Hidden Genre Gems In Alignment with the style of The Toilers: Cult Guide

Dir: Edgar Lewis

Bill Matthews and his partner, owners of the "Croix D'or mine, are beset on all sides dues to the schemes of a trusted colleague who plots to take their mine away from them, and leaves no under-handed method un-attempted in the process.

Dir: Edgar Lewis

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

Stephen Orry is an Icelandic vagabond. Rachel, the daughter of the governor of the province, is attracted to him. Her father, who is against the relationship, drives her from home, and she marries Orry. But she cannot make a man out of Orry, who runs off to sea. Rachel supports herself and her son Jason, while Orry begins a new life on the Isle of Man. He marries Liza Killey and they have a son named Sunlocks. When Liza mistreats Sunlocks, Orry takes him away to the governor of the Isle for safekeeping. After Rachel dies, Jason sets out for revenge against his father. His half-brother Sunlocks sets out for Iceland to find Rachel and Jason to make reparations, while Jason comes to the Isle of Man. While there, Jason saves his father from drowning, and after his father dies from a natural death, he turns his desire for revenge against Sunlocks. But when Sunlocks becomes a political prisoner, Jason forgoes his revenge and dies in place of Sunlocks.

Dir: Edgar Lewis

Poverty-stricken John Hargrave is forced to beg employment from rich mill owner Roger Winton in order to save his sick mother's life. Winton refuses to help, and when Hargrave's mother dies, he swears revenge. Eighteen years pass and Hargrave is now owner of a large paper mill, in competition with Winton. Hargrave and Winton's son, Roger Jr., are also rivals for the same woman, Irene Foster, who desires Winton's love but Hargrave's money. Winton, Sr., in an attempted takeover of Hargrave's stock, bribes labor agitators to create turmoil in Hargrave's plant. Hargrave discovers the plot, foils the scheme and discovers Irene's disloyalty. Although stricken with blindness because of the agitation in his life, Hargrave finds true love with his secretary, Margaret Carlisle. Once his sight is restored, he marries Margaret.

Dir: Edgar Lewis

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

In Oklahoma, kindhearted outlaw Brick Willock rescues little Lahoma Gledware and her father Henry from certain death at the hands of his outlaw band. In the course of the rescue, he kills Kansas Kimball, the brother of the outlaws' leader Red Kimball, who vows vengeance against Brick. Brick renounces his life of crime, and after Gledware relinquishes custody of his daughter to marry an Indian princess, the old cowboy gives refuge to the little girl, raising her with the help of neighbor Bill Atkins. Years later Easterner Will Compton comes to Oklahoma to homestead, meets Lahoma and falls in love with her, but is forced to leave by Brick. While visiting Kansas City, Lahoma overhears Kimball plotting to kill Brick by swearing out a phony warrant for his arrest, but she foils his plan. Outwitted, Kimball takes revenge into his own hands and shoots Brick, only to fall in his tracks from Brick's own gun as the old outlaw breathes his last breath. Will returns to console Lahoma and the couple are married.

Dir: Edgar Lewis

A barrier stands between Lt. Meade Burrell and Necia, the woman he loves. That barrier is the fact that she's a "half-breed"--half-Indian and half-white, with an Indian mother and John Gale, a white trader, for a father. Although he has proposed marriage to Necia, she releases him from it when she realizes the damage that marrying a half-breed would do to him personally and professionally. One day a man arrives in town with information that could solve everyone's problems.

Dir: Edgar Lewis

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

Stolen when a baby by a mulatto woman, who becomes a half-crazed witch, and raises her to beautiful womanhood with the belief that she is her own daughter, Belle cannot bring herself to mix with her race and accept the attentions of a noble character in the person of Ben Swift, in whose veins the blood of the red, white and black races are mixed. A handsome white stranger. Page Warren, from the North, who believes her a white girl, falls in love with her. She returns his love while at the same time hiding the fact that she is the negro witch, Lindy's, daughter. Page incurs the hatred of the bad element among the blacks, while failing to appreciate that there is also a good element among whom are men and women as noble as any of his white companions. He incurs the hatred of Ben Swift, who misinterpreted his attentions to Belle, and resents the mixing of the races, not knowing that Belle has not disclosed her identity to Page. The attacking of Page by a gang of bad blacks, following his fight with one of their leaders, his rescue by Ben Swift, who has learned of Belle's love for the white man. the discovery by Page that Belle is a mulatto, the sensational disclosure of the fact that she is the last daughter of a prominent Southern family, the death of Ben Swift while defending Page and Belle from an enraged mob and the beautiful handling of the subject of the spiritual equality of men makes "The Bar Sinister" an intensely interesting drama with a powerful appeal to all classes.

