The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of The Radio Detectiv...

Dir: Herbert Blaché

French dancer Sigrid, diagnosed with a weak heart, is ordered by her doctor never to dance again. But when her dancing skills are needed by her lover's father to help quell a native uprising on the East Indian frontier, she determines to dance whatever the cost.

Dir: Perry N. Vekroff

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

While in New York seeking work, Cynthia, a young English girl, meets Bruce Crittenden and George Rhode who introduce her to Madame Savarin, a wealthy woman seeking a companion for a sea voyage. She hires Cynthia, and while at sea, Cynthia discovers that Bruce is the ship's purser. Cynthia's father was a famous wireless expert who taught her how to read code, which enables her to overhear a plot to sink the ship and steal Mrs. Savarin's jewels. Soon after, the crew mutinies, and while Rhode and Bruce fight the crew, Cynthia sounds the alarm. As he is attempting to foil the jewel thieves, Bruce falls overboard, and Cynthia swims to his rescue with the jewels strapped to her back. They are rescued by a government patrol boat and taken back to New York where Cynthia and Bruce are married.

Dir: George B. Seitz

The adventures of a gentlemanly crook of astonishing resourcefulness.

Dir: Jacques Jaccard

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

Douglas MacLeod of the Royal North West Mounted Police is in love with Suzanne Foucharde, who has adopted an abandoned Indian baby, the illegitimate child of Louis La Rocque and Na Fa Kowa. When La Rocque insinuates that the baby is Suzanne's, her brother Henry defends his sister's honor and kills the villain. In spite of his love for Suzanne, it is Douglas' duty to arrest Henry. He does so, but later allows him to escape, taking the bullet himself that was fired after Henry by Constable Burke. Meanwhile, the dead body of Na Fa Kowa is found, accompanied by a note proving that the Indian was the baby's mother. In the spring, when Douglas recovers from his wounds, he and Suzanne are married.

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: Scott R. Dunlap

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

When saloon owner Bill Lark detects that gambler Jim Pemberton is cheating, both men draw their guns. In order to prevent a double killing, it is agreed that the first shot should be decided by a draw from a deck of cards. Bill loses and Pemberton gives him three days to live. Meanwhile, Pemberton has persuaded Jess Jones to leave her husband and ride with him to his cabin in the hills where he is chief of a gang of bandits. Upon discovering his wife's absence, Scipio Jones follows Jess but is driven away by Pemberton's gang. After Jones fails, Bill retrieves Jess and brings her home. The next day, Bill is severely wounded when he drives a stagecoach through an attack by Pemberton's gang, but escapes to keep his date with the outlaw. Arriving to accept his fate of the last draw, Bill discovers that the outlaw has been killed by Scipio Jones. Provided with a new lease on life, the honest saloon keeper marries his sweetheart Little Casino.

Dir: Victor Heerman

In the gold fields of the Canadian Northwest, a man is falsely accused of a crime and determines that a lookalike is responsible.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

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

Dave Henderson, an orphan who has become the beneficiary of a rich man's will, falls in with race-track crooks Martin Tydeman and Bokky Sharvan who bilk him out of his $100,000 inheritance. In retaliation, Dave steals the money from Tydeman's safe, but is caught and sentenced to five years in jail. In prison, Dave becomes friendly with Millman, who is about to be released, and reveals the money's hiding place to him, arranging to rendezvous at the end of Dave's term. Once released, Dave is hounded by members of Tydeman's gang as well as the police, who are waiting for him to retrieve his bounty. While taking refuge at the house of Capriano, an old bomb maker, Dave falls in love with the old man's daughter Teresa. However, Capriano sets a trap for Dave, who awakens in a drugged state to find the $100,000 missing. With the help of Millman and Teresa, Dave recovers the money, turns it over to the police and resolves to go straight.

Dir: Jerome Storm

David Harrington plans to marry Betty Graves. He is an old-fashioned boy, believing in marriage, having children, and living a suburban life. Betty is more ultra-modern, and independent. When Betty gets a tour of the bungalow that David has built for them, she says it's cute but she would hate to have to live in it. The two break up and Betty goes back to a former sweetheart. Sybil, the wife of David's friend Herbert, has just has a row with her husband because he wouldn't buy her a new hat. So she takes their three children and hides in David's home, hoping to throw a scare into her husband. Now David tries to take care of the kids, hoping to forget his own troubles. Herbert phones David that he is coming over, but David tells his friend he has the measles. Meanwhile, Sybil's kids have gotten sick from eating too much taffy. So David calls Betty's father, who is a doctor. Betty comes over with her father, and David cooks up a scheme with the doctor to quarantine the house so that Betty will have to stay and help him take care of the children. Herbert arrives and chaos ensues when he discovers his wife and kids are there. Eventually, things get straightened out and David regains Betty's love.

Dir: Josef Stein

Bela Lugosi plays a lascivious Arab sheikh confronting European travelers in the desert in an adventure story set in the Sahara.