The Auteur's Selection In the Shadow of The Wonderful Thing: Cult G...

Dir: Herbert Brenon

Grace Leonard, a typical woman of the New York stage, beautiful but old in sin, seduces William Craig, who becomes a thief in order to shower luxuries upon her. He is sentenced to prison and emerges five years later as a sad-faced, gray-haired man, entirely cured of his mad passion for La Valencia. But she sees him and her old passion is stirred, caring not that since his release from prison he has fallen in love and married a good woman who knows nothing of his past. When William is not swayed by her fascinations, Grace threatens to expose his past life.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

A mermaid princess plans vengeance against a prince whose net killed her sibling. But upon meeting him, she develops romantic feelings.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Neptune's Daughter perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

In Paris, the beautiful orphan Henriette is kidnapped by the Marquis de Presles, a libertine, leaving her blind and defenseless friend Louise wandering the streets alone. While Mother Frochard, a beggar and thief, forces Louise to beg for her food, Henriette is rescued by the Chevalier de Vaudrey, who loves her. The chevalier's mother, the Countess De Liniere, discovers that Louise is her long-lost daughter and resolves to find her. In the meantime, Mother Frochard's son, a hunchback named Pierre, falls in love with Louise, and when his brother Jacques cruelly beats the girl, Pierre kills him. Just then, the countess locates Louise, and after the girl regains her sight, she is joined with Pierre. The countess then gives her consent to the marriage of her son and Henriette.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

Back from a crusade, the hero of Sir Walter Scott's novel fights for courtly love and Saxon honor.

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

Dir: Herbert Brenon

Millionaire "Merry" Perry Merrithew is found dead on the roof of an East Side tenement. The strands of red hair clutched in his hands implicate four auburn-haired women in the murder: a millionaire's daughter, Merrithew's mistress, the daughter of a bankrupt society woman, and a cabaret dancer. In solving the crime, Dr. Clinton Worthing performs heroic deeds.

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 Ivanhoe perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

A French orphan girl is adopted by a wealthy British nobleman. The family lives happily, unaware that a plot is afoot to kidnap the girl and make away with the nobleman's fortune.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

In her third picture, Bara is the wife-vampire.

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

Dir: Herbert Brenon

Gennaro, the son of Lucretia Borgia, lives unaware of the identity of his mother, who has married the Duke of Ferrara. After Lucretia's brother is killed by five conspirators, the fathers of Gennaro's dearest friends, Lucretia tortures the old men to death. Later, Gennaro and his companions journey to Lucretia's domain, and she sees her son for the first time. The Duke, who believes him to be her lover, poisons him, but Lucretia administers the antidote in time and saves his life. Then she schemes to poison her sons' five friends for their fathers' mistake. She succeeds in poisoning them all at a dinner at which Gennaro is an uninvited guest. In dismay, she pleads for him to take the antidote, but he refuses and in a fury avenges his friends by stabbing Lucretia. As he lies dying, he learns that she was his mother.

Dir: Herbert Brenon

A dramatization of the Russian revolution and the influence upon the Russian royal family of the famous "mad monk," Rasputin.