Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of The Jackeroo of Coolabong: Cult Guide

Dir: Wilfred Lucas

An odd belief that the dead can be tormented through their surviving loved ones prompts Dr. Miguel Hernandez to seek revenge against the woman who shunned him through her husband, Matthew Vane, and daughter Mildred. With the help of some old love letters supposedly written by Matthew's deceased wife to another man, the doctor suggests that Mildred is not Matthew's daughter, whereupon the shocked father leaves the young woman with Miguel and departs on a journey. Purportedly testing Mildred to determine her true parentage, the doctor actually imprisons her, allowing her to see no one but the lecherous Ralph Jeffries, whom she loathes. Mildred smuggles a note to her sweetheart, Albert Moreland, who arrives with Matthew to rescue her just as Ralph is attacking her. The doctor's scheme is fully revealed, and Mildred is reunited with her father and sweetheart.

Dir: William Parke

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

Bruce Wendell, the son of West Virginia coal mine owner James Wendell, graduates from West Point and prepares to lead a fighting unit to the front during World War I. As his father lies dying, however, he convinces Bruce to remain at home and guard the mine. Bruce's fiancée Ann Blair assumes that he is a coward and breaks off their engagement, but her brother Bobbie remains Bruce's loyal friend. Meyer, a German agent, persuades railroad president Parrish to refuse to transport Wendell's coal, but when Bruce adamantly refuses to close the mine, the spy's men decide to blow it up. While Ann is being abducted by Meyer, Bobbie is buried in an explosion at the mine. Bruce rescues Bobbie and then sends a plea to Lieutenant Parrish to rescue Ann. Meyer and his gang are captured and Ann renews her vow of love to Bruce.

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.

Dir: Wilfred Lucas

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

A mountain girl, the daughter of one of Colonel Morgan's men, rides through the Union lines carrying a secret dispatch.

Dir: Wilfred Lucas

A crippled old man and his daughter plot to kill a young man they mistakenly believe was responsible for the man's injury. Matters get complicated when his other daughter, who is a twin, falls in love with the intended victim.

Dir: Alexander Butler

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

In Alberta, Canada, a Cornish emigrant unmasks a rustler posing as the girl's "blind" father.

Dir: Wilfred Lucas

A real desperado meets Bill in the road and compels him to exchange clothes with him and take his horse, the bandit, known as "Desperate Bill," having received word that the sheriff and a posse are gunning for him.

Dir: Wilfred Lucas

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Trey o' Hearts perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Concerned about the failing health of Rhoda Tuttle, his fiancee, John DeWitt takes her to the lavish Arizona home of his friends, Jack and Katherine Newman. Although the Newmans try to cheer Rhoda, who has lost her parents in a train wreck, she remains listless and melancholy. While walking in the desert, Rhoda is bitten by a tarantula but is saved by Kut-Le, a Yale-educated Indian employed as a superintendent on Newman's irrigation project. Because of his strong belief in the curative effects of life in the desert, Kut-Le kidnaps Rhoda and forces her to live in a manner far removed from the comforts and confinements of civilization. Outraged, John and Kut-Le's enemy, Billy Porter, search for Rhoda, but after they finally defeat the Indian in a fierce fight, she decides that she prefers to remain with the man who helped her regain happiness.

Dir: Edgar Jones

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

Dir: Wilfred Lucas

Tarzan and Jane are to sail for England. They are attacked by natives and Tarzan is believed to have been killed.