Must-Watch List in the Vein of The Man Without a Heart: Cult Guide

Dir: Burton L. King

Sonia Demitri, daughter of an exiled Russian nobleman, comes to this country almost penniless, teaches a while, and then, being a lover of books, starts a little second-hand bookstore. Sonia grows to womanhood unaware of her noble birth, she has a great singing voice. In an old Bible which her father treasures are the documents which will establish her claim to large estates, but her father tells her she will learn it all after his death. David Tryne, living in the same neighborhood, deformed and with a twisted mind, is a remarkable penman and a lover of the beautiful. He forges a letter of recommendation given to one man. The second man uses it and as a result the first man is accused of forgery. The neighbors try to mob Tryne, who takes refuge in the bookstore. Sonia pities his deformities, aids him, and wins his adoration. To the bookstore comes Sutton, a society man, with Kitty Fish, and an impresario. Later, with Schuyler, they all go to hear Sonia sing. She succeeds and it is planned that she shall go abroad and study. Tryne is with her father while she is away and when Demitri dies Tryne learns from the papers in the old Bible of Sonia's high birth. Sonia makes a great success, Schuyler falls in love with her, and Tryne, crazed with jealousy, forges a note which he places in the old Bible, saying that Sonia is the daughter of a disreputable woman. This he signs with Demitri's name, and gives the book to Sutton to give to Sonia, asking him to say that he found it in an old bookshop. Schuyler's mother asks Sonia about her ancestry, and learning nothing, decides to institute inquiries in Russia. Sutton sprains his ankle on his way to Sonia, and sends for her to come and get the book. Tryne learns of this and sends a note to Schuyler, telling him of her going to Sutton. Schuyler meets her there. She shows Sutton's note, and while Schuyler declares his trust in her, she feels that she cannot marry him with the stain on her birth, and sends him away. Sonia gives up everything, and with Tryne as her servitor, awaits only death. Kitty feels for her, and sends for Schuyler to come and see her. The day he is to come, Soma finds the genuine documents regarding her birth which had fallen from Tryne's coat pocket. Tryne sees the papers in her hands, and tries to get them back, but she holds him with her eyes, and as Schuyler enters the room, Tryne sees that he has lost and quietly slips away. With the barrier to their love removed, Sonia and Schuyler find their happiness.

Dir: Burton L. King

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

Ralph Courtland and Pierre Felix are sitting in their Fifth Avenue Club discussing the eternal question, woman. Ralph contends that it is birth and breeding that make the gentlewoman, but Felix, who is a designer of fashionable apparel, claims in three months he can make a lady of any one he may happen to pick up on the street, simply by dressing her properly. An old organ-grinder and a young woman, leading a monkey by a string, stop in front of the club to gather some pennies, and Ralph and Felix decide to make her the subject of the test. The wager is for $25,000 and expenses and stakes are placed with Allen Tait, a young lawyer. Ralph goes to California, where his aeroplane is to be entered in a race, and Pierre, fitting out Bianca with beautiful clothes and installing her in a handsome apartment, begins his experiment. Bianca wears her new garments as if born to the purple, and is soon introduced to society at a charity ball and bazaar given by Ralph's mother, Pierre introducing her as a Russian Countess. Ralph returns in time to meet her, and not knowing her identity, is delighted with her. He pays her so much attention that Pierre's jealousy is aroused. Pierre, maddened by her exotic beauty attempts to embrace her, when he escorts her to her new apartments after the ball. She is so infuriated that she returns at once to the old organ-grinder. Pierre apologizes profusely, and persuades her to return, so that he may win the wager. Ralph and Bianca spend a great deal of time together. They are out horseback riding when Ralph's horse becomes frightened and he is thrown. Bianca is so overcome with fear that she rushes to him and pours forth her love in a torrent of words. Ralph is not badly hurt, and returning to consciousness, hears her and is overjoyed. He proposes marriage to her, and she accepts at once. Later Pierre reminds Ralph that he has lost the wager, since Bianca has been accepted by society. Ralph's affairs are in a precarious condition, and this threatens to ruin him. Then Bianca tells him her real identity. She is the daughter of the King of Montenaro. Being ordered to marry the Grand Duke Seridan, she has escaped to America, taking Carlo, an old servant, with her. Ralph rushes back to the club and prevents Allen from paying over the money to Pierre, since he is the one who has lost. Pierre, infuriated, vows revenge. He hurries to Bianca and forces her into an automobile. The Grand Duke has come in search of her, and Pierre promises to deliver Bianca to him. He takes her to the Duke's ship, which is in the harbor. Ralph, who has been notified by Bianca's maid that her mistress has been kidnapped, at once follows in his aeroplane, and Allen Tait gets into communication with the government officials to have the ship stopped within the three-mile limit. A cruiser is sent after the boat and stops it, but not before Ralph has dropped to the deck from his airship and fought his way to Bianca. Their immediate marriage puts a stop to further persecution from the Grand Duke.

