The Definitive Watchlist For Devotees of The Iron Woman: Cult Guide

Dir: Carl Harbaugh

Shirley Reynolds returns home from boarding school to find that her mother, weary of her husband's philandering, has filed for divorce. Hoping to effect a reconciliation, Shirley visits her father's apartment, where she interrupts a riotous party held in honor of his new mistress, Lola Wayne. Shirley prevents Lola's outraged father from killing her own father, but later, Wayne decides to wreak his revenge through Shirley and hires the lecherous Trask to lure her to ruin. On a particular evening, Wayne persuades Shirley to visit Trask's disreputable roadhouse, where Lola has arranged to meet with Reynolds. Suspicious, Shirley's sweetheart, Richard Ormsby, follows her to the inn. Reynolds hears Shirley struggling with Trask behind a locked door but is unable to assist her until Richard arrives. Trask, in his struggle to escape the two men, leaps from a window to his death, after which Wayne takes Lola home. Shirley then convinces her mother to forgive her remorseful husband.

Dir: Carl Harbaugh

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Carl Harbaugh

Celeste Hardin wants to set up her brother Henry, a confirmed bachelor, with her college friend Henrietta Downs, believing that she wold be a good wife for him. Henry and Henrietta discover Celeste's scheme and decide to play a trick on her--Henrietta will pose as Myra Haynes, an escaped lunatic and pretend to be in love with Henry. However, the real Myra Haynes attends a political rally, at which Henry declares his intention to run for mayor, and she becomes convinced that he is her long-lost lover, also named Henry. Complications ensue.

Dir: Carl Harbaugh

Jack Spurlock's college escapades, which include a particularly raucous incident involving a bear, finally get him expelled, and his father, John Spurlock, Sr., compels him to go to work in the family's wholesale grocery business. The eager young man inexplicably purchases a huge surplus of onions and then supports the onion workers when they go on strike. After Spurlock, Sr. finally agrees to recognize the Onion Workers' Union, he fires his son and cuts off his allowance. Jack is forced to work as a waiter until his sweetheart, Anita Grey, introduces him to Professor Jackson, who has patented a health tonic made chiefly from onions. The publicity attending the Onion Workers' strike results in a huge demand for Jackson's tonic. In order to produce more of the cure-all, Jack purchases his father's onion surplus, thus redeeming his place in Spurlock, Sr.'s good graces.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of All for a Husband perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Carl Harbaugh

Robert Booth travels to Pittsburgh both to negotiate a million-dollar war contract with a foreign prince and to marry his sweetheart Ruth Hunneywell. Robert's rival Chester Firkins hires thugs to kidnap Robert so that he can win the contract for himself. Robert, however, escapes from the kidnappers, and after a series of adventures, during which he is pursued by the police and nearly blown up by a stick of dynamite, the daring Robert rescues Ruth, saves the prince's life and obtains the prized contract.

Dir: Carl Harbaugh

Marie Grandon, one of the multitude that labor in a big New England oyster cannery, meets "Iron" Lloyd, millionaire financier and tenement owner, whose yacht is cruising off the coast near the town where Marie works. Lloyd is visiting the little city incognito. He gets into a fight and is injured. During his illness he becomes acquainted with Marie, and as he convalesces their friendship ripens into love. Marie tells him that if she had the means she would wage battle against the oppressive tenement lords and carry on a campaign of reform. To test her, Lloyd, whom she knows as Strange, has his lawyer transfer a fortune to her. Marie thinks the money is a legacy from a long lost relative. The girl goes to New York and does what she vowed she would do. She concentrates her fight on Lloyd and his tenements. Ogden Deneau, Lloyd's business rival, associates himself with Marie, claiming interest in her work, but really to crush Lloyd. But Marie also has old scores to settle with Deneau, and in her plan to ruin both of these financiers enlists Strange's aid. Strange, or Lloyd, helps her gladly, and on the evening of the day the grate coup is to be made, meets her. He tells Marie that Deneau is bankrupt. When she asks about Lloyd, he informs her of the deception he has practiced. At first she is furious. Later she hears his explanation of the test and finally agrees to start life over again with him, a life not to be marred with sordid tenements.

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

Dir: Carl Harbaugh

Minnie, the village tomboy, meets a handsome Stranger after playing ball one afternoon. She invites him to see a bridge model her father has designed; but finding her intoxicated father in the act of destroying the model, she swears vengeance on the local bootleggers and joins a newspaper as sportswriter so as to expose their activities. Pike, the station agent, leader of the bootleggers, spreads a scandal about Minnie when she rejects him, but through the help of the Stranger everything is cleared up.

Dir: Carl Harbaugh

Broadway actress Sibyle Fane visits the home of Anna Mae Neil, daughter of a Hickville farmer, who is engaged to local druggist Virgil Cole. Impressed with Miss Fane, Virgil sells his business and sets out for New York City. Miss Fane advises Anna Mae to arrive in the city ahead of Virgil and monitor her fiancé under the guise of a famous model. The actress introduces Anna Mae to sculptress Violet Garden and songwriter Pinky Hale, who teach her the latest jazz steps. She flirts with Virgil in a fashionable restaurant and discovers his shifting affections at a party. Convinced of Virgil's unfaithfulness, Anna decides that talented young artist Peter Van Reuter is deserving of her love.

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

Dir: Carl Harbaugh

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Carl Harbaugh

Finding that marriage conflicts with his carefree life, Teddy Brant, a dissolute man-about-town, fakes his own suicide, thus freeing Rose, his self-sacrificing wife, and his baby daughter Helen from life with an irresponsible drunk. Learning of her husband's alleged death, Rose remarries. Years later, Teddy, now a hopeless derelict, wanders the country until, unable to find a place to sleep one night, he strays into the waiting room of a train station. Here he sees a young girl being accosted by an elderly gentleman who entices her home. Teddy thinks nothing of the incident until he finds a purse lying on the seat and learns that the girl is his daughter Helen. Teddy hastens after them and in the ensuing fight, strangles Helen's assailant and then flees. Helen is arrested for the murder, but is acquitted when Teddy staggers into the police station and confesses to the crime, takes his life in his cell.