The Global Archive Complementing the Tone of The Riddle of the Tin ...

Dir: Kenean Buel

Therese Roger is the daughter of a West Indian planter. When she is a baby her parents are murdered and she is adopted by her aunt, Madame Roger, keeper of a haberdashery shop in one of the smaller villages in southern France. She grows up with Madame Roger's son Camille, a sickly, sexless creature she ultimately marries in deference to her aunt's wishes. The monotony of Therese's married life tells on her. The uninteresting Camille each day drones out his existence in an office. At night he returns ever at the same hour, ever in the same enfeebled health and depressed spirits. Two neighbors, Dr. Gribet and Michaud, the prefect of police, drop into the Roger household for their weekly game of dominoes with Madame Roger. Suzanna, daughter of Dr. Grivet and Oliver, son of Michaud, who are in love, call frequently on the aged Madame Roger to pay their respects. Therese, full of youth and life, tires of her environment and its unchanging cycle of events. Camille collapses one day at the office and is brought home by his friend Laurant, Camille's opposite. When Laurant meets Therese, they are attracted to each other, and when he becomes a frequent visitor, a liaison develops between them. Seeing Camille as the only obstacle to their happiness, the two evil lovers decide to kill him. When the opportunity arises, they drown him. They manage to escape suspicion from the murdered man's mother and in course of time marry with the old woman's consent. But they have not attained the happiness which they thought would be theirs with Camille out of the way, for their crime haunts them. It shows in their faces. It stalks through their home. It leads them into quarreling with each other. During one of their stormy scenes they are overheard by Madame Roger, who becomes stricken with paralysis and the total loss of speech upon learning how her son died. The helpless old mother gloats over the torture which Therese and Laurant suffer from their consciences. In time, when guests are present, she tries to write her accusation of them upon the tablecloth with the edge of a domino, but her fingers cannot complete the sentence. She sees distrust continue to grow between the unhappy pair. Therese and Laurant plan to kill each other, but both are too-great cowards to add a new crime to their records, and they drink poison together, paying at last with their own lives for their earlier crime.

Dir: Kenean Buel

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

Colette is a model who poses for two artist brothers, Don and Andrien Walcott. Andrien, a hunchback, creates a beautiful portrait of her which is seen by evil Bulgarian Prince Vacarra. The prince tracks her down and locks her in.

Dir: Kenean Buel

This picture opens on the big, helpless humanity which is huddled together in Blossom Street, in the East Side's slums. The sweetest spirit of the thousands dwelling there is Anne, in love with Jimmy Graves, a man she knows is a crook. In warning Jimmy one night that the police are on his trail, she is caught in the maelstrom, brought into court with him and sentenced to jail. When she is released she plots revenge on the man who put her behind the bars, Judge Marcus, about to be nominated for a higher position in public service. Through a ruse, she obtains employment in the Marcus household. The Judge does not recognize in his wife's secretary the same woman who was once just a "poor, Blossom Street thing." He finds that he is rapidly falling in love with her. Anne is approached by a stool pigeon working for Marcus's political opponents, who are trying to fasten a scandal upon the Judge. Anne promises to aid them. She agrees to put him in a compromising position that evening, when witnesses will be on hand. Meantime, Jimmy Graves is released. He has been living through the years of his prison term, with the face of Anne always before him. He learns that the girl is at the Marcus home, and starts for the house. As the hour for the denouement draws near, Anne realizes she loves Marcus. He kisses her again and again. She notices the clock and pushes him from her just before the curtains are thrust back by the politicians and Mrs. Marcus. Jimmy arrives, and in the face of her love for Marcus, she sacrifices herself that the judge may win.

Dir: Kenean Buel

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

Drinking pals Fred Peyton and John Browning are both members of high society. Upon meeting impoverished Margaret Fallon, Peyton is so impressed with her beauty that he becomes a frequent visitor at the Fallon house. One evening, while returning from dinner, an explosion overturns their automobile and Margaret is temporarily blinded. Meanwhile, Browning has become engaged to a wealthy woman whom Peyton covets for her wealth and Margaret's blindness provides the opportunity for him to obtain this prize. Stealing his friend's wedding license, Peyton substitutes Margaret's name for that of Browning's intended bride and after intoxicating his friend, Peyton sends for Margaret and marries her to Browning. The next day, Peyton lies to his friend that he had drunkenly insisted upon the marriage. Later, when Margaret's eyesight is restored and she is seeking employment, she meets Browning and the two fall in love, unaware that they are husband and wife. Eventually, Browning learns that the woman from whom he is seeking a divorce is actually the woman he loves and, after Peyton is shot by a former mistress, all ends happily.

