The Recommended Vault Deeply Connected to The Great Lover: Cult Guide

Dir: Frank Lloyd

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Frank Lloyd

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

Nell, a beautiful mountain girl, is a member of the Serviss family, rivals of the neighboring Rutherford family. Nell is engaged to Jim Serviss, who is the head of their clan, but when, by accident, she meets a stranger who has come to stay with the Rutherfords, they become infatuated. The stranger spends much of his time examining and chipping away at rocks, causing an intense curiosity among the mountaineers, who suspect that he is a "revenuer." When Nell learns that the stranger is searching for radium, she shows him a deposit rich in ore located near the Serviss still. On the night of a big dance, the Serviss still is burned by revenue officers and the mountain people are convinced that the stranger is to blame. Nell rushes to the Rutherford cabin to warn the stranger who is revealed to be Rolf Rutherford. When Jim arrives, Nell saves Rolf's life by telling Jim that she will marry the stranger. Soon after Jim leaves, however, Nell goes after him and admits that it is only he who she loves and that she lied to save him from committing murder.

Dir: Frank Lloyd

The true story of the famed British actor David Garrick and his love for Ada Ingot.

Dir: Frank Lloyd

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

Florence Brent is the daughter of Bennington Brent, who runs a successful laundry business. Florence's childhood friend, John Oglesby, is a Congressman. When Florence visits her friend, Eleanor Williamson, in Washington D.C., she meets Eleanor's fiancé, who is a Count. The Duke of Buritz, a countryman of the Count, tries to corrupt Oglesby for political reasons. Meanwhile, the Count breaks his engagement to Eleanor, having become enamored of Florence. Oglesby eventually exposes the duplicity of the Count and Duke.

Dir: Frank Lloyd

To obtain an increase in his income from his wealthy uncle, Charles Shackleton must stop his wild bachelor ways and marry. Charles proposes to Lucy Norton, but her father refuses his permission. Undaunted, Charles tells his uncle he has married and receives his increased allowance. A year later the uncle announces an upcoming visit, and Charles begins a frantic search for a temporary wife, offering Jane, the maid, five hundred dollars to play the part of Mrs. Shackleton. Secretly married to William, the butler, Jane undertakes the role without her husband's knowledge, causing him much confusion and jealousy. When the uncle demands to see "the baby," Jane snatches one from an unsuspecting washerwoman, who later catches the uncle with her child and calls the police on him. Further complications lead to Charles' pleading proposal to Lucy and then finally to the truth, which leaves everyone satisfied.

Dir: Frank Lloyd

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

After a spectacular college football career, John Harkless leaves the university to pursue a place in Indiana politics. He buys the failing Plattville Herald and, using the newspaper to expose various illegal activities, sets out to rid the county of all mobsters and corrupt officials. When a traveling circus comes to town, he uncovers a crooked gambling ring and drives away the fleecers. That night, returning from his sweetheart's house, he is badly beaten and left for dead by a gang of men. Believing that John has been murdered, vigilantes gather to avenge his death, but the identity of the perpetrators is in question. The evidence finally points to the White Caps, a band of thugs allied with Rodney McCune, a notorious local politician opposing John in an upcoming Congressional race. Before the angry mob clashes with the White Caps, John is located in a hospital emergency room. While he recovers, his girlfriend, Helen Sherwood, takes over the newspaper and cleverly concocts a way for John to win the election.

Dir: Frank Lloyd

After her parents separate, young Violet Dale's father takes her to Alaska. Although he tries to protect her from the sordidness of life in a lawless town, Violet must resort to working in a dance hall after he is killed after being caught cheating at cards. Despite her circumstances, Violet remains virtuous and earns the respect and admiration of the dance-hall clientele. Frank Carson, a young man who has come to Alaska to seek his fortune, is attracted to Violet and asks her to marry him. When he shows her a portrait of his mother, Violet sees that it is a duplicate of a portrait she has of her own mother. Now realizing that Frank is her own brother, she refuses his proposal but does not tell him why. Some time later, Frank receives word that his mother is seriously ill and needs an expensive operation that she cannot afford. Desperate to help, Violet holds an auction at the dance hall to offer herself to the highest bidder. Rev. David Cromwell, a kind man who is in love with Violet and knows her predicament, makes the winning bid of $6,000, although he does not have the money. Dance-hall owner Buck, who is jealous of David's influence over the community, decides to lend him the money for three months on the condition that if David does not pay, he will belong to Buck for 10 years. David eventually obtains the money and wins Violet's love.

Dir: Frank Lloyd

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

Returning home to find that his sister has died after being abducted and violated by an unscrupulous man, sailor Larry Smith ships out as mate with Captain Sutton. After an altercation with the captain, Larry leaves the ship at a South Sea port where he meets and falls in love with Violet North, a woman of questionable reputation who is the mistress of millionaire Lewis. Larry proposes, but Violet sails with Lewis anyway. Sutton also sets sail, leaving behind inveterate drunk Logan, who informs Larry that Sutton was the man responsible for his sister's death. Sometime later, Lewis' yacht is wrecked and Violet is cast upon an island. Sutton picks her up and tries to sell her to the natives as punishment for resisting his advances, but Larry rescues her and kills Sutton. His sister thus avenged, Larry marries Violet and settles down.

Dir: Frank Lloyd

Jean Valjean, a good and decent man who has committed a minor crime, is imprisoned but escapes. He is pursued thereafter for years by Javert, the cruel and implacable arm of the law.

Dir: Frank Lloyd

Rev. Dr. Penfield Sturgis, of fashionable St. Martins-in-the-Lane, finds himself face to face with Jane Bartlett, a grand opera prima donna whose opera he has denounced on grounds of morality, and who comes to his very vestry room to make him "eat his sermon word for word." Out of the encounter a strange acquaintance develops, Jane Bartlett interested through vindictive reasons, the rector through the challenge to his church. She prevails upon him to visit the notorious opera, which but deepens his previous convictions, but meanwhile he discovers a surprising humanity in the woman herself. Just as it is beginning to dawn upon him that maybe he takes himself a shade too seriously, word comes that the Mayor has closed "Zaporah" on the strength of his own condemnatory sermon. Repentant, Sturgis decides to apologize in an open letter to the newspapers, at which his vestry and congregation, already perturbed by the ascendancy of the Bartlett woman, are up in arms. To preserve her dignity the young rector offers to marry her, and she accepts him, thus at last making him "eat his sermon word for word," as she had set out to do. But her vanity appeased, Jane Bartlett proceeds to make peace between her young rector and Georgine Darigal, daughter of the rector emeritus and formerly his fiancée, and the reconciliation assured, Jane Bartlett gracefully withdraws.