Hand-Picked Alternatives Movies That Echo the Spirit of The Hurrica...

Dir: J.P. McGowan

Whispering Smith, a railroad detective, is sent to Medicine Bend to suppress the looting of cars. Smith meets two childhood friends, Murray Sinclair and his wife, Marion. Smith's arrival kindles an old spark of love in Marion's bosom. Sinclair is discharged for looting wrecked cars and Marion leaves her husband when he threatens to ruin the road if he is not put back to work. After trying for weeks to get an interview with Bucks, general manager of the railroad, Murray Sinclair and his followers, Du Sang and Karg, are granted an audience. They state their side of the case. Bucks refuses to put them back to work. He says that McCloud was right in discharging them. Sinclair becomes violent and tries to attack McCloud but is prevented by Whispering Smith. During the scuffle, Du Sang manages to secure a wire that has just been delivered to McCloud. The wire reads: "Notify Dunning Cattle Co. shipment of $65,000 delayed till No. 10 Friday." They decide to hold up the train, get the money, and leave the country. In the Three Horses saloon Sinclair plots to kill McCloud before they hold up the train and Du Sang agrees to do it for him. Tony Wickwire, the Mexican whose life McCloud saved at the Central Mine, walks up behind them and overhears their plan to kill his friend. He shadows Du Sang. Du Sang takes his place at the window of a hotel and waits for McCloud to pass. Wickwire hides behind a lamp post and when Smith and McCloud appear, he warns them in time to save them from Du Sang's bullets. Du Sang thinks McCloud is dead and repairs to a gambling house. Smith, Wickwire and McCloud follow him there. Smith tells him he must leave town or he will "rope him like a cow and drag him down Front Street." The following day Sinclair, Du Sang, Karg and three other followers hold up Number Ten, and kill the messenger. Before he dies, he tells that he recognized Sinclair in the gang. McCloud, notified, starts to the scene of action with the sheriff and a posse. Whispering Smith takes Wickwire, Lloyd and three other men and starts for Williams Cache to head off the bandits there. In the meantime the gang has split into two factions; Sinclair and two followers have decided to leave the country and Du Sang, Karg and Sam have decided to go back to their rendezvous, Williams Cache. Before starting out of the state, Sinclair turns a switch against the relief train which he is sure will be sent out. The train runs into the open switch and crashes through a string of cars on the siding. The posse get out their horses and start in pursuit of the robbers. They finally run them down, but Banks, the sheriff is killed. They return to Medicine Bend with him. Du Sang and his men beat Smith to the cache. Rebstock, who controls the cache, refuses to help Smith run down Du Sang, so Smith and his men start to round up the cattle that have been stolen and hidden there. They clean out the cache and then Smith, Wickwire and Lloyd start after Du Sang. They meet and a fight follows in which Du Sang and Karg are killed and Sam taken prisoner. Lloyd sees Smith thrown from his horse and thinks he is dead, so he rides to Medicine Bend for help. Marion hears him say that Smith is dead. She is carried to her house where she lies ill. Sinclair and his men return to Medicine Bend the same night. Sinclair insists that his wife accompany him out of the country. She refuses. He is about to kill her rather than leave her for Smith, when the doctor arrives and tells him to get away, before the town learns he is there. Sinclair takes his advice. That same evening Smith rides into town with his captives. On his deathbed Banks gives Smith the warrant for Sinclair's arrest and tells him to serve it. After several days of trailing them, Smith and Wickwire came upon them in an arroyo drinking from the stream. They dismount and Wickwire starts to skirt out around to take them on the flank. After Wickwire leaves, Smith shoots and kills two of the men leaving only Sinclair who manages to wound Smith in return. When Smith falls, Sinclair sneaks through the brush and coming upon Smith, tells him he is going to kill him. He reloads his revolver and is about to shoot Smith, when Wickwire reaches a higher spot of ground and sees it all. He draws his revolver and fires at Sinclair killing him before he has pulled the trigger, and Smith's life is saved. When Smith is well enough to travel, he goes to see Marion. They come to an understanding and are married.