Dir: Kenean Buel

Alice Lindsay arrives in New York from a small town and becomes part of Greenwich Village Bohemian life. Alice resists the advances of Gwenne Stevens, an advocate of free love, and marries civil engineer Samson Rathbone.

Dir: Kenean Buel

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

After her husband's death in the West, Mrs. Lehr, a young widow who grew up in Cuttleback, decides to return there with her two daughters, Jane and Katherine, and make her home on the old family estate which had been looked after in her absence by Job Jenkins, a caretaker who had been in the Lehr family's employ since boyhood, and by now he has been the estate's sole occupant for so many years that he regards it as part of his life, and is disturbed when his mistress returns with her children. Daniel Whitcomb, Cuttleback's leading attorney, reads with interest the notice in Cuttleback's newspaper about Mrs. Lehr's intended return, and ponders the romance that connected his and her life before she left for the West. He wonders if her return will awaken the old-time affection he felt she once had for him. He remembered that before she left Cuttleback she asked him to see her, but his mothers desperate illness prevented him. He had written, but his letter did not reach her until she was the wife of another. She replied informing him of her marriage and hinting at her disappointment in his not having seen her before she left, but absolving him from any intention to purposely slight her. It happened that Mrs. Lehr and Mr. Whitcomb did renew their old love story. While this goes on, her little girls make things hum around the estate and tax old Job's patience to its limit. The girls form a warm attachment to slow-witted handyman "Manny," who finds time between chores to amuse them and become their faithful attendant. One day Job's belongings are removed from his room and the faithful old gardener drops out of sight, on a day when a barn on the Lehr estate is destroyed by fire. A charred skull found in the ruins forms the basis for a murder charge brought against dull-witted Manny by the town constable. Mrs. Lehr believes him guiltless, but can't prove his innocence, and the children "just know" he never killed Job or anybody else, but, like their mother, can't prove it. Mrs. Lehr seeks Daniel Whitcomb's aid, but he refuses her plea and states his belief that Manny is guilty. This breaks up his love affair with Mrs. Lehr and earns him the dislike of her daughters. Manny is tried and convicted, wholly upon circumstantial evidence, and he's being led to the electric chair when the girls arrive with the supposed victim Job, whom they had accidentally found and who knew nothing of Manny's predicament. Everything is cleared up and Katherine and Jane get a new daddy.

Dir: Kenean Buel

The Hawaiian Princess Laone's love for Keith Parrish is thwarted by social pressure. After being persuaded to refuse Mr. Parrish's proposal, she attempts suicide.

Dir: Kenean Buel

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

Little Jane and Katherine approve of the romance of Miss Ashton, their rich and beautiful aunt, with Jack Fenton, but when she becomes distracted by the debonair Percival Gilpatrick, whom the children detest, they decide to intervene. After the children interrupt his attempted marriage proposals several times, Percival, actually a crook, orders his accomplices, Mike and Bill, to keep the girls occupied. Annoyed that Percival would rather court Miss Ashton than rob the bank, however, Mike and Bill decide to kidnap the children and hold them for ransom. Imprisoned in a cellar, Jane and Katherine torment the two men with their pranks until the crooks willingly release them, but Percival stages a rescue that, much to the girls' dismay, impresses Miss Ashton. Later Percival and his men rob the bank, but the youngsters aid the police in catching them. Miss Ashton then happily agrees to marry Jack.

Dir: Kenean Buel

Orphaned sisters Kate and Irene are separated as children, but each keeps half of their mother's wedding ring. Years later Irene marries John West, the head of a munitions camp. Kate happens to run the saloon in the camp, and she and Irene become friends but neither ever imagines that the other is her long-lost sister. Matters take a turn for the worse, however, when Kate starts a romance with Cliff, Irene's adoptive brother, and Irene strongly disapproves of the relationship.

Dir: Kenean Buel

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.