Underground Favorites Mirroring the Impact of The Heart of Humanity: Cult Guide

Dir: Allen Holubar

Rebelling against a forced engagement to Schuyler, Victoria falls in love with young attorney David Courtney and marries him. At first they are happy, but when David is drawn into political corruption and accepts the attentions of other women, she tries to compete with them, then denounces him. When he runs for U.S. Senator, she is nominated as a dark-horse candidate against him and wins. He is indicted for bribery during the campaign and while in prison is redeemed through her visits. In each crisis Victoria dreams of the women of corresponding ages: the stone age, the age of chivalry, Amazons and their supremacy over men, the life of debauchery in the Roman era, and the dawn of Christianity in her dream of David as Constantine and herself as a Christian slave who converts the pagan world.

Dir: Allen Holubar

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

After Ralph Carter steals $50,000 from the bank where he is employed, his wife Gloria phones bank official Jerome Harris, a wealthy man who has loved her for years, and is told that the charges against Ralph will be dropped if Gloria will offer herself as security against her husband's "loan." Accordingly, she moves into Jerome's house but rebuffs his advances, and soon he leaves her in peace. When Ralph, who has been seen in the company of chorus girls, angrily demands money from Gloria, Jerome appears and orders him from the house. Because of the covert dealings of Meyer, Jerome's secretary and a German spy, Jerome nears financial ruin, which moves Gloria to pity. Having learned of Meyer's duplicity, she confronts the spy, and as they struggle, Ralph enters and is killed. Meyer is arrested, and Gloria realizes her great love for Jerome.

Dir: Allen Holubar

Aurora Meredith, the village blacksmith's eldest daughter, is blessed with a natural singing voice. One day, wealthy New Yorker Mrs. Thorndyke visits Aurora's village and, upon hearing the girl sing in the church choir, is so impressed with her ability that she sends her abroad to study. At the end of her third year of studies, Aurora's benefactress dies, and she is forced to accept the aid of Juliantimo, an Italian admirer. After attaining great fame as a singer, Aurora returns to America to escape her Italian admirer's attentions and is awarded the starring role in a new opera. Juliantimo follows her, though, and on opening night he positions himself in a box above the stage, shoots Aurora, and kills himself. She recovers, but loses her voice, and with the loss of her talents, her friends desert her. Lonely, she returns home, where she is welcomed by her family and her childhood sweetheart Phineas Scudder. The traumatic death of Aurora's mother restores her singing voice, but she finally realizes that true love comes but once to every woman, and she chooses to stay in the village as Phineas' wife.

Dir: Allen Holubar

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Once to Every Woman perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Genevra Frinch, the pretty daughter of Major French, is brought up in a strict environment. Her nature revolts. She wants freedom. A book, entitled "How to Attract the Opposite Sex," falls in her hands, she reads it and absorbs some of its teachings. Lawrence Tabor, who is counted as one of the few friends of her father, visits them. Parrot-like, she practices some of the book's theories on him, and he becomes fascinated with her. After several secret meetings, Genevra asks Lawrence if he will take her as his wife. He consents, and they get married. Shortly afterward she tells her husband she married him to save herself from her prison of a home, and that she is going to be free and act as she pleases. She meets Jack Lanchome, an idler, whose only occupation is to fascinate women, and demands of her husband to be introduced to him. Lawrence refuses, stating that he will not insult her by introducing her to such a man. Her desire to meet him now becomes the stronger. She invites him to the house. After several meetings Lanchome arranges a little supper in a café of bad reputation. After dinner he locks the door and assaults her. Lawrence gets there just in time to save her from the villain's hands. Genevra begs her husband to take her home, promising that in the future she will disobey him no more. Next day Lanchome appears in Lawrence's office. The latter hands him a check, but he refuses to accept it, saying that that was the first good act he has ever done in his life, and that he will accept no pay for it. Further, that he has enlisted in the army to fight in France, intending to keep to the straight path. Genevra is ignorant of the frame-up, but well cured and happy with her husband. Motion Picture News, September 28, 1918

Dir: Allen Holubar

The story of twin sisters, one raised in Russia, the other in America, and how their lives diverge and re-entangle.

Dir: Allen Holubar

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

When, after three years of active service, ace detective Jerry Brennon is ordered by his doctor to take a rest, Senator Reed, Jerry's staunch supporter since he arrested two crooks burglarizing the Reed home, prevails upon the detective to stay at his cabin in the mountains. Warned that the cabin is haunted, Jerry's suspicion is aroused when a bullet whizzes past his head. While searching the cabin, Jerry discovers a secret door that conceals a sobbing Helen Reed, who has been missing since her refusal to marry Schuyler Hastings. Learning that Helen has been kidnapped, Jerry drives to the village, enlists the aid of the sheriff and rushes back in time to arrest the kidnappers when they return to the cabin. Caught in the act, Helen's abductors admit that they were hired by Schuyler, who was planning to rescue Helen in a ploy to win her love. The Reeds are overjoyed to have their daughter back, and Jerry makes their happiness complete when he proposes to Helen.

Dir: Allen Holubar

The enemy's success in smuggling a spy through the lines places the Stratiria armies in a dangerous position. The spy is intercepted and killed by Pettrus Baariot, the telegraph operator, who then succeeds in sending a message that saves the Stratiria forces from defeat. For his heroism, Pettrus is promised a promotion, but after his recovery from his severe wounds, he is humiliated through the treachery of Danick Rysson, a government official who desires to marry Floria Natarre, Pettrus' beloved. Bitter, Pettrus listens to the overtures of one of the enemy and steals the new telegraph code. Soon after Pettrus is again made an ardent supporter of his country when he is awarded his promotion. He then follows the spy to the frontier and recovers the crucial document.

Dir: Allen Holubar

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

Brothers James and Allen Mornington are both addicted to cocaine and both believe that their addiction is caused by a hereditary failing. James rises to the position of judge, but when Allen is brought into his court on drug charges, James resigns. The two brothers, along with James's daughter, Hilda, then retire to the country to fight their desire for drugs. Although James is under a doctor's care for his habit, Allen continues to supply his brother with cocaine. The doctor discovers this and in an argument is shot and killed by Allen. The murder snaps James's mind and Hilda, believing that her father is guilty, assumes the blame for the crime. She is convicted and sentenced to be hanged when the doctor's assistant, Franklin Shirley, comes to her aid. Shirley induces his friend, criminologist Mortimer Gildane, to take Hilda's case, and Gildane succeeds in extracting a confession from Allen. Acquitted of the crime, Hilda still fears falling heir to her family's predilection towards drugs, until Franklin dispels her apprehensions and she agrees to marry him.

Dir: Allen Holubar

Through circumstantial evidence, Yvonne Desmarest is branded by Judge Duroacher as the "other woman" in a sensational murder case. She retreats to her father's hunting lodge near Hudson Bay, Canada, where she meets Scarborough, an Indian girl, and Émile (an old trapper who becomes her protector). Realizing his error, Duroacher follows Yvonne, thus precipitating a series of events in which the judge is suspected of murdering Scarborough, and Émile injures Duroacher out of jealousy. Yvonne's name is cleared, as is that of Émile, who has been sought for many years on a murder charge. Yvonne and Duroacher realize their love for each other.

Dir: Allen Holubar

Two soldiers are in love with the same woman. Before they go off to war, she marries one of them, who turns out to be a coward in battle. The other soldier, believing that his rival has been killed, takes it upon himself to protect the man's reputation, only to find out that he isn't dead after all.