The Global Archive For Devotees of The Hero of the Hour: Cult Guide

Dir: Raymond Wells

In adjoining kingdoms rule Sylvia, beloved of her people, and Ferdinand, who is forced to exact homage from his subjects. He spends his life in riotous living. One day the two meet, and straightway Ferdinand decides that he will marry the queen, sending his prime minister with the proposal. But she refuses it. He delivers the ultimatum that unless she consents to his proposal within a certain space of time, he will declare war. In America two cowboys, Jim and Johnny Little Bear, discover a rich mine and decide to spend some of the money traveling. The two start out. It happens that during their travels they stop near the kingdom of Sylvia, and Jim, wishing to see a real queen, makes bold to climb the wall. He sees a beautiful lady, who is none other than Sylvia herself, but he thinks her one of the court ladies. She finally confides the predicament of the queen, and he tells her that he will come to the assistance of the great lady. He wires to Bill, one of the cowboys, and tells him to come on with the whole gang. When he rides to the palace to tell the lady, he finds that she is the queen. Meantime, Ferdinand's favorite, seeing that her reign is coming to an end, tries to hold him, but he refuses to have more to do with her. Both sides prepare for battle. Ferdinand, with his army, attacks Sylvia's force before the cowboys arrive, and they are being forced to retreat when Bill arrives and saves the day. The favorite is killed when she tries to slay Sylvia. Jim explains to the boys that he is in love with Sylvia, and they finally persuade him to ask her hand in marriage. But Sylvia kindly explains that though she loves him, the dictates of custom compel her to marry royalty. Bill and the boys, seeing that Jim is taking this keenly, leave him in the palace and after a time return, telling him that they have captured the whole of Sylvia's forces, and that now he is the king. Sylvia is informed of this and with queenly dignity places her crown upon Jim's head, and so accepts his proposal of marriage.

Dir: Raymond Wells

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

It is about the Civil War. Dismayed it was made in Norfork Arkansas in 1928

Dir: Raymond Wells

Donald Naughton, the lazy son of a self-made millionaire named Bill Naughton, is sent to his father's rock quarries to replace the crooked superintendent, Mike Carney. The job at first proves difficult for Don, who does not know how to handle the rock drillers, but is made somewhat more pleasant by the presence of Shiela Dolan, the pretty daughter of Naughton's old friend Lynch, an alcoholic. Don hires a new gang of workmen, but they prove to be anarchists secretly in Carney's employ. The young boss earns the respect of the regular hands by beating Jerry Shea in a fight, but Carney and his partner, Greek Louis, succeed in stirring up a strike. After Don and his men defeat Carney's agitators in a brawl, Don saves Carney from a lynch mob. The men return to work with a new respect for their boss, and Don wins Shiela's love.

Dir: Raymond Wells

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

During World War I, Jeanette Gontreau becomes a "godmother" to three Allied soldiers imprisoned in a German camp. Describing herself as an old woman, she sends them cheerful letters and baskets of small gifts until one of the soldiers, Harry Ledyard, informs her that he has been released and will visit her in New York. Panic-stricken, Jeanette dons a wig and spectacles, and although she convinces Harry that she is old and gray, she soon falls in love with him. Harry worships his "godmother," and when secret service agents discover coded messages on her letters, he shields her by assuming the blame. Eventually, however, Jeanette's employer, Frederick Armstrong, confesses that it is he who is guilty of espionage. Jeanette reveals her true age to Harry, who joyfully proposes to her.

Dir: Raymond Wells

The story gets away with a bang, as the wedding of Tony the Banker is rudely interrupted by Detective Moran and the bridegroom is dragged off to the station house. Tony is tried, convicted of counterfeiting and sent to prison. Moran becomes a police captain and, shortly afterward, runs up against the most baffling mystery of his career. Laura Bowers, a new boarder at the house where he lives, is the person that excites his curiosity. He sees her open a street door with a hairpin, but is forced to believe her when she assures him she is now leading an honest life. A love affair follows. After the wedding the couple go to their own home and Moran is shot while seated at a window. Tony threatened to get even when Moran was married and the news is brought that the Italian has escaped from prison. The fact is also established that he was killed while trying to resist capture, but finger marks outside the window prove that he is implicated in the shooting of Moran. The explanations are cleverly planned.

