Curated Recommendations Seeking the Same Brilliance as The Virgin of Stamboul: Cult Guide

Dir: Tod Browning

Jim Bludso is engineer of the Mississippi River packet the "Prairie Belle." He has a home in Gilgal, Ill., and a wife and twelve-month-old baby at the time the story opens, in 1861. A call is received for volunteers and he joins the Northern army. His wife is a Southern girl, and she opposes his joining the Union forces. The quarrel results in a separation and Jim goes to war. Ben Merrill, an unscrupulous contractor, meets Jim's wife in Natchez, her home town, and induces her to go with him to New Orleans. She deserts her baby and goes. In New Orleans a levee contractor comes to Merrill with the proposition that they take the contract for a new levee to be built at Gilgal. Merrill accepts and leaves New Orleans without telling the woman where he is going, and she is left to take care of herself. After the war Jim returns to Natchez and finds that his wife has deserted their little boy, and no one knows where she is. He takes the boy, Little Breeches, and Banty Tim, a negro, who has saved his life during the war, and returns to Gilgal. He is welcomed by Kate Taggart, the daughter of the village storekeeper. Jim's wife yearns for her baby and returns. Jim forgives her for the child's sake. The high waters are coming on and Merrill is afraid that the levee will not hold. He plans to lay the blame on Jim and the negro. He arouses the suspicion of the townspeople against the negro and Jim is forced to fight for Banty Tim on several occasions. Merrill meets Jim's wife and induces her to loosen the sandbags and leave the water into the village. She escapes in a boat, the bottom of which has been cut by Merrill. In the middle of the stream the boat begins to sink and Banty Tim goes to her rescue. The negro is accused of breaking the levee and then escaping. Jim offers his life as a forfeit if the negro does not return by sunrise. The next day the village people are at Indian Mound, and the men are about to hang Jim because Banty Tim has not come back. Just then he comes on with Little Breeches, who tells of his rescue by the negro. A year later Jim is again engineer of the "Prairie Belle." In a race with another boat the engines become overheated. Merrill is aboard and Jim has him locked in the oil room. When the boat takes fire Jim goes and opens the door of the oil room and finds his son there with Merrill. While they are trying to escape the boilers explode. Jim is rescued from the debris by Banty Tim. Some time later Jim's wife having died, he and Little Breeches and Kate and Banty Tim are united in a happy family.

Dir: Edward LeSaint

When famous opera singer Elinore Duane undergoes an operation on her throat, she has a series of ether-induced visions. In one, she is transported to ancient Rome where she appears as a much-admired woman in love with Paul, a young heretic, and at odds with Lutor, the high priest. To save her love, she poisons Lutor with her ring. After several other visions which involve variations on this love triangle, Elinore awakens to discover that Lutor is actually her doctor, Sascha Jaccard, and that Paul is the son of a friend who has come to visit the recovering prima donna.

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

Dir: Tod Browning

Henri Labordie's wife dies after giving birth to twin children, Jacques and Jeanne. Before he takes the children to the Canadian woods to live he makes an agreement with his friend Duval Hebert that when Jeanne is old enough she shall marry Hebert's son Louis. In their new home Labordie lavishes all his affection on Jacques, a weak and sickly youth. Francois, a half-breed, worships Jeanne as she grows up to winsome womanhood. Donald Duncan, a government surveyor, meets Jeanne. He becomes infatuated with her, and she with him. Jacques tells his father, now totally blind, and Labordie forbids Jeanne to see Duncan. Love finds a way, however, and Jeanne promises to wed Duncan when he has completed his work for the government. Jacques, who has injured his hand, persuades Jeanne to take him canoeing in the St. Lawrence. Francois sees the canoe upset. He saves Jeanne, but her brother is drowned. Jeanne has been warned that any great shock would kill her father, and so the girl cuts off her hair and tells her father that Jeanne is dead and that she is Jacques. When Duncan returns for his bride he is told of the death of Jeanne. On his deathbed Labordie asks Jeanne, whom he believes is Jacques, to go to Montreal to Duval Hebert, and resuming her own dress and name she does so. Hebert tells Jeanne that it was her father's wish that she marry his son Louis, a dissipated youth. She is horror-stricken, but to keep her father's vow consents that the marriage be celebrated after Louis' returns from the North where he has gone to settle a question concerning his father's land. In the north woods Louis meets Duncan, who is working for the Hebert firm, and when the young man quarrels with a guide, Duncan saves his life. Young Hebert insists that the surveyor return to Montreal and receive the thanks of his father and fiancée. Duncan accepts the invitation and he and Jeanne meet again. At first he believes that Jeanne tricked him, but when he has learned the truth, Duncan takes the unhappy girl in his arms and tells her again of his love. Louis, half intoxicated, sees them and insults Jeanne. Francois resents the affront to his idol, and throws Louis out of the room. Louis tries to get at the half-breed, but falls over the banisters and is killed. Not knowing this, Duncan goes away, fearing to cause Jeanne trouble. Months later, once again in the north woods, Francois is surprised to see Duncan riding toward him. The young surveyor asks whether Louis and Jeanne are happy in their marriage. By remaining silent, Francois might keep Jeanne and Duncan from meeting, and perhaps in time win her for himself. But his love for her is so sincere that he prefers her happiness to his own, and Jeanne and Duncan are reunited in the northern woods where they first met.

