The Definitive Watchlist Seeking the Same Brilliance as The Hawk's Trail: Cult Guide

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Mollie Andrews is a little New England school teacher who goes out to Rawhide, Montana, to "teach the west" its manners. She is of romantic nature, and the picturesque statue and habits of Dan Clark impress her deeply. She marries him. Clark is a bad man at heart. He treats Mollie brutally after the first blush of honeymooning; then slays one of his own kind, and escapes across the border to Canada. The year that passes teaches Mollie some things about mankind she never knew before. One was to appreciate Constable Calhoun, of the Royal Mounted Police, who occasionally called on her, as a real friend. But though their mutual regard for each other ripens finally into love, Mollie remains true to her husband. When he turns up again she exacts a promise from Calhoun, on the strength of his love for her, that he will not harm Clark until the latter strikes the first blow. The beast within Clank still runs amok, however, and he attacks the policeman, unjustly accusing him of undue attentions to Mollie. A struggle ensues in which Clark falls dead. Thus Mollie is released from her marriage vows, and her future brightens with Calhoun awaiting her.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Dan Stover is the captain of a harbor tug whose task is to keep ships away from a dangerous bar, lies to his wife Ellen about the nature of his work, saying that he remains in the harbor. One night, Stover is sent to rescue a ship on the harbor bar. He leaves without telling his wife; she awakens during a terrific storm and delivers a stillborn child. Stover's boss, a former sweetheart of Mrs. Stover's, encourages her to believe that Stover has been unfaithful, implicating Madge Barlow, the fiancée of Dan's mate, a boy who lost his life at sea. Believing the rumor, Ellen leaves on the next passenger ship just as Madge dies and Stover is bringing her baby home. The ship crashes on the harbor bar, Dan goes to the rescue, he admits the truth about his job, and they find happiness with the adopted baby.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

When Perry Blair's foreman fires him for fighting, fight promoter Charles Dunham hires him and takes him east to enter the boxing ring. Perry becomes a star boxer but breaks his contract and returns home when he is ordered to fight a crooked match. Sometime later Dunham again comes west and engages Perry to fight one more contest on a winner-take-all basis. He wins the fight and Cecil Manners, who has believed him to be a coward.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

James Manning comes to Chicago to achieve his fortune. Tug Wilson offers him a job running errands, then frightens him into taking a steady position when James realizes he is involved with opium smugglers. Milly Amory a ruse for the crooks, falls in love with Manning, but Manning has a sweetheart back home, Mary Slocum, and she comes to search for him. To get rid of the girl, Milly poses as a medium and warns her away, until Manning finds out and exposes her tricks to Mary, fights for his life with Wilson, who is killed by Milly, and returns to Harmony, Illinois with Mary.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Tex Hartwell comes to the aid of an old cobbler by protecting him from the blows and insults of Jim Mackey, a skinflint banker. Mackey orders his hired guns to get Tex, but Tex is too quick for them. On the strength of his fast draw, Tex is hired as a trail rider by Dee Winch, being given the job of keeping diseased cattle off Winch's grasslands. Mackey's men later stampede a herd of infected cattle onto Winch's land, and Tex is fired in disgrace. Fanny Goodnight informs Tex that Mackey is the leader of the cattle runners, and Tex forces him to sign a confession to that effect. The old cobbler later kills Mackey, Tex is cleared with the cattlemen, and he and Fanny decide to ride a trail of their own together.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Little Girl Next Door perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Little six-year-old Sadie O'Malley, a child of the tenement district, has a vision of heaven awakened within her by the teaching of a settlement worker, so when she sees a handsome limousine in front of the settlement laundry near her home she thinks it is a heavenly chariot, climbs into a clothes hamper in the interior of the car and is whisked away to the home of Mrs. Welland Riche. The latter has left earlier in the day on a trip, so when Sadie and. her dog, George Washington Square, who has been her companion in the hamper trip, are dumped down the clothes chute of the Riche home while concealed in the basket, they find easy access to the upper regions of the mansion and then, indeed, Sadie thinks she is in heaven. Sadie soon is discovered by the servants, but they believe she is just another of Mrs. Riche's fads when she tells them she is there to stay. Believing Mrs. Riche as desiring that the best of care be given the child, Sadie is dressed in rich garments and is much at home until Mrs. Riche returns. While the servants' explanations have been made, Mrs. Riche, in the meantime having been won over by the child's beauty and sweet manners, decides Sadie may remain. But the tenement child's happiness is short-lived when George Washington Square appears upon the scene. Mrs. Riche orders that the pup be removed and tells Sadie that, instead, she can play with the Riche collection of Poms. Not so for Sadie. She informs the wealthy matron that she wouldn't give up George Washington Square for all the heavens and that if G.W.S. cannot remain she will go. So hugging her doggie close to her she returns to her worried mother with the explanation, "I have been to heaven, but they sent me home because they didn't like my dog."

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Bob Cross is a newspaper reporter who, in trailing "Painter" Paul, a notorious crook, gets wind of a plot to kidnap Martha Steadman. The girl is grandniece of a millionaire named Biddle. Bob invades the Biddle premises, just in time to discover the body of Mr. Biddle after he has been murdered by his business associate, named Jules Fernol, who is in reality leader of a gang of crooks. Fernol has embezzled Martha's fortune and is trying to cover up one crime by committing another. Bob is so like the dead man's son, Dick Biddle, that the gangsters charge the crime to him, thinking to get him out of the way. Bob, realizing that he has been mistaken for another, allows himself to be sent to jail, but later, through collusion with the police, makes a getaway. He then begins an effort to rescue the girl from her danger and find the real murderer of Biddle.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Hugh Whittaker believes he is terminally ill, and, as an act of mercy, weds a young woman named Mary, who has been deserted by her lover. He travels to Europe, recovers his health, and returns to New York City, where he meets and falls in love with musical star Sara Law, unaware that she is actually his wife. Sara is abducted by kidnappers and Hugh undertakes a harrowing rescue before discovering her true identity.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Tom Bain was born with a tongue so glib that his parents, early in his career, predicted he would be a second Chauncey Depew. In college it developed until he was capable of selling Liberty Bonds in a poor house. But Tom was ambitious to be an inventor and so built a tunneling machine that "would start at one side of a mountain and propel itself through to the other without man's assistance." His gift of gab sold the rights to the machine to a big manufacturing firm, but they soon found it worthless and instead of building machines, Tom was placed on the payroll as a salesman. And then, after an exciting series of adventures, Tom finally wins the hand of Peggy, whom he had met and courted in his college days. The wedding occurs in a hospital where the couple meet accidentally as patients.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Real life outlaw Al Jennings tells a "real" story about how he came to the aid of a woman who was abused by her alcoholic husband.