Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of The Skipper's Scheme:...

Dir: Ira M. Lowry

Al Boyd, a wealthy cattle rancher, falls in love with Betty Swiftmore, the sophisticated daughter of an Eastern meat packing tycoon. However, Betty loves fellow socialite Harrison Stevens and dismisses Al's marriage proposal, until a lawsuit threatens to bankrupt her family. She consents to marry Al, but his awkwardness among her society friends and his inability to dress appropriately cause Betty to remain cold throughout their honeymoon. After maligning Al's character, Harrison convinces Betty to travel with him to a cottage in the mountains, falsely assuring her that his mother and sister will act as chaperons. Al follows, part of the way on an iceboat, and arrives in time to stop Harrison's assault on Betty. Her coldness toward Al soon melts away, and she acquiesces to his request that they "travel the straight road together."

Dir: Maurice Campbell

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

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: Ira M. Lowry

U.S. Marshal "High Pockets" Henderson discovers the body of Bud Blythe near the town of Farewell. After leaving his fingerprints on a photograph of Blythe's sister Joy, who traveled West with Blythe to start a ranch, High Pockets informs the sheriff. As Joy packs to go East, cattle thief Max Manon enters her home. After Joy forces him out, she goes to town, where Max's partners, Jim Stute and Bull Bellows, try to get her to drink. Recognizing her from the photograph, High Pockets intercedes and takes her to a hotel. When Manon climbs to her window, High Pockets lassoes him and drags him down. After High Pockets convinces Joy to stay and gets her work at the general store, the sheriff tries to arrest High Pockets for Blythe's murder because of the fingerprints, but High Pockets imprisons the sheriff and his aides. When Blythe's twin brother arrives, High Pockets makes Manon's sweetheart believe that the brother is Blythe's ghost. She screams that Manon was the murderer. High pockets stops Manon's escape, rounds up the others, and marries Joy.

Dir: Ira M. Lowry

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

The Earl of Dunhaven, who disinherited his son for marrying an American, tries, on his deathbed, to leave his estate to his nephew, the Honorable Guy Wyndham. To stop him, the Dunhaven solicitor, John Grahame, travels to America and finds the earl's grandson, Jim Dunn, a Wyoming cowpuncher. Because Jim wants a home for his motherless nephew Sam, they go to England with Grahame, taking papers which prove, because the earl has since died, that Jim is his legitimate heir. Jim's Western ways irritate his newly-found, chilly relatives. Finding himself more at home with the servants, he teaches them American customs and songs, thus shocking his aunt, Lady Caroline Croxton. After falling in love with Lady Croxton's secretary, Phyllis Barton, who warns him about a plot to rid him of his inheritance, Jim establishes his right, but tires of British life, and leaves for America with Phyllis and Sam, after renting the estate to his relatives.

Dir: Unknown Director

The Judge needs a present for his wife's birthday, so Harry suggests a new corset. They go to the shop, but he's so embarrassed to ask the saleslady he hides in a phone booth.Harry goes in, but finds a GUY wearing one, and runs out.They both dress as women to get back in, but Mrs. Rummy gets there and chases him out.

Dir: Reggie Morris

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Ira M. Lowry

In World War I China, Princess Tsu, who leads a secret group dedicated to eradicating German influence in China, learns that the Chinese viceroy, in order to further his own ambitions, has organized an army to help Germany win Russia. She steals their written agreement and smuggles it to American agent Robert Kenyon, with whom she has fallen in love. The princess' jealous fiancé, Prince Kang, tells her that Robert is betrothed to an American girl and, bent on revenge, she informs German agent Von Richtman that Robert possesses the secret papers. In Washington, Von Richtman sends his henchmen to apprehend Robert before he can reach the Secretary of State, but Princess Tsu, whose love of country has triumphed over her personal concerns, foils the plot. Aware of her great love for Prince Kang, she returns to China and marries him.

Dir: Jerome Storm

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

Ne'er-do-well Homer Cavender ventures to the city from Mainsville in an effort to find fame and fortune. Both elude him, and after clerking for two years, Homer returns home for a vacation. Impressed by his flashy clothes, the townspeople assume that Homer has achieved success. Attempting to win Rachel Prouty from his rival, Arthur Machim, Homer continues the deception by announcing that his employer, Kort and Bailly, has dispatched him to enroll stockholders for a proposed new plant to be built in Mainsville. Machim discovers the sham and denounces Homer as a crook. Meanwhile, Homer returns to New York, convinces his employers of the merits of his plan and comes home triumphant, with a proposal for both the new plant and for Rachel's hand in marriage.

Dir: Ira M. Lowry

After his assistant, Bud Lester, is killed, Texas Ranger Speedy Meade bids farewell to his girl friend, convent student Mary Dillman, and sets out to break up a gang of cattle thieves operating on the border. After arriving at the scene, Speedy dons different disguises, including that of a derelict bartender and an old man selling stolen cattle. Speedy obtains valuable information and learns that the leader of the band is Henry Dillman, Mary's father. Mary arrives and complicates Speedy's plans. He trails the gang to their secret rendezvous, but Mary causes him to lose his advantage and he is captured, bound, and gagged. Dillman is accused by the others in the gang of having betrayed them to the ranger. A fight ensues in which Dillman is shot and Mary is seized by a bandit. Speedy frees himself and knocks out Mary's assailant. Dillman confesses he is not really Mary's father, and Mary goes off with Speedy.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

While walking along the street one day, Arthur P. Hampton, an impoverished young doctor, and his chums, Stub Masters and Johnny Stokes, are persuaded to part with their last remaining funds by tag day solicitor Mary Jane Smith, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Doc's friends then hit upon a get-rich-quick scheme. Knowing that his Uncle George has promised a large sum of money upon his nephew's marriage, they persuade Doc to send out fake wedding invitations naming Mary Jane as the blushing bride. Uncle George, elated at the good news, writes to Mary Jane's aunt, Angelica Burns, an old sweetheart, to invite Mary Jane and Angelica to be his guests on an ocean voyage. Meanwhile, Mary Jane pays a visit to the doctor's office and, upon seeing the wedding invitations, becomes so flustered that she trips and sprains her ankle. Doc comes to her rescue and then begs her to pose as his wife. She agrees, but at ship-side, Stub and Johnnie confess all to Uncle George, who flies into a rage until Doc announces that he and Mary Jane have chosen a wedding at sea.