Visionary Picks Drawn from the Same DNA as The Top of New York: Cul...

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

Tom, the rambunctious member of the Sawyer clan, takes it upon himself to teach the goody-goody boy of Hannibal, Missouri a lesson and, as Huckleberry Finn, his free-spirited best friend watches, pummels his foe to defeat. At school clever Tom makes mischief a regular practice, but as long as the punishment lands him next to his beloved Becky Thatcher, he remains carefree. After he is unfairly accused of his brother Sid's misdeed, Tom runs away with Huck and Joe Harper. Disguised as pirates, the trio builds a raft and sails down the Mississippi to a deserted island. Back at home, Tom's frantic Aunt Polly calls for a search, and cannons are fired into the river. When the search yields nothing, the boys are declared dead and a funeral is planned. At first tempted to reveal himself, Tom decides later to partake in his own memorial service, and as the townspeople mourn, he and his friends appear in the back of the church. Overcome with relief, Becky and Aunt Polly embrace Tom, forgetting to scold him for his mischief.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

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

Up through the din and murk of the steel works, up by brawn and brain until he took his place behind the superintendent's desk came Jim Warren, but his heart was still with the strugglers in the glare of the furnaces. Here he had time to think and here he conceived the "big idea." The "big idea" required an established political position and he started out to get it. Francques, the henchman of Lewis, the political boss, saw in the young reformer a tool through which he could treacherously ruin his superior. Warren was running for the legislature as well as Lewis, and fortified with incriminating evidence against his opponent supplied by Francques, Warren entered the field as an independent candidate and was elected. Lewis took his defeat calmly and made friendly overtures to the newly elected member. Through the influence of Lewis, Warren was invited to visit the speaker of the House, Mr. Tillinghast. Here he was introduced to the girl of his life; the girl he had first seen, as a curious child visitor at the steel works. Several other times fate brought them together. It had been a secret love and he was astounded when he learned from her own lips that she was engaged to marry Lewis. Lewis's wedding to Edna was to occur as soon as Tillinghast was elected governor of the state. Edna admired Lewis and thought she loved him until one day after a talk with Jim Warren she realized the sordid contrast to which she, her father, and Lewis were parties. She told her father that she would not marry Lewis and remained firm in her decision against every argument that her ambitious parent offered. From that moment Warren battled for two loves, the love of a woman and the love of truth. Lewis, behind a smiling face, plotted Warren's undoing. Bribes came from every source. Marked bills, stocks and bonds were lavished by the clique upon the supposed unsuspecting assemblyman. At last they thought the trap ready to spring. He was arrested. He trembled not but unafraid played the last card of his high hand. He calmly led his captors to the vaults of the National Bank and there neatly docketed each in its separate envelope under seal of the bank were the bribes untouched together with the names of the givers and evidence that sent many of them to prison cells. The newspapers went wild. Jim Warren played the game and he was the man of the hour. Weeks later when the state convention had just gone wild over the nomination of Warren for governor, he and Edna were talking. "I think," said Edna, "that as long as I can't be the daughter of the governor, that I will be far happier as the governor's wife."

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

Gordon, a young war correspondent, after being wounded in the jungles of Africa, is picked up and taken back to England by James Egerton, a wealthy rubber magnate, who has been investigating conditions on his plantation, where there has been a great shortage in the year's yield. On the voyage homeward the correspondent and Egerton's daughter Alice fall in love. In England Gordon, finds in Lord Arbuthton a formidable rival for the hand of the girl he loves. At this time an exploring expedition leaves England to find the Lost River, a stream supposed to exist in the interior of Africa. Gordon views with concern his titled rival's attention to Alice, and at the first opportunity asks her father's consent to their marriage. Egerton answers that he will never allow his daughter to marry a penniless man, but offers his daughter's hand and an interest in the business if he will go to Africa and successfully solve the mystery of the rubber shortage. Gordon leaves, and the farewell between himself and Alice is a promise that, come what may, she will wait for him, and this promise she seals by taking off a locket and chain, which she gives him as a pledge of her love. He arrives in Africa, and after a series of thrilling adventures discovers that the overseer of the plantation has been selling rubber to coast traders and covering his dishonesty by manufacturing false statements about raids by outlaw bands. A fight follows in which the overseer is killed and the plantation settlement destroyed by fire. Gordon is wounded and barely escapes from a burning hut alive. Outside he discovers a weather-stained map upon the body of a dead native showing that the Lost River has been discovered, but not by the exploring party. Gordon struggles through the jungle, is found unconscious by the returning explorers, who have given up the search. When they see the map they hail him as Tracy, the discoverer of the Lost River. Here he learns that his rival has circulated reports that he died in the jungle and that Alice is to become the nobleman's bride. Gordon returns to London in disguise and is applauded by the public as a great explorer, and is about to give up Alice forever when Fate steps in. Lord Arbuthton is killed in an accident. The returned lover hurries to the girl, divulges his identity and reminds her of her pledge. Egerton, true to his promise, makes Gordon a member of the firm, and shortly afterward the bells are ringing for the young people's wedding.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

