Rare Cinematic Gems Sharing the Atmosphere of The Spell of the Yukon: Cult Guide

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Bianca, a Corsican, supports her frivolous sister, Rosa, by making laces. The sculptor, Manatelli, visits her cottage to buy laces, and sees her modeling in clay. Impressed by her talent, he offers her free instruction if she wishes to come to Paris. Bianca accepts and promises to send for Rose as soon as possible. In Paris she meets Etienne Du Inette, head of the Internationale, a powerful secret service organization. He and Bianca are instantly attracted to each other. Jules Lavinne, also in the service of the Internationale, goes to Corsica on a secret mission. He sees and desires Rosa. One day a mysterious veiled woman slips a note under Etienne's door, warning him to go to Corsica and watch Lavinne, who is a traitor. He soon has occasion to protect Rosa from Lavinne. Lavinne learns the assumed name Etienne is using on the island and signs it to a note asking Rosa to meet him. In Paris, Bianca finishes and exhibits her first piece of work, and it is purchased by a wealthy patron. She sends for Rosa, but a letter from old Maria tells of the girl's disgrace and attempted suicide. Bianca rushes to her sister, who is dying. She finds the note which lured her sister to her destruction. It is signed, "Pierre Renard." Bianca vows to follow Pierre Renard "To the Death." She meets Jules Lavinne, and instinctively dislikes him, but when she learns that he belongs to the Internationale she forces herself to be gracious to him, hoping that he will aid her in finding "Pierre Renard." Lavinne, determined to win her, avoids meeting Etienne. Bianca asks Lavinne's aid, and he promises to find the man for her if she will marry him. Having vowed to avenge her sister at any cost, she promises. That night Lavinne telephones that he has a photograph of Pierre Renard. Bianca asks him to bring it to her at once. Before he comes he writes a note which he instructs his man to deliver to Etienne. It reads, "Bianca is in great danger. Go to her at once." Lavinne engages tickets on the midnight train, and tells his valet to take his portmanteau to a prominent hotel, where he arranges to have a priest ready to perform the ceremony. He shows Bianca the photograph. She is speechless with horror when she sees that it is a picture of Etienne. Lavinne instructs her to ask him whether he was not known in Corsica as "Pierre Renard." When he arrives she does so, and he admits it, also admitting that he knew Rosa there. She plunges a dagger in his breast, and he falls to the floor. Unwilling to keep her bargain with Lavinne, she attempts to take her own life. Lavinne prevents her, and forces her to accompany him to the hotel where the priest is in waiting. No sooner is the ceremony performed than Lavinne boasts of having won her by trickery, saying that it was he himself who lured Rosa to her death by the use of the name "Pierre Renard." Just then the valet knocks at the door, and Lavinne admits him. Behind him follow the woman of mystery and two gendarmes. The woman is Lavinne's wife, and he is arrested as a bigamist and a traitor. He returns to Bianca the dagger with which she struck down her lover. She rushes back to her own apartment, to kill herself beside his body, but she is amazed to find him gone. Her old nurse leads her into the room where he is lying asleep. The medallion of herself worn over his heart has saved his life.

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When the dominating financier takes the girl as his private secretary he secures not only an efficient girl but a beautiful one. It is then that his son decides to take an interest in business. His father suspects that his son has suddenly become imbued with business affairs because of the striking young woman secretary he has engaged and tells him that if he intends to go into business he can do so but he does not want him about the office. The son is unsuccessful in many deals and when some bonds are missing the guilty parties manage to successfully charge him with stealing them. In the meantime he had been visiting the charming young secretary of his father and often met his father's cashier coming out of the apartment. He had become furiously jealous and the climax came when he discovered his sweetheart in the arms of the cashier. It is when he is accused of stealing the bonds that he begins to realize that his father's cashier and the pretty secretary are in a plot to ruin his father. And right here is where the story becomes intensely interesting and the suspense is finally lifted. Of course the business rivals become staunch friends again as of yore. But the lovers have come over a rough road in their romance and a pleasant future is also assured for them.

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

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Engrossed in the perfection of a new high power explosive, the husband seems to neglect his wife. She is further piqued by the introduction into their home of a man whose presence is unexplained, but who is really a Secret Service operative guarding the invention. The Government has asked that the wife be kept in ignorance. In this frame of mind the wife lends a ready ear to Aachen, who suggests that the husband be taught a lesson by the abstraction of this all-absorbing formula. Through this means he gets the formula, but in the end the Government gathers him in, and the only permanent result is a needed lesson to the innocent little traitor.