Dir: Burton L. King

Sonia Smirnov, a Paris opera singer known as "The Black Butterfly", starts an affair with young Alan Hall. Hall, however, is still pining over his previous lover, a young peasant girl. Sonia--a former poor peasant girl herself--discovers a secret involving Hall and his former lover that neither knows about, but that involves an incident in Sonia's youth that could affect all of them.

Dir: Burton L. King

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

Bianca, a Corsican, supports her frivolous sister, Rosa, by making laces. The sculptor, Manatelli, visits her cottage to buy laces, and sees her modeling in clay. Impressed by her talent, he offers her free instruction if she wishes to come to Paris. Bianca accepts and promises to send for Rose as soon as possible. In Paris she meets Etienne Du Inette, head of the Internationale, a powerful secret service organization. He and Bianca are instantly attracted to each other. Jules Lavinne, also in the service of the Internationale, goes to Corsica on a secret mission. He sees and desires Rosa. One day a mysterious veiled woman slips a note under Etienne's door, warning him to go to Corsica and watch Lavinne, who is a traitor. He soon has occasion to protect Rosa from Lavinne. Lavinne learns the assumed name Etienne is using on the island and signs it to a note asking Rosa to meet him. In Paris, Bianca finishes and exhibits her first piece of work, and it is purchased by a wealthy patron. She sends for Rosa, but a letter from old Maria tells of the girl's disgrace and attempted suicide. Bianca rushes to her sister, who is dying. She finds the note which lured her sister to her destruction. It is signed, "Pierre Renard." Bianca vows to follow Pierre Renard "To the Death." She meets Jules Lavinne, and instinctively dislikes him, but when she learns that he belongs to the Internationale she forces herself to be gracious to him, hoping that he will aid her in finding "Pierre Renard." Lavinne, determined to win her, avoids meeting Etienne. Bianca asks Lavinne's aid, and he promises to find the man for her if she will marry him. Having vowed to avenge her sister at any cost, she promises. That night Lavinne telephones that he has a photograph of Pierre Renard. Bianca asks him to bring it to her at once. Before he comes he writes a note which he instructs his man to deliver to Etienne. It reads, "Bianca is in great danger. Go to her at once." Lavinne engages tickets on the midnight train, and tells his valet to take his portmanteau to a prominent hotel, where he arranges to have a priest ready to perform the ceremony. He shows Bianca the photograph. She is speechless with horror when she sees that it is a picture of Etienne. Lavinne instructs her to ask him whether he was not known in Corsica as "Pierre Renard." When he arrives she does so, and he admits it, also admitting that he knew Rosa there. She plunges a dagger in his breast, and he falls to the floor. Unwilling to keep her bargain with Lavinne, she attempts to take her own life. Lavinne prevents her, and forces her to accompany him to the hotel where the priest is in waiting. No sooner is the ceremony performed than Lavinne boasts of having won her by trickery, saying that it was he himself who lured Rosa to her death by the use of the name "Pierre Renard." Just then the valet knocks at the door, and Lavinne admits him. Behind him follow the woman of mystery and two gendarmes. The woman is Lavinne's wife, and he is arrested as a bigamist and a traitor. He returns to Bianca the dagger with which she struck down her lover. She rushes back to her own apartment, to kill herself beside his body, but she is amazed to find him gone. Her old nurse leads her into the room where he is lying asleep. The medallion of herself worn over his heart has saved his life.

