Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of The Rat: Cult Guide

Dir: Charles Raymond

A magician helps outwit a Chinaman's gang.

Dir: Jack Conway

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

Lucy Hegan, the proprietor of a settlement house for the poor, is engaged to Hugh Gordon, the head of a large pharmaceutical and chemical firm who, unknown to Lucy, is also the ringleader of a powerful drug and white slave operation in the Chinese quarter. While conducting an investigation into illicit drug traffic for his paper, newspaper reporter Allan Martin meets Lucy and falls in love with her. In the course of her work, Lucy has befriended reformed crook Monk Mullen and his mother, and when Monk learns that she is to marry Gordon, the ex-crook provides Allan with proof of Gordon's underworld drug trafficking. Armed with his information, Allan leads a raid on Gordon's headquarters, and in the ensuing battle, the drug king is killed by his henchman, Ling Choo Fang, thus freeing Lucy to marry her young reporter.

Dir: Paul Powell

Laura, a blind girl, has been cared for since infancy by Mike, Whitey, and Sal, three crooks who have kept her ignorant of her true surroundings. After an operation restores her sight, Laura is disillusioned and embittered by the sordidness of her environment. She falls under the evil influence of the gang's leader, Dennis Sullivan, who teaches her the art of safecracking. Just as Laura is about to perform her first job, her three benefactors are released from jail because of insufficient evidence and rush to the scene of the robbery to prevent Laura's corruption. The owner of the safe gives the four a ranch in reward for thwarting the robbery, and they all start a new life in the West.

Dir: Jerome Storm

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

A bumbling would-be detective always seems to reach the wrong conclusion, but one day accidentally stumbles across a real crook, guilty of a real crime.

Dir: George D. Baker

A prison inmate obtains his release from prison in order to rescue his daughter from the clutches of her unscrupulous mother's plot to implicate the girl in a blackmail scheme.

Dir: Jack Conway

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

A young soldier returns from the war to find his western homeland despoiled by conflict between the wheat farmers and a crooked lawyer.

Dir: Emil Justitz

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Heliotrope 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: Fred Niblo

Roger Moran, a member of a gang of thieves headed by Mike Wilson, is released from prison after having served a two-year sentence. He has learned his lesson and vows to leave his life of crime, but his girlfriend Betty Palmer--also a member of the gang--won't leave "the false road". Roger finally leaves her and finds a job with a sympathetic banker, Joshua Starbuck. However, one day the bank is broken into and the contents of the safe are stolen, and it turns out that the culprits are two members of Roger's old gang. He tracks them to New York and convinces them that he wants to get back into the gang, in order to find where they're keeping the money. However, matters don't quite go as Roger had planned and Betty comes back into his life.

Dir: George Archainbaud

Upon leaving prison, an ex con vows to go straight, but circumstances force him to return to crime. Meanwhile, a gang of crooks kidnaps a visiting British aristocrat, but the ex-con has an incredible likeness to the Englishman, and his intended hosts take him home to their mansion.