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Lucy Winter, raised in the lap of luxury, has reluctantly accepted the suitor of her father's choice. George Turner, whose aunt has recently died, leaving him a necklace of peculiar antique beauty, has decided to search for his father, whom he has always believed dead. Passing a beautiful old Southern mansion that somehow seems strangely familiar, he sees a "Gardener Wanted" sign, applies for the position, and is accepted by the girl Lucy, with whom he falls in love, to the chagrin of her banker father, who orders him to leave after recognizing the necklace which the boy has given Lucy in lieu of an engagement ring. During a troubled sleep Father Time leads Winter's conscience to review his past. This extends over 18 years, during which Winter is installed as gardener at the Turner mansion and becomes the pal of his master, Carlysle. They love the same girl, Lucy Lee, who elopes with Winter. Their married life is one continued struggle. Previously Turner has given the antique necklace to Lucy as a wedding gift. This she later places in Carlysle's hands as security for one of the loans he made to her in their struggle against poverty. She led her husband to believe the money came from her mother, but he knew the truth, and accepted Carlysle's friendship, planning his ruin at the same time. Through the loss of Lucy's love, Turner passes many restless nights, eventually resorting to morphine, which finally masters him. Winter rises to the position of bank cashier, forecloses a mortgage on the Turner mansion, ousts Carlysle as bank president, and becomes president himself. Turner has been wrongly convicted of murder and sent to prison for life. Lucy, realizing the despicable character of Winter, and really in love with Carlysle, dies of a broken heart. Father Time leads Winter's conscience back into his body, and he wakes, calling "Lucy. Lucy!" George Turner arrives at the house and reads a number of letters, including one from his father, accusing Stephen Winter of being the cause of his troubles. He determines on revenge and hastens to the Winter mansion. Pity takes the place of anger at sight of Winter, and the old man tells George how it happened, giving his promise that he will secure his father's pardon. Soon George is able to bring his father from prison to the Winter Mansion. Winter tries to make amends to Carlysle, and the two leave the room arm-in-arm, and the young people give each other the previous promise, "I will."

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

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So engrossed by his desire to be elected governor, Philip Pemberton neglects his wife Dorothy. Horton, a political boss opposes Pemberton's candidacy and conspires to prevent his election. To accomplish this, Horton hires two crooks to pose as the Baron and Baroness De Ville to gain Dorothy's confidence. One day while out motoring with Dorothy, the Baroness feigns illness and is taken to the bedroom of an inn, where her husband unexpectedly appears. When the Baroness steps out, the frame-up for a potential scandal is completed. Horton threatens to blackmail Pemberton with the situation unless he drops out of the race, but at the last minute a detective who has been tracking the Baroness appears and arrests her, exposing the Horton plot. Pemberton then realizes he has neglected his wife and begs her forgiveness, which she grants.

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When bank president Leslie Morrison dips into the till, he seeks to place the blame on bank clerk David Moulton by altering the figures in Moulton's books. He lays his plan carefully, but upon leaving the building late one night, Morrison falls into an elevator shaft and is killed. Moulton, the one man known to have been there, is charged with murder and tried by district attorney Robert Murdock. Unable to afford a competent defense, Moulton is convicted and sentenced to die in an electric chair. However, Mary Reed, a stenographer who loves Moulton, appeals as a last resort to the newly elected public defender, Arthur Nelson. Nelson investigates the case and discovers evidence on the very eve of the execution, evidence that will warrant a stay. Rescued from death in the nick of time, Moulton is granted a new trial under the supervision of the public defender and is found innocent.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Just a Song at Twilight perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

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The sole support of her invalid mother and young crippled brother, Heloise Broulette is forced to become the mistress of Leland Norton in order to secure the money for an operation to save her mother's life. Mrs. Broulette recovers, but when she discovers the real source of her daughter's income, the news kills her. After her mother's death, Heloise leaves her career behind and goes to the country where she takes a job as a secretary to author Carter Vail, who falls in love with her. Ruth finds herself in a dilemma when Vail's sister Alice visits friends in the city and falls in love with Norton. Honor bound, Ruth sacrifices her own happiness to save Alice from Norton. In revenge, Norton informs Vail of Heloise's past, but Vail responds that she has the soul of a Magdalene despite the life that she had been forced to endure.

