Cinematic Discoveries Resonating with the Themes of The Iron Test: Cult Guide

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

There is a legend that anyone who lives in solitude near the lake goes mad. Tom begins to feel the effects when he comes across a girl who has fainted in the desert. Taking her to his cabin he falls in love with her, but later believing she loves another, orders her from the cabin. She goes, but he learns the man was her brother and all ends happily.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

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

Clem Martin is searching for his brother Bud Simpson in the desert when he comes upon a woman with a child who says she is Bud's wife. He left his family five months ago for the fast-paced town of Yucca. Clem finds him,but Bud is killed at a bar and Clem returns to the desert to raise the child and live with his brother's former wife.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

The story deals, as its name implies, with the rigid law of the Northwest and with Jack Meadows' efforts to set free the girl's father, who is the sheriff. The man has been wounded by outlaws and found in a dying state by Jack and his pal. The two set out to bring the criminals to justice. The girl at first misjudges Jack and believes him responsible for her father's disappearance. When he proves the respected deputy is in reality the leader of a band of liquor smugglers and captures the culprits, she changes her mind. Jack's identity as a government ranger is established.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

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

When Riley becomes engaged to Sal, the lady of the suds, upon one of his drunken sprees, he doesn't know how to get out of it. He fixes matters up with the gang to chase him and his partner Bob out of town. However, Bob takes along the cashbox to the post office and the chase becomes a real one. Sal saves him just in the nick of time, and he's glad to be back in her ample arms.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

A mysterious character lives in the desert and is reputed to have hidden wealth. A dance hall girl and a gambler frame a plot to rob him. They follow him to the desert where the girl pretends to be dying and is taken in by Tom. He falls in love with her and she with him, and eventually tells him of her plot. After a proof of her love, Tom forgives her and they are happy.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

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

Silent Jim Sutherland has a secret sorrow. At length a city financier, his daughter and her fiance all arrive to this Western town and engage Silent Jim as guide to look into some timber land. Silent Jim recognizes the girl's fiance as the man who killed his wife many years before and stole his gold. The truth is revealed in the same cabin that was once Silent Jim's home. An old Indian proves the statement and when the villain attempts to kidnap the girl, he meets his fate at the hands of the dog.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

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

When Red Hawk Dugan and his men attack a small wagon train, Colonel Merriwell is killed and the young girl Isobel taken and raised thinking Dugan is her father. Fifteen years later the Colonel's son Jack arrives looking for Dugan whom he learned killed his father. As he hunts for Dugan he meets and falls in love with Isobel only to then learn Dugan is her father.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

A man returns after fifteen years of wandering and finds his daughter. A flash-back tells you the story of fifteen years ago and how the villain "Black Bart" attacked his wife, and how to escape him she jumped from a cliff and killed herself. The baby was kidnapped. "Black Bart" is still active and kills one of the sheriffs. For this crime the girl's lover is suspected, but the father sacrifices himself and goes to prison. "Black Bart" plots the girl's abduction, but a terrific storm takes place and the prison walls are struck by lightning, liberating the man, who rushes to the rescue of his daughter.

Dir: Robert N. Bradbury

A simple country girl, brutally mistreated by her stepfather, awakens first the sympathy, then the love, of The Boy. The Spider, who lusts after The Girl, makes a bargain with the stepfather and takes her to the city where, kept prisoner, she is soon broken in health and spirit. Cast out and near death, she is taken in by The Boy. Following the demise of The Spider, The Boy takes her to church, where he prays, and after many hours she is restored to health.