The Recommended Vault Parallel to the Artistry of The Trail of the Octopus: Cult Guide

Dir: Duke Worne

Billy is kidnapped by a gang of criminals and forced to drive a getaway car. The gang-leader escapes, while Billy is arrested along with two of the holdup men. Billy escapes and rides the rods to another town, where he becomes acquainted with Harfer, the owner of a racing car, who is being hoodwinked by the car's driver. The driver is fired, and Billy is hired to drive the car in an important race. The gang-leader who kidnapped Billy is determined to prevent Harfer from winning the race and arranges for Billy to be kidnapped again, but Billy escapes from his abductors and arrives at the racetrack in time to win the race. The gang-leader is arrested by the police, and Billy wins the love of Harfer's daughter, Eloise.

Dir: Duke Worne

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Eagle's Talons perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A stirring drama of Wall Street manipulation of the world's wheat supply, which leads the characters into adventures and danger in various corners of the globe.

Dir: Duke Worne

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Duke Worne

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

Struggling young author Barry West's typewriter is stolen, and he is evicted from his room. Setting out in search of adventure, he finds a pocketbook, which is claimed by two almost identical women. Unable to decide which is its owner, he loses touch with both of them. In applying to Nicholas Lanza for a job, which involves marriage to Lanza's niece, Lucia Robilant, Barry is startled to recognize her as one of the claimants. Unknown to Barry and Lucia, Nicholas, in league with Vera Robilant, a political plotter, plans that they will marry so as to secure Lucia's legacy. Vera succeeds in having her henchmen kidnap Lucia and installs herself in the Lanza home. Barry discovers a secret passage and uncovers the plot after marrying Vera. Then, following the gang's arrest, he is reunited with Lucia, his true love.

Dir: Duke Worne

Spanish Don Guzman de Ruis y Montejo, living quietly in his Madrid hacienda, determines upon a rich marriage for his daughter, Ynez, rather than letting her be courted by Rodrigo, a Gypsy chieftain. Papa takes his daughter to the Riviera, where Ismid Matrouli, a wealthy Levantine of mongrel origin, asks Ynez's father for her hand. However, at a garden party, Ynez meets an American military attache named Captain Grant Lee Brooke, and the two are love-struck at first sight, especially after he rescues her during a swim in the Mediterranean. Matrouli sics a professional swordsman on the captain, but the American socks him in the jaw. The inevitable duel between Brooke and Matrouili follows, but Roderigo takes a pot shot at the captain and hits the Levantine instead. Roderigo then kidnaps Ynez and carries her away to a mountain stronghold, but the captain follows and rescues her. Her father gives the couple his consent to marry.

Dir: Duke Worne

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Yankee Go-Getter perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A wealthy Wyomingite disowns his son, Wayne Sturgis (William Fairbanks), for marrying art student Joan Prescott (Dorothy Revier). After several years on a small farm, Joan begins to suffer from disillusion, unhappiness, and poor health. The marriage is nearly ruined by the attentions that Monte Brett (Gladden James), a neighbor, pays Joan. Wayne struggles to make good and is eventually rewarded when his father forgives him and welcomes the young couple home.

Dir: Duke Worne

The daughter of a white father and an Eskimo mother is taken to be raised in the U.S. after her father is murdered by members of the tribe who were jealous that he had married an Eskimo woman. When the daughter grows into adulthood, she returns to her village, determined to find and punish the people who killed her father.

Dir: Duke Worne

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Duke Worne

Mr. Norris owns the general store in Deer Point. Business is poor because prospectors have struck no gold in the district, and Mr. Norris closes down on credit purchases, selling only on a strictly cash basis. John Kingdon, a confidence man, buys a half interest in the shop. In collusion with an Indian he launches a false report of a gold strike. Business booms, the stock of Deer Point's general store being entirely sold out, presumably on a credit basis. Norris's pretty daughter and Phil Barton's sweetheart repulses Kingdon's advances. As a result, Kingdon tells the disappointed prospectors that Norris started the false rumor to boom his store's business. Kingdon's Indian confederate, however, recognizing Barton, Miss Norris's fiancé, as the man who once saved him from a lynching party, exonerates Mr. Norris and exposes Kingdon as the person responsible for the false report.

Dir: Duke Worne

A drifter is befriended by the owner of a lumber camp, and repays his benefactor by foiling a plot of timber pirates.