Must-Watch List Comparable to the Style of The Land of Long Shadows: Cult Guide

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Bob Cross is a newspaper reporter who, in trailing "Painter" Paul, a notorious crook, gets wind of a plot to kidnap Martha Steadman. The girl is grandniece of a millionaire named Biddle. Bob invades the Biddle premises, just in time to discover the body of Mr. Biddle after he has been murdered by his business associate, named Jules Fernol, who is in reality leader of a gang of crooks. Fernol has embezzled Martha's fortune and is trying to cover up one crime by committing another. Bob is so like the dead man's son, Dick Biddle, that the gangsters charge the crime to him, thinking to get him out of the way. Bob, realizing that he has been mistaken for another, allows himself to be sent to jail, but later, through collusion with the police, makes a getaway. He then begins an effort to rescue the girl from her danger and find the real murderer of Biddle.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Out of the elite and civilized east into the rough and primitive west there comes a little party which judged the desert must be larger than all New York, and their trail a little longer than the Gay White Way. Ruth Harkness, who has inherited the Flying W ranch from a relative, heads the timid little band. A prim and conventional aunt and uncle and Willard Masten, her fiancé, all dolled up according to his Fifth Avenue tailors ideas of the west, accompany her. Headlong the little party plunges into the meshes of a conspiracy of two cowboys to mulct the girl of her holdings. Rex Randerson, a happy-go-lucky ranger with a clear-gray eye, steps in to frustrate the plot, and incidentally falls in love with Ruth. This enrages Masten, who joins the conspirators and extends their plot to include Randerson's death. The girl and the ranger are caught in their "death trap'' and count themselves lost, but the fearlessness of Rex in a single-handed battle with the villains saves the day. Ruth thanks him by consenting to become his bride, and an old-fashioned cowboy wedding ends the dark adventure.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

A woman, engaged to one man, is forced to marry another, who is subsequently arrested, leaving his wife with a terrible decision to make when her former fiancee comes looking for her.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Jack Derry accidentally becomes involved in a mystery surrounding Glory Billings, when fate makes him her rescuer in a kidnapping episode.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Little six-year-old Sadie O'Malley, a child of the tenement district, has a vision of heaven awakened within her by the teaching of a settlement worker, so when she sees a handsome limousine in front of the settlement laundry near her home she thinks it is a heavenly chariot, climbs into a clothes hamper in the interior of the car and is whisked away to the home of Mrs. Welland Riche. The latter has left earlier in the day on a trip, so when Sadie and. her dog, George Washington Square, who has been her companion in the hamper trip, are dumped down the clothes chute of the Riche home while concealed in the basket, they find easy access to the upper regions of the mansion and then, indeed, Sadie thinks she is in heaven. Sadie soon is discovered by the servants, but they believe she is just another of Mrs. Riche's fads when she tells them she is there to stay. Believing Mrs. Riche as desiring that the best of care be given the child, Sadie is dressed in rich garments and is much at home until Mrs. Riche returns. While the servants' explanations have been made, Mrs. Riche, in the meantime having been won over by the child's beauty and sweet manners, decides Sadie may remain. But the tenement child's happiness is short-lived when George Washington Square appears upon the scene. Mrs. Riche orders that the pup be removed and tells Sadie that, instead, she can play with the Riche collection of Poms. Not so for Sadie. She informs the wealthy matron that she wouldn't give up George Washington Square for all the heavens and that if G.W.S. cannot remain she will go. So hugging her doggie close to her she returns to her worried mother with the explanation, "I have been to heaven, but they sent me home because they didn't like my dog."

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Some of the most sanguinary feuds in America have been fought out, not in the mountains of the south, but on the deserts of the great west, where cattlemen and sheepmen often dealt out death to each other with the aid of their old friends, Winchester and Colt. Such a feud is in progress between the men of the desert when Jack, a nomadic cowboy, wanders into the scene. He is outspoken against the outlawry, and the sheriff, in jest, hands him his badge and asks him if he can do any better. Jack accepts the challenge and arrests one of the most recent slayers. The latter's companions immediately storm the jail and rescue him. In the fight Jack is desperately wounded. May, a girl of the ranch, finds the cowboy half dead and hides him in an isolated hut while she nurses him back to health. The feudists discover Jack's hiding place and attack him. He and the girl escape, and while Jack holds a narrow canyon against his pursuers the girl dashes across the desert in search of aid. Jack's life seems as good as lost when May returns with the opposing feudists, who save him. The wedding between Jack and the girl on the battleground reconciles the feudists and restores order on the desert.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Fate's Frame-Up perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Through a forged will, a crook assumes control of a valuable estate. He poses as the brother of a dead man, and endeavors to dispose of the deceased man's two daughters, one of whom is in love with the forger's son.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

When Perry Blair's foreman fires him for fighting, fight promoter Charles Dunham hires him and takes him east to enter the boxing ring. Perry becomes a star boxer but breaks his contract and returns home when he is ordered to fight a crooked match. Sometime later Dunham again comes west and engages Perry to fight one more contest on a winner-take-all basis. He wins the fight and Cecil Manners, who has believed him to be a coward.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Captain Duncan McTeague, ashore in Southport, finds a deserted baby boy with a note and half of a dollar bill pinned to its clothing. The note states that the mother hopes some day to return and identify the child with the other half of the dollar bill. McTeague raises the child. When he is four years old, the captain discharges his mate Martin Webber, who seeks revenge by kidnapping the boy. A woman turns up who proves to be the missing mother. Webber is killed and the mother and Captain McTeague are united.