Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of The Island of Surprise: Cult Guide

Dir: Paul Scardon

David Solomon, a wealthy banker, is merciless in his dealings with his rich clients, from whom he exacts the highest interest. He aids the poor as much as possible. To facilitate his kindness among the people of the Ghetto, he runs there a pawnshop, unlike all others, for to the needy he measures out money, not according to the value of the articles they offer, but according to their needs. David's son, Maurice, is given to high living. It grieves his father, who is, however, consoled by the fact that his daughter, Ethel, seconds her father's charities by maintaining a day nursery for the children of the poor. One day David sees a young girl fall unconscious in the street. He takes her to the hospital where the doctor tells him that the girl, Mary, is suffering from exhaustion. David's heart is touched and he resolves to make Mary's future his own care. When she has regained her strength he finds her a position as a model in a dress house of a friend, Silver. Ethel visits the dress house to buy gowns, bringing Maurice with her. He sees Mary for the second time, having noticed her upon the street. Maurice arranges to meet Mary under an assumed name, and pursues his courtship with all seeming love. She so learns to worship Maurice that she gives him all, not stopping to count the cost, nor to demand the wedding ring. For a brief while Mary tastes of a great happiness, but Stevins, the man for whom she once worked, and who, because she would not encourage his advances, drove her from every honest position, naming her as a thief, visits the dress house to get gowns for "The Bunch of Flowers," a set of girls so termed by Maurice who has been much in their company. He recognizes Mary, repeats the accusation, and her employer discharges her. Mary returns to the little flat supported by Maurice, where she tells her story. Maurice has begun to tire of her. He seeks Stevins, who tells a seemingly truthful story. Maurice believes it and leaves Mary, writing to this effect. He, however, does not know that the girl he has wronged is about to become a mother. Six years elapse, and we find Mary and her little son, living in poverty. Again she is rescued by David Soloman, who has called to see a deserving case next door to Mary, the object of his charity being Mrs. Payne, the landlady who drove Mary from her door, and who is now a paralytic. Mary tells David her story, showing him the letter from her lover. He recognizes the writing of his own son. He takes his grandson home with him where the child is seen by Maurice, who is conscience stricken. Heinstitutes a search for Mary. Stevins, the man who hounded Mary, needs a further extension of his loan from David. But David, having learned what he has done, Mary forces him to the wall and ruins him. Goldstein, who has been a faithful secretary to David, resigns. He loves the daughter of David, but being a poor man does not declare his love and so decides to leave for other parts of the country. David has watched the love which has existed between Ethel and Goldstein, and gives Goldstein a check for a large amount, quite sufficient to start them on their honeymoon. David informs Maurice by telegraph, not signing his name, where Mary may he found. He then goes to her with her little son. Maurice arrives, and makes reparation by marrying Mary.

Dir: Paul Scardon

Jerry Rufus, a river pirate, loves Claire Dawson, an actress, but because she has so many wealthy suitors, he incorrectly believes she plans to marry for money. Jerry learns that a large gold shipment secretly stored in nail kegs is to be delivered to a certain dock, and by substituting kegs of sand for the ones containing gold, he succeeds in obtaining the treasure and sinking it near the shore. When he proposes to Claire, he is astonished to learn that she has always loved him, and the two marry. Soon, however, Detective Ryan, who has been trailing Jerry for some time, convinces Claire to badger her husband for money. Anxious to please her, Jerry digs up the kegs, and as he is about to open one, Ryan appears. Ryan is discouraged and Jerry relieved to find that the barrel contains only sand, the pirate having stolen the wrong kegs.

