The Auteur's Selection In the Shadow of The Sawdust Doll: Cult Guide

Dir: William Bertram

Little Marie, terrified after her drunken father beats her mother, flees from the house. Finding herself alone after her father is arrested for the assault and her mother rushed to the hospital, Marie becomes attached to a little dog that she finds in the park. The maid who is walking the dog is unable to part the two, and so she brings the little girl home to the Greer mansion where Mr. Greer, desperate for the child that his socialite wife is too busy to give him, insists upon adopting Marie. After Marie's mother recovers, she is reluctant to deprive her daughter of the riches she may inherit, and so obtains the position of governess in the Greer household in order to be near her own child. Gradually, a deep attachment develops between Mr. Greer and Marie's mother. After Marie's father is killed during a jailbreak, and Mrs. Greer, suffering from her superficial existence, commits suicide, Greer marries Marie's mother and the reconstituted family begins a new life.

Dir: William Bertram

Instilled with the spirit of patriotism after her teacher reads to her the story of Joan of Arc, Marie Yarbell goes home, persuades her father to enlist and then organizes a "military company" comprised of her playmates. Wealthy old Nathan Mulhouser, who is financing the development of a torpedo, is so touched by the children's patriotism that he buys them a flag. Marie's mother rents out a vacant room to Hertz, a stranger, who instructs her to see that no one enters his room because he is working on an important invention for the government. Curious, Marie follows Hertz as he leaves the house carrying a suitcase. He goes to a building that houses Mulhouser's laboratory, tosses in a bomb and runs away. Marie disposes of the bomb in time, but is stunned by the explosion. Mulhouser finds Marie in a state of shock and takes her to his home. Meanwhile, Mr. Yarbell has returned home at his wife's alarm and finds Marie's soldiers holding the spies prisoner. Mulhouser finally ascertains Marie's identity, discovering that she is his granddaughter, and all ends happily.

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

Dir: William Bertram

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: William Bertram

A rancher stands up for an employee unjustly accused of cattle rustling.

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

Dir: William Bertram

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: William Bertram

Dora Tompkins divorces her alcoholic husband and moves to the city to look for a job. Her little daughter Marie dreams one evening of the "Jack and the Beanstalk" tale, which prompts her to climb up the fire escape to the apartment above. There she meets prizefighter "Giant" Jim Walton, her mother's former suitor, and soon he finds Dora a job in a florist's shop. They resume their love affair, and upon his promise to quit the ring, she agrees to become his wife. When Marie, however, in trying once again to scramble up the "beanstalk," falls and is seriously injured, Jim breaks his promise and wins a fight in order to pay for the child's operation. Unaware of Jim's motives for entering the ring, Dora spurns him, but when she learns the truth, she gratefully returns to him.

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

Dir: William Bertram

Undercover Texas Ranger takes ranch job.

Dir: William Bertram

The usual ranger played by Maloney, and he has the usual old mother that he takes care of. The girl is the daughter of the impoverished and aged prospector, who still holds faith in a hole in the ground that he has dug. The bold, bad heavy is the general storekeeper, whose advances have been repulsed by the girl. To get even he first tries to blow up the old man and fasten a murder on the favored suitor, who is the ranger. There is the regulation stuff that has its horse features, its automobiles ... and the heroine making her way down a log chute to be in at the death. ... At the finish is the usual fade-out with the hero clasping the heroine to his manly bosom.

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

Dir: William Bertram

Dolly McKenzie's mother fancies herself a gifted painter and goes to the city to live a Bohemian life style. Meanwhile, Dolly's father John, facing an imminent strike in the factory he runs, sends the child, together with her little friend, Ebenezer Eczema Abraham White, and his mother, to his brother Howard's farm. The children soon bring chaos to "Peaceful Acres" with their pranks, but on one of their escapades, they become lost in the woods. Even the striking employees join in the search party, but it is Dolly's mother, coincidentally in the country for a weekend party, who finally finds the frightened children. The negligent mother willingly returns to her family, and John, grateful to his men for their help, promises to settle the labor dispute the next morning.

Dir: William Bertram

After he finds his wife Stella in the arms of ne'er-do-well Allan Standish, Ralph Gordon takes his daughter June out West, where he has extensive mining interests. The inhabitants of Hell's Gulch, who lately have been terrorized by "Rawhide" Pete and his gang of outlaws, elect Ralph sheriff. Standish, whose desertion of Stella has caused her death, arrives in Hell's Gulch and allies himself with Rawhide Pete, while competing with Ralph for the affections of June's governess, Sarah Malcomb. June assists in capturing Rawhide Pete, but Standish escapes and Sarah, moved by pity, agrees to conceal him. Assuming that Standish has again beaten him in love, Ralph catches a train East, but Sarah follows him and becomes June's new mother.