Visionary Picks Drawn from the Same DNA as The Prizefighter and the...

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

While walking along the street one day, Arthur P. Hampton, an impoverished young doctor, and his chums, Stub Masters and Johnny Stokes, are persuaded to part with their last remaining funds by tag day solicitor Mary Jane Smith, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Doc's friends then hit upon a get-rich-quick scheme. Knowing that his Uncle George has promised a large sum of money upon his nephew's marriage, they persuade Doc to send out fake wedding invitations naming Mary Jane as the blushing bride. Uncle George, elated at the good news, writes to Mary Jane's aunt, Angelica Burns, an old sweetheart, to invite Mary Jane and Angelica to be his guests on an ocean voyage. Meanwhile, Mary Jane pays a visit to the doctor's office and, upon seeing the wedding invitations, becomes so flustered that she trips and sprains her ankle. Doc comes to her rescue and then begs her to pose as his wife. She agrees, but at ship-side, Stub and Johnnie confess all to Uncle George, who flies into a rage until Doc announces that he and Mary Jane have chosen a wedding at sea.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

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

Some of the most sanguinary feuds in America have been fought out, not in the mountains of the south, but on the deserts of the great west, where cattlemen and sheepmen often dealt out death to each other with the aid of their old friends, Winchester and Colt. Such a feud is in progress between the men of the desert when Jack, a nomadic cowboy, wanders into the scene. He is outspoken against the outlawry, and the sheriff, in jest, hands him his badge and asks him if he can do any better. Jack accepts the challenge and arrests one of the most recent slayers. The latter's companions immediately storm the jail and rescue him. In the fight Jack is desperately wounded. May, a girl of the ranch, finds the cowboy half dead and hides him in an isolated hut while she nurses him back to health. The feudists discover Jack's hiding place and attack him. He and the girl escape, and while Jack holds a narrow canyon against his pursuers the girl dashes across the desert in search of aid. Jack's life seems as good as lost when May returns with the opposing feudists, who save him. The wedding between Jack and the girl on the battleground reconciles the feudists and restores order on the desert.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

In the land where the Sun hangs low and the hungry wolves shadows play ominously over the everlasting snow, Joe Mauchin meets Jeanne Verette. He is a trapper, come down to the little post of Mead's Pocket, a vicious mining town, for supplies. She, the daughter of a saloonkeeper who compels her to "drum up trade" among his maudlin patrons. Joe falls in love with Jeanne. A brute of a man seeks to interfere and in the resultant struggle falls dead. Joe and Jeanne flee to his camp miles away and a year's happiness follows. Then the trapper finds Constable McKenzie of the Mounted Police half dead in the snow. Joe revives the officer and carries him to his cabin. Straightway McKenzie arrests the trapper for the saloon death. A desperate fight ensues between the two and the constable, overpowered, flees for aid. He is last seen in the woods, staggering from the effects of a wound, and with a pack of wolves slowly drawing in on him. Joe, in the cabin, draws to his arms Jeanne who is shyly clutching a newly made bit of baby clothes. It is that for which Joe had fought.

Dir: Charley Chase

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

A young married couple volunteer to take charge of several orphans after the asylum has burned down. Of course they find their hands full with their troublesome charges.

Dir: Henry Edwards

A millionaire bets £25,000 that he can earn his own living for six months.

Dir: F. Martin Thornton

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

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: W.S. Van Dyke

Little six-year-old Sadie O'Malley, a child of the tenement district, has a vision of heaven awakened within her by the teaching of a settlement worker, so when she sees a handsome limousine in front of the settlement laundry near her home she thinks it is a heavenly chariot, climbs into a clothes hamper in the interior of the car and is whisked away to the home of Mrs. Welland Riche. The latter has left earlier in the day on a trip, so when Sadie and. her dog, George Washington Square, who has been her companion in the hamper trip, are dumped down the clothes chute of the Riche home while concealed in the basket, they find easy access to the upper regions of the mansion and then, indeed, Sadie thinks she is in heaven. Sadie soon is discovered by the servants, but they believe she is just another of Mrs. Riche's fads when she tells them she is there to stay. Believing Mrs. Riche as desiring that the best of care be given the child, Sadie is dressed in rich garments and is much at home until Mrs. Riche returns. While the servants' explanations have been made, Mrs. Riche, in the meantime having been won over by the child's beauty and sweet manners, decides Sadie may remain. But the tenement child's happiness is short-lived when George Washington Square appears upon the scene. Mrs. Riche orders that the pup be removed and tells Sadie that, instead, she can play with the Riche collection of Poms. Not so for Sadie. She informs the wealthy matron that she wouldn't give up George Washington Square for all the heavens and that if G.W.S. cannot remain she will go. So hugging her doggie close to her she returns to her worried mother with the explanation, "I have been to heaven, but they sent me home because they didn't like my dog."

Dir: Unknown Director

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

The Judge needs a present for his wife's birthday, so Harry suggests a new corset. They go to the shop, but he's so embarrassed to ask the saleslady he hides in a phone booth.Harry goes in, but finds a GUY wearing one, and runs out.They both dress as women to get back in, but Mrs. Rummy gets there and chases him out.

Dir: Richard Smith

Two female candidates for Chief of Police live across the hall from each other, and their political rivalry follows them home, leading to plenty of hi-jinks.

Dir: W.S. Van Dyke

Through a forged will, a crook assumes control of a valuable estate. He poses as the brother of a dead man, and endeavors to dispose of the deceased man's two daughters, one of whom is in love with the forger's son.