The Essential Watchlist that Capture the Essence of The Menace: Cul...

Dir: Edward LeSaint

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: Roy William Neill

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

Trixie Darling, a leading chorus girl in the musical comedy number "Chicken, Chicken, You're Some Pickin'," refuses Broadway Benham's seductive wine parties and luxuries. Instead, she marries John Collins, an awkward Westerner, who, she is surprised to learn, is a multi-millionaire with a huge orange grove in California. John, overhearing jealous dancers say Trixie married for money, decides to test her. He takes her in a rickety Ford to their "home," a shack, where he throws things, raves, and makes her fix his breakfast at five. When Benham brings the troupe to town, he easily convinces the disillusioned Trixie to appear, but John carries her off the stage. Gertie Brown, John's jealous former sweetheart, starts the Committee on Public Morals to get rid of Trixie. When Trixie interrupts their meeting and has a hair-pulling fight with Gertie, a dislodged kerosene lamp starts a fire. After nearly losing her life saving Gertie, Trixie awakens from unconsciousness to find herself in John's mansion, now accepted by all.

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Roy William Neill

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Eva, wo bist du? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Catherine Bush, a lowly office worker, uses her attractive personality and her perseverance to lift herself to a high place in society, eventually becoming Lady Catherine.

Dir: Roy William Neill

Rita Hackett's father has unscrupulously gained possession of an old southern mansion. The owner, Randolph Manners, is evicted and takes up residence in the training quarters on the estate. It is there when Rita meets Randolph and learns of her father's deeds. Rita disguises herself as a jockey and enters a a race, determined to help Randolph reclaim what is his.

Dir: Roy William Neill

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

Marcella Duranzo finds it increasingly difficult to support herself and her ailing father on her earnings as a clothing store fashion model, she accepts an assignment from Lois Underwood, the bored wife of millionaire Robert Underwood. For $1,000, Marcella agrees to live in Reno for a time under Lois' name; meanwhile, the restless wife may accompany her lover, Count Louis Le Favri, on a yacht trip and still sue her husband for divorce. Robert, however, visits the fashionable Reno hotel in which Marcella is registered and soon learns the truth. In Reno, Robert's son Bobby becomes seriously ill, and when Marcella nurses him back to health, Robert falls in love with her. Lois, who has found a new lover in Jack Porter, is about to sue Robert, naming Marcella as the co-respondent, when the jealous count, posing as Jack's chauffeur, drives himself, Jack and Lois into an oncoming train. Marcella then consents to marry Robert.

Dir: Roy William Neill

Allaine Grandet lives with her father in the barren land of the north, where women are nothing more than mere chattels. She is sold by her father to Jules Latour, a brutal and primitive trapper, who subsequently gambles her away to James Dermot, the keeper of a den in the gold settlement. She is here befriended by a besotted pianist, who has seen better days, but whose manhood revives in Allaine's environment. The gambling hall proprietor seeks to bend her to his will, but she resists him, nameless fear tugging at her heartstrings. When he seeks to enforce his will upon her, she shoots and wounds him, and with this act her fear vanishes and she becomes mistress of herself. She goes with the pianist into the snows, and in a drift their dog unearths the body of Latour. So she finds happiness in the love of her protector, whose manhood has restored her faith in him.

Dir: Roy William Neill

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of They're Off perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

On an ocean liner returning to America, Alison Landis, an actress, avoids paying duty on a valuable pearl necklace by hiding it in the lining of a hat which she sends to Benjamin Staff, a playwright. The necklace is being trailed by a crook who is related to another passenger, Eleanor Searle, who also has a striped hatbox similar to the one recovered by the unsuspecting playwright. The crook bears an uncanny resemblance to Eleanor's father. The two bandboxes are inadvertently switched at the dock. The crook discovers the switch, and pursues Eleanor to a cabin on a deserted island where she fights for her life, but is saved by her father and Benjamin. The crook is killed, the jewels are destroyed, and plans for marriage between Eleanor and Benjamin ensue.

Dir: Edgar Jones

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

Dir: Roy William Neill

Young Gloria O'Connell falls in love with her neighbor, James Oliver. She is sent to a small town to stay with her three spinster aunts, while James becomes a newspaper reporter and arranges to write a story on the town and its large old-maid population. James pursues overweight "Hippo" Harger, a rival for Gloria's affections, and challenges him to a duel. When James' newspaper story appears, the disgruntled old maids hunt down the author. In a fit of anger, Gloria decides to marry "Hippo," but James rescues her at the office of the justice of the peace. The youthful lovers continue their relationship with their parents' understanding.