Hand-Picked Alternatives Movies That Echo the Spirit of The Song and Dance Man: Cult Guide

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A mermaid princess plans vengeance against a prince whose net killed her sibling. But upon meeting him, she develops romantic feelings.

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

Joan is loved by a young man of the village and they are married. In a few weeks the husband, a soldier, is sent to the war-front along with his three brothers. Word is received that her husband has been killed in battle and Joan's first impulse is suicide by she is pregnant and her prospective motherhood makes her realize her new responsibility. The military authorities start a movement to get the young women of the country to marry departing soldiers, so that the empire may have another generation of fighting men. Word is received that the King is to pass through their village and Joan organizes the women in a general protest against the war. She leads them all, dressed in black, in a long procession to meet the Monarch. The soldiers threaten to shoot her unless she turns the women back, buy Joan comes face-to-face with the ruler and kills herself, as her message from the women that they refuse to make another generation victims of a ruthless militarism.

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Grace Leonard, a typical woman of the New York stage, beautiful but old in sin, seduces William Craig, who becomes a thief in order to shower luxuries upon her. He is sentenced to prison and emerges five years later as a sad-faced, gray-haired man, entirely cured of his mad passion for La Valencia. But she sees him and her old passion is stirred, caring not that since his release from prison he has fallen in love and married a good woman who knows nothing of his past. When William is not swayed by her fascinations, Grace threatens to expose his past life.

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

Maryland Calvert lives in that section of Maryland divided against itself in the question of secession. Her brother Floyd is so strong a Northern sympathizer that he joins the Federal secret service unknown to his family and enlists in the Southern army to increase his efficiency. Her fiancé, Alan Kendrick, takes a commission in the Federal Army, although his father becomes a general in the Confederate forces. One Thorpe, a discredited Union officer, is given an opportunity to serve the Federal secret service and in that capacity, joins the Confederate army, becoming an aide to General Kendrick, whose headquarters are at the Calvert mansion. Alan Kendrick is among the Northern prisoners taken by the Confederates and when sent for exchange is recognized by Thorpe, whose bitter hatred has been aroused by the part the gallant Unionist had in his former discovery and degradation for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Learning the Federal plans of campaign from Lloyd Calvert, who believes him to be a loyal member of the Federal secret service, he takes advantage of this knowledge to attempt the destruction of the Union camp to which Alan Kendrick has been sent, thereby hoping to encompass Alan's death. Thorpe fails, but Alan, taking a desperate chance to visit Maryland Calvert, is captured in a Confederate uniform and sentenced to death as a spy. Maryland Calvert, hysterical over the death of her brother Lloyd, who was shot down while trying to "run the lines" with information, is unconsciously responsible for Alan's denunciation and conviction as a spy. When she realizes his situation, Maryland braves the hazardous ordeal to reach the Union lines and secures from General Hooker a written request upon General Kendrick to delay Alan's execution until facts may be presented proving his innocence of espionage can be established. Her return finds General Kendrick dead on the battlefield, the treacherous Thorpe in supreme command and Alan imprisoned in a church awaiting momentary execution. When Maryland presents her letter to Thorpe he realizes his supreme opportunity for revenge is at hand. He orders a squad to dispatch Alan and proceeds to force his unwelcome attentions upon Maryland. With her lover standing bound before her awaiting death, Maryland is driven to such a frenzy that she plunges a bayonet into Thorpe. He falls unconscious and she releases Alan, gives him Thorpe's hat and coat as a disguise, and bids him fly for his sake as well as her own. A moment later when Thorpe regains consciousness and orders an alarm sounded. Maryland recalls that the old church-bell is the agreed tocsin. Dashing up the creaking stairs she reaches the highest spot in the belfry and clinging to the enormous clapper swings from it in its dizzy flight, using her frail hands as a muffler to kill all sound. The deaf sexton tolls away at the rope unconscious of the fact his labor is in vain. Maryland is made a prisoner and is about to be executed in her own home, when Alan appears at the head of the Union troops. Thorpe would use her as a shield to compel Alan to fire upon his beloved or abandon the attack, but at the crucial moment he is removed from command by order of General Lee, who has learned of his perfidy. Alan Kendrick grants the Confederates a truce to cover their retreat and the drama ends with a blissful reunion of the lovers.

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Back from a crusade, the hero of Sir Walter Scott's novel fights for courtly love and Saxon honor.

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

In Alberta, Canada, a Cornish emigrant unmasks a rustler posing as the girl's "blind" father.

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Millionaire "Merry" Perry Merrithew is found dead on the roof of an East Side tenement. The strands of red hair clutched in his hands implicate four auburn-haired women in the murder: a millionaire's daughter, Merrithew's mistress, the daughter of a bankrupt society woman, and a cabaret dancer. In solving the crime, Dr. Clinton Worthing performs heroic deeds.

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

A sultan agrees to help a wicked witch destroy a mysterious young lady if the witch will bring his young son back from the dead with magic.

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When famous opera singer Elinore Duane undergoes an operation on her throat, she has a series of ether-induced visions. In one, she is transported to ancient Rome where she appears as a much-admired woman in love with Paul, a young heretic, and at odds with Lutor, the high priest. To save her love, she poisons Lutor with her ring. After several other visions which involve variations on this love triangle, Elinore awakens to discover that Lutor is actually her doctor, Sascha Jaccard, and that Paul is the son of a friend who has come to visit the recovering prima donna.

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When Marcel, a waif, saves master crook Burke from the police, Burke adopts the youngster and teaches him his profession. Years later, Marcel has become a master crook himself, working under the name of Michael Lanyard. His clever work baffles the Paris police, who dub him "The Lone Wolf". The Pack, a gang of criminals, notifies The Wolf that unless he joins them, he is marked for destruction. Lucy, an undercover agent masquerading as a crook to expose the gang, helps The Wolf escape. This inaugurates a series of adventures in which Lucy and The Wolf are pursued by the gang, finally making their escape to England by plane. The Pack follows, only to meet their death in a plane crash. Liberated from his tormentors, The Wolf vows to go straight and marries Lucy.