Rare Cinematic Gems Sharing the Atmosphere of The Struggle: Cult Guide

Dir: John Ince

Young society girl Joyce Lyndon is engaged to energetic Grant Garrison, who lures the judge's daughter to a roadhouse for the night and meets his death at the hands of an abandoned wife. Joyce escapes in fright and meets Martin Antrim, who protects her in exchange for an introduction to her circle of friends. Antrim elicits a confession from Garrison's widow, and Joyce recovers an incriminating handbag from the innkeepers when they attempt to blackmail her.

Dir: John Ince

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Old Lady 31 perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Older couple Abe and Angie Rose lose their life savings in worthless mining stock; their last $100 is for Angie to live in the Old Ladies' Home, while Abe must content himself with the poorhouse. Their parting at the gate of the institution affects the inmates so deeply that they make arrangements for Abe to remain there as "Old Lady 31." Once there, the ladies almost nurse Abe to death, and when inmate Blossy's new husband, Captain Darby, suggests he escape, Abe welcomes the opportunity. Remorse overtakes him, however, and he returns to discover that the mining stock is worth enough money to buy back the Roses' old house.

Dir: John Ince

When Mary Worthington will not sign a document absolving the executors of her late father's estate from the loss of money due to mismanagement, they lock her up to force her to comply. Meanwhile, Danny Abbott, a press agent for Mary's friend, Gloria Morning, and two East Side Jewish backers, worry that Gloria's failing musical, The Purple Pagoda , will ruin them. Danny persuades his friend Robert Garrison to kidnap Gloria and release her before showtime, thus creating a news item to attract ticket buyers. When Mary escapes and approaches Gloria's apartment, Garrison, thinking that she is Gloria, kidnaps her. Mary plays along to escape the executors and falls in love with him at his cabin where they fight off Gloria's would-be rescuers. After the executors find Mary and take her to an insane asylum, Garrison saves her, they marry, and Gloria's show becomes a success.

Dir: John Ince

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Favor to a Friend perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Actress Nina Seabury is only interested in her lovers' bank accounts, but in the case of Emory Townsend, she miscalculates and believes he's a bank president when he's just a cashier. Hoping to afford her tastes, he steals $12,000 in bank funds, but she still breaks up with him, and he falls in love with Mary Winslow. A few months later, however, a detective working on the bank-funds case find evidence implicating Emory. Aware that he is about to be arrested, a desperate Emory goes to Nina and begs her to give him $12,000, so he can return the money to the bank. Nina refuses, but then Mary, who is pregnant, arrives; after pulling a gun on Nina, she forces her to write a check for the whole amount, thereby saving Emory from jail.

Dir: John Ince

Helen Merrimore, the daughter of a mine owner, is snubbed by New York society. Weary of being courted for her wealth, she attends under an assumed name a house party being given by Ned and Edith Loring. There she falls in love with Schuyler Livingstone, the impoverished heir of the elite Livingstone line. Edith Loring, who secretly loves Schuyler, arranges to have dinner with him at a questionable roadhouse. They are discovered by Edith's husband, Ned, but Helen, who has happened to come there, protects the innocent Schuyler by telling Ned that she herself arranged the dinner meeting to announce her engagement to Schuyler. Helen later learns that Schuyler earlier has been persuaded by her father to marry her--sight unseen, buying Schuyler's name with Merrimore money. The estranged but still engaged couple give a ball in Merrimore's mine, during which there is a cave-in. She and Schuyler come to recognize their true love just as they are rescued.