Dir: Burton L. King

Having forced Jim Carson to leave town in order to avoid a trumped-up embezzling charge, now Albert Temple is rid of his only serious rival for Helen, whom he soon marries. Jim goes to Alaska, where he adopts Bob Adams, the son of a murdered friend, and then makes a fortune in a gold strike. After eighteen years in the Yukon, Jim returns to his hometown with Bob, who falls in love with Helen and Albert's daughter Dorothy. Because he so hates Albert, however, Jim refuses to consent to a marriage between Bob and Dorothy until Helen tells him that Albert is not the young woman's father. In reality, Dorothy is Jim's own daughter, and when he learns this, Jim quickly changes his mind about the marriage.

Dir: Burton L. King

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

Albert Jordan, publishing house manager, lavishes his salary on his adored wife, Rita, and little daughter Edna. She is a churchgoing woman, while his home and his family is his religion. While returning home one day, Jordan sees his little daughter in the path of an auto. He runs to snatch her from instant death. He saves her but is seriously injured himself. As a result, he becomes a half paralytic. His wife becomes the bread-winner of the family. She frets against this and is tempted by a former lover, Jim Shaw, a race-track follower, and leaves with him. Jordan becomes an embittered blasphemer. He is compelled to sell newspapers and pencils at an elevated station. Here a splendid woman with a deathless faith finds the hopeless Jordan and teaches him her creed of life. Jordan begins to pray. At last, in response to his prayers and more hopeful state, Jordan is healed and learns that God's way is not always the ways of men. The years pass. Jordan with health, new strength, new friends, becomes successful in business. His daughter, Edna, now a beautiful young woman, marries Frank Rollins, of aristocratic family, and assistant district attorney. Jordan makes his home with the young couple. On the other hand, Rita, who first lived in luxury, has gradually gone down the ladder of life and now reaps the harvest of her sin and selfishness. Shaw is drinking heavily and beats her. They return from Paris and start a flashy tango hall. A few months later, after his daughter's marriage, Jordan is asked by Rollins to accompany him on a vice crusade. While in a dance place, there is a quarrel between a man and a woman. Jordan goes to intervene and comes face to face with his wife. After a night of anguish Jordan goes to Rita, telling her of himself and of Edna. He teaches her to see the "light," as he calls it, as he has seen it. Rita is touched by Jordan's willingness to forgive and forget and the latent good in Rita's nature rises to meet the good in Jordan. How Rita repays his wish to reclaim her is unfolded in the climax.

Dir: Burton L. King

Nancy Page is a frivolous socialite until her husband Richard becomes entangled in his employer David Davenport's shady business dealings. Davenport, a building contractor, had secured Richard's signature on several papers that promised payment of over a million dollars, even though the firm was insolvent. At a party held in honor of wealthy Japanese agent Tato Usaki, Richard tries to convince Davenport's wife Lila, who is in love with him, to obtain the vouchers, and Nancy attempts to charm Usaki into signing a building contract that will save the firm. Usaki and Nancy arrange to meet at the vacant house next door, where he signs the contract but then locks the door and attacks her. Nancy escapes through a window and returns to the party with the contract, while Davenport, having discovered that his wife has destroyed the incriminating vouchers, shoots himself.

