Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of The Wolf Woman: Cult ...

Dir: Raymond B. West

Bessie Wheaton returns from Europe to find that her nouveau-riche family has adopted and magnified the worst characteristics of the upper class. Her father spends all of his time at the club, her mother cultivates snobbishness, and her sister thinks only of marrying into royalty. To shake them out of their aristocratic poses, Bessie decides to reflect all of their faults, becoming as lazy as her father and as status conscious as her mother. She even rejects her own sweetheart, Allan Shelby, to lure Count d'Orr away from her sister. Finally, her family members confront her and she angrily tells them that she was only mirroring their behavior. She then runs away, but Allan, with whom she quickly reconciles, brings her back, just as her family acknowledges their recent burlesque of the upper crust.

Dir: Raymond B. West

Pampy lives in a quaint little Dutch village, where she supports her invalid father by selling flowers to tourists. Pampy is so beautiful that she provides inspiration to Donald Luther, an American artist who is visiting the village, and at his request, poses for him. Just as his interest starts to blossom into love, he is called away for two weeks. During his absence Pampy's father dies, leaving her only with directions to her wealthy grandfather's home in New York. A letter containing money for her voyage is intercepted by the unscrupulous Captain von der Bloom, who takes an innkeeper's daughter to the old man and tries to persuade him that she is his grandaughter. Pampy is finally able to sail to America when the village priest buys her passage, and she arrives just in time to prevent the old man from turning over a large sum of money to von der Bloom. The gloom of the old house is then awakened to laughter as it is filled with Pampy's charming presence, and all ends happily as she is reunited with her artist.

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

Dir: Raymond B. West

Jack Harding, a wealthy ne'er-do-well, becomes involved with a Broadway vamp. When she is murdered, Jack is falsely accused of the crime and must turn for help to his lawyer--his wife.

Dir: Raymond B. West

Thisbe Lorraine, an American who hopes to pursue an art career in Paris, falls in love with German aristocrat Ernst Faber, who makes love to the young woman and then leaves her. Disillusioned, Thisbe resolves to live by her own rules and returns to New York, where her sex novels earn her great fame and wealth. At a grotto café in Greenwich Village, Thisbe encounters "Tea Cup Ann," a fortuneteller who predicts that her sinful ways will bring her only sorrow. Later, Thisbe falls in love with artist Le Saint Hammond, who asks her to pose for his statue of Psyche, but when he learns of her past, her rejects her and then begins to drink excessively. Thisbe's sorrow turns to joy, however, when Le Saint finally returns to her.

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

Dir: Raymond B. West

Doris Willard, the daughter of a village minister, achieves the realization of her great dream, a year at college. Doris, although a sweet and pretty girl, is greatly handicapped by her clothes. On her arrival at college she is eyed by the other girls with concealed amusement and curiosity and soon realizes that she "doesn't belong." The girls snub her at every opportunity and she is desperately lonesome and longs for companionship. The Saturday before Thanksgiving when everyone else has gone to the big Princeton-Yale game, Doris sits alone in her room. She picks up the newspaper and sees in it a picture that greatly appeals to her. It is a newspaper cut of "Bullet" Dick Ames, the universal choice for the '"All-American Eleven." She conceives a desperate plan. She thinks nobody at her college knows Dick and decides she will make the girls think he is in love with her. She writes a note to herself to which she signs Dick's name. The note is a proposal of marriage. This she drops on the porch of the girls' hall and it is picked up by one of the girls who reads it to the bunch. Daisy Arnold, the undisputed ruler of the "Beauty Squad," will not believe that Dick knows Doris, and writes to his sister, Eleanor, asking both her and Dick down for the holidays. In her letter she tells Eleanor about Doris claiming Dick has asked her to marry him. Dick sees the letter and he and his sister accept the invitation. When Dick sees Doris, he decides to help her out in her deception. Doris is panic-stricken on the night of the reception given in Eleanor's and Dick's honor, but when she is introduced to Dick he says, "Why sure, we are old friends," and Daisy and her friends are much disappointed, their plan for humiliating Doris having fallen through. After meeting Dick, Doris is unwilling to carry out the deception, but he insists, and before his visit is over they are much in love with each other. Doris, however, refuses to marry Dick, thinking he has asked her out of pity, but through Eleanor's efforts he manages to make her understand that he really loves her.

