Editor's Top Picks Following the Footsteps of The Widow's Might: Cult Guide

Dir: William C. de Mille

Conrad Warrener, a man of near middle-age, reflects nostalgically on the happy times of his youth and decides to recapture them. However, what he learns about the "second time around" is neither what he expected nor what he hoped for.

Dir: William C. de Mille

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

Based on the 1915 Colorado miners strike. Warren Harcourt, the coal company manager, comes to the scene. This causes a chain of events that will change the current status quo.

Dir: William C. de Mille

Jack Straw, an iceman, falls in love with the voice of Ethel Parker Jennings which he is accustomed to hearing down the dumbwaiter shaft of his Harlem flat. When the Jennings family acquires wealth through an oil investment, they move to California and Jack follows. Finding employment as a waiter, Jack meets Holland, who holds a grudge against the snobbish Mrs. Jennings. Holland enlists Jack in a scheme to humiliate the haughty woman by persuading the waiter to impersonate the Archduke of Pomerania. Jack consents, seizing upon the opportunity to be near Ethel, and during Jack's stay with the Jennings, the couple fall in love. Eventually Holland decides that the joke has gone too far and unmasks Jack. Mrs. Jennings expels Jack from the house, but when the real ambassador from Pomerania appears and documents Jack's authenticity, she recants and announces Ethel's engagement to the archduke waiter.

Dir: William C. de Mille

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

When Julian's wife Daisy leaves home to visit her sick father, he finds himself attracted to his best friend's wife Margaret, who has been neglected by her husband. Julian and Margaret take a drive to a mountain resort, and find themselves about to consummate their affair when something happens that makes her have second thoughts. Complications ensue.

Dir: William C. de Mille

Prince Sebastian of Lurania is forced to go into hiding when German forces invade his country. His niece, Countess Therese, is an ambulance driver with the French army, and one day she hears from her uncle, who requests that she meet him in a small town in Maine and bring the crown jewels with her. Unfortunately, a jewel thief finds out about the meeting and makes a deal with the Luranian pretender to the throne: he will steal the jewels and he can keep them if he kidnaps and turns over the Countess to the usurper.

Dir: William C. de Mille

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

During the Great War, German and Japanese spies face off in the United States.

Dir: William C. de Mille

An island ordeal: A woman chooses a count over an alcoholic doctor. The envious count poisons her but performs a life-saving blood transfusion, costing his life. She has the count's baby and ultimately remarries the rehabilitated doctor.

Dir: William C. de Mille

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

Piffle, a circus clown, is badly injured after saving the son of Judge Jonathan Le Roy from a team of runaway horses. During his convalescence at the Le Roy home, Piffle falls in love with Millicent, the judge's daughter. When she learns that Dick Ordway, the father of her unborn child, has died while prospecting in the desert, Millicent tries to drown herself. Piffle comes to the rescue once again, proposing to marry Millicent and be a father to her child. Although she does not love Piffle, Millicent agrees. At the judge's insistence, Piffle leaves the circus to become a banker. Some time later, Dick reappears, but decides not to pursue Millicent, focusing instead on selling shares in his mine. The mine becomes a bonanza, and Dick tries to buy back all of the shares, but Piffle refuses to sell. Dick visits Piffle's home, hoping to negotiate a sale, and has an unexpected reunion with Millicent. Realizing that Millicent and Dick are still in love, Piffle returns to the circus, where he finds fulfillment bringing joy to children.

Dir: William C. de Mille

The Kid, a product of the slums, is employed at an artificial flower factory, as an expert "slipper-on." She possesses a monstrosity of a hat which is the envy of her companions wherever it appears, and she loves it. Judge Evans, a young man of unapproachable character, takes up his residence in the tenement district in order to unearth the man at the head of the vice ring composed of social and political parasites. In reality, he is the father of Doris Mordant, to whom Evans is engaged. Realizing that he must "get" the Judge or be ruined himself, Mordant, assisted by unscrupulous politicians, arranges a plot in which the Kid (whom the Judge has discovered in the tenement where he himself lives), evidently accosts a man on the street. She is taken into Judge Evans' court and to prove his assertion that "there is some good in all of 'em" the Judge tells the Kid to select five companions and he will send them all to his farm for three months. Mordant frames up a scheme to send with them a woman of the streets, and provides her with money and a camera. At the farm, the Kid discovers the girls plotting to secure a compromising picture of the Judge and the woman, but they persuade her to keep still by telling her they will "queer" Evans' engagement to Doris and then he will turn to her, and the Kid's love is so great, she finally acquiesces. Following his trial and disgrace, the Judge falls ill and the Kid cares for him. He learns to love the child of the slums, and her devotion to him is as pitiful as it is sincere. The Kid believes the Judge is pining for Doris, and with her companions, whom she forces into telling the truth, goes to the District Attorney's office and before Mordant, Doris, Evans and others, makes a clean breast of the while affair. Evans' love for Doris is dead and he turns to the Kid, declaring his love. She is taken to the home of the competent woman for one year. Every month the Judge receives a photograph which shows the metamorphosis of both hat and girl. At the end of the year Evans goes to claim as his own the girl who saved him from ruin, and finds her the embodiment of refinement and simplicity.

Dir: William C. de Mille

The wicked Belle gets her hands on Nigel Stanyon, a young man who was about to embark on a career as a minister. She seduces him, empties his bank account and tosses him aside. In the depths of despair, Nigel is discovered by Brian, a wealthy old friend, who secures him a job as an overseer on his family estate. One day Brian embarks on a trip abroad, and Nigel is astounded when he returns home with a new wife--Nigel's old flame, Belle.