Top-Tier Alternatives In the Shadow of The Law of the Woods: Cult G...

Dir: Harley Knoles

Jim McDonald, the foreman of a shipbuilding plant and head of the labor union, strives to combat the anarchistic propaganda being put forth by Klimoff, the leader of a Bolshevik gang whose goal is to disrupt the country with strikes and anarchy. Despite McDonald's efforts, a strike is called, resulting in chaos. McDonald's child is knocked down by runaway horses abandoned by their striking driver, and dies. Mob scenes take place in America, as well as in Russia. Eventually, the unrest is quelled with an armistice called between Capital and Labor for a year, during which time wages are to be increased to reflect the cost of living, and leaders are to work out a common plan for their mutual advantage. The strikers now realize that they have been pawns of the Bolsheviks and call off the strike, agreeing to the plan.

Dir: Edgar Jones

Beth Coventry, society favorite and ward of a wealthy aunt, is beloved by three men: rich broker Philip Murdock; Marquis de Tourville, a polished, brilliant social lion; and poor but promising young banker John Langton. Following an impulse, coupled with the advice of her aunt, Mrs. Gordon, Beth accepts Langton and they are married. Mrs. Connie Beverly, a young widow whose husband was Langton's best friend, mistakes Langton's kind interest in her for a deeper feeling and becomes infatuated with him, but in her determination to win his love she plans to ruin his home. John and Beth are living in a modest little home which they call "Love Cottage." Mrs. Beverly calls on Beth there and finds her reading letters which she had written to the Marquis before her marriage, which he graciously returned. Her eyes fall on the pages of one letter in which Beth had written among other things, "Europe is so far away I must have time to consider your proposal." This letter Mrs. Beverly steals. Murdock, too, is bent on breaking up the Langton home if possible, hoping yet to have Beth for his own. With Mrs. Beverly he makes an appeal to Beth's vanity, her one failing, and they succeed in getting her dissatisfied with her lot. Beth insists on John leaving the "Love Cottage" and moving into a pretentious home, where she proceeds to entertain lavishly and far beyond John's means. Murdock, posing as John's friend, induces him to speculate in stock. John is desperate as Beth tells him he will lose her love if he cannot supply her with an unreasonable allowance. He is finally driven to misappropriate bonds entrusted to his care by Beth's aunt. The couple become estranged. John strives to recover the money he has lost in speculation, while Beth gives herself up entirely to social life. At the height of a great ball, lightning strikes a tree, it crashes through a window and falls upon Beth. She is severely wounded and a cut on her face mars her beauty for life. John is called, but Beth mistakes his look of pity for one of disgust. The next day she leaves to go in seclusion while a specialist attends her. Mrs. Beverly tells John she has gone away with the Marquis, and to prove it shows him part of Beth's letter, written when she was considering De Tourville's proposal before her marriage. Beth's aunt dies several months later, leaving her fortune to her niece. Rather than face the disgrace which will attend the exposure of John's theft of the aunt's bonds, he determines to end his life at the "Love Cottage." Beth's lawyers notify her about the missing bonds. She protects John by saying she knows where they are, then she goes in search of him. Through a strange coincidence, they meet at the "Love Cottage," where they renew their first vows of love.

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

Dir: Edgar Jones

Jilted on her wedding day, Maud Wainwright becomes a confirmed man-hater. Homesteading in the Southwest, she ignores the attentions of both bandit "Three Gun Smith" and Sheriff Steve Kennedy. When Smith's gang accidentally knocks over Maud's cabin, the men take her to Smith's cabin while they rebuild her dwelling. There, Maud discovers a mail pouch and believing that it was stolen by Smith, reports him to the sheriff, who persuades her to assist him in arresting the bandit. After Smith is captured, Maud discovers papers that prove he is actually a secret service agent and that the sheriff is the real bandit. Riding to Smith's rescue, Maud prevents him from being lynched at the hands of vigilantes and then proclaims her love for him.

Dir: Edgar Jones

Through negotiations with the neighboring monarch, the King of Zollenstein arranges for his son to marry the Princess of Saxonia, but later discovers that the prince already has wed Lady Maulfrey Le Fay in secret. The king angrily exiles his son to England but while on his deathbed, calls him back to Zollenstein where Lady Le Fay dies in childbirth. After the prince succeeds to the throne, Boris, his father's illegitimate brother, bribes Betta, Lady Le Fay's maid, to kill the baby boy as part of a plot to overthrow the prince. Instead of slaying the child, Betta hides him and raises him as her own, calling him John Mortimer. When the new king dies in an accident, Boris claims the crown, but the Grand Chancellor, his enemy, meets John by chance and, struck by his resemblance to the Royal Family, declares him the true heir. Boris attempts to discredit John, but Betta produces proof of his heritage. Crowned king, John then marries Princess Zenia, the daughter of his father's jilted betrothed.

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

Dir: Unknown Director

The Judge needs a present for his wife's birthday, so Harry suggests a new corset. They go to the shop, but he's so embarrassed to ask the saleslady he hides in a phone booth.Harry goes in, but finds a GUY wearing one, and runs out.They both dress as women to get back in, but Mrs. Rummy gets there and chases him out.

Dir: Edgar Jones

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

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

Dir: Edgar Jones

A Mountie searching for known moonshiners falls in love with the sister of a man associated with them.

Dir: Richard Smith

Two female candidates for Chief of Police live across the hall from each other, and their political rivalry follows them home, leading to plenty of hi-jinks.

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

Dir: Edgar Jones

Julie Le Fabrier, a romantic young model in Madame Swan's dress shop, immediately falls in love with Lee Brooks after seeing a photo of the young millionaire in the paper. Soon afterwards, Julie is sent to the Grand Tides Hotel to deliver a dress to Madame Ricardo, an attractive young woman whose bills are paid by Lee's love-struck father, Mason Brooks. Having seen her husband, whom she believed to be in South America, on the grounds, Madame Ricardo deserts the hotel, so Julie dons the gown and masquerades as Mason's mistress. In the dining room, she meets Lee, who, hoping to interrupt his father's expensive affair, ardently woos "Madame Ricardo" and marries her. Mason, furious at Lee for "poaching on his father's preserves," rushes to the hotel. Meanwhile, Lee learns that Madame Ricardo already has a husband and deserts Julie, whom he still thinks is the madame. In the end, the mistaken identities are explained, and while Mason frees himself from the wiles of Madame Ricardo, Julie finds herself the happy wife of a rich man's son.

Dir: Edgar Jones

The "the girl" can't make up her mind which man she loves, the three men decide to play a trick on her.