Dir: Raymond B. West

Seized with a fainting spell during a polo game, Donald Van Wye is given six months to live and told he must go to Arizona. His brother Tom, an irresponsible college youth, is wired to come home and take Donald's place. When Tom arrives, Donald finds that his little brother has committed himself to an actress named Maizie. Donald pleads with the actress to give Tom up, but when she refuses, Donald marries her in order to save his brother. The couple go to Arizona where their love ripens, and through Maizie's prayers, Donald regains his health. Mrs. Van Wye then comes to visit and tells Maizie that she is preventing Donald from assuming his rightful place in society. Crushed, Maizie starts across the desert alone, and when Donald learns of his mother's dreadful behavior, he follows Maizie and begs her to stay.

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

Dir: Raymond B. West

Rumpelstiltskin, a wicked little dwarf with magic power, covets the miller's daughter, Polly. He offers the miller two bags of gold for her and is angrily kicked out of the mill. The dwarf vows eternal vengeance. The King, whose coffers are empty, having heard of the magic power of the dwarf, sends for him and commands him to refill his coffers. The dwarf, in vengeance, tells the King that the miller's daughter can spin straw into gold. The King sends for Polly, places her in a room full of straw and commands her to spin it into gold before dawn, else she, her father and the dwarf will lose their heads. The dwarf tells Polly he will spin the straw for her if she will promise him her first born, if it is a girl. Polly, in order to save her father, promises. Prince Cole, disguised as a hunter, seeks a girl to love. He sees Polly and falls in love with her. She agrees to meet him in the forest, but is captured by the dwarf and taken to his cave, where the Dragon is set to watch over her. With the assistance of the Good Fairy the Prince rescues Polly. The King places the Prince in a dungeon because of his love for Polly. The Good Fairy helps Polly to liberate him and he and Polly step on the magic carpet which the Good Fairy has given Polly and wish themselves far away. They are transferred to the woods, where they are married and a baby girl is born to them. The dwarf searches for Polly and the Prince, finds them and steals their child. The Good Fairy again comes to their assistance and the child is restored to them. The King, whose treasure is exhausted in the search for his son, commands the miller again produce his daughter so that she can spin some more straw into gold for him. The Prince and Polly appear before the King, by whom they are joyfully welcomed. They tell the King the story and the dwarf is condemned to spinning straw the rest of his natural life.

Dir: Raymond B. West

Patrick "The Ear" Muldoon, a professional safecracker, passes on his skills to his daughter Peggy. However, after reading Ralph Waldo Emerson's books, Peggy decides to forego a life of crime, after pulling one last job. Unfortunately, she's arrested for that crime and sent to prison for two years. When she gets out of prison she moves to California and meets Robert Benton, who works in a local bank. Theu marry and are living happily--until Peggy's old gang shows up and threatens to tell her husband about her past unless she helps them crack the safe in his bank.

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

Dir: Raymond B. West

When the wealthy Robert Reyburn offers to pay for struggling painter Phyllis Page to continue her studies in Europe, he is not interested simply in serving as a patron of the arts. As a result, they indulge in a brief romance behind the back of Robert's wife Edith, then, several years later, Phyllis returns to the United States as a famous artist and becomes a high society favorite. Later, Edith successfully arranges a romance between her brother Dick and Phyllis. When Dick proposes, however, Edith turns him down, because she knows that, as his wife, she eventually would have to tell him who gave her the money for her European training and explain the conditions under which the money was offered.

Dir: Raymond B. West

Robin Cameron transforms her home on the Scottish seacoast into a hospital for convalescing soldiers. Sidney Carson, who owns the adjoining estate, and Dr. Hyde both love Robin, but she gives her heart to John Hamilton, an American soldier whose ship was sunk off the coast. When several Allied officials are sent to investigate reports of German spy activities in the area, an air raid occurs, and one of the officers is almost killed. Carson accuses John, and Dr. Hyde, jealous of the American's success with Robin, supports Carson's claim. However, with aid from a little Belgian girl named Mimi, Robin discovers that Carson had sent nightly messages to a fleet of German submarines. Exonerated, John departs for the front, and Robin, although her younger brother Donald has just lost his life in battle, bravely bids him farewell.