The Cult Collection Comparable to the Style of The House of Lies: Cult Guide

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

A Union officer exposes the several deceptions his sweetheart has been engaging in, which include spying for the Confederacy and posing as a boy to comfort her aging, wealthy, heirless uncle.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

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

Mining magnate Roland Holt sends his worthless son Clyde to reform under the watchful eye of mining superintendent Bob Fulton. Instead of renouncing his irresponsible ways, however, Clyde attempts to rob the company safe. In order to prevent the robbery, Bob is forced to shoot Clyde, who loses his wedding ring while making his escape. Soon after, Clyde's new bride Beth arrives, and learning that her husband has mysteriously disappeared, devotes her time to nursing Bob back to health. Beth falls in love with her patient until her discovery of Clyde's ring leads her to believe that the man she loves is probably her husband's murderer. The truth is revealed, however, when Clyde returns to be killed by the sheriff's bullet, leaving the lovers free to begin a new life together.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

John Humperdink Stover, otherwise known as "The Varmint" for his pestiferousness or as "Dink" when in special favor, was expelled from a boarding school and sent to Lawrenceville Academy. On the stage on the way to the school he meets a silent man whom Dink sizes up for a salesman and he proceeds to wax eloquent on the subject of his past career and the reason he was expelled from his previous school. The "salesman" is actually the professor of Latin known to the boys as the "Roman." Dink boasts that in a week he will have the boys at the school in his power. A strange uneasiness grips him when he sees that he does not make just the impression he expected. Little by little he succeeds in making himself the most thoroughly disliked and abhorred person on the campus. Dink rises a point in his schoolmates' estimation when he discovers on reporting to the Latin class that the instructor is no other than the traveling man of the stage on the day of his arrival, and in order to make good some of the many boasts he made on that day fakes the translation. The Roman, possessed of a good sense of humor, compliments "Dink" on his performance, much to everyone's surprise. The first girl to attract Dink Stover is the pretty daughter of the Roman, considerably older than he is. After a short and one-sided flirtation, Miss McCarty becomes engaged to another man and Dink is desperate until some new neckwear arrives at the local haberdasher's and diverts his mind from his agony. As a result of his neglect of study, Dink finds himself about to be dropped in school for falling off in his studies. He is to have a private examination at the Roman's house. Stover decides to cheat, and arranges with the Tennessee Shad and MacNooder to overturn a large water cooler outside the Roman's door and other devices to get him out of the way. To his utter dismay, the Roman goes out of the room and stays, thus putting him on his honor. Dink signs his name at the head of the blank paper and is dumbfounded when, upon the Roman's return, he seems to scan the blank sheets closely and says : "I think this will about pass you, Stover." The two discover that they had been friends from the first and Dink really comes into his own when the Roman explains that as he is now an upperclassman, he must set a good example for the younger boys.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

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

A widowed farmer, failing in his efforts to find a woman capable of running his household, decides to marry a young woman he believes can fill the bill. Wat he doesn't know is that she is running away from a brutish and violent husband, whom she has discovered is also a bigamist, and that her angry and vengeful husband is looking for her.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

Young boxer Jack Ranney agrees to challenge 'Young Kilroy' and knocks him out with his first punch. When he is told that Kilroy is dead, Jack hurriedly heads West and finds a job on a ranch, boasting to all the fellows that he is a killer; unimpressed, they call him a greenhorn. Meanwhile, Jack's sweetheart Mary learns that Kilroy is alive, and she heads West to tell Jack the news, arriving just in time to see him single-handedly save the ranch from a raid by the notorious Lopez Cabrillo and his entire gang.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of He Fell in Love with His Wife perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

The adventures of Pasquale, an Italian immigrant to New York who runs a little grocery store.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

The infant daughter of a wealthy couple is thought to be lost at sea, but she survives and is raised by a poor family.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

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

Tom, the rambunctious member of the Sawyer clan, takes it upon himself to teach the goody-goody boy of Hannibal, Missouri a lesson and, as Huckleberry Finn, his free-spirited best friend watches, pummels his foe to defeat. At school clever Tom makes mischief a regular practice, but as long as the punishment lands him next to his beloved Becky Thatcher, he remains carefree. After he is unfairly accused of his brother Sid's misdeed, Tom runs away with Huck and Joe Harper. Disguised as pirates, the trio builds a raft and sails down the Mississippi to a deserted island. Back at home, Tom's frantic Aunt Polly calls for a search, and cannons are fired into the river. When the search yields nothing, the boys are declared dead and a funeral is planned. At first tempted to reveal himself, Tom decides later to partake in his own memorial service, and as the townspeople mourn, he and his friends appear in the back of the church. Overcome with relief, Becky and Aunt Polly embrace Tom, forgetting to scold him for his mischief.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

Bashful stenographer Bunker Bean ( Jack Pickford ), works for wealthy businessman Jim Breede by day and by night theosophist Prof. Balthasar, who convinces Bean that he is the reincarnation of Napoleon and, more remotely, of the great Egyptian king Ramses. His courage much bolstered by this revelation, Bean begins to deport himself with unaccustomed dignity and becomes a regular visitor to old Breede's estate, where he successfully courts the boss's daughter ( Louise Huff ), "The Flapper." With his $10,000 inheritance, Bean invests in a financial venture that nets him millions and purchases the alleged mummy of Ramses from the professor. After his marriage to The Flapper, Bean learns that the professor is a charlatan, and realizes that it is the belief in one's own strength of character that leads to success.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

The adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.