Rare Cinematic Gems Exploring the Legacy of The Northern Trail: Cul...

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Dave Scott, a wealthy mine owner, is killed. His daughter, Marie, goes to her father's old friend Richard Clark, knowing that he will take care of her interests. Clark and his grown son, Ted, become attached to Marie. Innocent in manner, she sees no necessity for concealing her preference for the elder Clark. In time, Ted's attachment culminates in a proposal, which is rejected. Ted accuses his father of standing in his way and the father makes Marie promise that she will accept Ted. A few minutes before the time set for the ceremony, a note from Ted explains that he realizes the love that exists between Marie and his father, and rather than exact the sacrifice, he has left his father's home, leaving them free to marry.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Harry Larrabee, a young playwright, lives in the same studio apartment house with Carolyn Vaughn, a painter of miniatures, with whom he falls in love. "The Wolf," a famous criminal, supposed to be dead, returns and communicates with his wife, a friend of Carolyn's. He forces his wife and her brother to aid him in a plot to rob Carolyn of her valuable jewels. Harry, by one of his famous "inspirations," discovers that a crime is being committed, rescues Carolyn and bears her away in a taxicab. He is himself suspected of the crime, but, undisturbed by the web of circumstance by which he is entangled, his wonderful inspirations give him the key to the conspiracy which led up to the crime. In an unusual and powerful finale the guilty parties fight among themselves and justice triumphs in an exciting climax.

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

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: Unknown Director

The Judge needs a present for his wife's birthday, so Harry suggests a new corset. They go to the shop, but he's so embarrassed to ask the saleslady he hides in a phone booth.Harry goes in, but finds a GUY wearing one, and runs out.They both dress as women to get back in, but Mrs. Rummy gets there and chases him out.

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

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Jean Dubois, who has discovered a gold mine in the Canadian Northwest, seeks revenge on the man who ruined his sister. Jean befriends "Faro" Telford, a gambler who sends for a gang of crooks to take over the mine. Jean's wife runs off with a member of the gang, and Jean, heartbroken, is about to leave the village when "Goldie," a gang member, reveals that it was gang leader Dan Cregan who wronged Jean's sister. Jean is about to murder the crook when lightning strikes a tree, causing it to fall and crush Cregan. Jean's wife returns to him and the two begin anew.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Walking aimlessly in the desert, crazed by thirst and hunger, Lucy Mannister and Gaston Sinclair are overtaken by her husband George, who has pursued them around the world. Threatening to shoot them, George extracts a confession from Sinclair, once George's friend, that a group of George's Wall Street associates had conspired to ruin him. They made it appear to Lucy that George was having an affair with the notorious Sylvia De La Mere. After Lucy saw Sylvia embrace George, she despaired and left with Sinclair, who said he loved her. George lets them live, and he returns to New York, where, with the help of Sylvia, who now loves him, George terrorizes the group. One by one he leads them, and then Sylvia, to either financial ruin, disgrace, or death. When George learns that Lucy is no longer traveling with Sinclair, and that she has never even kissed him, he locates her, forgives her, and takes her back.

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

Dir: Bertram Bracken

In a prologue, blind poet John Milton dictates Paradise Lost to his daughters. Serama, the consort of Lucifer, is driven from Paradise by the Archangel Michael, who commands Conscience to enter human souls to judge and punish them. In the main story, society girl Ruth Somers, a reincarnation of Serama, prepares to marry Cecil Brooke, the wealthiest man of her set. Her guardian, Dr. Norton, an incarnation of Lucifer, constantly accompanies her. Ruth is summoned to the Court of Conscience, where the witnesses, Lust, Avarice, Hate, Revenge and Vanity, testify about Ruth's history of seducing and abandoning men. This behavior resulted in the suicide of Madge, the lover of Ned Langley, whom Ruth enthralled and promised to marry, and also the deaths of two rivals for her love. Ruth is ordered back to earth to learn her sentence. When Ned interrupts the wedding, Ruth scorns him and he shoots himself. After Brooke leaves her, the Court dooms Ruth to live with the torment of remembrance. Ruth sends Norton away, then kneels and repents.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

In Paris, wealthy young American Horace Martinache takes a young flower girl to a hospital after knocking her down in his auto, and leaves money with friends to pay for her education. Years later, when Horace's nephew Eric plans to bring home a young actress whom he met in Europe and wants to marry, Horace's mother and sister ask for his help in breaking up the romance. Horace, an unmarried colonel, indulges them and agrees to court her to make her lose interest in Eric. The actress, Sara St. Ypriex, recognizes Horace as her benefactor and encourages him. Horace, unaware that Sara was the flower girl, falls in love with her. After Eric fails to respond to Sara's cries of alarm when one of her other suitors, Roscoe Vandercourt, tries to attack her, Horace protects her, but Vandercourt escapes. Sara accepts Horace's marriage proposal and Vandercourt, really an international crook, is trounced by Sara's father, who earlier served a prison term because of Vandercourt's treachery.

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

Dir: Bertram Bracken

Cashier Clay Randolph is taken by Richard Dunlap, a swindling gambler, into embezzling $5,000. When Richard loses the money, Clay assumes the responsibility for the crime to protect his former sweetheart, Mary Singleton, who has married Richard. Mary's father, Col. Robert Singleton, gives Clay a copy of Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health to help him start a new life, but the young man ignores the book and leaves for New York, where he becomes a gentleman thief. Mary and Richard soon leave the South and join him. When Steele, a millionaire, tries to implicate Mary in the supposed theft of a diamond necklace, Clay retrieves the jewels and returns them to the safe. Reciting from Science and Health , Mary telepathically warns Clay not to rob Steele's safe, and later Richard is killed while committing the crime Clay had planned. To redeem himself, Clay enlists in the army to fight in World War I, promising Mary that he will return.

Dir: Bertram Bracken

From Alphonse Daudet's 1884 novel comes a variation: A scheme by a beautiful vamp to marry a wealthy young man fails, and the woman returns to her former lover, a sculptor. She is shocked to discover he has committed suicide, and the tragedy catapults her into insanity.