Masterpiece Selection Resonating with the Themes of The Love of Sunya: Cult Guide

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: Edward LeSaint

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

When famous opera singer Elinore Duane undergoes an operation on her throat, she has a series of ether-induced visions. In one, she is transported to ancient Rome where she appears as a much-admired woman in love with Paul, a young heretic, and at odds with Lutor, the high priest. To save her love, she poisons Lutor with her ring. After several other visions which involve variations on this love triangle, Elinore awakens to discover that Lutor is actually her doctor, Sascha Jaccard, and that Paul is the son of a friend who has come to visit the recovering prima donna.

Dir: Albert Parker

Phemie Sanders, confronted with the unhappiness of her parents because of the perpetually drunken state of her father, harbors a hatred towards men which even extends to Joe Stull, the village blacksmith who wants to marry her. Upon her mother's death, Phemie takes her younger sister and goes to Joe to accept his proposal while announcing that she will never love him. Joe accepts her conditions, thinking that she will soon change her attitude, but Phemie remains steadfast. Having read in the paper of the power of matrimonial jealousy, Joe decides to write anonymous letters to Phemie, mentioning another woman in his life. These have no perceptible effect on the man-hater until another woman, in reality, looms upon the horizon. She is Lucy Conyer, a former admirer of Joe's who is now a widow. Lucy makes a play for Joe's attentions and this finally has an effect on Phemie, who upbraids her husband for neglecting her and, then forced to a confession, declares her love for him.

Dir: Albert Parker

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

During World War I, John Stevens invents an anti-submarine device, but the plans are stolen by two German spies, the Baron von Wiederholtz and Madame Elsa, who flee to a New York hotel. Stevens' daughter Alice pursues the spies hoping to retrieve the plans. Also lodging at the hotel are Howard Skeele and Margaret Worth, childhood friends whose parents are forcing them to marry with threats of disinheritance. In attempting to escape, Howard finds himself in the baron's suite just in time to spy the German in the act of hiding the plans. Howard directs Alice to the plans, and then, because he must be wed before six o'clock that evening or lose his inheritance, he proposes to her. They marry with Margaret's blessing, the spies are arrested, and Alice returns home with the plans and a husband.

Dir: Albert Parker

Marcia Grey is wrongly convicted on trumped-up evidence of a German. After serving her term, she rebuilds her life and marries well. The German then attempts to blackmail her into helping the German cause during WWI.

Dir: Albert Parker

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

Melia Nobbs, a young Canadian woman, supports both her invalid father Ambrose and brother Henry. When Henry faces arrest for helping himself to his employer's cash, Melia steals the amount from the star of the theater where she has been dancing, and offers it to her brother provided that he will enlist in the army. Henry agrees and goes off to war, making Ambrose proud of his son, but when Ambrose learns that his daughter has been arrested for theft, he disowns her. Melia does not reveal the reason for taking the money and is sent to prison. Meanwhile, Henry fights bravely in France and returns home minus an arm but wearing the Victoria Cross. He finds his sister, weak and worn from overwork, in the prison hospital. Seeing her brother with his medals, Melia realizes that her sacrifices for him and her country have not been in vain, and that in her own way, she has served her country.

Dir: Albert Parker

A woman runs away from an arranged marriage. Her father finds her and plans to send the man to the same rooming house so they might fall in love. Plans go awry when a police reporter accidentally assumes his place while on a case.

Dir: Edgar Jones

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

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

Dir: Albert Parker

James Barclay is elected to the office of governor on the machine ticket. Sylvia Marlowe, a lawyer whom Barclay has loved for years, refuses to marry him because she fears that Barclay's ambition is causing him to disregard ethics and justice. When he is persuaded by the political boss to veto a child labor measure, Sylvia determines to run for the office of lieutenant governor and is elected. After war is declared, the political boss is bought by a German agent to kill an army appropriation bill, even though the money is urgently needed. Barclay lacks the courage to defy the boss, so Sylvia arranges to have him leave the state, and during his absence, she signs the bill. At first Barclay is angered, but soon he is reconciled, and his next proposal to Sylvia is accepted.

Dir: Alexander Butler

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