Essential Cult Cinema Drawn from the Same DNA as The Sorrows of Love: Cult Guide

Dir: Charles Giblyn

A young woman's sweetheart fights for the Union, while her brother fights for the Confederates, in the pivotal 1863 battle of the U.S. Civil War.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Civilization's Child perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

After an idyllic mountain life in Russia, Berna goes to live with her uncle in the Jewish section of Kiev, arriving just as Cossacks massacre most of the Jews in the city. Berna escapes to New York and works at a sweatshop controlled by Boss Jim McManus, but he seduces her, then throws her out on the street, and she becomes a prostitute. Berna later marries Nicolay Turgenev, a young musician, and they soon have a child, but McManus' daughter Ellen falls in love with Nicolay after seeing him perform and convinces him to leave Berna. To make the separation legal, McManus, now a judge, grants Nicolay a divorce and also gives him custody of the child. Almost insane, Berna goes to McManus, denounces him at gunpoint and then kills him.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Mabel waits on the residents of a local boardinghouse, but her fondness for pranks finally leads to her dismissal. By a strange turn of fortune, Mabel finds herself in the possession of a traveling corset saleswoman's suitcase, whereupon she adopts the profession herself. While passing through a small town, Mabel decides to take a swim in the ocean, but as she frolics, her suitcase, which contains all of her clothing, is stolen. Forced to wear only her bathing suit, Mabel sets off in search of her clothing and learns that the police, having identified the suitcase as belonging to a jewel thief, are in search of her. Following several adventures, she discovers that the jewel robbery, which involved her friend Lena, was only a publicity stunt.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Perfect 36 perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Marie Chaumontel, a spy for the Germans during World War I, vamps her way through the French high command, accumulating state secrets as she discards lovers. Captain Henry Ravignac commits suicide because of her, after which his brother, Lieutenant Charles Ravignac, vows revenge. As a result, he pretends to be a German spy and then becomes an assistant to Marie, all the while gathering evidence against her. Finally, he accumulates enough to hand her over to French authorities, after which he is hailed as a hero for so damaging German espionage operations.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

At the death of John Gower, his widow and daughter, Mildred, find themselves with only a few thousand dollars, as the family lived almost up to the limit of Cower's income. Mildred's mother tells her it is necessary that she marry money. Mildred is fond of Stanley Baird, but her hopes in this direction are shattered by the announcement of his engagement to another woman. Mrs. Gower marries Presbury, an elderly man who thinks she is wealthy, and when he learns the truth he begins taunting Mildred until she is willing to do anything to escape from her humiliating position. Presbury arranges a marriage between Mildred and a multimillionaire, General Siddall. The bride soon discovers that while her husband will buy anything for her she wants, so that he can make an impression upon the world with her beauty, he will not give her any money. This forces her to realize that she is barely more than a piece of furniture in the General's establishment. She leaves him, and meeting Baird learns that he and his wife have separated. He undertakes to furnish her with funds for the cultivation of her voice for an operatic career, with the hope that one day they will be free to marry. Mildred makes slow progress. Her voice is good but uncertain. She meets a young lawyer, Donald Keith, who tells her that she will never succeed because she is too fond of luxury and ease. Meanwhile she discovers through Keith's investigation that she was not legally married to General Siddall, as his first wife was still living, confined in an insane asylum. The General has made many attempts to get her to come back to him, but she refuses. Finally she declines to take any more money from Baird, and by economy, self-denial and hard work succeeds in her musical ambition. Having achieved her independence she is now free to choose between Stanley Baird and Donald Keith, to both of whom she owes a debt of gratitude. Her choice is a happy one, and leaves the story of the life of this typical American girl perfectly rounded out.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

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

Having to support her impoverished family, Grace Tyler poses for artist Michael Arnold, who seduces his new model and then leaves her. A few years later, after Grace has married the wealthy John Marshall, her sister Ruth, repeating Grace's mistake, becomes involved with Michael. Grace tries to break up the romance, until Michael threatens to expose their own affair to John, who has already become somewhat suspicious. Determined to learn the truth about his wife and Michael, John goes to the artist's studio while Grace and Ruth are also there, then, after a brief struggle, Michael dies from a knife wound. John is accused of the murder, but just before a jury convicts him, Ruth confesses to the crime and the court quickly acquits her because she had been defending her honor against Michael's advances.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Alice Chesterton (Olive Thomas) is described as a "Baby Vamp" by the social set and engaged to boring Tom Carey. She flirts with many of the male guests idling at the Ives' Long Island house party, then encourages Terence O'Keefe, a playboy polo player from Ireland in New York to purchase horses for the British army, to rendezvous with her in the city, they are seen together at the "Midnight Frolic." Because of this, Mrs. Ives convinces Alice's newly-arrived sister Betty to look after Alice. Betty arranges for Terence to find her in an auto wreck where he revives her with a kiss. Genuinely in love with each other, they plan to marry, until the jealous Alice tells Betty that Terence "ruined" her. When Betty accuses Terence, he makes Alice confess her to her lies. Tom, encouraged by Terence's advice, overwhelms Alice with his "caveman" tactics. At the end, the servants, who have observed the upstairs activities, emulate their masters' flirting mannerisms.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

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

The mad exploit of a daring young country girl who falls in love with an artist and hides in his automobile to escape marriage with a country youth she does not love.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Nance Molloy's cheerful disposition, in sharp contrast to the slum near the cathedral where she and her parents make their home, earns her the nickname "Sunshine Nan." However, her fights with the cathedral choirboys, led by MacPherson Clark, gets her into trouble. For interfering in a family squabble, she and her pal, Dan Lewis, are sent to reform school for five years, and upon her release, she becomes a stenographer in the elder Clark's shoe factory. Dan meanwhile has taken a job in the factory's chemical department, where he invents a dye process that promises to make him rich. In trouble over a woman, MacPherson decides to steal the formula and present it to his father as his own. Nan enters the lab just as MacPherson is copying Dan's formula, and the two old enemies begin to fight. Dan joins in the scuffle, but when some chemicals spill, the lab is enveloped in fire. Dan rescues Nan, and MacPherson, awakening in the hospital, remorsefully confesses his crime. Nan and Dan soon marry and the alley's name is changed to "Cathedral Court."

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Bored by the slow pace of life in her little home town, Helen Drayton rebels when her friends and relatives assume that she will marry her friend and escort, Chet Vernon. Helen is so anxious to experience life in the big city that she falls in love with visiting New York architect John Galvin almost immediately after his arrival. Several weeks later, the two marry and move to New York, where, after a series of painful experiences, Helen finally realizes John's selfishness. In the end, she gratefully returns home and becomes Chet's wife.