Essential Cult Cinema Mirroring the Impact of The Primal Law: Cult ...

Dir: Wilfred Lucas

Brian O'Farrell (Snowy Baker), is an English 'new chum' who takes a job at an Australian cattle station. He is teased by station hands because of his appearance (including spats and a monocle) but he soon impresses them with his skills at riding and boxing. The station manager, John MacDonald (Wilfred Lucas), takes O'Farrell to Sydney to meet his daughter Edith (Kathleen Key) who is working in the slums. Edith is kidnapped by criminals after witnessing a crime but O'Farrell rescues her. It is later revealed he is the owner of the station.

Dir: Colin Campbell

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

Zora, a girl of French origin, is raised by a wealthy Bedouin family after her mother Valerie dies while eloping with another man. Zora feels such great longing for the French artist Adrien that she accepts the offer of another artist, Raoul, to take her to Paris with the stipulation that if Adrien rejects her, she must give herself to him. Jan, the chieftain's son who is in love with Zora, follows the two to Paris. There Zora realizes that Adrien does not love her and discovers her real love for Jan. However, she feels bound to honor her pact with Raoul and is about to succumb to his advances when her father appears and recognizes Raoul as the man who destroyed his home years earlier. In the ensuing fight between the two men, Raoul is killed, thus freeing Zora to accept Jan's love.

Dir: F. Martin Thornton

In Paris an orphan cartoonist loves a man with a mad wife, who dies in time to prevent her marriage to a jilted Comte.

Dir: Bernard J. Durning

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

Kimura, a drunk and a gambler, has no affection for his daughter Kiku-San, who falls in love with Dick Tower, an American college friend of her brother Okuma. After Suzuki, a geisha house proprietor, meets Kiku-San, he runs up Kimura's bill to such an exorbitant amount, that Kimura readily agrees to give him Kiku-San as payment. Seeing her peril, Tower and his friend Thompson rescue Kiku-San after fighting Suzuki and his patrons. Tower takes her to his home, and because this compromises her, they marry. Kiku-San and Tower are happy until his friends at the American Club snub them. Even Thompson encourages Tower to divorce her. After Tower meets Margaret, a wealthy American widow, he tires of being ostracized, and becomes cold to Kiku-San. Her sadness, conveyed to Okuma, causes him to threaten to kill Tower unless she refuses to go with him to America for Christmas. She does refuse, and Tower sails with Margaret, happy with the belief that Kiku-San wanted the separation, while Kiku-San sits in sorrow among cherry blossom trees.

Dir: Edgar Jones

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

Dir: Alexander Butler

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

In Alberta, Canada, a Cornish emigrant unmasks a rustler posing as the girl's "blind" father.

Dir: Dallas M. Fitzgerald

Confidence artist Flossie Golden attempts to fleece foolish but wealthy James Venable with a breach-of-promise suit. Venable's shrewd attorney, Richard Harding, outwits Flossie by proposing that she marry Venable and live on an allowance of $3,000 per year. Flossie is determined to get even with Harding for ruining her plans. In an attempt to con him, she poses as Innocence Page, but falls in love and marries him instead. Larry, Flossie's former accomplice, endeavors to blackmail her with her errant past, but Harding is already cognizant of the facts and Larry fails.

Dir: Edward Dillon

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

Her education in a French convent school completed, plain Justine Spencer returns to New York. There she is shocked to discover that her mother Dodo is a flamboyant musical comedy actress with many male admirers. Dodo, on the other hand, is dismayed to find Justine priggish and dowdy. One of Dodo's suitors is Billy Ferris, who, in a fit of jealousy, murders her and slays himself. Out of pity, Cosmo Spotiswood, another admirer of Dodo, marries Justine, but soon tires of his platonic marriage and leaves for Europe. Upon his return, Cosmo finds Justine transformed. Under the tutelage of Dodo's maid Loti, she has bobbed her hair and donned fashionable apparel. Thus changed, Justine is surrounded by suitors. Stung by jealousy, Cosmo falls in love with his sophisticated wife.

Dir: Frank Beal

During a raging Montana snowstorm, Doctor Jim Barnes collapses at Esther Anderson's cabin door. Esther offers Jim refuge, but when he discovers that their food supplies are running dangerously low, he braves the journey into town in order to replenish them. On the way, he is overcome with exhaustion and fails to return. Esther, unaware of Jim's condition and abused by her stepfather, joins a theatrical troop and leaves home. Time passes and Jim finally finds Esther, but a vindictive member of her troupe accuses her of having an affair with the manager and Jim believes the accusation. He leaves and Esther goes to New York City where she becomes engaged to a jealous artist, although she still loves Jim. Sam Tuttle, a long time friend, is aware of Esther's continuing love, and so brings Jim to New York City in time to save Esther from an unhappy marriage.

Dir: Unknown Director

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.