The Recommended Vault Deeply Connected to The Walk-Offs: Cult Guide

Dir: Herbert Blaché

When John Lowery, his wife Mary and their small son Billy journey to a Northern lumber camp to visit its owner, Clifford Beresford, Mary becomes infatuated with the lumberman and neglects her little boy. A Hudson Bay Company clerk named Nan McDonald, known as the "angel of the lumberjacks," forms such a strong attachment to the child that although he becomes seriously ill, Billy refuses to take his medicine unless Nan dispenses it. Watching over him late one night, Nan sees Mary steal from her room to keep a midnight appointment with Clifford, but when Mary falls down the stairs to her death, Nan maintains her silence for John's sake. Heartbroken, John asks Nan to return with him to the East as Billy's governess, but local gossips misinterpret her presence in John's house and he marries her. Informed that John still loves only his dead wife, the unhappy Nan allows Clifford to flirt with her, whereupon John learns the truth about Mary and opens his heart to the woman who really loves him.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

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

Abraham Jacobs, an itinerant Jewish country peddler, saves his pennies until he can afford to open a small second-hand clothing store. Unfortunately, Abraham's son Sonny has not inherited his father's decent, hard working instincts, and when his mistress, Mrs. Morgan, is in need of money, Sammy robs Abraham's safe and then disappears. Time passes, and oil is discovered on a tract of land left to Abraham by his late wife. Although he can now afford to live in comfort with his adopted daughter Mary, Abraham still strongly feels the loss of his son. His life is finally made complete when Sammy returns repentant to marry Abraham's housekeeper Sarah, and the old peddler, his struggles now over, is able to spend the rest of his days surrounded by his family.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Greater Love Hath No Man perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

The invalid Count de Suchet, nearing death, tells his friend, artist Henri Dutray, about the tragic events of his early life. He secretly married a dancer, and after she gave birth to a daughter, his father convinced her that she was ruining her husband's life. She gave the baby to an old couple, and then killed herself. The grieving count now worries about his daughter. Meanwhile, Jeanne, an Apache dancer in Montmartre, refuses to be sold by her brother Jacques to an old rogue. After she escapes and hides in Henri's studio, Henri, because he needs money, plots with Jacques to make the count believe that Jeanne is his daughter. Although Jeanne rebels at first, she moves in with the count and grows to love him. After the count dies happily, Jacques robs the count's safe and finds a photograph of Jeanne's mother. The butler shoots him, but before he dies, he reveals that Jeanne really is the count's daughter. Jeanne then marries a boy from the adjoining estate.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A woman sold as a bride to the local Rajah is saved by her lover and his loyal tiger.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

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

The opening scene is of the interior of the Malamute saloon. Dangerous Dan McGrew and the lady known as Lou are seen seated at a table in one corner. A dog-sleigh stops outside, and its owner, a tired-looking, bedraggled miner, stumbles through the door. After treating the house, he sits down at the piano and begins to play. Into the soulful, stirring music he pours his pent up feelings of hatred, sorrow, love, and regret. Years before, Jim Maxwell's best friend Dan McGrew had deceived his wife into believing him unfaithful. Their elopement completely unnerved him for a time. But finally he resolved to forget about it, until he next met Dan McGrew. Years afterwards, while prospecting, he met his daughter, now grown to womanhood and married. Her husband had been arrested for a murder committed by McGrew, and Maxwell assisted in effecting his escape. Just previous to the miner's entrance, Nell's husband had been captured in the saloon by the sheriff. As Maxwell finishes playing, he turns about, faces Dangerous Dan McGrew, and tells him, in uncomplimentary language, what he thinks of a man of his type. The lights go out, two guns blaze in the dark, and both men fall. Maxwell recovers and is reunited with his wife Lou. McGrew dies.--May 22 1915.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A gentleman burglar is a detective, which acts as a shield to his more shady pastime.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

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

Strolling through the park one evening, Travers comes upon a woman about to throw herself in the lake. It is his sister. She tells him she was betrayed by a man who is her son's father, and she is about to end it all because she is no longer able to endure her destitution. Travers soothes her and promises to take care of her and her son. He furnishes an apartment for them and makes frequent calls there. On one of them he is seen and recognized by Mansfield, a clubman of his, who is infatuated with Mrs. Travers and uses this suspicious, though unconfirmed, incident to try to persuade her to give him her love. Mrs. Travers, made credulous by her insane jealousy of her husband, slightly encourages Mansfield, who, with the bravado of his sort, boasts at the club of his affair with her. Travers hears of this and is uncontrollable. He sends for his sister to come to his dressing room in the theatre, and Mansfield, hearing of it, brings Mrs. Travers to surprise him. Here is the big scene of the play wherein Travers demands of Mansfield an explanation of his conduct, and Travers' sister recognizes Mansfield as the man who deserted her. Travers attempts to kill Mansfield, who is saved by the police. Then Mrs. Travers, learning the identity of "the other woman," and ridden by remorse for the jealousy that has made her doubt her husband and lose his love, attempts to poison herself. She is saved, however, and reunited to her husband by a love whose constant light outshines the occasional flashes from her "green eyes."

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.