Dir: Raymond Wells

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

Hal Sinclair, the chief agent at the Fort Roscher trading post in the Canadian Northwest, controls the town and cheats the trappers, until a group of independent fur traders arrives. After nearly all of the traders are killed by Sinclair's brutal henchman, Mont Brennan, Officer Jamison of the North West Mounted Police is sent to investigate. Charles Morin, a wealthy French Canadian businessman, also arrives at Fort Roscher that week with the intention of entering the fur trade, and soon falls in love with Petain Monest's pretty daughter Marie. Sinclair, who also loves Marie, commissions Brennan to kill the young trader, but Marie overhears their plans. As Brennan is taking aim, Marie shoots and kills him and subsequently is accused of murder. Jamison has also fallen in love with Marie, but realizing that she prefers Morin, he decides to stand by the young couple. With Jamison's help, Marie is exonerated and finally joined to the man whose life she saved.

Dir: Raymond Wells

George Arnold, head of the Paradise Valley Land Company, has been robbed of $10,000 by Jim Kinkaid, who has fled the country. Arnold secures the services of the Burton Detective Agency to get Kinkaid. Nellie is put on the case. She goes to the gambling house. Her ignorance of gambling nearly betrays her. Romero Valdez, Kinkaid's right-hand man, feels that everything is not on the square in regard to this woman. But Kinkaid has become strongly attached to Nellie and will listen to nothing against her. Nellie becomes aware of the goodness of Kinkaid's heart and finds the job of betraying him distasteful. She forces herself to the work and has succeeded in getting Kinkaid accustomed to cross the border with her. She then wires to New York for them to send the men to make the arrest. Letty Frank, a convict with a grudge against Nellie, manages to escape and goes to Mexico. He reaches Kinkaid's gambling house and recognizes Nellie as a New York detective. Kinkaid is told. Nevertheless, he takes his usual walk with her that evening. Seated on their accustomed bench, he tells her how he had discovered a number of foreigners on the desert absolutely destitute; they told him of how they were robbed of their life's savings by Arnold, through a crooked real estate deal. Kinkaid took care of the people and went to New York to see what he could do to get their money back. Upon asking Arnold to refund the money, he was laughed at, for the transaction was perfectly legal. Kinkaid, by force, took the money from Arnold, escaped into Mexico and returned it to the immigrants. Detectives arrive from New York. Nellie asks Kinkaid to go for a walk. Romero, not trusting her, has followed with two Mexicans, to be there in case of need. Kinkaid is arrested by Arnold and the detectives and Romero coming up with assistance, is deserted by his followers at a critical moment, and he is also arrested. In the jail, Kinkaid and Romero again become friends and Kinkaid wagers his entire possessions that Nellie will "run true to form." In her room, Nellie sees a way out of her difficulty. She steals the keys of the jail from the sheriff and opens the door. At dawn, Kinkaid, Nellie and Romero enter the town from the desert and are met by an ovation from their friends. Kinkaid gives to Romero the gambling house and everything connected with it, finding that his future and his happiness lie with Nellie, away from everything pertaining to his former life.

Dir: Raymond Wells

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

A ranch foreman wins a series of events at a frontier day rodeo.

Dir: Raymond Wells

Chuck Connelly discovers his sister in a compromising situation with a gunman and kills the man. Two private detectives connect him with the crime. Later, the members of the protected organization to which the man belonged, attempt to kill Chuck, but he kills three of them and the detectives help him make a getaway. They then force Chuck with threats of the electric chair to kill a reformer who has been upsetting the organization. Chuck then becomes a regular member of the gang. Chuck falls in love with Annie Mangan, who is persuaded to go to the Salvation Army home. Chuck comes to the dancehall looking for her and is told that she has joined the Salvation Army. The new District Attorney is pounding the graft organizations. Word is passed to the gunmen to get him. Chuck goes to the District Attorney's house to threaten him, and is taken aback when the District Attorney's three-year-old daughter leans trustfully on his knee and looks up into his face with a smile. He goes to the Salvation Army for another sight of Annie. Chuck's sister has become the mistress of Jim Canford, the man higher up. The District Attorney pays no attention to the warning. Chuck is ordered to kill him and breaks into the house. He sees the District Attorney's little daughter, who forgot one of her dolls and is on her way to the library to get it. He steps out of sight, the child passes him, and he attempts to go up the stairs but cannot do it. Canford arranges to put some other man on the job and accuse Chuck. His sister overhears and warns Chuck, who has gone to the Salvation Army. He tells Annie he has thrown the gang down and asks her to teach him "this religion thing." She explains, but he cannot understand how a few words of acknowledgment can square all he has done. His sister arrives and, seeing a chance "to square himself with God," goes to save the District Attorney. The gunmen have surrounded the District Attorney's house before Chuck arrives. He reaches the door and sees the gunmen. There is no time to wait, so he breaks through the library window, grabs the District Attorney and his daughter, hurries them up stairs and faces the gunmen. The District Attorney's life is saved, but Chuck is mortally wounded. Word is sent to Annie and his sister and they come to the house. Chuck dies, feeling that this was the only way in which he could atone.

Dir: Raymond Wells

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.