Underground Favorites Mirroring the Impact of The Struggle Everlast...

Dir: James Kirkwood

Fanchon, a wild young girl, resides in a forest with her unconventional grandmother accused of witchcraft by villagers.

Dir: James Kirkwood

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

Even though he had saved her father from a financial crisis, Jennifer Hale refuses to marry wealthy Stephen Weldon, who tries to ruin the Hales. They leave for their summer home in the woods where Jennifer falls in love with wealthy James Murray, a lumber camp foreman. After Weldon finds them and threatens Hale with exposure unless Jennifer marries him, Murray marries Jennifer. Weldon then convinces him that Jennifer and he had a secret romance, and that she married Murray for his money. Murray's sister Agnes becomes Weldon's lover, and when he prepares to leave, she kills him. After Jennifer takes the blame to save Murray from learning of Agnes' disgrace, Murray, although he now hates her, takes Jennifer to the mountains to escape the law. Just as the posse overtakes them, a man rides up with the news that Agnes fell over a cliff and confessed before she died. Their love renewed love, the couple are now reunited.

Dir: James Kirkwood

A notorious gambler and card cheat, George Forrester, rules a little western town with an iron hand. The men of the town plot to catch him cheating and do, but his men save him from danger. In the same town lives Gerald Austen, or Aitkens, who had left his tyrannical father in the east and made good in the west. Later, Forrester and his men rob a payroll messenger for Austen's enterprise. Forrester is apprehended and is about to be hung when Austen saves his life. The man has just been scribbling a message to his daughter who lives in the east and who believes her father a prosperous mine operator. On being saved he tears the card in two and gives half to Austen, saying that if he ever needs a friend that will be his passport. Forrester then returns east, rejoins his daughter and assumes his real name of Marrable. Austen also goes east under his real name of Aitkens and the men later meet but do not recognize each other. Austen falls in love with Margaret Marrable. Marrable's happiness, however, is curtailed by the arrival of his former western associates who threaten to expose his identity if he does not aid them in robbing Austen's father of a shipment of English bonds. He is forced to consent. The gang rents offices opposite those of Austen and await the day of shipment, July 4. Fortune plays into their hands when the boy visits his father to obtain consent for marriage to Margaret. The father refuses and a stormy quarrel ensues, which employees overhear. The son leaves his walking stick. The conspirators enter the office. In order to quiet the elder Austen they hit him over the head with the stick. The blow kills him. The boy returns to make up, finds the door locked and leaves. The others then escape, taking the key with them. Later, the son overhears the gang dividing the spoils. He makes his presence known. They tell him that his death is inevitable. He asks Marrable to take a card out of his pocketbook. Marrable finds it. It is the fatal card. He now knows that Margaret's fiancé is the man who saved his life. In gratitude he takes upon himself responsibility for the crime and makes a supreme sacrifice, paving the way for the lovers' ultimate happiness.

Dir: James Kirkwood

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

A young girl who lives in the London slums is in love with a cunning thief and persuades him to give up his life of crime. Meanwhile, an eccentric millionaire who has been diagnosed with an incurable dementia becomes so despondent that he decides to commit suicide. He disguises himself as a vagrant and wanders into the slums. As he tries to find the courage to kill himself, the young girl encounters him and rationalizes him out of his cowardly act. Her genuine sweetness and strong faith affect him to such an extent, that he begins to believe recovery is possible. Now the girl's sweetheart has been falsely accused of murder, and only the millionaire's licentious nephew can give him an alibi. The girl pleads with the nephew to help prove her sweetheart's innocence. He refuses and tries to take advantage of her. The millionaire arrives in time and shames his nephew to testify correctly. The millionaire now pledges himself to a life of service and charity, and the girl and her sweetheart are happily reunited.

Dir: James Kirkwood

Suffering from aphasia after being conked on the head, a man is coerced into robbing his fiancée's home.

Dir: James Kirkwood

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

Young Dolly Lane has committed herself to becoming a star on the stage, but when she meets handsome and wealthy farmer Steve Hunter, she falls in love and marries him. Unfortunately, Steve soon loses his fortune and the couple is forced to move in with a friend, Teddy Harrington. Not long afterwards Steve's rich uncle dies, leaving him wealthy, but on that same day Dolly is asked to take the place of a stage star who has taken ill. She does and becomes the toast of Broadway, but now Steve wants her to return with him to the West and become a farmer's wife. She relents, but soon becomes bored with that role and longs to return to the stage.

Dir: James Kirkwood

David Remon loves barmaid Dulcie, not by choice but by force of circumstances, and attempts to persuade her to marry him rather than submit to a life of drudgery. But Dulcie is thoroughly independent and prefers to earn her own living. Life at the inn, however, soon becomes irksome to Dulcie, who grows so tired of it that she is ready to accept the first wealthy man who proposes to her. A charity auction is held at the inn, to help the family of a poor man and Dulcie auctions off a kiss. David, bent upon preventing anyone from kissing her in public bids every cent he has in the effort to gain the prize himself. But Sir Brice, a bon vivant, doubles his offering and adds his hand in the bargain. Dulcie accepts the proposal, but soon finds that her husband, when under the influence of liquor, is a very ugly tempered man. As the years drag on, Sir Brice becomes more and more intolerable, until at last he openly humiliates Dulcie and insults her guests at a reception. He demands that someone gamble with him, and grows abusive when they refuse. Finally, David, who has remained faithful to Dulcie through all the years, in a desperate game, stakes his entire fortune against Dulcie herself. Sir Brice is penniless, having squandered his fortune, and he gladly offers his wife as the prize. After a nerve-wracking battle of wits, David wins. It is not before Dulcie, thoroughly disillusioned, accepts the verdict of the god of chance and finds a new happiness with the man whose love has remained constant.

Dir: James Kirkwood

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

Montgomery Jackson, a man who possesses a deep fear of bloodshed, refuses to enlist in the American army during World War I, ignoring the appeals and insults of his friends and colleagues. Even when his fiancée, Bettie Adams, threatens to leave him, he refuses to fight, but after she volunteers to serve as a Red Cross nurse in France, he relents and joins the American forces. At the front, he proves his courage by fighting bravely and saving the lives of Bettie's father, Colonel Adams, and of the man to whom she had become engaged after accusing Montgomery of cowardice. Finally Montgomery is wounded, but through Bettie's care he recovers, and after his rival, realizing that Bettie still loves Montgomery, gives Bettie her freedom, she and Montgomery happily renew their engagement.

Dir: James Kirkwood

A young girl, Anemone (Mary Pickford), who lives with her Aunt (Ida Waterman) is abducted by a crude family of Virginia mountain moonshiners. A fight between two of the young male relatives decides who will marry the girl. Lancer (James Kirkwood) is the winner and marries Anemone against her will. She is reunited some time later with her Aunt, but when she learns Lancer is in dire trouble she returns and stays by his side, realizing she had always been in love with him.

Dir: James Kirkwood

Though mistreated by her cruel stepmother and stepsisters, Cinderella is able to attend the royal ball through the help of a fairy godmother.