Underground Favorites Mirroring the Impact of The New School Teache...

Dir: Gregory La Cava

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Maurice Campbell

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

Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.

Dir: Gregory La Cava

Ma is chasing a milk devouring fly, while uncle, in the garden, is sweeping the carpet with a vacuum cleaner. Then he falls beneath a tree near a beehive. The twins immediately suck the bees into the vacuum, and go in search of Pa, who, worn out from painting the outhouse also slumbers. Awakened by a dose of angry bees, Pa and Ma give chase, and after great trouble the twins are captured and dealt with in a manner befitting their crimes.

Dir: Gregory La Cava

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

As Prohibition takes effect, an irate wife throws away all of the Judge's liquor and sends him to a temperance lecture. While waiting for it to start, he tries the liquor substitute from the establishment across the street.

Dir: Gregory La Cava

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Gregory La Cava

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Gregory La Cava

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Smash-Up in China perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

While walking along the street one day, Arthur P. Hampton, an impoverished young doctor, and his chums, Stub Masters and Johnny Stokes, are persuaded to part with their last remaining funds by tag day solicitor Mary Jane Smith, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Doc's friends then hit upon a get-rich-quick scheme. Knowing that his Uncle George has promised a large sum of money upon his nephew's marriage, they persuade Doc to send out fake wedding invitations naming Mary Jane as the blushing bride. Uncle George, elated at the good news, writes to Mary Jane's aunt, Angelica Burns, an old sweetheart, to invite Mary Jane and Angelica to be his guests on an ocean voyage. Meanwhile, Mary Jane pays a visit to the doctor's office and, upon seeing the wedding invitations, becomes so flustered that she trips and sprains her ankle. Doc comes to her rescue and then begs her to pose as his wife. She agrees, but at ship-side, Stub and Johnnie confess all to Uncle George, who flies into a rage until Doc announces that he and Mary Jane have chosen a wedding at sea.

Dir: Richard Smith

Two female candidates for Chief of Police live across the hall from each other, and their political rivalry follows them home, leading to plenty of hi-jinks.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Ne'er-do-well Homer Cavender ventures to the city from Mainsville in an effort to find fame and fortune. Both elude him, and after clerking for two years, Homer returns home for a vacation. Impressed by his flashy clothes, the townspeople assume that Homer has achieved success. Attempting to win Rachel Prouty from his rival, Arthur Machim, Homer continues the deception by announcing that his employer, Kort and Bailly, has dispatched him to enroll stockholders for a proposed new plant to be built in Mainsville. Machim discovers the sham and denounces Homer as a crook. Meanwhile, Homer returns to New York, convinces his employers of the merits of his plan and comes home triumphant, with a proposal for both the new plant and for Rachel's hand in marriage.