Cinematic Discoveries Following the Footsteps of The Vicar of Wakefield: Cult Guide

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

Lemuel Deering's son Harvey graduates from college at the top of his class, then returns home to become a partner in his father's steel business. Because Harvey appears to be an exemplary young man who neither drinks nor smokes, when bills from liquor dealers, tobacconists, and billiard emporia pour in, the proud father is mystified. Harvey stoutly denies having contracted the bills, including one for $25,000, and Lemuel, though puzzled, believes him until the workers threaten to strike and the bank places an attachment on the mill. Lemuel is about to disown his son when Harold Morrowton, Harvey's college roommate, confesses that he forged Harvey's name to the bills because his own father refused to give him spending money, and Harvey adds that because the two were fraternity brothers, he could not betray Harold's trust. Exasperated, Lemuel orders both young men to pay their debts through hard labor in the mill.

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

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

After learning that her stepfather, John Braun, is a spy, Ruth leaves him and starts out upon a cross-country journey. In her travels, she sees a plane crash to earth and rushes to assist its pilot, John Barker. The two fall in love and are married. In the midst of their honeymoon, war breaks out and John is called to his post, leaving Ruth alone with only the servants to protect her. In John's absence, the enemy invades the countryside, commandeers the Barker house and imprisons Ruth in her room. Meanwhile, John takes leave to search for his wife. Managing to get through the enemy line, he arrives just as Ruth, enraged at the action of the invaders, dynamites the cellar of the house. As the building explodes, Ruth and John escape in his plane.

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

When the circus comes to town, a mild-mannered man, whose good nature is viewed as weakness by wife, has the chance to prove himself when a lion escapes.

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

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

Spoiled, lazy Harold Chester Winthrop Gordon finds that he has been disinherited, barred from seeing his sweetheart, and expelled from his club. He decides to reform himself and begins by crossing out his first three names with an "x." Thereafter known as "Three X Gordon," he says goodbye to pretty Dorrie Webster and sets out with his friend Archie for the West. Because they are penniless, however, they get only as far as a New Jersey town, where they become farmhands. Shocked at first by the long hours and hard labor, Three X and Archie soon find the work so physically and morally beneficial that they decide to establish a farm for the regeneration of millionaires' sons. The plan is a success, and Three X even makes a man of Dorrie's lazy brother. With the declaration of World War I, Three X proudly leads his clients into his country's service, promising to return to Dorrie.

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

Burke Harlan an artist, saves Anne Warren from auto thieves, but he is wrongfully arrested and accused of stealing her car. The girl's father is a criminologist and has Harlan released into his custody as he would like to try to reform the young man. Harlan finds this highly amusing and goes along with the idea, mainly because it will allow him to be nearer lovely Anne. He does his best at convincing he is a delinquent, however Anne has a beau who is the police commissioner. But the clever Harlan outwits everyone and elopes with Anne before revealing his true identity.

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

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

"In Hidden Valley," Valkyrien is a white goddess who has been captured by savage blacks in South Africa. She is found by a young missionary, played by Boyd Marshall, and rescued from a sacrificial altar. Valkyrien was selected as the most perfectly formed girl in Denmark in a competition conducted by the government. The dance of the white goddess before the natives is one of the most beautiful scenes in the production. The Moving Picture World, August 5, 1916.

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

Frank Keenan, president of the Stillwater Railroad, demands that Hugh Tomlinson, an engineer who has been on duty for eighteen hours, make another run. Tomlinson falls asleep at the throttle, and a collision results. The engineer is discharged, and dissension spreads among his co-workers. J. Montgomery Nixon, the scheming president of the Central Railroad, tries to ruin the Stillwater system, but is foiled by Simeon Tetlow, of the latter company. Unknown to Tomlinson he is given aid by Tetlow, but the engineer continues to work against him. The differences between the two men are straightened out by the engineer's little grand-daughter, and after the grievances of the workmen of the Stillwater company have been settled, Tomlinson is appointed to run Tetlow's special train.

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

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

John Benton is the head of a company that makes parts for ships. He is a fair and honorable man, but his partner Henry Vance is not. Vance and employee Daniel Grey sign Benton's name to orders for boilers they know to be defective. Their partners in the scheme, which involve installing the boilers in the ship so it will sink at sea and they can collect the insurance, are the agent who carries the ship's insurance and a government inspector. After the ship sinks, the conspirators hire a safecracker to plant money in Benton's safe to make it look like it was he alone who profited from the scheme. Benton is sentenced to prison. He serves 12 years and is released, and when he gets out he finds out what really happened, but the men who were responsible for it are now wealthy and have become powers in city politics. Determined to clear his name, he comes up with a plan to expose the crooks by using their tactics against them.

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

Sylvia Leigh's only recollection of her father was a dim memory of a distinguished-looking man who brought her to boarding school when she was a youngster. From that time he never came to see her, but letters came from him with foreign postmarks stating that "important business" kept him away. After her graduation an old family servant took her to the home she had never known. Within a few months her father appeared. Not the parent she had pictured, but a broken old man whose mind seemed ham ted by some shadow from the past. One day while they were motoring in the park he suddenly drew a revolver, and aiming it at a passing auto, exclaimed, "That man wrecked my life." But before he could pull the trigger he fell exhausted from the effort and the other car passed before Sylvia saw his face. Her father became seriously ill from the excitement. On his deathbed he made her promise to run to earth the man who ruined his life. With no clues or an inkling of what the secret was, she attempted to locate him by an ad in the papers, only to fall into a trap. A roughly-clad young man came to her rescue. Some weeks later she was surprised to find this same young man as a guest at a dance given by a girlfriend. But this time he was clad in evening dress and perfectly at home among society. Then came the blow. An incident revealed him to her as the man she had vowed to bring to atonement. She shadowed him, caught him in a compromising position, kept him captive and phoned the police. Then the fact that she still loved him rushed over her. She realized also that her father's secret was still a mystery. What will he do? Keep a deathbed promise and turn him over to the law or obey her heart? Love wins out. As a knock comes on the door she tells him she still loves him and to escape. But he only smiles, opens the door to the officers, who greet him familiarly, and then he make some remarkable disclosures to Sylvia, which brings happiness to her troubled heart.

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

Hillaire Latour, a warmhearted Canadian trapper, marries Rosalie Dufresne and then travels into the woods to seek his fortune as a lumberman. At the camp, he befriends "Spud" Lafferty, who for six years has tried unsuccessfully to return home with his money, each time falling prey to a beautiful woman who works in the saloon "down the hill." When Hillaire learns through a letter that he is a father, he asks for his money and begins the journey home, but on his first night away from camp, he enters the saloon, where he is robbed by the beautiful Louise. Forced to return to the lumber camp, Hillaire saves his money, but the next year he is cheated again. Louise is on the verge of robbing him a third time when Hillaire, in a rage, wrecks the dance hall and forces her to return his money. At the police station, Hillaire is reunited with his family, who have finally come in search of him.