The Global Archive For Devotees of The Ordeal: Cult Guide

Dir: Paul Powell

Judy's family takes in seven orphans after the orphanage is foreclosed on by a hard-hearted businesswoman.

Dir: Paul Powell

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

A teenage girl lives with two grizzly bears in a cave in the California Sierras and plays with rabbits and birds. When gambler Jim Hamilton and his mistress try to interest wealthy Bob Jordan in purchasing an abandoned mine in the Sierras, Jordan, mistakes the girl clothed in leaves and feathers for an animal, shoots her in the arm. He nurses the girl, who cannot speak, and she repays him with a slave-like devotion. At the mine, Hamilton remembers that fifteen years earlier, Indians attacked his home while he was away and killed his family. The wild girl, really Hamilton's daughter, remembers fleeing from the raid into the woods. Although Hamilton's mistress tries to seduce Jordan, he refuses to buy the mine. Hamilton then tries to rob Jordan at gunpoint, but the girl has buried Jordan's money belt as a prank. Jordan's anger causes her to return to her cave, but later they reconcile, and she returns the belt. After Hamilton's mistress leaves with another man, Hamilton returns to the city, and Jordan starts back with the girl following at his heels.

Dir: Paul Powell

Meena, an Amish girl, is left wealthy when her parents die. She goes to live with her unpleasant relatives in New York. There she encounters a German count, who, though he believes her to be a servant girl, falls in love with her.

Dir: Paul Powell

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Little Meena's Romance perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

William needs to impress millionaire Bradford who is willing to invest in William's struggling business. So William and his wife Maude pose as servants while their guests Elizabeth and Richard pretend to be landlord and landlady.

Dir: Paul Powell

Grinde is a junior partner of a pottery firm. An old chemist, Benjamin Lord, discovers a formula for glazing pottery that is designed to revolutionize the industry. The chemist's grandson, David, takes a sample of the new process to Grinde, who says he will give it consideration. He delegates his foreman, Mole, to steal the formula. Mole kills the chemist, and he and Grinde frame an explosion to conceal the crime. After David refuses to sell the formula, Grinde and Mole lock him and his sweetheart in a vault with poisonous gas. Grinde then tries to kill Mole, who knows too much, and take over the firm from his elderly partner at a directors' meeting.

Dir: Paul Powell

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

While covering night court for a newspaper, a reporter falls in love with a woman arrested on a prostitution charge. Soon after they are married, however, he catches her with Dan O'Sullivan, the publisher of the newspaper. Although the reporter had always believed his wife innocent of the prostitution charge, he now refuses to accept that she was lured to Dan's room under false pretenses and fought desperately against the publisher's advances. As a result, the reporter leaves his wife, becomes an alcoholic, and loses his job. Then, he gets a lead on a graft story involving Dan, and ultimately discredits him. While working on the story, he also finds proof that his wife had told him the truth, and so he makes up with her, after which he gives up drinking and gets an even better newspaper job than the one he had before.

Dir: Paul Powell

Abby Hopkins, the eldest of a small-town newspaper-owner's five daughters, is urged by her family to marry the wealthy, twice-widowed J.B. Hanks. Abby leaves Hank on the night of the wedding and goes to New York, where she supports herself as a waitress and shares an apartment with a co-worker. At the restaurant, Abby meets J. Booth Hunter, a heavy-drinking "ham" actor, and tries to convince him to give up liquor. Hanks shows up one day and during a battle with his estranged wife, Hunter comes to Abby's rescue. Abby finally gets a divorce from Hanks, Hunter conquers his drinking habit, and Abby marries him.

Dir: Paul Powell

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

Betsy Harlow is a hard-working maid in a boarding house. Her dream. however, is to be a detective, a dream she shares with her boyfriend Oscar, a delivery boy for a local grocer. One day a mysterious character named Harry Brent takes a room at the boarding house. Harry, seeing that Betsy is falling for his rather shady charms, persuades her to help him get a box of jewels owned by the Jaspers, an elderly couple who lives across the hall. It turns out that Harry is not quite who he seems; neither, however, are the Jaspers.

Dir: Paul Powell

To the dismay of Allison Edwards, her adoring bookworm neighbor Mary Randolph falls in love and marries Jack Van Norman, a rich, handsome former football star. After a few months of marital contentment, Jack becomes infatuated with exotic dancer Rose. Despite Mary's attempts to win him back, Jack agrees to a divorce, moves in with Rose, and leaves Mary to bear their baby alone.The new couple lives happily at the seashore until Jack discovers that whenever he goes away on business, Rose entertains other men. Despondent over Rose's repeated infidelities, Jack commits suicide. At his coffin, Mary forgives him, then finds solace in the arms of the faithful Allison, now a successful author. After dedicating his latest book to her, Allison proposes marriage, and he and Mary happily wed.

Dir: Paul Powell

When a wealthy hypochondriac is dissatisfied by the care of the town doctor (Doc Arnold), he consults with a new physician in town who swindles him out of a large sum of money. When his daughter tries to retrieve the check, the quack (Dr. Bell) turns up dead with a gun shot wound to the chest. Doc Arnold lends his expertise to the investigation and solves the case by finding microscopic evidence on the murder weapon left at the scene.