Hand-Picked Alternatives Movies That Echo the Spirit of The Secret Orchard: Cult Guide

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Maris, having married Lynch, a worthless man who deserts her, taking their daughter Felice with him, marries mill owner Dwight Alden after receiving notification that her husband and child are dead. Discovering that Alden employs child labor, Maris, assisted by the village minister, tries to persuade him that this is wrong, but he will tolerate no interference in his business. After violently denouncing Alden from the pulpit, the minister dies and Maris becomes interested in a child who has been injured while working overtime at the mill, only to discover that the child is her daughter and her first husband is still alive. She leaves, taking Felice, and Alden, after having a fight with the first husband, discovers that Lynch had secured a divorce. Alden seeks out Maris, tells her that he has abolished child labor and made other improvements affecting the welfare of his workers, and a reconciliation occurs.

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Cinders, a news girl, with a love for books, idealizes as her hero a "Daddy Long-legs," who will someday make her a great lady. Bill Holt, a reporter, is one of her best friends. Walter Crane and Kirkland Gaige observe Cinder's independence as she turns over to a policeman a man who has been annoying her. Later Crane wagers $50,000 that within a year he can transform and improve the girl that one of the men will want to marry her. Crane places her in the care of his aunt, who sends her to a boarding school. At the end of a year she returns home and at once becomes a favorite. Cleo Duvene, an adventuress, demands of Gaige a necklace which he is unable to purchase. Crane meets with reverses and Gaige, anxious to win Cinders, reveals the bet, suggesting she marry him in order that Crane may realize the $100,000 stake. She refuses and goes to her friend. Holt, securing a position as reporter on the paper. Crane accepts the position of assistant cashier in the bank of which Gaige is vice president. In order to buy the necklace for Cleo Gaige takes a bag of currency and Crane, accused of the theft, is placed in jail. Cinders goes to Gaige and by placing chewing gum on the end of her umbrella, picks up the pieces of a receipted bill for the necklace. She gets into the apartment of Miss Duvene, and is demanding that she tell all she knows of Gaige just as he comes in. They bind Cinders but she manages to get the telephone receiver down, calls Holt, who hears the conversation of the three, and with Crane and a policeman apprehend the guilty man just as he is about to escape. Crane frees the brave little girl and takes her to his arms with the statement that it pays to lose some bets.

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Henry Sherwin has every cent invested in a mine which is apparently valueless. James Fleming, a mine expert, discovers a rich vein of gold in the mine but keeps it secret. Mr. Sherwin dies and leaves Betty, his daughter, in the care of John Kenwood and his sister, Constance who, finding the estate worthless, allows Betty to believe she has an income. She goes to boarding school, lives luxuriously, and when she returns home is shocked to find John and Constance working, so she hires two servants. A frost wipes out the orange crop, their last hope. Fleming proposes to Betty and is refused. Betty tells John he may have all her money, and although heartbroken and discouraged, he is greatly amused. Fleming finally tells Betty her mine is worthless, again asks her to marry him and is again refused. Betty dreams she sees gold pouring from her mine and runs away. Going to the mine she finds Big Jim, and together they search for gold. The boys "salt" the mine and Betty is delighted at her supposed find of gold. She learns of the joke and decides to try her luck at gambling. She stakes her nuggets in a roulette game and loses. Fleming finds her here and takes her in his arms, announcing, just as Kenwood enters, she is to become his wife. As Jim and the proprietor of the gambling house are looking over the nuggets Jim notices a strange one and asks Betty where she found it. She leads him to the mine and he discovers a rich vein, worth a million. Fleming's conspiracy is discovered. John takes Betty in his arms and tells her he has always loved her, and is informed of the discovery of the gold. Her sudden wealth seems in his mind to create a great gulf between them, but she wriggles back into his embrace. She tells him she loves him and asks him to be her husband. He takes her closer in his arms and their happiness is complete.

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"Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo" is an interesting play of intrigue between the Grand Duke Augustus Peter of Russia, whose incognito is Mr. Grex, an English Secret Service agent, Lord Huntersley and a young American millionaire on pleasure bent, Richard Lane. Mr. Grex and two other diplomats who unofficially represent France and Germany, plan to meet as if by chance in Monte Carlo for the purpose of arranging a secret pact. The American millionaire sees and falls violently in love with Miss Grex, that is, the Grand Duchess Fedora. After several fruitless efforts to gain an introduction to this mysteriously inaccessible young lady, he secures the services of a bandit who is to pretend to hold up Fedora's car so that Lane may effect a rescue. Lane arrives on the scene as per schedule and is informed by the bandit that he has changed his mind and intends to make a real hold-up instead of a fake one. Lane, therefore, makes a real rescue and meets Miss Grex. He is informed by Lord Huntersley that his efforts are useless as she is a Grand Duchess of Russia. The third member of the conference arrives and coming across Lane in the middle of a love scene with Fedora, thrusts the papers into his hand saying "Give these to Huntersley," and disappears. Complications arise between Fedora and Lane. Lane finally manages to get rid of Fedora's father for a few hours and hiring a yacht they pick up a parson who for $5,000 and his trip home consents to go with them to America. Once outside the three-mile limit they are married under the laws of the United States.

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The family of an Irish landlord want him to wed who they think is a visiting heiress from the US but the real heiress pretends she is just a servant and hides her identity.

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Bad woman turns good, but as a recent widow finds her past a roadblock in terms of accepting remarriage.

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During the California gold rush, four unsuccessful miners assume that a woman prospector will give in without a fight, so they jump the claim of Kate Kenner and take her gold away from her. Afterward, although she is Sheriff Dan Deering's sweetheart, Kate decides to take the law into her own hands. Donning the trademark black mask of Silver Spurs, the noted bandit, Kate holds up the saloon where the crooks have stored the gold. As she makes her getaway, however, Dan catches her, and after unmasking her, is astonished to discover Silver Spur's true identity. The town puts Kate on trial immediately and a guilty verdict seems assured until the real Silver Spurs, who had greatly admired the masquerade, himself steals the gold and leaves a note exonerating Kate. Then, taking time out from his sheriff's duty, Dan, instead of pursuing Silver Spurs, starts making plans with Kate for their wedding.

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When a young girl is placed under hypnotism, it's discovered that she has a split personality.

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To help their unemployed father make ends meet, Edith and her twin sister Grace work as seamstresses . An invalid, Grace falls prey to the temptations of Chinatown opium and becomes an addict, a condition worsened by a misguided physician who prescribes morphine to ease her pain. When their father strikes oil, the family enjoys a new prosperity and the sisters meet the eligible Jack Herron, a fellow oil prospector. To Grace's shock, Jack falls in love with Edith and in her jealousy, Grace tells Jack that Edith, not she, has a drug problem. Hinting that her sister will soon need more morphine, Grace arranges for a dinner in Chinatown with the couple. While her sister and Jack dance, Grace slips away to an opium den. Edith follows her, but ends up in the wrong den and is arrested in an ensuing drug raid. After he bails her out of jail, Edith takes an angry Jack to search for Grace and stumbles across her half-conscious body lying in the street. The truth about the sisters is revealed, and after sending Grace to a sanitarium in the country, Jack and Edith are married.

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A slave switches her light-skinned baby with her master's baby. The child grows up raised by whites.