The Essential Watchlist Similar Cinematic Experiences to The Pinch Hitter: Cult Guide

Dir: Victor Schertzinger

Everett Nelson was born on a farm and is an only son. He does all the hard work on the place for his father, who keeps the country bank. Unable to stand the bondage any longer, Everett leaves for New York in quest of work. While job hunting he sees a sign on the door requesting the services of a janitor. On entering to apply for the position he finds himself on the stage of a theater, where a rehearsal for a musical comedy is in progress. The astounded manager gazes at this apparition, and then an idea strikes him. He hires the "Clodhopper" for a rural number in his show. How the "Rube" makes the hit of his life as well as showing he is not to be laughed at as a prodigal son is shown in the events that follow.

Dir: Victor Schertzinger

Sheriff's son Royal Beaudry is thought a coward, even by the young woman he has his heart set on. But he disproves cowardice when he rescues his father's friend from kidnappers.

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

Dir: Victor Schertzinger

Cynthia Brock, accustomed to expensive clothes and fashionable society, finds herself destitute when her father dies. After Fenwick Flint, who recently acquired great wealth, learns that Cynthia owes her dressmaker over $6,000, he attempts to use her to seduce James Gordon, the husband of the woman Flint desires. Although Cynthia refuses at first, when Flint offers her $10,000 she agrees, but at a mountain lodge, after becoming Gordon's friend, Cynthia feels remorseful and tries to get out of the deal. Hearing her sobs, Gordon enters her room and is caught by the conspirators with his arms around her. Gordon agrees to a divorce and offers to marry Cynthia to protect her reputation, but she confesses the scheme. After returning Flint's money, she finds work as a stenographer and pays her debt. Flint marries Gordon's ex-wife, but they later separate, while Gordon, formerly embittered, meets Cynthia again, and they marry.

Dir: Victor Schertzinger

Jim Bowen, a cashier in a prosperous insurance firm, lives happily with his wife Mary and son Frankie until Alan Perry, the profligate son of Jim's employer, frames Jim for forgery. Because the fraudulent check was cashed in ward boss John Boland's cabaret, Mary decides to work there while Jim serves his time, in the hope of tracking down the real criminal. Perry, who frequents the café, becomes infatuated with Mary and, on the very night her husband escapes from prison, follows her home and tries to force his attentions on her. When Boland arrives unexpectedly, Perry knocks him down, apparently killing him, whereupon Mary threatens to call the police unless he confesses to having framed Jim. Boland hears Perry's confession as he regains consciousness, and on the basis of his testimony, Perry is arrested and Jim freed.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Other Men's Wives perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Victor Schertzinger

Matthew Denton is a product of a New England village. His father was a prominent business man who, during the latter part of his life, had encouraged a number of his fellow-townsmen to invest in the Centipede Company, owners of Texas oil property. Matthew lives with his widowed mother. She showers a wealth of motherly care on him, and refuses to permit him to mingle with the other lads of the town, with the result that he grows up tied to her apron strings and is known as "his mother's boy." The purchasers of the Centipede stock receive notice that there will be no dividend, that the stock gives every indication of becoming worthless because of a loss in the wells' producing capacity. A delegation of townspeople call on Matthew's mother and denounce her late husband for having induced them to purchase the stock. Matthew overhears the tirade, comes to his mother's assistance, and declares that none shall lose a penny through this investment, for he will go to Texas, work in the oil fields himself, and eventually pay off the investors. The story shifts from the quaint New England village to a bustling town in Texas, a typical oil town with its hordes of workers, its rudely constructed hotel and ever-present bar, and its town drunkard, who has a wife and a pretty daughter. Matthew begins his career as a workman in one of the oil wells, lives at Mrs. Glenny's boardinghouse, and meets her daughter daughter Mabel. , and lives at the boarding house of Mrs. Glenny, where he meets her daughter, Mabel. To procure liquor money, town drunk Tom Glenny has been tapping the line of the Centipede Company and diverting the flow into another concern. Most of the workers live at the Glenny home, among them Banty Jones, the town bully, who paid Tom Glenny to tap the Centipede line. Banty wants to marry Mabel Glenny, but Matthew wins her love, and the girl proudly displays an engagement ring, Jones gives Matthew 24 hours in which to leave town, with the alternative of being the target for Jones' gun. Matthew's innate timidity makes him cower at Jones' verbal attacks, much to Mabel's disgust; she returns the ring and announces that the engagement is off. Meanwhile, Matthew has discovered the parallel pipe lines, and that night sees Tom Glenny about to tap the Centipede line. He hurries to the telegraph office and notifies the president of the Centipede Company of his discovery. Later, Matthew overhears Jones denounce Tom Glenny for failing to tap the line, and, as he realizes the father of the girl he loves has only been the tool of the bully, the hitherto timid and shrinking boy suddenly turns into a ferocious being. When Jones attempts to assault him he returns his blows with such effectiveness that the battle is soon over, and in Matthew's favor. Then follow a series of exciting episodes, the story ending happily.

Dir: Victor Schertzinger

The mind of theology student Webster Smith becomes unbalanced from strain. Traveling across the desert as God's savior, he arrives weakened at Red Butte, a small mining town. Faro Fan, who runs a saloon and gambling joint cleanly, and who cares for the town's homeless children, helps Smith, but when he learns her business, he curses her. While Smith builds a church, Faro nurses renegade Spanish Ed, who spreads a fever to her wards. After Smith prays for fire to purge the town, excepting his church, saloon keeper Delicate Hanson, trying to disinfect his bar by burning whiskey on it, starts a fire which quickly spreads to the church, while leaving Faro's house unscathed. Furious, Smith attacks Faro. When she hits his head with a club, his sanity returns, and he helps her nurse the children. After Smith leaves to get supplies, Spanish Ed, crazed with thirst, tries to attract Faro. When Smith returns, Faro shoots him, thinking he is Spanish Ed. As she nurses him to health, they fall in love.

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

Dir: Victor Schertzinger

James Ashe sends his son James Jr. off to manage a family-owned logging mill. While attending to his duties, James Jr. falls in love with a beautiful girl.

Dir: Victor Schertzinger

Wealthy young Billy Bates's greatest fear is that he has inherited his family curse: drink. But when he falls for a beautiful showgirl from the Ziegfeld Follies, she shows him he has nothing to fear.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of His Mother's Boy perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Victor Schertzinger

Millionaire Larry Prentiss inherits a ranch. He decides to visit his new property incognito and gets a job as a ranch-hand. He falls in love with the ranch foreman's daughter and complications ensue.

Dir: Victor Schertzinger

An American munitions manufacturer and his son become ensnarled with enemy agents from Germany during the First World War.