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

The story of the famous Tennessee frontiersman, soldier, scout, and Congressman who fought and died at the Alamo.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

Mining magnate Roland Holt sends his worthless son Clyde to reform under the watchful eye of mining superintendent Bob Fulton. Instead of renouncing his irresponsible ways, however, Clyde attempts to rob the company safe. In order to prevent the robbery, Bob is forced to shoot Clyde, who loses his wedding ring while making his escape. Soon after, Clyde's new bride Beth arrives, and learning that her husband has mysteriously disappeared, devotes her time to nursing Bob back to health. Beth falls in love with her patient until her discovery of Clyde's ring leads her to believe that the man she loves is probably her husband's murderer. The truth is revealed, however, when Clyde returns to be killed by the sheriff's bullet, leaving the lovers free to begin a new life together.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

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

A Union officer exposes the several deceptions his sweetheart has been engaging in, which include spying for the Confederacy and posing as a boy to comfort her aging, wealthy, heirless uncle.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

A widowed farmer, failing in his efforts to find a woman capable of running his household, decides to marry a young woman he believes can fill the bill. Wat he doesn't know is that she is running away from a brutish and violent husband, whom she has discovered is also a bigamist, and that her angry and vengeful husband is looking for her.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

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

Stella Benton, a young society girl who has lost her beautiful voice through the death of her father, goes to live with her brother Charles, in the lumber camp. Charles Benton is having a struggle to make both ends meet, and when his cook quits, he makes his sister do the work for the hundred men in the lumber camp. Jack Fyfe, a neighboring lumber man, meets Stella and gradually falls in love with her, but love is not reciprocated. Seeing that she is being overworked, Fyfe offers to marry her, in spite of the fact that she does not love him. A child is born of this loveless marriage, and the couple are reasonably happy, until Walter Monahan, a wealthy lumberman, begins to make love to Stella. She gradually becomes tired of her husband, and when the child dies, decides to leave him. Her voice returns, and she makes a substantial success as a concert singer. Monahan, who has professed love for her, becomes indifferent, but she will not return to Fyfe, in spite of his pleadings. Monahan, jealous of Fyfe's success, sets fire to his holdings and is caught in the act. Friends telephone this fact to Stella, and she immediately returns to the lumber camp, and there, at their home she finds Jack, heartbroken, as his holdings are on fire and there is nothing but a heavy rain which could save them. She comes to him and offers to use her own money to retrieve his lost fortune, and as she goes into his arms, the heavy downpour of rain comes and they are safe.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

Naomi Sterling and John Bancroft are lovers. The girl loves frivolous things and Bancroft, a divinity student, finally estranges himself from her by his continual efforts to preach to her. Attracted by Hugh Wiley, a gambler, from a nearby city, Naomi finally elopes with him and eventually becomes known as the gambling queen. The girl's one ambition in life is to hoard up her wealth against the day when she shall lose her beauty and her popularity. Bancroft has plunged into religious work. He has become famous as an evangelist and has been trusted with the combination to the vault of the great tabernacle over which he presides. Learning this fact, Wiley inflames the mind of Naomi against Bancroft on the false ground that he has spurned her because of her life. He plans to have Naomi lure Bancroft to her gambling palace on a pretense, to overpower the minister while he is in there, steal the combination and loot the tabernacle. Furthermore, Wiley arranges to have the executive board of the tabernacle informed when the minister is in the gambling den, and to have the place raided by the police while he and his pal, McCarthy, rob the tabernacle. But the minister is too strong to succumb to the temptations of Naomi when he reaches her apartment, and his spiritual power wins the repentance of his temptress. Wiley, realizing that he is losing, springs upon Bancroft from behind and gets the combination away from him while his confederate alarms the police and the executive board according to the plan. But Naomi spirits the minister away through a secret passage, rushes to the tabernacle too late to prevent the robbery, and makes the great sacrifice of replacing the stolen money by her own ill-gotten hoard before the bewildered police and board officials arrive at the vault. In the final great moment of spiritual exaltation, Naomi has realized the greatness of Bancroft's love and of his power. Meanwhile Wiley, in an attempt to steal the loot from McCarthy, has wrecked the automobile in which they are fleeing and is killed.

Dir: William Desmond Taylor

The infant daughter of a wealthy couple is thought to be lost at sea, but she survives and is raised by a poor family.