Hidden Genre Gems for Fans of The Silent Call: Cult Guide

Dir: Laurence Trimble

Dr. Laurel Carlisle marries wealthy Clinton Durand so she will have the money to finance her important experiments in bacteriology in order to find a cure for anthrax--even though she doesn't love Durand and is actually in love with her colleague Dr. Leslie. Durand turns out to be a violent brute who mistreats Laurel and her son Donald. Matters come to a head when Donald dies of pneumonia while on a trip with Durand, and Laurel blames him for it. Complications ensue.

Dir: Laurence Trimble

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

A selfish actress weds her cousin's lover and dies saving her jewels from a fire.

Dir: William F. Adler

A travelogue/documentary including explorations of the fauna and people of Siam, New Guinea, and Java, with interpolations of an apparently fictitious encounter between the filmmakers and cannibalistic natives of Frederick Henry Island in the South Pacific.

Dir: Bud Fisher

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

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

Dir: Laurence Trimble

Sadie Sullivan leaves Ireland to live with her married sister in New York. Troubled by her worthless brother-in-law, discouraged with her low-paying five-and-dime-store job, Sadie reads a story about a chorus girl who married a millionaire, she decides to join a musical-comedy company. Having befriended mission clergyman Reverend John Page, Sadie reads a Bible backstage and is surprised at the other girls' loose morals. Her "saintly" reputation among the others inspires press agent Jack Mills, looking for a new angle, to devise a routine built around Sadie, now billed as "The Saintly Show Girl." After millionaire Dick Carrington switches his attentions from leading lady Dollie Delmar to Sadie, their subsequent engagement arouses Dollie to attempt to tarnish Sadie's image. Dollie sends Sadie a letter, supposedly from a friend, to meet her at a roadhouse that Dollie knows will be raided, but after Reverend Page explains Sadie's presence there satisfactorily to the police and Dick, Dick marries her.

Dir: Laurence Trimble

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

A doctor cures his wife of brain fever after she stabs her film star lover.

Dir: Laurence Trimble

An heiress takes the blame for stabbing her uncle, thinking her lover guilty.

Dir: Perry N. Vekroff

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

While in New York seeking work, Cynthia, a young English girl, meets Bruce Crittenden and George Rhode who introduce her to Madame Savarin, a wealthy woman seeking a companion for a sea voyage. She hires Cynthia, and while at sea, Cynthia discovers that Bruce is the ship's purser. Cynthia's father was a famous wireless expert who taught her how to read code, which enables her to overhear a plot to sink the ship and steal Mrs. Savarin's jewels. Soon after, the crew mutinies, and while Rhode and Bruce fight the crew, Cynthia sounds the alarm. As he is attempting to foil the jewel thieves, Bruce falls overboard, and Cynthia swims to his rescue with the jewels strapped to her back. They are rescued by a government patrol boat and taken back to New York where Cynthia and Bruce are married.

Dir: Laurence Trimble

A wealthy businessman proudly watches as his son begins his own business, a shoe store. However, things start to take a turn for the worst when the father's estranged wife inserts herself into her son's life and a seductive gold-digger tries to get her hooks into the young man. His father must stand helplessly by and hope his son makes the right decisions.

Dir: Laurence Trimble

Marshall Strong and John Moore, partners in a western gold mine, both fall in love with schoolteacher Constance Harvey, but she marries Moore, even though she is attracted to the shy Strong, because Moore convinces her that Strong loves someone else. After they strike ore, Moore is killed in a barroom brawl and Strong is accused of murder. He hides out and sends for Constance, but when Lilas Niles, a squatter's daughter who wants Strong's money, deceitfully tells him that Constance is sending the police, Strong leaves, embittered, and marries Lilas. Years later, Strong, now known as Mark Smith, is a wealthy mine owner. Constance lives with her son David who loves Strong's daughter Nancy and works in Strong's mine. After Strong refuses demands for safety precautions, an explosion traps David underground. When Strong discovers that David is Constance's son, he rushes into the burning mine to save him. Strong then promises safer conditions, and David marries Nancy.