Cinematic Discoveries Resonating with the Themes of The Price She P...

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Theodore Whitney, Sr. commissions his son Theodore, "Ted" Jr., to retrieve a missing stock certificate. On the road, Ted meets and falls in love with Betty Blake, the beautiful but elusive niece of Major Blackburn, whose home was recently robbed. When a detective disguised as British nobleman Lord Roxenham arrives to investigate the case, Ted bribes the officer to let him play the role for one night so that he may be near Betty. As the love struck young man is romancing his sweetheart, Lady Roxenham suddenly arrives, alienating Betty and throwing Ted into a panic. Lady Roxenham agrees to participate in the deception, but later Ted spies her breaking into the major's safe. After he alerts the household, she and the butler are revealed as notorious thieves. Betty, who had been trying to purchase Whitney's stock, accepts Ted's marriage proposal, and the profits are shared between the two.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

"Phantom" Farrell was known as one of the cleverest crooks in the world, with a penchant for jewel robberies. He planned to attend the Bereton ball and steal a famous necklace which he knew the daughter would wear. Chance makes it possible for Farrell to gain admittance to the Bereton mansion before the night of the ball, in the guise of a detective, and it happens that he meets the young woman whom he has planned to rob. Farrell is so attracted by her beauty and winsomeness that he falls in love and decides not to steal the necklace. At the ball the necklace really is stolen and Mr. Bereton, the owner, immediately asks "The Phantom," whom he knows only as a detective to find the thief and locate the jewels. "The Phantom" has observed the intimacy between Bertie Bereton, the son of the household, and one of the guests, a Dr. Ratcliffe. He finally forces Bertie to confess to him that Dr. Ratcliffe is really a noted race track gambler who has forced him to aid in the theft of the necklace in order to square certain gambling debts which he holds against him. Dr. Ratcliffe has already made his escape from the house, but "The Phantom" overtakes him at the railroad station and compels him to return to the house where, with the assistance of his valet, he recovers the valuables. In addition, he forces the gambler to give up all claims on the young man. The arrival of the real detective whom "The Phantom" is impersonating and three others, complicates matters for that worthy, and he would have been caught immediately had not Bertie warned him of their approach. The escape of "The Phantom" and his valet is effected only after a series of stirring adventures, but it is finally accomplished and as the pursuers dash off down the road, "The Phantom" and his faithful valet emerge from behind a hedge and start a long walk back to town. The valet upbraids his master for his weakness in not actually stealing the jewels himself, but "The Phantom" remembers the beautiful girl whom he has made happy by his success in restoring the necklace and he walks along the dusty road perfectly happy with himself.

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

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Alice Chesterton (Olive Thomas) is described as a "Baby Vamp" by the social set and engaged to boring Tom Carey. She flirts with many of the male guests idling at the Ives' Long Island house party, then encourages Terence O'Keefe, a playboy polo player from Ireland in New York to purchase horses for the British army, to rendezvous with her in the city, they are seen together at the "Midnight Frolic." Because of this, Mrs. Ives convinces Alice's newly-arrived sister Betty to look after Alice. Betty arranges for Terence to find her in an auto wreck where he revives her with a kiss. Genuinely in love with each other, they plan to marry, until the jealous Alice tells Betty that Terence "ruined" her. When Betty accuses Terence, he makes Alice confess her to her lies. Tom, encouraged by Terence's advice, overwhelms Alice with his "caveman" tactics. At the end, the servants, who have observed the upstairs activities, emulate their masters' flirting mannerisms.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Bored by the slow pace of life in her little home town, Helen Drayton rebels when her friends and relatives assume that she will marry her friend and escort, Chet Vernon. Helen is so anxious to experience life in the big city that she falls in love with visiting New York architect John Galvin almost immediately after his arrival. Several weeks later, the two marry and move to New York, where, after a series of painful experiences, Helen finally realizes John's selfishness. In the end, she gratefully returns home and becomes Chet's wife.

