Hidden Genre Gems for Fans of The Peace of Roaring River: Cult Guide

Dir: Hobart Henley

The oldest son of a Virginia colonel, Barry Gordon inherits a taste for alcohol, the habit that caused his father's death. His brother, Tom, falls in love with Muriel Beekman, their guardian's daughter. Barry also loves her but feels himself rejected. Three years later, after extended travels, Barry learns that Tom, having been sent to Morocco by Mr. Beekman, has been captured by desert marauders and is being held for ransom. He begins a search for him and in Tangiers encounters the Beekmans and Kitty Van Ness. Barry and Muriel discover their love for each other, but he refuses to commit himself while Tom is still alive. At the bandits' stronghold, he rescues Naomi, a native girl, from the chieftain and is himself captured while effecting Tom's escape. Naomi aids Barry's escape, during which the chieftain is killed and she dies in his arms. Muriel helps Barry conquer his desire for drink and professes her love for him.

Dir: Hobart Henley

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

Susie organizes plays to benefit the Red Cross. She marries her hero, Robert, but finds out he did it to avoid the draft. She begs to be taken in his place and is soon captured by the enemy. Will Robert become the hero she believed he was?

Dir: Hobart Henley

Sylvia Martin runs away from her abusive father and almost succumbs to the cold on the doorstep of Louis Gordon, a crook. They marry, but later when faced with capture, Gordon kills himself. Gordon's gang accuses Sylvia of murder, and although she is acquitted for lack of evidence, her name is included in the Police Index. Years later, upon finding the Index on the shelf of her second husband, Washington diplomat David Maber, Sylvia fears exposure. Her fears heighten when her arresting officer, John Alden, now chief of the Secret Service, tries to induce her to entrap a Bolshevik agent, Hugo Declasse, who is attracted to her. When Alden appeals to patriotism, she acquiesces. Declasse finds the Index and threatens to expose her unless she cooperates in getting plans for an uprising to London agents, but Declasse is foiled when his trusted Japanese butler turns out to be a Secret Service agent. Maber, learning of Sylvia's past, forgives her.

Dir: Hobart Henley

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

Glamorous New York model Molly (Marie Prevost) yearns for a life of luxury but spurns the advances of her boss' son in favor of a shipping clerk. Their plans for marriage and a suburban home are nearly ruined by a misunderstanding on her part; she is nearly compromised by the boss' son but is brought to her senses and returns to the man she loves.

Dir: Hobart Henley

The Atlanta Journal on October 4, 1918, advertised this movie with the following blurb: "Atlanta's last chance to see the best movie to date of the wild, free days of Alaska, when men fought and women loved along the Yukon in a mist of snow and gambling hells and gold mining, is Friday and Saturday at the Strand Theater, when Rex Beach's 'Laughing Bill Hyde' ends a week's engagement that has drawn capacity houses to the Strand every day. Will Rogers, cowboy wit of the Ziegfield Follies, is the star of the this thriller and Will Rogers is second to none."

Dir: Hobart Henley

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

Lorenzo Carilo (Conway Tearle) selects more-or-less menial jobs at which to make a living, other more "select" jobs not paying enough, and then he meets and falls in love with Vivian Forrester (Martha Mansfield) the daughter of a new-rich family. What's a poor boy to do? He might pose as a French Duke.

Dir: Hobart Henley

Two baby boys are born in Owentown. One is the unwanted offspring of an avaricious grasping father. He grows to an evil manhood, and loses his one chance of real happiness to the play-fellow whose parents have met their responsibilities.

Dir: Hobart Henley

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

Lily Becker, daughter of middle-class parents in Iowa, has always aspired to be a musician but receives little sympathy from her environment. She is forced into an unhappy marriage with Albert Penny, son of wealthy parents, whose brutality proves unbearable; fleeing to New York, she is saved from starvation by a friendly chorus girl and gives birth to a child, which dies. On the point of suicide, she meets young composer Tom Clemons in Central Park, and their friendship ripens into love. In a restaurant, Lily is discovered by Antonio Marvelli, a vocal instructor, who recognizes her talent and offers to teach her for nothing. After a year of hard work, Lily is fitted for an operatic career and makes her debut in Thaïs. At the same time, she is freed from her husband by his death in a railroad accident and finds happiness and success with Tom.

Dir: Hobart Henley

Martin Ross and his East Indian servant Sima poison Mrs. Dean, whose money and pearls are left to her little daughter Elsie. Ross, the executor of the estate, spends all of the money with the willing assistance of seductress Fanette, but manages to retain the priceless pearls. When Elsie reaches the age of 18, she learns that she is penniless and formulates a plan to retrieve the jewels with the aid of her boyfriend William Gavin, Jr. Posing as seer "Madame Rama," Elsie sets Ross against Fanette, who has taken the pearls from their hiding place. When he confronts Fanette, she kills him and frames William for the crime. William is arrested, but "Madame Rama" tricks Fanette into confessing her guilt in the presence of several detectives. With Fanette and Sima behind bars, the pearls are restored to Elsie, who starts a new life with William.

Dir: Hobart Henley

Jane Ridgeway, the daughter of retired Secret Service man Charles Ridgeway, has inherited her father's knack for solving crimes and puts her talent to work when her sweetheart, Richard Grant, is accused of robbing a bank. Her father, now a bank examiner, works in collusion with two thieves who are acquainted with a master criminal known only as "the Face in the Dark." When the evidence implicates her father in the robbery, Jane confronts him, and although Richard is released from jail, Ridgeway escapes. The two crooks lead him to the Face in the Dark, but as the two men are shaking hands, the place is raided by Secret Service agents who arrest the mysterious criminal and congratulate Ridgeway for his fine detective work. Jane is happily reunited with her sweetheart and her father.