he had to answer to for the shooting and returns to a better job with the Benton Steel Works. Phillip and Grace are reunited.

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

Dir: Paul Scardon

Mr. Curtis returns to his Alma mater and regales students with stories about the Civil War, which ended fifty years before. He tells them about his college friends, Dick Randolph and Watkins, who were at first rivals for Marian - who far preferred Dick - and then rivals on the battlefield. Watkins, a Union officer, captured Dick, a Confederate, but Marian helped her sweetheart escape. Watkins and Dick were then wounded in the same battle and died in each other's arms after asserting their friendship and forgetting their past differences. Back in the present, an aged Marian joins the group. She dies while listening to Mr. Curtis, and fifty years after she and Dick had been lovers in the flesh, her spirit goes to join his.

Dir: Paul Scardon

Polly Biggs helps care for her younger brother and sisters, while her widowed mother works hard as a seamstress to earn a living. Mayor Hoadley, Mrs. Biggs' brother, a crooked politician, calls to sympathize with her on the death of her husband, and Polly takes a dislike to him. Within a short time Mrs. Biggs dies and for the sake of appearances, Hoadley and his wife take the children to live with them. Oxmore, a reform candidate, opposes Hoadley's re-election. His son John, an artist, meets Polly and calls on her at the Hoadley mansion, where he saves her from the advances of Hawkins, a ward boss who "has something" on Hoadley. Hawkins threatens to "get" John for his interference, and the threat is heard by Hoadley. Polly and the children are treated so badly that they run away to the poorhouse, which later burns; Polly saves the children, and they wander to a bungalow in the woods, John, who owns the bungalow, finds them there, and permits them to stay all night. During the night Hoadley visits Hawkins and kills him in self-defense, using a cane that John has inadvertently left at his house, when John goes to town he is arrested. Polly and the children are his only alibi, and he cannot tell of Polly's presence. The evidence is strong against him, and if he is convicted his father will lose the election. Polly, who has been sent away by Hoadley, returns in time to straighten matters.

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

Dir: Paul Scardon

Famous architect Harrison Stuart is taken over with alcoholism and begins living in flop houses, he is saved by Billy Lane, a young architect who has always admired the older man. Lane reunites Harrison with his family and falls in love with Harrison's daughter. After announcing his engagement to her, however, Lane himself becomes an alcoholic when another woman, jealous of his fiancée, spikes his punch and tricks him into heavy drinking. Then Harrison gives in to his old habit but before submitting completely, he kills himself. The suicide brings Lane to his senses; he swears off drinking and returns to Harrison's daughter.

Dir: Paul Scardon

The Hawk, Count George De Dazetta, preys upon society with the aid of his beautiful wife. She seems to be in love with a young French nobleman, who is the real aggressor in this triangle. De Dazetta finds that the young nobleman's love for his wife is changing her for the better, that she begins to abhor his gambling profession and his inroads upon society. However, he continues to use her beauty as a lure to his gaming tables and wins heavily. In the meantime the nobleman breaks with a young woman aristocrat whom his mother wishes him to wed. During a transaction with an American from whom he borrows money to repay his gaming losses to De Dazetta the nobleman learns of the Hawk's love for his wife, and that she is helping her husband to win. Marina, the wife, washes her hands of the whole earning enterprise and is accused of infidelity by her husband, who tried to kill the nobleman. Failing, he leaves, and the nobleman protects the wife while attempting to locate the gambler and get his consent to a divorce. Finally this is effected, and Marina herself pleads for the divorce, that is until she learns that De Dazetta is now penniless, having lavished his every cent upon her and really loves her, and has consented to give her up only because he thinks it best for her future welfare. Her womanhood comes to the surface and she goes to him, renouncing the nobleman, her love for the latter having been without sin throughout.