Dir: Tod Browning

Gudrun works in the American wheat country as a hired girl to Mrs. Hawes. Charley Holt, the son of a rich family, takes the Swedish girl to a dance where she is snubbed by his mother and sister. Furious by his elitist relatives, Charley marries Gudrun and gets a menial job as a mill worker. A child is born, but Gudrun's life is unhappy because Charley becomes an alcoholic. After five years of marriage Charley dies in a saloon fight. Gudrun then buys a small farm and works the wheat fields. When tramp Martin O'Neill comes to the farm, Mary feeds him and he works for her. Martin later saves Gudrun and her child from a burning barn but is suspected of starting the fire himself and narrowly escapes a lynching. Finally, it is disclosed that the fire was actually started by Heine, a jealous rival, and Gudrun and Martin are married.

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

Dir: Tod Browning

Alisa Graeme travels from Scotland to America to visit Jeremiah Wishart, an old wealthy friend of her grandfather. The invalid Jeremiah is charmed by Alisa and decides she would make a good wife for his favorite nephew David. Without meeting Alisa, David refuses the arrangement and runs away. Later, Alisa also runs away rather than wed another of Jeremiah's nephews and meets a young billboard painter in the country. The two form a partnership, travel the countryside together painting billboards and gradually fall in love. When the painter tells Alisa that he won't marry until his finances are secure, she leaves him in anger and heads for Jeremiah's house. From his wheelchair, Jeremiah sees first his wayward nephew painting a nearby billboard, then a young woman stopping to help him. Jeremiah's initial anger at David mellows when he recognizes the woman as Alisa. Once Alisa and David realize the other's identity, they happily reunite.

Dir: Bruno Ziener

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Tod Browning

Eleanor Hamlin, a forlorn little orphan living with her grandparents in Cape Cod, is adopted by a wealthy New Yorker, Beulah Page, and her friends. Beulah does not love Eleanor, but her friends -- particularly Peter Bolling, a man she has chosen for herself -- are captivated by the girl. To get Eleanor out of the way, Beulah sends her to an upstate finishing school, but the plan backfires when Eleanor returns a refined and radiant young woman. Realizing that Peter is in love with Eleanor, Beulah tells her that she is engaged to him, and Eleanor sadly returns to her old Cape Cod home. Peter follows her but she eludes him, and although Beulah's deception ultimately is revealed, Eleanor informs her benefactors that she wishes simply to remain their child.

Dir: Tod Browning

Easterner Alva Leigh arrives in the mining town of Magnet just after her fiancé, Donald Jaffray, has been murdered. Because Alva has sworn vengeance, "Sudden" Duncan, the real murderer, accuses Donald's partner, Dick Randall, of the crime. Knowing that Dick is planning a journey across the desert, Duncan fills his canteen with poison, but Alva, who also is determined to kill Dick, drills a hole in the canteen so that the water will drain out. After Dick's departure, Alva learns from "Tiger Lil'," who is jealous of Duncan's attention to the Eastern newcomer, that it was Duncan who killed Donald. Frantic, Alva immediately mounts a horse and rides into the desert to save the man she now recognizes as her true love. Tiger Lil' shoots Duncan in a dance hall quarrel, and Alva marries Dick.

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

Dir: Tod Browning

Jacala, a strong-willed, temperamental ranch girl, inherits her father's millions and moves from Montana to New York, determined to earn a place in society. There she meets and is strongly attracted to Kenneth Hyde, but believing him to be a worthless man-about-town with a neglected wife, she hires Tony Dewey to pose as her fiancé. Tony wants a wealthy wife, and when his attentions toward Jacala are sternly rebuffed, he spreads scandalous stories about her. Jacala learns that Kenneth's supposed wife is actually his sister, and he, in turn, believes her claims that Tony's stories are untrue. With Kenneth, Jacala retreats from the superficial society life she had once coveted.

Dir: Tod Browning

Stella Schump is a shop girl and very devoted to her mother, who desires her to marry. Stella befriends her shoe store co-worker Cora Kinealy, who invites Stella to a party to meet the hero of a munitions plant fire. The young man does not attend, and Stella is pressured into over-drinking. She wanders into the street, is picked up by a detective, taken to night court, and sentenced to ten days in jail. Stella writes to her mother, and the shock of the news causes her mother's death. Upon release, Stella is relieved of her job and without a home. While wandering the streets, she is picked up by a man and taken to a Salvation Army home. The man is John Gilley, the munitions plant hero. The two find happiness together.