Editor's Top Picks Following the Footsteps of The Narrow Valley: Cu...

Dir: Charles Horan

While working as a flower girl in Devlin Maddox's nightclub, Nellie Vaughan meets wealthy young Pelton Van Teel and falls in love. Maddox, desirous of using Nellie to blackmail Van Teel, spreads a rumor that she is his mistress. This makes Nellie uncomfortable, and she demands that Van Teel marry her immediately, to which he agrees. Meanwhile, Van Teel has been losing money gambling to Maddox, who threatens to break up the marriage by producing a worthless check that the young husband has written. Venturing to Maddox's apartment for a showdown, Nellie pulls a gun and demands the check, accidentally shooting Maddox when he throws a lamp at her. Maddox plans to charge Nellie with assault, but when the police arrive, his butler, actually a detective employed by the elder Van Teel, exposes Maddox, who is then arrested, clearing the path for the couple's happiness.

Dir: Cecil M. Hepworth

Gerard, the eldest son of a wealthy family, is destined by his father for the church, although his own inclinations lie elsewhere. The young fellow is a born artist. His first success comes when he reads of the announcement of a public competition in which a big prize is to be paid for the best picture. It is at this period that he meets Margaret and her aged father. He falls in love with Margaret, and their fast-growing affection is viewed with great concern by the burgomaster of Rotterdam who is keeping in his possession some valuable parchments which relate to Margaret's fortune. Gerard's affection is discovered by his father, who sternly reprimands him, bidding him to think of the vocation in life that he has to fill. Gerard defies his father and family, and goes to his patroness, who, on hearing his story, tells him to put aside all ideas of priesthood for the present, and that she will pay for him to go to Rome and study art. Gerard gratefully accepts the offer, but at the same time he determines that before he leaves, he will wed Margaret secretly. In the meantime his father has been to the burgomaster, attempting to put the law in force against his disobedient son. The burgomaster, fearing for himself if the union between Gerard and Margaret should come to pass, promises his aid. Accordingly Gerard is torn from the arms of his newly-made bride at the very foot of the altar. He is imprisoned in the burgomaster's house. But thanks to the efforts of Margaret and his sister and crippled brother, he makes his escape. While escaping he accidentally discloses a trapdoor which conceals the secret hiding-place of the burgomaster's papers, and thinking that some of them will be useful to him in his work as an artist, he fills his pockets full. He finds on examination that one of them is the actual document relating to Margaret's fortune, and he keeps this, giving the others to Margaret to bury in the garden. He then sets out for Rome and on his way falls in with Denys of Burgundy, a Burgundian soldier of fortune. A friendship springs up between the gentle artist and the rough soldier. Then follows the attempted murder of the two men in the inn by the rascally landlord and his two accomplices, from which Gerard and his companion emerge victorious. Gerard arrives at Rome, and continues his studies. In the meantime his brothers, who have always been jealous of him, discover his whereabouts, and with the connivance of the burgomaster, send a letter to him to the effect that Margaret is dead. This information drives Gerard to such a state of despair that when his life is attempted by an assassin who is bribed to kill him by Princess Cloelia, whose overtures he has rejected. He offers no resistance, but the assassin overcome with remorse drops his dagger and flees from the scene. A year elapses, and Gerard, now a priest, returns to his own country. He is summoned to the death-bed of an old hermit and when he dies. Gerard takes up his life in the old man's cave. His wife comes to the spot to pray, and recognizes Gerard by a birthmark on his hand. The unfortunate man then learns for the first time that he has been deceived, that his wife is alive and that he has a son five years old. When he realizes the extent of the treacherous trick that has been played upon him, he bursts in upon his family and denounces his brothers. The rage of his father knows no bounds, and he is with difficulty restrained from slaying the son who has wrecked his elder brother's life. He next visits the burgomaster, and by the aid of the incriminating parchment, which he has kept all these years, forces him to restore Margaret's fortune. This, however, is the most he can do, and, after taking an agonizing farewell of his wife and child, he is forced to go out in the world alone, for there is no power that can absolve him from the duties of his holy calling, nor is it possible for a man to mix again with the world over whose head the sacred words have been spoken, "Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchisedech."

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

Dir: F. Martin Thornton

In Paris an orphan cartoonist loves a man with a mad wife, who dies in time to prevent her marriage to a jilted Comte.

Dir: Dallas M. Fitzgerald

Confidence artist Flossie Golden attempts to fleece foolish but wealthy James Venable with a breach-of-promise suit. Venable's shrewd attorney, Richard Harding, outwits Flossie by proposing that she marry Venable and live on an allowance of $3,000 per year. Flossie is determined to get even with Harding for ruining her plans. In an attempt to con him, she poses as Innocence Page, but falls in love and marries him instead. Larry, Flossie's former accomplice, endeavors to blackmail her with her errant past, but Harding is already cognizant of the facts and Larry fails.

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

Dir: Cecil M. Hepworth

A girl wins her rival's fiancé with a fake marriage announcement.

Dir: Cecil M. Hepworth

A doctor makes a drunkard's death look like murder so he may marry his widow.

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

Dir: Cecil M. Hepworth

A widowed heiress, forbidden to re-marry, takes a lover.

Dir: Cecil M. Hepworth

A rich man's son loves a nature girl loved by a gypsy who is really her half brother.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Comin' Thro' the Rye perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

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: Maurice Elvey

A lady marries a horse trainer but withholds herself until her crippled brother is cured.