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

Dir: Charles Giblyn

After an idyllic mountain life in Russia, Berna goes to live with her uncle in the Jewish section of Kiev, arriving just as Cossacks massacre most of the Jews in the city. Berna escapes to New York and works at a sweatshop controlled by Boss Jim McManus, but he seduces her, then throws her out on the street, and she becomes a prostitute. Berna later marries Nicolay Turgenev, a young musician, and they soon have a child, but McManus' daughter Ellen falls in love with Nicolay after seeing him perform and convinces him to leave Berna. To make the separation legal, McManus, now a judge, grants Nicolay a divorce and also gives him custody of the child. Almost insane, Berna goes to McManus, denounces him at gunpoint and then kills him.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

The mad exploit of a daring young country girl who falls in love with an artist and hides in his automobile to escape marriage with a country youth she does not love.

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

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Minnie Penelope Peck, the village scamp of Yaptank, accompanies her father to the bank to demand the $9 owed him for his work as a night watchman. When the bank president refuses to pay Peck, Minnie posts a sign which states that the bank is insolvent, so all of the depositors immediately demand their money. The fire department is called in to quell the mob, but things get worse when Minnie accidentally turns on the fire hose. Minnie is saved from reform school by a new woman in town, Hortense Martinot, who hires the tomboy to model clothing in her shop. After falling in love with jewelry-store proprietor Dick, Minnie discovers that Hortense, in league with two gentlemen from the city, is planning to rob the bank. With the help of Dick, who is actually a detective, Minnie captures the crooks, then accepts a wedding ring from her jewelry salesman.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Mabel waits on the residents of a local boardinghouse, but her fondness for pranks finally leads to her dismissal. By a strange turn of fortune, Mabel finds herself in the possession of a traveling corset saleswoman's suitcase, whereupon she adopts the profession herself. While passing through a small town, Mabel decides to take a swim in the ocean, but as she frolics, her suitcase, which contains all of her clothing, is stolen. Forced to wear only her bathing suit, Mabel sets off in search of her clothing and learns that the police, having identified the suitcase as belonging to a jewel thief, are in search of her. Following several adventures, she discovers that the jewel robbery, which involved her friend Lena, was only a publicity stunt.

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

Dir: Charles Giblyn

The Sardou play begins with this girl's life as the young wife of a man nearing forty, kind enough to his bride, but more or less absorbed in his serious work. She has dreamed of romantic love, intoxicating adventure, and tumultuous passions only to find none of these things in retirement with a good husband. She decided that her existence has been wrecked and ruined, and gets it into her foolish head that the only remedy is a divorce. There is a lover handy, her husband's cousin Adhemar, French in his ambition to have an "affair" with some charming married woman, and equally French in his thrift; he is a poor young man in no situation to marry any such extravagant young lady. The clear-headed husband enters into a little conspiracy with some friends to let his bored young wife have her own way, ostensibly yielding to her wishes, and he even makes things as easy and comfortable as possible for the unsuspecting lover, inviting him to the house, and announcing that he has even provided for his wife's future by settling a large sum of money upon her. She sees that this settlement has weight with the lover, and begins to falter, but she goes on determinedly with what gradually loses all the charm of forbidden fruit. Her relations with Adhemar become more and more commonplace at a time when she begins to realize her husband's magnanimity. He has denied her nothing, and he gives Adhemar full permission to marry her as soon as the divorce is granted. Meanwhile she begins to be distressed by the fact that her husband seems to be enjoying himself, staying out late at night, and suspects that he has an "affair" with some woman "not worthy" of him. She revolts when he announces he has a dinner engagement, urges him to break it and have a little celebration with her and Adhemar, finally deciding to leave Adhemar out altogether. It would be such a lark to steal away from him and have dinner in a private room with her husband, so compromising. Adhemar learns of the infidelity of his wife-to-be, and goes in search of her in a rainstorm. He is drenched when he finds the restaurant where she is dining alone with her husband in a private room contrary to what he conceives to be the rights of a husband-to-be, and he is so indignant that he seeks the protection of a Commissary of police as a safeguard for his future marital rights. The situation now becomes ludicrous in the extreme, and it ends with restored sanity for the young wife, and a complete reconciliation with her husband.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

A young woman's sweetheart fights for the Union, while her brother fights for the Confederates, in the pivotal 1863 battle of the U.S. Civil War.