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Ephram Judson is an itinerant evangelist. He is always accompanied by his daughter Ruth and his 17-year-old son Tom. They enter a community of devout Christians and hold a series of meetings. On the outskirts of the community lives Hugh Lee, an outcast. His only sister had been burned to death on her wedding day when he renounced the world and his God. Accidentally he meets Ruth Judson, the evangelist's daughter. For the first time since the tragedy, the world looks bright to him. Ruth induces him to attend the Sunday service, but in the midst of it, he pictures his sister's death, and bursts forth into a violent denunciation of religion. The worshippers are shocked and pursue him to the woods. The collection that day was large and the money is given to young Tom Judson to take to the treasurer. Tom has formed the acquaintance with the village sport, who meets him and inveigles him into a game of cards. Tom stakes the church funds and loses. The gambler turns the money over to the village grocer in payment of a bill and the distressed boy, who has witnessed the transaction, sees the grocer hide it. Tom steals the money, but is pursued and slightly wounded by the grocer. He makes his way to the only place of refuge he can think of, the cabin of Hugh Lee, the unbeliever. Tom believes he is dying and pleads for his sister. Lee fetches her at night to the cabin. Meantime the grocer has aroused the community, including the evangelist, to hunt down the thief. The boy is traced to Lee's cabin, which is attacked. Ruth, aroused, as she was from her slumber, is found in the cabin in her night clothes, but she still shields her guilty brother and Lee. The fury of the mob breaks loose, Lee is dragged from his cabin and a noose placed about his neck. Ruth refuses to tell why she was in the cabin, despite the pleadings of Lee to save her honor, and give her brother up to the law. She declares that God will save them all. A storm is raging. Lighting its way with fire-brands, the mob marches Lee to the scene of the revivals after having fired the cabin. The leader of the mob throws the end of the noose over a tree and gives the horse Lee is riding a crack with the whip. Just at that moment a terrific bolt of lightning strikes the limb, severing it from the tree and throwing Lee to the ground. It strikes, too, the mob leader, killing him instantly. Tom, driven from the burning cabin, has followed the mob and arrives on the scene just as the hand of God saves an innocent man. He confesses his guilt, clearing Lee and his sister's honor and changing a frenzied mob into a rejoiceful gathering, the picture closes with Lee acknowledging the power of faith that has saved him and clasping Ruth in his arms.

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

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Albert Jordan, publishing house manager, lavishes his salary on his adored wife, Rita, and little daughter Edna. She is a churchgoing woman, while his home and his family is his religion. While returning home one day, Jordan sees his little daughter in the path of an auto. He runs to snatch her from instant death. He saves her but is seriously injured himself. As a result, he becomes a half paralytic. His wife becomes the bread-winner of the family. She frets against this and is tempted by a former lover, Jim Shaw, a race-track follower, and leaves with him. Jordan becomes an embittered blasphemer. He is compelled to sell newspapers and pencils at an elevated station. Here a splendid woman with a deathless faith finds the hopeless Jordan and teaches him her creed of life. Jordan begins to pray. At last, in response to his prayers and more hopeful state, Jordan is healed and learns that God's way is not always the ways of men. The years pass. Jordan with health, new strength, new friends, becomes successful in business. His daughter, Edna, now a beautiful young woman, marries Frank Rollins, of aristocratic family, and assistant district attorney. Jordan makes his home with the young couple. On the other hand, Rita, who first lived in luxury, has gradually gone down the ladder of life and now reaps the harvest of her sin and selfishness. Shaw is drinking heavily and beats her. They return from Paris and start a flashy tango hall. A few months later, after his daughter's marriage, Jordan is asked by Rollins to accompany him on a vice crusade. While in a dance place, there is a quarrel between a man and a woman. Jordan goes to intervene and comes face to face with his wife. After a night of anguish Jordan goes to Rita, telling her of himself and of Edna. He teaches her to see the "light," as he calls it, as he has seen it. Rita is touched by Jordan's willingness to forgive and forget and the latent good in Rita's nature rises to meet the good in Jordan. How Rita repays his wish to reclaim her is unfolded in the climax.

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A battalion of the U. S. Army's 77th Division penetrates deep into the Argonne Forest of France during the First World War. The battalion becomes surrounded and holds out for six long days, awaiting reinforcement and rescue.