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

Dir: Paul Scardon

Young Hugh Jordan, the nephew of the man who robbed the Winthrop children, is earning his living out west when he comes into the millions of his thieving old uncle. Hugh goes east and settles down to a life of ease and enjoyment. He is entertaining a stag party at his home when the butler announces the arrival of the Misses Winthrop. A letter left by their father told them to go to Hugh Jordon, as he held a mining claim in trust for them. Penelope, the oldest girl, shows the letter to Hugh and he invites the orphans to remain until he has investigated the matter. It is all plain sailing after that, and Hugh marries Penelope and the fortune is kept in the family. There is a slight underplot involving a handsome widow, who tries to capture Hugh, and a most despicable specimen of the wealthy class who tries to ruin Penelope.

Dir: Paul Scardon

Stanley Ormsby, a dramatic critic, runs foul of an author and dramatic company who have just put on a new play which he announces as "rotten." On his way home from the play, after waiving aside the author's pleas for a merciful criticism, his adventures begin. He interferes between a couple quarreling on the street and is rebuffed. Later he gets an assignment from his editor to go to a certain apartment house to interview a singer. Entering the place he is diverted from his mission by a woman falling apparently dead at his feet, before the door of Apartment 29. Carrying her inside he finds her to be the woman of the quarrel, and there finds also her husband shot. There alone, he realizes suddenly that circumstances are against him and wishes to flee. The playwright, who lives in the same building, offers refuge, but in return asks a large sum of money, which Ormsby is only too glad to give. A girl in the playwright's apartment hides him while the police search the place. He has a dozen hairbreadth escapes and is finally shocked as the playwright demands a bribe to keep him hidden. Finally Ormsby escapes from the house with the girl, only to run into a nest of thugs, who attack him. He is then rescued by the very police, who then charge him with murder, after which...well, it winds up all right, but it was a hair-raising experience, mates.

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

Dir: Paul Scardon

Gifted with charm of manner and a prepossessing appearance, Arsene Lupin, instead of employing his talents along legitimate lines, prefers to match his wits against those of the French police, with the result that he becomes the most celebrated crook of his time. Always after big game, he moves in the most exclusive circles of French society, and takes advantage of an opportunity to pass himself off as the Duke de Charmerace. Assuming the Duke's title and estates, he sets about the delicate task of stealing the rare works of art and the enormously valuable jewels belonging to a M. Guernay-Martin. As the first step in this direction he becomes engaged to Germaine, Guernay-Martin's daughter. Under the cloak of their hospitality he commits a series of audacious robberies, stealing old masters off the walls and always signing his name on the wallpaper to show he committed the theft. The distracted art collector calls in Guerchard, the shrewdest detective in Paris, but even under the nose of this sleuth, the thefts continue as before. Germaine's secretary, Sonla Kritchnoff, attracts more than the passing attention of Lupin and before he has finished with the Guernay-Martins he finds himself in love with her. Guerchard finally draws the net of suspicion so closely about Lupin that the latter is forced to leave the Guernay-Martin home and hide in his own apartment. Just before leaving he discovers that Sonia is also a thief, and the shock of this knowledge determines him to lead a straight life thereafter and take her along with him. Though Guerchard trails him to his hiding place he makes use of an ingenious concealed elevator and at the last exciting moment, slips from between the detective's fingers and escapes with Sonia to safety.

Dir: Paul Scardon

Lawler, a dishonest promoter, has Winton in his power, the latter believing that he has killed Yawkey, Lawler's partner. For his silence, Lawler demands the hand of Winton's daughter Josephine. Meanwhile, Billy Mountain, a man whom Lawler has swindled, arrives and, disguised by a heavy beard, interests his old enemy in a proposition. He invites Lawler on his yacht and makes him a prisoner. Josephine, fearing that Lawler will expose her father, accompanies them when they sail for a South American country involved in a revolution. When they land, Josephine frees Lawler, who joins the forces of the government. Billy and his partner, allied with the revolutionaries, plan an attack on the president and his forces. In the battle, Billy is captured and sentenced to death, but when the tide turns in favor of the revolutionaries, he escapes. With the appearance of Yawkey, Josephine is freed from Lawler's power and begins life anew with Billy.