The Cult Collection Comparable to the Style of The Hands of Orlac: ...

Dir: Ewald André Dupont

Fred Hopkins, a jeweler's assistant, replaces the pearl necklace Lord Reading bought as a wedding present with a worthless imitation. A hunt begins, which the flower seller Rahel and the jumping jack dealer David are able to end by finding the jewelry. Hopkins, who is convicted, then commits suicide for fear of being punished with poison.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

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

Dave Henderson, an orphan who has become the beneficiary of a rich man's will, falls in with race-track crooks Martin Tydeman and Bokky Sharvan who bilk him out of his $100,000 inheritance. In retaliation, Dave steals the money from Tydeman's safe, but is caught and sentenced to five years in jail. In prison, Dave becomes friendly with Millman, who is about to be released, and reveals the money's hiding place to him, arranging to rendezvous at the end of Dave's term. Once released, Dave is hounded by members of Tydeman's gang as well as the police, who are waiting for him to retrieve his bounty. While taking refuge at the house of Capriano, an old bomb maker, Dave falls in love with the old man's daughter Teresa. However, Capriano sets a trap for Dave, who awakens in a drugged state to find the $100,000 missing. With the help of Millman and Teresa, Dave recovers the money, turns it over to the police and resolves to go straight.

Dir: Dallas M. Fitzgerald

Edith Sturgis, the daughter of a judge, returns from studies abroad to find her widowed father remarried. The new Mrs. Sturgis does not reveal that she has a son Dick, once unjustly jailed by Judge Sturgis, but now working as a reporter while still maintaining an association with the Brownlow gang. Quarrelling with her stepmother, Edith leaves home, meets Dick and falls in love. While Dr. and Mrs. Allen (whom Edith met on the steamer) are visiting in the Sturgis home, the doctor's valuable radium is stolen from the safe, and Judge Sturgis is found murdered. Dick, though with Edith at the time, is accused of the crime. Finally, an old shoemaker confesses that he entered the house to steal the radium, with which to cure his crippled son, and witnessed the judge's slaying by the Brownlow gang. Dick is freed and finds happiness with Edith, and the doctor helps the crippled boy.

Dir: Robert Wiene

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

After years travelling the world, Count Greven returns home with the art treasures he has collected. But his disposition has altered dramatically and he is a troubled man. Will he suffer alone or can he be helped and freed from this malady?

Dir: Fred Niblo

Roger Moran, a member of a gang of thieves headed by Mike Wilson, is released from prison after having served a two-year sentence. He has learned his lesson and vows to leave his life of crime, but his girlfriend Betty Palmer--also a member of the gang--won't leave "the false road". Roger finally leaves her and finds a job with a sympathetic banker, Joshua Starbuck. However, one day the bank is broken into and the contents of the safe are stolen, and it turns out that the culprits are two members of Roger's old gang. He tracks them to New York and convinces them that he wants to get back into the gang, in order to find where they're keeping the money. However, matters don't quite go as Roger had planned and Betty comes back into his life.

Dir: Jack Conway

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

Lucy Hegan, the proprietor of a settlement house for the poor, is engaged to Hugh Gordon, the head of a large pharmaceutical and chemical firm who, unknown to Lucy, is also the ringleader of a powerful drug and white slave operation in the Chinese quarter. While conducting an investigation into illicit drug traffic for his paper, newspaper reporter Allan Martin meets Lucy and falls in love with her. In the course of her work, Lucy has befriended reformed crook Monk Mullen and his mother, and when Monk learns that she is to marry Gordon, the ex-crook provides Allan with proof of Gordon's underworld drug trafficking. Armed with his information, Allan leads a raid on Gordon's headquarters, and in the ensuing battle, the drug king is killed by his henchman, Ling Choo Fang, thus freeing Lucy to marry her young reporter.

Dir: George Beranger

Writer Frank Theydon goes undercover to research the criminal activity in New York City's Chinatown.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

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

Desperate because a wealthy man has reduced her father to thievery, Rhoda agrees to rob the poor box of the church, although she finds the act abhorrent. During the robbery, Rhoda's father is shot and dies in the priests's arms, seeking absolution, while the man who ruined him looks on. Penitent, the man appoints Rhoda as his representative to return the ill-gotten gains to those he has robbed. Rhoda enters the underworld as an angel of mercy, gaining the sobriquet of "The White Moll." After many thrilling escapades, she brings The Dangler, the leader of a gang of crooks, to justice, saves others from death and finally wins The Pug, the man of her choice.

Dir: Joseph Henabery

When respectable Lloyd Norwood becomes infatuated with moll Goldie Lewis, he falls into a life of debasement that results in his being accused of the murder of gangland henchman Joe the Swell. Norwood's wife Mary, convinced of her husband's innocence, determines to clear his name. Disguising herself as a vamp and infiltrating the underworld, Mary extracts a confession from the real murderer, Pussyfoot Connor, whom she dupes into believing that he sees the ghost of the murdered man. Later, to have witnesses to the story, Mary takes a midnight dinner with gang leader Jack Frost, arousing the jealousy of Connor, who enters and accuses Frost of instigating the murder. The police, alerted to the scheme, rush in and arrest the criminals. Finally, a phone call to the prison warden results in Norwood's release as a wiser man.

Dir: Robert Wiene

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.