Visionary Picks Drawn from the Same DNA as The Road to Paradise: Cult Guide

Dir: Unknown Director

The village youths are rivals for the hand of the local belle. Their battles lead them to the village store, where chaos soon reigns, terminating in the place being blown up, leaving Bobby a happy victor.

Dir: Richard Smith

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

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: Malcolm St. Clair

A dancing instructor gets involved with a newly rich family.

Dir: Bud Fisher

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Don't Weaken! perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Mutt and Jeff go on strike and make their own film.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

After Schuyler Rutherford's divorce from his rich wife Caroline, who was his meal ticket, his sister Kathleen is so humiliated by the fact that her penniless condition was brought to light during the court proceedings that she seeks solace in her sculptor friend Mary Carter, who offers her a job as her secretary. While working, she becomes acquainted with Mary's wealthy cousin Robert Winston when she overhears him denouncing parasitic girls like Kathleen. Vowing revenge, Kathleen assumes a false name and obtains a position as Robert's secretary, determined to make him fall in love with her. Kathleen's plan succeeds, and then, to spite Robert, she announces her engagement to wealthy Murray Van Allan. After a series of incidents, Robert makes Kathleen realize that she really loves him and, after forgiving him, she agrees to be his wife.

Dir: Sidney Franklin

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

A chorus girl hopes to rise to stardom and thus accepts the advances of a wealthy man. But she becomes fearful of her reputation and safety. In an attempt to escape the rake's attentions, she hides out with a disparate group of men who room in a house called "The Barn." There she learns that there is more to life than that found on the stage.

Dir: Henry Edwards

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

Dir: Alfred J. Goulding

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

Two tramps wrest a pistol from a hold up man, then try to pull a stick up of their own, unfortunately for them, a cop appears and takes the money back and then chases them through a park with a lake. One steals canoe and the chase continues when a mob of cops go after him in more boats.

Dir: Maurice Campbell

Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.

Dir: Joseph Franz

John Whalen is ordained into the priesthood and assumes the leadership of a small-town New Jersey parish. His dying mother's last wish is for young doctor Edward Welsh and his sweetheart to be married. Rev. Whalen devotes much time and effort to overcoming the obstacles to the union, managing along the way to solve the problems of other townspeople.