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

Dir: Paul Scardon

The actress is on her way to visit the Prince in his castle when she is stranded on a lonely road by an accident to her motor car. The Hillman happens along and takes her to Peak Hall. He is still young and handsome, but marked by the stern fanatical belief of his family that no member of it ever should leave the hills. In an exchange of confidence, the Hillman warns the actress not to visit the dissolute Prince, and she in turn tells him that for once he should try the broader life of the cities. Both heed the other's advice. She returns to the city, and he, in a brief period, follows. The Prince, still pursuing the actress, seeks to entangle the Hillman by throwing a notorious dancer in his path, but fails. Strangeway, the Hillman, proposes to Louise, the actress, but she withholds her answer. His brother comes from the hills to reclaim him, but his mission is vain. Again the Hillman proposes to Louise, who is always in the company of the Prince, and this time is accepted. Angered at his apparent loss of the actress, the Prince makes a scandalous remark about her at his club, which is resented with blows by the Hillman, whose love is all but crushed, when hurrying to Louise she admits what the Prince said is true. The Hillman returns to Peak Hill where a few months later as he is reading in a paper of the engagement of the actress and the Prince, she arrives at his home. She assures him that she is good, not bad, and that she did make the promise to the Prince when she believed he loved her, and both the Hillman and his brother receive her as one of them.

Dir: Paul Scardon

Young Hugh Jordan, the nephew of the man who robbed the Winthrop children, is earning his living out west when he comes into the millions of his thieving old uncle. Hugh goes east and settles down to a life of ease and enjoyment. He is entertaining a stag party at his home when the butler announces the arrival of the Misses Winthrop. A letter left by their father told them to go to Hugh Jordon, as he held a mining claim in trust for them. Penelope, the oldest girl, shows the letter to Hugh and he invites the orphans to remain until he has investigated the matter. It is all plain sailing after that, and Hugh marries Penelope and the fortune is kept in the family. There is a slight underplot involving a handsome widow, who tries to capture Hugh, and a most despicable specimen of the wealthy class who tries to ruin Penelope.

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

Dir: Paul Scardon

Jimmie Hallet is walking through a heavy fog one night when, seemingly out of nowhere, a girl appears, shoves a bundle of papers and a slip of paper with an address on it into Jimmie's hands, then disappears. Intrigued, he goes to the address on the paper, and is promptly knocked out by a blackjack. When he wakes up the next morning he discovers the dead body of a man named Greye-Stratton and learns that the "mystery girl" was Stratton's daughter Peggy. Jimmie soon finds himself questioned by the police about her father/s murder and mixed up with a gang of thieves and killers led by a mysterious thug named Ling.

Dir: Paul Scardon

The Hawk, Count George De Dazetta, preys upon society with the aid of his beautiful wife. She seems to be in love with a young French nobleman, who is the real aggressor in this triangle. De Dazetta finds that the young nobleman's love for his wife is changing her for the better, that she begins to abhor his gambling profession and his inroads upon society. However, he continues to use her beauty as a lure to his gaming tables and wins heavily. In the meantime the nobleman breaks with a young woman aristocrat whom his mother wishes him to wed. During a transaction with an American from whom he borrows money to repay his gaming losses to De Dazetta the nobleman learns of the Hawk's love for his wife, and that she is helping her husband to win. Marina, the wife, washes her hands of the whole earning enterprise and is accused of infidelity by her husband, who tried to kill the nobleman. Failing, he leaves, and the nobleman protects the wife while attempting to locate the gambler and get his consent to a divorce. Finally this is effected, and Marina herself pleads for the divorce, that is until she learns that De Dazetta is now penniless, having lavished his every cent upon her and really loves her, and has consented to give her up only because he thinks it best for her future welfare. Her womanhood comes to the surface and she goes to him, renouncing the nobleman, her love for the latter having been without sin throughout.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Bachelor's Children perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Paul Scardon