Dir: John Ince

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

Cyril Maitland and Henry Everard, friends since childhood, are of contrasting temperaments, the former hot-headed and rather impractical, the latter cool-tempered and possessed of a sane viewpoint. Cyril, studying for the ministry, is engaged to Henry's sister Marian, and Henry, studying medicine, is engaged to Cyril's sister Lillian. Unable to resist temptation, Cyril ruins a girl of his parish, Alma Lee, and when a child is about to be born, her father swears to kill the man, but Alma conceals his name. On the night the child is born, Alma's father is found dead. Cyril, being about Henry's build, has worn his clothes, and witnesses see him in the vicinity of the woods where the crime was committed. Henry is convicted of the crime of which Cyril is guilty. Lillian alone believes him innocent, and is sent to prison. Alma declares him to be her child's father. Cyril, believing his calling in the church above all other things, keeps silent, but at the last moment, about to speak, is held back by his father, who thinks him unstrung. Cyril marries Marian, but his conscience tortures him almost beyond endurance and his life becomes a living hell. Finally Henry is released after 20 years in prison, and he attends the cathedral presided over by Cyril, who has become the great Dean Maitland, the most eminent preacher in the country. Cyril sees Henry in the congregation and there is a powerful scene. Cyril meets his son, with a letter from Alma asking for his education, then Alma dies, and her son, learning his identity, renounces his father. Marian dies, and Cyril's troubled soul is grief and conscience-stricken. Henry, seeing the terrible pain of recognition in the cathedral, and remembering his old love for Cyril, now so changed, writes a letter of forgiveness to him, when beyond all endurance, Cyril's pride now broken, repentance enters his soul. The next day, Sunday, his sermon is at first a trite appeal to repentance, and then a dramatic confession of his own sins, when, falling from the pulpit, he drops dead. And after the storm, the sunshine: Henry and Lillian live happy in their true and undying love.

Dir: John Ince

Joe and Eleanor Woodbury lead an unhappy married life: she is fond of the gay life, and he is not. Together, they visit Nadia, a lovely young woman who tells the future by gazing into a crystal ball, and Joe and Nadia fall in love at first sight. Although Eleanor is having an affair with Gene Deering, a lounge lizard, she wants to stay married to Joe and therefore tells Nadia that she is pregnant. The diminutive crystal-gazer promises to stop seeing Joe, and Eleanor resumes her illicit relationship with Deering. Following a raid on a roadhouse where they are carousing, Eleanor and Deering are involved in an automobile accident and she is slightly hurt. The doctor who attends her later informs Nadia that Eleanor is not expecting a child, and Nadia telephones Joe to tell him of his wife's double deception. Joe then tells Eleanor that he is going to divorce her and goes to Nadia.

Dir: John Ince

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

Janet Newell learns that her husband Raoul is a crook and leaves him. However, when he offers her a position as companion to the wealthy Richard de GIles and his wife, she accepts, believing that they hold a property deed that rightfully belongs to Raoul's friend Langstreet. Janet is established in the de Giles' Long Island estate, where she falls in love with the kind old couple's nephew, Hugh Maxwell. Soon Raoul appears, and although Janet now realizes that she has been a pawn in his plan to rob the de Giles' jewels, she is forced into silence by his threat of revealing her marriage to Hugh. On the appointed evening, Ross, the butler, drugs the de Giles' coffee and joins Raoul, who has opened the safe with ease. As they are about to escape, however, the de Gileses--who are actually detectives assigned to capture Raoul's gang--appear, bearing guns and pronouncing the crooks under arrest. Raoul grabs a gun but is shot and killed. Janet is left a single woman, but only temporarily.

Dir: John Ince

Unknown to her, Mary Manchester is a double for the ailing Mrs. Adelaide Rutherford, a wealthy woman who has been driven insane by her husband's cruelty. Rutherford is in league with Jasper Haig and Dr. Babcock. Together these men hold in trust sixty million dollars which upon Adelaide's death will revert to her brother Stanford Gorgas. Fearful of Adelaide's imminent death, the conspirators plan to substitute Mary in her place, thus preventing Gorgas from inheriting the money. After imprisoning Mary in Adelaide's house, their plan backfires when Gorgas meets her and, suspecting something is wrong, learns of Mary's plight. After Gorgas helps Mary escape, she is recaptured by Haig, who decides he must now eliminate Gorgas. Assuming that a fluttering behind the curtain is his adversary, Haig takes aim and shoots, only to kill Rutherford instead, thus freeing Mary to spend her future with Gorgas.

Dir: John Ince

On a visit to the city of Boston, a village girl is taken advantage of by a man there and returns home feeling sullied and ashamed. A young man who had once sought her hand returns from years away in Europe and reiterates his suit. She returns his love and agrees to marry him, but has difficulty telling him the truth about her misadventure. When she finally does, his response seems to doom the pair to tragedy.