Cinematic Discoveries Following the Footsteps of The Spoilers: Cult...

Dir: Colin Campbell

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Colin Campbell

Daisy Brooks, wife of Roanoke Brooks, night watchman in the factory of Robert Garlan, does not love her husband or her daughter, Elizabeth. Instead, she loves his money and she enters the primrose path with Garlan in order to satisfy her love for finery. Garlan, a roué, also neglects his infant son, Wynne, for worldly pleasures. In time Daisy Brooks' double life is discovered by her husband, and she kills herself in Garlan's mansion. At the appearance of Roanoke, who has followed, Garlan jumps from a window and kills himself. Roanoke buys a little farm where he lives with his daughter. With the passing years, Elizabeth, daughter of Roanoke, reaches womanhood and is known to her father as "Sweet Alyssum." Wynne Garlan, son of Robert Garlan, has grown to manhood and has married a woman of the world. Wynne, a poor bank clerk, is unable to provide for his wife in the way she wishes and she enters into an affair with Thurlow, the cashier of the bank where Wynne is employed. Thurlow steals from the bank and causes Wynne to be suspected of the crime. Wynne, in terror of arrest, escapes, and arrives in the country near Roanoke Brooks' farm. Sweet Alyssum dreams that her father's land has developed into an immense oil field. She pleads with him to dig for oil and he does so. Wynne Garlan, who has assumed the name of Wyatt, secures employment on Roanoke Brooks' farm. Wynne, later becomes a school teacher and Sweet Alyssum, his pupil, loves him dearly. He, for a time, withstands the innocent young girl's endearments but finally succumbs to her beauty and they elope and are married. When Roanoke Brooks hears of the marriage he is overcome with anger, but as he confronts the pair upon their return to the farm, oil is discovered. Joyful because Alyssum's dream has been realized, Roanoke Brooks forgives the couple and they reside with him. Two years pass by and Sweet Alyssum has become a mother. The oil fields have prospered and all is happiness in Roanoke Brooks' home. Thurlow, the crooked bank clerk, has not prospered during these years and finally wanders to the oil fields. There he sees Wynne Garlan. Thurlow informs the sheriff of the county that Wynne Garlan, known there as Wyatt, is a crook, and that if he is married he is guilty of bigamy for he has a wife living. The sheriff, upon Thurlow's instigations, telegraphs to New York and receives a reply to hold Wynne Garlan, who is wanted by the law. The justice of the peace, who is a friend of Roanoke Brooks and of Sweet Alyssum, goes to Roanoke's home to break the sad news. Roanoke determines to take the law into his own hands. The prosecuting attorney of the county also appears to get information from Sweet Alyssum concerning her husband's actions. When Sweet Alyssum is informed that her husband is accused of bigamy, she sacrifices even her own reputation for him and exclaims: "He cannot be charged with bigamy, for we were never married." Wynne Garlan leaves the magistrate's office and goes to Roanoke Brooks' home. As he enters the gate, he is seen by Roanoke Brooks, who seizes a rifle. As he is about to fire on Wynne, Sweet Alyssum places her little child between her father's rifle and her husband. Then a message comes from the police department of the city which reads as follows: "Garlan obtained divorce two years ago. No charge against him for bank robbery. Hold Thurlow. He is your man." Then it is that the girl tells her father that what she said about Wynne not marrying her was false as she wanted to protect him from arrest. And as Roanoke Brooks gathers his beloved daughter into his arms and shakes Wynne by the hand, the magistrate and the prosecuting attorney retire from the scene and are later instrumental in capturing Thurlow.

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

Dir: Colin Campbell

New York broker Bruce Corbin comes to Kentucky to force Allan Pomeroy, whom Bruce can prove is a forger, to give him his daughter Ruth in marriage. Even though she loves Spencer Vail, Ruth agrees, and despite Pomeroy's death, they wed. Ruth soon discovers that Bruce, to avenge his father's death in a feud with the Pomeroys, married her so that she would be childless, thus ending the Pomeroy family. Because Bruce was born during a thunderstorm, he temporarily goes insane whenever he hears a thunderbolt and forgets his actions while affected. Knowing this, Ruth seduces him during a storm, the night before he is to leave for a year. Later, when Bruce sees Ruth's child, he starts to choke it, believing it to be Vail's, but Ruth stops him by telling him of the stormy night. After four years in a distant marriage pass, Bruce loses his fortune because of another thunderbolt. Ruth leaves, but later they are reconciled because of the child.

