Curated Recommendations Similar Cinematic Experiences to The Idol of the Stage: Cult Guide

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

Despite the fact that Harold Derwent is a senior at a Divinity School and in love with Faith Willis, a co-ed, he cannot overcome his passion for gambling. He is a fortunate racetrack gambler and pretends to himself that when he becomes a minister he will justify his conduct by giving part of his earnings to the poor. The gambling phase of his character is betrayed to the college authorities by a fellow student, and Harold is forced to leave college. Despite Faith's hope that he will redeem himself, he believes that he is unworthy of her, and goes out into the world alone. Several years later Harold's success in "beating the bookies" has made him one of the spectacular figures of the American turf. He is found at all the race meets, accompanied by Madge a scheming woman, who pretends love for him while he is on the crest of his gambling wave. However, fortune turns against Harold, now known as "Pittsburgh Pa.," and his fortune ebbs away. Madge leaves him. Harold gives the last horse in his string to his faithful jockey and announces that he is through with gambling. At the railroad station he hands all his money in at the window, asking for a ticket for as far as his money will take him. Securing a ticket for Royalton, on the train he meets William Ashton, who is just going to take charge of the "Church of Our Faith" at Royalton. The men are struck by their remarkable resemblance to each. When the train is wrecked the minister is killed. Tempted by the opportunity to get back into the ministry Harold takes the name of William Ashton and becomes pastor of the Royalton church. He receives a letter from Ashton's wife, who had hurried to the bedside of her dying father. Later Faith, who had married Ashton, comes to join her husband, and of course recognizes Harold. For his sake she remains silent, seeming his wife in the eyes of the parishioners. A thief confesses to the minister that he has committed a burglary. Harold goes with him to the hiding place of the jewels and finds them strangely familiar. When he returns the plunder he discovers that the jewels are Madge's. Madge immediately recognizes her former lover. Proceeding to blackmail him, she secures all the money he possesses. Finally she persuades him to bet $15,000 held as a trust fund on a race at the Royalton meet. Harold turns the money over to the jockey, not recognizing his old boy, Eddie. Madge produces a child, which she claims is the son of Harold. The minister does not know what to do, but hones that he will be able finally to purchase Madge's silence by his winnings from the race. His horse loses, the jockey being injured and taken to a hospital. A minister is sent for and Harold responds. He now recognizes Eddie, who tells him that he did not bet the money, but hid it in a stall. Harold recovers the money, and at the same time Eddie's mother comes to ask for the baby which she had lent Madge, the child being Eddie's little brother. Thus Madge is foiled just when she saw her scheme successful. She plays her final card, declaring that the minister and the notorious "Pittsburgh Hal" are one and the same. Faith stands by the man whom the church knows only as her husband, and her word is believed against that of Madge. Faith and Harold go to a distant city and are quietly married. Then they return to the Church of Our Faith at Royalton and continue their good work. Harold having been forever cured of his passion for gambling.

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

Isabel Bland is a fun lover and does not want children, but her wealthy, reclusive husband Robert desires some. They drift apart, and after Isabel learns of Robert's involvement with another woman, she divorces him and goes to their Florida island summer home, while Robert retires to the Everglades, leaving his business with his roguish brother John. When Robert learns that Isabel's old sweetheart, William Proctor, is coming to visit their island home, his love for Isabel returns. He goes there and during a storm, sees Isabel passionately embracing Proctor. A flash of lightning illuminating Robert's face on the window pane strengthens Isabel's resolve to resist Proctor. She reconciles with Robert and after a year, dies giving birth to their daughter Bella. Twenty years later, when Bella rejects her cousin Ralph's proposal, Ralph's father John proclaims that because Bella's parents never remarried, she is illegitimate and not Robert's lawful heir. Judge Randolph, the father of her sweetheart, Sidney Austin, learns that because the court fees were never paid, the divorce decree is invalid. With her legitimacy proven, Bella marries Austin.

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Albert Richards, the young pastor of a fashionable and wealthy church, woos Louise Alford and wins her promise to become his wife. She is the daughter of a wealthy mill-owner, John Alford. Louise is a vain, pleasure-loving girl. Her love for Albert is only a passing fancy. After realizing the monotony of such a life as would be hers as his wife, the finally jilts him for Guy Carlton, a society admirer. In the meantime labor troubles arise in the mill owned by Louise's father. The leader of the mill workers is a home-loving, peaceable fellow, Baker, hard-working and reliable when unmolested, but a man of high temper when aroused. Baker is elected head of the first delegation sent to petition Alford not to increase the hours of their labor, as he proposes doing. The petition is denied. While visiting among the poorer classes of the city, Richard is called to minister to a factory girl who has been horribly hurt in Alford's plant. The dramatic story of conditions that exist in the factory told the minister by the grief-stricken father arouses in him the desire to investigate for himself. Later, the tragic squalor and privation of the working people is further revealed to the minister. These scenes confirm his resolve to make an effort in behalf of these unfortunates. On his way home after one of these visits Richards encounters a girl and man in combat, the bully beating the woman unmercifully. He goes to her rescue and assists the girl to her nearby home. The pastor learns that she is Marna, a woman of ill-repute. Struck by her apparent unhappiness and unrest, the minister succeeds in getting her to tell the story of her present life. Ill-health has incapacitated her for work in the factory, where there is no sympathy and had led her to a life of shame for a bare livelihood. Cheered by Richards' words of encouragement, Marna grasps eagerly at his offer to help her and later finds a haven through his efforts in the Salvation Army home. With the gathering of clouds on the factory horizon, Richards takes active interest in the cause of the workmen. His final break with the Alford family comes over his position in the matter. In a riot of the striking workmen, Baker is arrested for inciting it and is given two years in prison. Richards is dismissed from his church and comes under the influence of an atheist. He falls into debauchery, where the love and faith of Marna are the two abiding lights. His literary work also fails of success at the same time. Louise has married Carlton. But the bottom of the pit is finally touched by Richards, and success as a writer at last comes to the erstwhile minister. With renewed popularity, Louise, who has wearied of her husband, sets a trap to again catch Richards with her wiles, but he proves himself strong, and is rewarded by the love and devotion of Marna. Alford, the factory owner, succumbs to heart failure just before Baker comes from prison to kill him because he was the cause of the strife and tragedy at the mill.