Dir: J.P. McGowan

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

Dave Henderson, an orphan who has become the beneficiary of a rich man's will, falls in with race-track crooks Martin Tydeman and Bokky Sharvan who bilk him out of his $100,000 inheritance. In retaliation, Dave steals the money from Tydeman's safe, but is caught and sentenced to five years in jail. In prison, Dave becomes friendly with Millman, who is about to be released, and reveals the money's hiding place to him, arranging to rendezvous at the end of Dave's term. Once released, Dave is hounded by members of Tydeman's gang as well as the police, who are waiting for him to retrieve his bounty. While taking refuge at the house of Capriano, an old bomb maker, Dave falls in love with the old man's daughter Teresa. However, Capriano sets a trap for Dave, who awakens in a drugged state to find the $100,000 missing. With the help of Millman and Teresa, Dave recovers the money, turns it over to the police and resolves to go straight.

Dir: J.P. McGowan

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

On the American frontier in the last decades of the 19th century, Billie is a female cowboy who fights a series of bad men in this film serial.

Dir: J.P. McGowan

Two rival mountain clans that have been feuding for years begin a new battle over the moonshine whiskey trade. A young man and a girl from each of the different clans try to end the feud, and wind up falling for each other.

Dir: Aubrey M. Kennedy

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

Wealthy oil magnate Harry Mangin is in love with his competitor James Murdock's daughter Blanche. Mangin schemes to ruin Blanche's father so that the girl will be forced to accept his attention. However, Blanche loves "Sky Eye" Blake, an aviator at the adjoining U. S. aviation field. When Mangin is driven in desperation to muster his own private air force in order to destroy his rival's oil plants, "Sky Eye" takes to the skies to quell the riot. After several daring escapades, "Sky Eye" captures Mangin and wins Blanche for his bride.

Dir: George B. Seitz

The adventures of a gentlemanly crook of astonishing resourcefulness.

Dir: J.P. McGowan

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

Episode 1: "Helen's Race with Death" Helen Holmes, age three, accompanies her father, General Holmes, president of the C.W.R.R., to the beach depot each morning as he departs for his office. The nurse takes her to the park, and while her erstwhile guardian chats with the family chauffeur Helen forms a chance acquaintance with a stray dog. The pup, unused to affection, runs away and Helen goes in pursuit. Nearby is a miniature railroad and Storm, an orphan newsboy, seeking to learn the mysteries of the small engine, has struck up an acquaintance with the engineer. Storm is ambitious; he has dreams of operating a real locomotive when he grows up. The miniature train pulls out with its load of passengers. The pup, with Helen in close pursuit, runs in front of the train. Throwing aside his newspapers, Storm dashes forward, and seizing Helen, throws her out of harm's way. Helen likes her rescuer and he tells her of his great ambition to run a big locomotive just like his father before an accident ended his life. Meantime the nurse and chauffeur gather Helen up and she waves a farewell to her new-found friend. The years roll by. Helen, raised in luxury, has developed into a beautiful young girl, in whom is centered all her father's affections. She receives a message from her father, telling her to meet him on No. 19, and that he is bringing home his nephew and a friend of the latter's. After years of disappointments and hard work, Storm has become a fireman on the road presided over by General Holmes. On this day he pulls out on No. 245 over the Black Rock Pass. Half way over the grade the air pump on his engine breaks. The long train is brought to a stop. Connecting up an emergency telephone, the conductor, talking to the dispatches receives orders to "bring on train by hand brakes." With the crew on decks, No. 245 is again in motion. Passing the summit, the crew realizes it can no longer control the long drag of cars, for the freight's speed has put it on the schedule of No. 19, the passenger aboard of which is General Holmes. The crew decides to cut off the caboose and escape, but Storm doggedly insists on sticking to the engine. Writing a message on a white signal flag and wrapping it around a wrench, the conductor hurls it through the window of the first telegraph office they pass. The operator wires news of the runaway to the next station, but it is too late; No. 19 has left. This put the passenger in the path of the runaway. Helen learns of the danger from the operator, where she is waiting. She rushes out and mounts her pony and rides for the bridge, but reaches it just as it is raised to permit the passage of a battleship. Digging her spurs into her mount, she makes a wild attempt to reach it, but fails. Into the river go horse and rider. As she rises to the surface Helen strikes out for the opposite shore. The two trains are drawing closer together. Arrived on shore, Helen mounts her pony and resumes her race with death. Down the track she gallops to a switch, the lock of which she breaks with a stone. Seizing the lever, she throws the switch as the head end of the freight thunders into the passing track. The hind end just clears the switch as the passenger tears by. At the far end of the passing track three box cars are standing. As Storm, still at his post, see the impending collision he jumps to safety. Helen rushes forward and picks up the gallant fireman. She has repaid her debt to her newsboy hero.

Dir: J.P. McGowan

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

A Royalist and his unknown son seek vengeance on his murdered wife's brothers.