Dir: Colin Campbell

Surrounded by a group of children, poet James Whitcomb Riley narrates the story of Little Orphant Annie, who loses her mother at an early age and is sent to an orphanage. Annie charms the other children with her stories of goblins and elves until her uncle comes to claim her. He and her aunt force Annie into a life of drudgery, treating her so cruelly that Big Dave, a neighboring farmer, takes her from them and places her in the charge of the kindly Squire Goode and his wife. Big Dave, who intends to marry Annie, is called away to fight in World War I. When Annie hears the news that he has been killed, she pretends to be gravely ill but wakes up to learn that it has all been a dream.

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

Dir: Colin Campbell

When her mother elopes with a lover and her father dies cursing the name of God, Domini Enfilden attempts to forget her pain in Beni Mora, an oasis in the Sahara. At the desert hotel, she meets and falls in love with Boris Androvsky, a tormented man of mystery. Abruptly announcing his departure one day, Boris bids farewell to Domini in the Garden of Allah, but passion overwhelms them, and after making love, they are married by Father Roubier. The two are happy until Capt. De Trevignac, a dinner guest, recognizes Boris as the former Father Antoine, a priest whose irrepressible lust forced him to leave the monastery. De Trevignac says nothing, but after his departure, Boris confesses to Domini, who urges him to return to the monastery. The years pass, and Domini rears her son Boris in the Garden of Allah.

Dir: Colin Campbell

A man is found guilty of murdering a woman by way of circumstantial evidence, and is executed. Afterwards, it is discovered that his supposed victim is not dead at all, but working as a prostitute in a Western city. Scenario was written for the screen by Maibelle Heikes Justice, who was an outspoken opponent of capital punishment.

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

Dir: Colin Campbell

"Bird," a clerk in Fordham's drugstore, agrees to place a large sum of money in the store's safe for a traveler, but when the man requests a bottle of medicine, Bird poisons the remedy, and the visitor is found dead in his hotel. Bird flees with the money, but several years later he returns, the money long since squandered. Unless Fordham's daughter Eleanor marries him, he threatens, he will tell the police that Fordham committed the crime. Eleanor's sweetheart, fireman Jack Manley, is puzzled by her involvement with Bird and decides to investigate. By chance, he meets an old alcoholic who once worked for Fordham and possesses the evidence to clear the druggist and convict Bird. The latter, fearing that he will be exposed, cuts the signal wires to Fordham's house and then sets it on fire, but Eleanor telephones the fire station, and the entire department is soon on the scene. Jack risks his life to save Eleanor and the old drunk, who finally exposes Bird. Soon afterwards, Jack and Eleanor climb aboard the fire engine to ride to their own wedding.

Dir: Colin Campbell

The Pasha's servant Mohamed, is entrusted to guard the Sacred Carpet of Bagdad with his life. In New York, after banker Arthur Wadsworth forces his brother Horace to give up his inheritance, Horace joins a band of crooks and plans to rob the Wadsworth Bank by tunneling from the adjacent home of antique dealer George P. A. Jones. The gang follows Jones to Egypt and Bagdad, where Horace steals the carpet and sells it to Jones. Fortune Chedsoye, the innocent daughter of a gang member, falls in love with Jones. When Fortune discovers that Mohamed plans to kill Jones to retrieve the rug, she hides it with her mother's belongings. Mohamed forces Jones, Wadsworth, and Fortune into the desert, but they escape his torture during a sandstorm. Wadsworth then rejoins the gang at Jones' home in New York. When Fortune and Jones catch the crooks tunneling, Jones, sympathetically, gives them a two hour head-start before informing the police. Fortune and Jones keep the carpet, while in the East, Mohamed bows in resignation to Allah's will.

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

Dir: Colin Campbell

A jealous dance-hall girl kills her lover. She escapes from the sheriff who is taking her to jail and hides out in the forest with a recluse who lives in a hollowed-out redwood. As the sheriff searches for her, a forest fire breaks out, and they must all band together if they hope to survive.

Dir: Colin Campbell

A scientist who is married to an amoral woman lives next door to a happily married couple. At first envying their happiness, the scientist eventually falls in love with his neighbor's wife. When her husband goes on a business trip to Africa, the scientist also goes abroad to avoid temptation but finds himself sailing from Cairo aboard the same ship as his neighbor's wife, who is traveling to join her husband. The ship is wrecked when it collides with another vessel, and the two are marooned together at the edge of the jungle, with the woman suffering from amnesia and mistaking the scientist for her husband. About to kill himself to save the honor of his neighbors' marriage, the scientist is saved by the return of the woman's memory and by the subsequent arrival of her husband. Electing to remain in the jungle, the lonely scientist toasts the couple's happiness from afar.