Dir: Edgar Lewis

After Sheridan Redpath, known as Sherry, squanders the last of his inheritance on drink, he plucks up his courage and decides to go to work. Employed as a bodyguard by Andrew Gilman, the richest man in town, Sherry is on duty one night when he discovers burglars ransacking the neighboring Compton residence. Entering the house, he captures two men, one of whom proves to be Gilman's stepson. Subsequently, the two rogues break jail and are pursued by the sheriff's posse, of which Sherry is a member. Gilman's stepson takes refuge in his mother's apartments, and in the ensuing gunfire, both son and mother are killed. Sherry then becomes a power in the Gilman business and, once again solvent and sober, marries his sweetheart, Morna O'Brien.

Dir: Edgar Lewis

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

Dr. Robert Winston loses faith in himself and his religion when his own mother dies under his scalpel. Abandoning his profession, he moves to the Canadian Northwest, where he avoids companionship and drinks constantly. Despite Robert's atheism, he attracts the interest of Jeanette Mercier, the minister's daughter, and under her gentle influence, he is slowly regenerated. In the meantime, an Indian named Lone Deer bids a temporary farewell to his sweetheart Winona, whose father wishes to die among his own people, but when he finds her canoe overturned in the water, he assumes that she has drowned. Later Lone Deer saves Jeanette from Lou Baribeau, the brutal and lecherous company agent, but is seriously wounded in the struggle. Rev. Mercier convinces Robert to operate, and because the procedure proves successful, the doctor regains his faith and marries Jeanette. Winona finally returns to aid in Lone Deer's recovery.

Dir: Edgar Lewis

Rosa is looked upon as an outcast, and is always in the shadow of her spoiled younger sister Rita.

Dir: Edgar Lewis

Captain Gray, of the United States Army, detailed to quell the Indian uprising, is wounded. A courier is dispatched to Gray's home with the news. Mrs. Gray, about to become a mother, receives a violent shock at the recital of the details of her husband's injury by the courier. The child born at this inopportune time is Wallace Gray. The prenatal influence exercised over the child at the time of his mother being informed of her husband's injury marks him as a coward. The report of a shot or the sound of an explosion throws the lad into spasms of fear. He is sent to college and there forms a strong comradeship with Swiftwind, an Indian, sent by his tribe to be educated. Wallace also forms a strong attachment for Florence Dunbar, a ward of his father, who is now Colonel Gray. Swiftwind is made acquainted with the moral defect inherent in Wallace and pities and protects him whenever the lad is made the subject of the jeers of his friends because of his born defect. Swiftwind becomes a graduate physician and receives a commission as assistant army surgeon, detailed to Fort Terry, in command of Colonel Gray. His immediate superior is Dr. Sherwood, an unscrupulous man. Florence Dunbar and Wallace Gray, traveling in a stagecoach to Fort Terry, are attacked by Indians. Wallace, with a cringing fear, deserts his companion, who is saved only by the timely arrival of Dr. Sherwood and troops. Sherwood marries Florence, nothing more being heard of Wallace, who, however, enlists in another regiment under General Crook, deserts under fire, and ultimately surrenders himself to his father, in the hope that he will be condemned to death. The boy, however, is sentenced to the "pyramids." While working under "ball and chain" he hears that his father and a small band of Americans are hemmed in a canyon by Indians with no hope of relief. The latter, having observed the Northern Lights in the heavens, follow their belief that the "Lights" foretell victory in battle and start on a massacre. General Crook calls for a volunteer to pass through the Indian lines to deliver a message to Colonel Gray. Swiftwind volunteers, but being weak from exhaustion and privation, falls as he is about to commence his ride. Wallace begs for the opportunity to redeem himself, and mounting his horse, arrives with the message to the besieged band just as they are about to recognize a false flag of truce of the Indians. Sherwood attempts to kill his wife by substituting cholera germs in a bottle labeled morphine. He is injured, however, and Swiftwind, intending to alleviate Dr. Sherwood's suffering with morphine, inoculates him with the cholera germs, unwittingly putting an end to him. Wallace's redemption restores him to the affection of Florence, whom he marries.