Recommendations
Senior Film Conservator

For those who were mesmerized by The Neglected Wife, a true cult masterpiece from 1917, the quest for comparable cinema becomes a journey through the fringes of film history. Our curated selection of recommendations echoes the very essence of The Neglected Wife.
The legacy of The Neglected Wife is built upon its ability to create a hauntingly beautiful cinematic landscape.
Episode 1: "The Woman Alone" Horace Kennedy, a successful lawyer, is drifting from his attentive and loyal wife, Mary, for no apparent reason, save that she is fading and he is losing interest in her. On the charge made by Margaret Warner, a struggling magazine writer, Kennedy disbars Attorney Doyle, contending that as a man must protect the honor of his wife and home, so must we guard our courts from prowling jackals. Because of his masterly handling of the disbarment case, a magazine requests Kennedy to write twelve articles dealing with the subject. Mary, his wife, persuades him against his wishes, to write these articles, suggesting that she will take his dictation on the typewriter. She proves an inefficient helper and the first night on which they work she falls and sprains her wrist, making it necessary for Kennedy to look elsewhere for assistance. Margaret, living in a cheap boarding-house is poor, as her short story manuscripts are returned day after day by the magazines. Desiring to help her Kennedy engages her for the work. Doyle, forced out of his profession, continues his work in the field of crooked-stock jobbing, taking the hard-earned savings of the poor for bogus mining stock. The last night of their joint work, Kennedy accompanies Margaret home, but on their way they are caught in an accident. Kennedy escapes injury, but Margaret faints. Calling to her to speak to him, Kennedy, with Margaret in his arms, rushes to a physician. Is the girl he is beginning to love to be thus taken from him?
Based on the unique unique vision of The Neglected Wife, our vault has identified these titles as the most compelling follow-up experiences for fans of cult cinema:
Dir: William Bertram
Secret service man, posing as crook in order to capture counterfeiter, rescues girl from death in stream, but grandfather, recognizing the man as one whom he believes a crook, orders him not to try to see girl again. Crooks steal gold from mine of grandfather and are aided, apparently, by secret service man who desires to learn their secrets. Secret service man finally brings about capture of crooks, making a thrilling jump from cliff into automobile, driven by girl he loves, who is threatened by crook in car with her, in capturing the last of the crooks and recovering the grand- father's gold.
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Dir: William Bertram
A rancher stands up for an employee unjustly accused of cattle rustling.
Dir: William Bertram
Blossom Ruggles, the fiercely independent daughter of Arizona cattleman Hank Ruggles, loves neighboring rancher Asa Harris. To pique Asa, however, she flirts with mining engineer Frank Stimpson, who unknown to her, has deceived pretty half-wit Amelia Young. While riding the range, Blossom is attacked by a Mexican bandit, but manages to overpower him, and deliver him to Asa and the cowboys, who throw him from a cliff. Later, the bandit is found unconscious by the sheriff and taken to jail. Learning of the half-wit's plight, Blossom mounts a posse, apprehends Frank, and forces him at gunpoint to marry Amelia. After the ceremony, Asa and Blossom are also wed.
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Dir: William Bertram
Christine, known as Tiny, whose mother eloped with a circus clown and became a parachutist, spends most of her time with her lame dog and an elephant. When the circus passes through her home town, Tiny's mother is rejected by her sister Sylvia, thought to be an old maid because of her all-consuming interest in mathematics. Seeing her mother depressed, Tiny convinces her father to join her for her nightly stunt of parachuting from a balloon. While Tiny plays with a precocious black child, her parents' chute fails to open and they die. Thinking herself friendless, Tiny attempts to drown herself, but her dog brings Sylvia and Frank Dodge, who loves her. Sylvia lets her other suitor, Professor Caldwell, who wants her fortune, direct Tiny's upbringing "scientifically," but after Tiny and Frank expose the professor's plot to destroy Sylvia's book on the fourth dimension, because it is better than his own book, Sylvia, who now loves Tiny, accepts Frank's proposal.
Dir: William Bertram
Nada Mayhew persuades her sick father to spend a few months in the mountains, where they are mistakenly suspected as being federal agents by bootleggers Bob Clark and Jim Hendricks. Using a map that Nada found, she and her father set out in search of a hidden vein of silver, but they must make a wild ride to Ghost City to escape the gang, who also wish to find the silver. When surveyor Dick Carroll finds Nada in his cabin, Nada assumes that he is one of the gang and ties him up. Jim Hendricks arrives and captures Nada. Realizing her mistake, Nada gnaws at Dick's bonds while Hendricks searches for the map, accidentally drinks poison, and causes a fire in his agony. All three escape. Dick overcomes Hendricks, and Nada and Dick start out in search of the vein.
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Dir: William Bertram
Little Marie, terrified after her drunken father beats her mother, flees from the house. Finding herself alone after her father is arrested for the assault and her mother rushed to the hospital, Marie becomes attached to a little dog that she finds in the park. The maid who is walking the dog is unable to part the two, and so she brings the little girl home to the Greer mansion where Mr. Greer, desperate for the child that his socialite wife is too busy to give him, insists upon adopting Marie. After Marie's mother recovers, she is reluctant to deprive her daughter of the riches she may inherit, and so obtains the position of governess in the Greer household in order to be near her own child. Gradually, a deep attachment develops between Mr. Greer and Marie's mother. After Marie's father is killed during a jailbreak, and Mrs. Greer, suffering from her superficial existence, commits suicide, Greer marries Marie's mother and the reconstituted family begins a new life.
Dir: William Bertram
The usual ranger played by Maloney, and he has the usual old mother that he takes care of. The girl is the daughter of the impoverished and aged prospector, who still holds faith in a hole in the ground that he has dug. The bold, bad heavy is the general storekeeper, whose advances have been repulsed by the girl. To get even he first tries to blow up the old man and fasten a murder on the favored suitor, who is the ranger. There is the regulation stuff that has its horse features, its automobiles ... and the heroine making her way down a log chute to be in at the death. ... At the finish is the usual fade-out with the hero clasping the heroine to his manly bosom.
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Dir: William Bertram
Dolly lives with her aunt, who is a seamstress. The child is sent home from school because she has been naughty, and finds her aunt in the act of making a Red Cross costume for a huge mechanical doll. The doll can walk and talk and excites Dolly's interest intensely. Some of her playmates come and run away with the doll, which is later smashed by a runaway horse. Dolly then dresses in the Red Cross costume, hides in the big box, and is taken to the rich woman's home. She reveals her secret to the daughter, a little girl who is sick. The fairy story touches thrown in here are very fine and will appeal to the imagination of small observers. Dolly carries out her deception successfully at the Red Cross bazaar, but later is kidnapped by a gang who have been raiding the house of the wealthy woman. Dolly assists in rounding up the gang.
Dir: William Bertram
A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.
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Dir: William Bertram
A former Annapolis cadet is thrown out of the Naval Academy for cheating on an exam. Of course he was framed, but he must enlist in the Navy to clear himself. Meanwhile he and his sweetheart search for a buried treasure on Lost Island, which everyone is after.
View DetailsAnalysis relative to The Neglected Wife
| Film Title | Atmosphere | Complexity | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alias Phil Kennedy | Tense | Dense | 97% Match |
| The Wolverine | Gritty | Dense | 95% Match |
| The Arizona Cat Claw | Ethereal | Abstract | 89% Match |
| The Old Maid's Baby | Tense | Linear | 85% Match |
| Ghost City | Surreal | Dense | 87% Match |
This guide was algorithmically generated using the cinematic metadata of William Bertram's archive. Last updated: 6/12/2026.
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