Visionary Picks Drawn from the Same DNA as The Woman in the Suitcas...

Dir: Fred Niblo

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Fred Niblo

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

A girl tries to save her brother from prosecution after he steals some money from his employer. She goes to work for the employer, who tries to take advantage of her. He is murdered, and the girl is suspected of the crime.

Dir: Alexander Butler

In Alberta, Canada, a Cornish emigrant unmasks a rustler posing as the girl's "blind" father.

Dir: Fred Niblo

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

A seemingly idiotic fop is really the courageous vigilante Zorro, who seeks to protect the oppressed.

Dir: Fred Niblo

Agnes Cuyler, a cabaret singer in New York who loathes her work, is fired for slapping Grant Haywood, a customer from the West who tries to kiss her. Haywood begs forgiveness and after glorifying the clean Western life, proposes. To escape her circumstances, Agnes accepts, but soon learns that Haywood is a brutal drunkard. In the Arizona desert, when she tries to stop him from drinking while driving, Haywood hurls her out of the car. Hassayampa Hardy, an old desert rat, finds Agnes and revives her. She becomes a waitress and helps Arthur Gould, a penniless Easterner who is out West because of ill health. Agnes, Arthur and Hardy form a partnership and strike ore. After Haywood finds Agnes and convinces her to return, he steals her partners' claim notice and drains their water supply. While heading for town, Arthur collapses in the desert. When Agnes learns of Haywood's duplicity, he tries to kill her, but Hardy arrives and pursues Haywood to the desert where he shoots holes in Haywood's gas tank and canteen. Agnes rescues Arthur and they fall in love.

Dir: Edgar Jones

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

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

Dir: Fred Niblo

A young wife slaves for her cad of a husband. When she learns that he has been "stepping out" with his secretary, she gets revenge by going after the attentions of her husband's employer.

Dir: Fred Niblo

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

Anne Mertons (Enid Bennett) is the unhappy wife of Hugo Mertons (Robert McKim), an unscrupulous brute. When the two struggle over a gun, Hugo is shot. Thinking he's dead, Anne flees to Hawaii, where she falls in love with Rodney Heathe (Jack Holt), who owns a sugar plantation. Hugo re-enters the picture and forces Anne to live as his prisoner in a hut. She overhears his plan to burn a sugar plantation. She is able to escape and saves the plantation, while Hugo is burned to death. Anne is now free to marry Rodney.

Dir: Fred Niblo

A sculptress is taken under the wing of an art patron, who is murdered.

Dir: Fred Niblo

Impersonating Little Eva in a third-rate travelling production of Uncle Tom's Cabin fails to earn Nora enough for a square daily meal, and to make thing worse, her stage career comes to a sudden end when the sheriff arrives with a writ of seizure. Nora hops a passing freight but is frightened by a tramp, jumps off, and literally rolls into the town of Wattelville. After being arrested as a suspicious character, Nora is adopted by the kindly Ma Forbes, whose son James works in the local bank. "Pug" Hennessy and "Soup" McCool, two crooks, inveigle the scrupulously honest James into a poker game and, as a result, he is forced to steal $300 from the bank to cover his losses. Impersonating expert safe-cracker Velvet Mary, Nora helps the crooks to break into the bank, but upon opening the safe, she sounds the alarm, and the crooks are arrested. Having learned his lesson, James proposes to Nora, who never again is forced to go hungry.