Stanley Ormsby, a dramatic critic, runs foul of an author and dramatic company who have just put on a new play which he announces as "rotten." On his way home from the play, after waiving aside the author's pleas for a merciful criticism, his adventures begin. He interferes between a couple quarreling on the street and is rebuffed. Later he gets an assignment from his editor to go to a certain apartment house to interview a singer. Entering the place he is diverted from his mission by a woman falling apparently dead at his feet, before the door of Apartment 29. Carrying her inside he finds her to be the woman of the quarrel, and there finds also her husband shot. There alone, he realizes suddenly that circumstances are against him and wishes to flee. The playwright, who lives in the same building, offers refuge, but in return asks a large sum of money, which Ormsby is only too glad to give. A girl in the playwright's apartment hides him while the police search the place. He has a dozen hairbreadth escapes and is finally shocked as the playwright demands a bribe to keep him hidden. Finally Ormsby escapes from the house with the girl, only to run into a nest of thugs, who attack him. He is then rescued by the very police, who then charge him with murder, after which...well, it winds up all right, but it was a hair-raising experience, mates.

Dir: Paul Scardon

Eileen Meredith receives word from an "unknown friend" to call at the house of her fiancé, Robert Grell, where she will discover something of great importance. Unable to go, Eileen sends her sister Helen in her place. Helen enters the library where she finds a dead body resembling Grell. The real Grell then enters and, seeing Helen holding the dagger, mistakes her for Eileen and flees, hoping to cast suspicion on himself. Criminologist Heldon Foye takes the case. Foyle is in love with Helen, and when he finds her prints on the dagger, finds himself in a struggle between love and duty. Meanwhile, Grell locates the real murderer, a woman who clears up the mystery by explaining that the murdered man was Harry Goldenberg, her husband and Grell's dissolute brother who had come to blackmail him. In a struggle, she had stabbed Goldenberg, but because she had worn gloves, no fingerprints were visible on the dagger. The mystery thus resolved, Grell marries Eileen while Helen forgives Foyle for misjudging her.

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

Dir: Paul Scardon

Gifted with charm of manner and a prepossessing appearance, Arsene Lupin, instead of employing his talents along legitimate lines, prefers to match his wits against those of the French police, with the result that he becomes the most celebrated crook of his time. Always after big game, he moves in the most exclusive circles of French society, and takes advantage of an opportunity to pass himself off as the Duke de Charmerace. Assuming the Duke's title and estates, he sets about the delicate task of stealing the rare works of art and the enormously valuable jewels belonging to a M. Guernay-Martin. As the first step in this direction he becomes engaged to Germaine, Guernay-Martin's daughter. Under the cloak of their hospitality he commits a series of audacious robberies, stealing old masters off the walls and always signing his name on the wallpaper to show he committed the theft. The distracted art collector calls in Guerchard, the shrewdest detective in Paris, but even under the nose of this sleuth, the thefts continue as before. Germaine's secretary, Sonla Kritchnoff, attracts more than the passing attention of Lupin and before he has finished with the Guernay-Martins he finds himself in love with her. Guerchard finally draws the net of suspicion so closely about Lupin that the latter is forced to leave the Guernay-Martin home and hide in his own apartment. Just before leaving he discovers that Sonia is also a thief, and the shock of this knowledge determines him to lead a straight life thereafter and take her along with him. Though Guerchard trails him to his hiding place he makes use of an ingenious concealed elevator and at the last exciting moment, slips from between the detective's fingers and escapes with Sonia to safety.

Dir: Paul Scardon

At a reception given for the vacationing Prince Zarl of Zorania, secretly the emissary of Zorania set on negotiating a treaty with the United States, Geoffrey Wynne, apparently a society dandy, but in reality a secret service agent, meets the prince. During the reception, Wynne is summoned to Washington where he learns that the treaty has been stolen and is being held for $15,000,000 ransom. Discovering that one of the thieves is an Italian named Farnelli, Wynne enlists the aid of his fiancée, Irene Mitchell, in apprehending the thief. Irene meets the Italian who offers to accompany her to New York. En route, Wynne overtakes them, chloroforms Farnelli and rips off his disguise to reveal Prince Zarl. Zarl then admits that he has stolen the treaty in order to cover his gambling debts.