Must-Watch List Comparable to the Style of The Heart of the North: ...

Dir: Edward Dillon

Her education in a French convent school completed, plain Justine Spencer returns to New York. There she is shocked to discover that her mother Dodo is a flamboyant musical comedy actress with many male admirers. Dodo, on the other hand, is dismayed to find Justine priggish and dowdy. One of Dodo's suitors is Billy Ferris, who, in a fit of jealousy, murders her and slays himself. Out of pity, Cosmo Spotiswood, another admirer of Dodo, marries Justine, but soon tires of his platonic marriage and leaves for Europe. Upon his return, Cosmo finds Justine transformed. Under the tutelage of Dodo's maid Loti, she has bobbed her hair and donned fashionable apparel. Thus changed, Justine is surrounded by suitors. Stung by jealousy, Cosmo falls in love with his sophisticated wife.

Dir: Tod Browning

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

Achmet Bey, a Turkish chieftain, catches one of his many wives in adultery and murders her lover. Throwing aside the cuckolding wife, he abducts his harem an innocent girl. However, a brave American who loves her comes to her rescue.

Dir: Charles Horan

While working as a flower girl in Devlin Maddox's nightclub, Nellie Vaughan meets wealthy young Pelton Van Teel and falls in love. Maddox, desirous of using Nellie to blackmail Van Teel, spreads a rumor that she is his mistress. This makes Nellie uncomfortable, and she demands that Van Teel marry her immediately, to which he agrees. Meanwhile, Van Teel has been losing money gambling to Maddox, who threatens to break up the marriage by producing a worthless check that the young husband has written. Venturing to Maddox's apartment for a showdown, Nellie pulls a gun and demands the check, accidentally shooting Maddox when he throws a lamp at her. Maddox plans to charge Nellie with assault, but when the police arrive, his butler, actually a detective employed by the elder Van Teel, exposes Maddox, who is then arrested, clearing the path for the couple's happiness.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Man's Plaything perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A lady marries a horse trainer but withholds herself until her crippled brother is cured.

Dir: Harry Revier

A ranch foreman innocently works for a crooked horse dealer. When he discovers the truth about his boss, and about the boss's plans to rob a young woman, the foreman quits his job and offers his services to the young woman. The task she presents him is to rescue her herd of Kentucky thoroughbred horses from the crooked dealer's bandits.

Dir: Harry Revier

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

Through a real estate purchase Daniel Gaynor acquires all rights in the waterway leading from Moose River to the mill. The original owner has never made use of his rights, but Gaynor, whose one thought is to get power, refuses to allow logs to be floated down the river running through his property. The men resent this injustice, and there is a fight between Gaynor and Bill Jackson, Bill representing the lumbermen. The ruthless way in which Gaynor deals with the men loses for him the sympathy of his one friend, Mary Alden, a widowed school teacher, with whom he is in love. The loggers are forced to sell their output to Gaynor, getting a poorer price for it than ever before. He in turn sells it to the ship company in the city at a lower figure than they have ever paid. Gaynor has had to get the assistance of the sheriff and deputies to protect his interests, and he has won the victory only after many brutal fights. Delighted with Gaynor's executive ability, the firm offers him the position of general manager, at a large salary, and he goes to the city. Mary Alden refuses to accompany him as his wife, for she does not believe that happiness can be built on a foundation of injustice. At the shipyards Gaynor continues in the high-handed way he has begun. He cuts wages, speeds up the work of the men to a cruel degree, and in other ways makes himself a tyrant. So successful is he that in ten years' time he is president of the company. Bessie Alden, Mary's daughter, comes to the city to seek her fortune. She meets Dick Grant, who is employed in the office of the ship building firm, and they are instantly attracted to each other. They are married, and Dick goes to Gaynor and asks for a raise in salary. It is refused. Dick's old grandmother falls ill, and he finds his added responsibilities more than he can manage. A child is born, and Dick is at his wit's end to provide comforts for the child and Bessie. About this time Gaynor's health fails and he is obliged to go to the woods to recuperate. This facilitates the carrying out of the plan that has tempted Dick, and he takes a certain sum out of the cash box each week, telling Bessie that Gaynor has increased his salary. Returning to his old home, Gaynor finds himself thoroughly hated. He is beaten and thrown into the river, but is rescued by Mary. He begins to realize that his power has not brought him the real things in life. Dick's theft is discovered by his superior in the office, and reported to Gaynor on his return. He goes to Dick's house, telling the detective to follow later. Bessie surprises him by thanking him profusely for her husband's raise, and telling all it has done for them. The baby climbs up into his arms and pats his face. Bessie tells him the child has been named for him. It is the first affection that has been shown Gaynor for many long years, and it overwhelms him. When the detective comes, he tells him there has been a mistake, and that there has been no theft. Then, having established the happiness of Dick and Bessie, he goes to Mary Alden and finds happiness for himself.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

When famous opera singer Elinore Duane undergoes an operation on her throat, she has a series of ether-induced visions. In one, she is transported to ancient Rome where she appears as a much-admired woman in love with Paul, a young heretic, and at odds with Lutor, the high priest. To save her love, she poisons Lutor with her ring. After several other visions which involve variations on this love triangle, Elinore awakens to discover that Lutor is actually her doctor, Sascha Jaccard, and that Paul is the son of a friend who has come to visit the recovering prima donna.

Dir: Colin Campbell

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

Zora, a girl of French origin, is raised by a wealthy Bedouin family after her mother Valerie dies while eloping with another man. Zora feels such great longing for the French artist Adrien that she accepts the offer of another artist, Raoul, to take her to Paris with the stipulation that if Adrien rejects her, she must give herself to him. Jan, the chieftain's son who is in love with Zora, follows the two to Paris. There Zora realizes that Adrien does not love her and discovers her real love for Jan. However, she feels bound to honor her pact with Raoul and is about to succumb to his advances when her father appears and recognizes Raoul as the man who destroyed his home years earlier. In the ensuing fight between the two men, Raoul is killed, thus freeing Zora to accept Jan's love.

Dir: Harley Knoles

Jim McDonald, the foreman of a shipbuilding plant and head of the labor union, strives to combat the anarchistic propaganda being put forth by Klimoff, the leader of a Bolshevik gang whose goal is to disrupt the country with strikes and anarchy. Despite McDonald's efforts, a strike is called, resulting in chaos. McDonald's child is knocked down by runaway horses abandoned by their striking driver, and dies. Mob scenes take place in America, as well as in Russia. Eventually, the unrest is quelled with an armistice called between Capital and Labor for a year, during which time wages are to be increased to reflect the cost of living, and leaders are to work out a common plan for their mutual advantage. The strikers now realize that they have been pawns of the Bolsheviks and call off the strike, agreeing to the plan.

Dir: Eduardo Notari

A crime drama in the Gennariello-series. The police detective in Naples that is confronted with modern gangsters and crime events.