Dir: Burton L. King

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

When Vera, the daughter of steel king Daniel Maitland, marries Blair, a young lawyer, her father cuts her off with only a small allowance. A few months later, Blair becomes famous by securing the acquittal of one of his friends who had killed his wife's lover, basing his plea on "the unwritten law." He then succumbs to the fascination of another woman. Vera discovers them in a compromising situation and shoots Blair. At her trial, her lawyer is pleading for mercy when Vera explains that she does not want mercy, but justice. She asks if there is one law for a woman and another for a man and explains that she shot her husband because he betrayed her trust. At that moment, it is revealed that the whole episode is being composed by novelist Elaine Esmond, who interrupts her story to go to the opera with her sweetheart.

Dir: Burton L. King

Extravagance has always marked the lives of Norma Russell and her father, Courtland Russell. As a consequence, debt overtakes them, and Russell is forced to borrow a large sum of money from Howard Dundore, the banker. Even this hint of coming trouble does not cause them to economize, and soon Russell has to ask Dundore for an extension of his note. This the banker refuses to do unless the note is accompanied by the signature of a depositor of the bank. Russell forges the name of Robert Mackay, one of the bank's wealthiest depositors. Dundore knows the name is forged, but instructs his confidential man, Horace Scott, to pay the note and subtract it from his private account. He then accuses Russell, and to save her father from the consequences of his forgery Norma is obliged to consent to marry Dundore. She cables her lover, Franklin Hall, a businessman, who has gone to South America to look after a rubber investment, that she cannot marry him. Hall returns at once, pays back the amount of the note, thereby beggaring himself, and marries Norma. Dundore pretends to be friendly to the young couple, tells Hall he knows his investment has gone badly, and offers him a position in the bank, which Hall accepts. Dundore then seizes the opportunity to have Hall's accounts falsified in order to make it appear that he has stolen large sums of money. He continues to call at the Hall's home, and on one occasion makes love to Norma. Hall comes in unexpectedly, the men come to blows, and Dundore accuses Hall of having taken money from the bank. He is arrested, brought to trial and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. The only man who could have testified in his behalf, Horace Scott, has been given money by Dundore, with orders to leave the city. Norma feels that her husband's trouble is a judgment upon herself for her extravagance, since he has always gratified her every wish. Left without means by his imprisonment she turns her talents to scenario writing, at which she is immensely successful. Her father, who has been ousted from his clubs for non-payment of dues, and who lives in a little apartment with his daughter, secures work as a motion picture actor. One evening when they are returning from the studio in the motor car of the director, they see an old man run down by another car. Norma takes the injured man home. When he regains consciousness days later his mind is a blank. During his ravings Norma gleans enough to suspect that he has knowledge of her husband's supposed crime, and tries in every way to bring back his memory. All efforts fail. She takes him to the prison to see her husband, and Hall recognizes him as Scott, but he does not recognize the husband. Norma decides upon an idea, and with the aid of her director carries it out. She writes a scenario embodying the facts in the case of her husband's false accusation, and has it acted for the screen. Then she invites Dundore to see her latest picture at a special showing, and has Scott present. The picture is called "The Banker." As its action progresses there is a shout from the auditorium. Scott jumps to his feet wildly exclaiming: "That's the way he did it; Hall was not to blame. Dundore made me do it." In the ensuing excitement Dundore escapes. He hurries to the railroad station, engages a special and leaves the city, but fate follows him, and he is killed when his engine crashes into a line of "dead" freight cars. Hall is released on the testimony of Scott, whose memory has been brought back by Norma's plan, and Norma and her husband begin life happily once more, both she and her lather having learned a bitter lesson on the folly of extravagance.

Dir: Burton L. King

Engrossed in the perfection of a new high power explosive, the husband seems to neglect his wife. She is further piqued by the introduction into their home of a man whose presence is unexplained, but who is really a Secret Service operative guarding the invention. The Government has asked that the wife be kept in ignorance. In this frame of mind the wife lends a ready ear to Aachen, who suggests that the husband be taught a lesson by the abstraction of this all-absorbing formula. Through this means he gets the formula, but in the end the Government gathers him in, and the only permanent result is a needed lesson to the innocent little traitor.