Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of The Stealers: Cult Guide

Dir: Christy Cabanne

Shy, timid banker Florian Amidon is assaulted, robbed, and knocked out while on vacation. When he wakes up he discovers that he's in the booming oil town of Bakerstown, has no memory of how he got there--and that there's a five-year gap in his life from the time he was robbed until that moment. He and his friend Judge Blodgett enlist the services of clairvoyant Madame Leclaire to help Florian find out what happened to him. What she discovers changes his life forever.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

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

The Prologue shows man as 'Power,' garbed in Greek-classic costume, standing at the parting of life's highway. One road leads to 'Success' - the other to ''Failure'. He (Power) is confronted by a figure emblematic of 'Pleasure,' who points out to him "the easiest way," then 'Ignorance' leads him to the end of the road. where 'Destruction' stands. The classic figures disappear and the story begins: 'Power-The Absentee' leaves his factory in charge of his manager 'Might." who wrecks the property in order that his wife, 'Extravagance," and his daughter, 'Vanity,' may devote themselves to lives of selfish pleasure. It is only when 'Justice,' the office stenographer. forces 'Power' to right the harm done to his employees that he sees the error in believing that 'Might' is right. Then comes the realization that 'Justice' should go hand-in-hand with 'Power," and so they are wed, and 'Ambition,''Opportunity' and 'Success' array themselves on his side.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

Phillips Christy, a strait-laced amateur sociologist from a wealthy family, subscribes to the theory that people are shaped by their environments. When he fall in love with Diane, a showgirl from the Follies, he sees a chance to prove that his theory is correct: he will marry her and mold her to be "cultured" and "sophisticated." However, fate intervenes to put a crimp in his plans.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

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

The life and career of Pancho Villa from young man to revolutionary leader is chronicled.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

Romeo and Juliet type story loosely based upon the famed Hatfield/McCoy feud.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

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

Reginald Morton is a wealthy idler of athletic tendencies. He has become bored with the shallow social set in which he moves, although he is engaged to marry Dorothy Fleming, a member of it. Dorothy is engaged to Reggie mainly because of his money, and is flirting desperately with all comers. While out in his automobile one day Reggie chances upon a lost little girl sitting on the curb. He takes her back to her home in the slums and there he sees and falls in love with Agnes Shannon, a sweet young girl of good family now compelled to earn her living in a cheap cabaret. He then discovers that Dorothy is faithless to him and breaks his engagement, leaving him free to pay court to Agnes. His rival for the affections of Agnes is Tony Bernard, the leader of the gangsters of the neighborhood, and Bernard has instructed one of his henchmen to bring Agnes to him. Reggie frustrates the scheme, beats up the henchman, and the owner of the dive in which Agnes works hires him as his bouncer. But Bernard has not given up the idea of possessing the girl, and as Reggie is the only obstacle in the way of getting her, he orders him shot. They way-lay Reggie, but he beats them up one by one. Cornered at last, Reggie challenges Bernard to enter a room alone with him and have it out, the man who survives the battle to get the girl. Bernard agrees. A fight takes place. The light is smashed, but it continues until the two men, their shirts stripped from their back, are too exhausted to go on. By a supreme effort Reggie deals the final blow and staggers out, where he is attacked by the band. But the police have been tipped off. How Reggie finally wins Agnes is the culmination of a romance.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

In Mexico, a humble peon has great difficulty retaining his small farm because of the greediness of those controlling the government. While he is in another town, two federal officials search for loot in his cottage and attack his two sisters. The elder, lame from birth, shoots herself rather than succumb to their lust. Her 14-year-old sister loses her mind and dies after telling her brother what occurred. The peon vows vengeance and is branded an outlaw by the frightened officials. After he escapes from jail with help from an old family servant, he is aided in eluding his pursuers by Americans traveling in a covered wagon. Years later, the outlaw, now the commander-in-chief of the Constitutionalist Army, wins many victories and kills one of the officials who attacked his sisters. When he learns that the Americans who helped him are in trouble, he leads a cavalry charge to rescue their wagon train from being attacked by revolutionists. He recognizes one of the attackers as the other official and is about to exact vengeance as the film ends.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Great Leap: Until Death Do Us Part perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

The National Red Cross Pageant (1917) was an American war pageant that was performed in order to sell war bonds, support the National Red Cross, and promote a positive opinion about American involvement in World War I. This pageant was a production put on in support of funding for America's participation in World War I, also known as the Great War. It was also an all-star revue silent film, now considered a lost film.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

Theatrical manager Isaac Shuman has a reputation for taking advantage of young girls who want to become stars on Broadway. Reporter Tom Warder investigates these stories and exposes Shuman in his newspaper. Shuman threatens to kill Warder, then leaves town. He returns several years later and hatches a scheme to frame Tom and have him sent to prison. He succeeds, but Tom hatches his own plan to get his revenge.

Dir: Christy Cabanne

A poor Russian girl's beauty leads her unscrupulous uncle to bring her to the United States. There he is going to sell her into a marriage with a rich old man she has never met. But her lover, an returning immigrant visiting Russia from the U.S., sails on the same ship. When they arrive he learns, to his surprise, that the American police, unlike those of his native country, are not oppressors of the poor, but friends that will aid in securing the release of his beloved Maria.