Essential Cult Cinema Drawn from the Same DNA as Triumph: Cult Guide

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

A good-natured but chivalrous cowboy romances the local schoolmarm and leads the posse that brings a gang of rustlers, which includes his best friend, to justice.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

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

Mary Denby becomes a seamstress after her husband Steve wastes their money on booze. Her employer provides her as an escort to accompany millionaire Roger Manning. Her husband tries blackmailing Manning and is later killed by the police, leaving Mary free to wed the millionaire.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

A vision of Joan of Arc inspires an English officer facing a risky mission.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

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

A young American has her ship torpedoed by a German U-boat but makes it back to ancestral home in France, where she witnesses German brutality firsthand.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

Soda jerk Harvey is the most popular man in Blakeville, New York, and deliriously happy through three years of poverty-stricken marriage to Nellie. When a musical-comedy comes through town, Nellie becomes and actress and tag-along Harvey becomes "What's His Name." When Nellie falls for a millionaire and goes to Reno for a divorce, Harvey takes their child Phoebe home, where her later illness brings her parents back together.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

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

With her brother killed Sonya is given Turkish captive Mahmud to do the hard work on the farm. After they become fond of each other he strikes a Turkish officer. When peace arrives, his blow costs him his noble lands. She is burned out of her house. They meet again on the road with nothing but each other.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

As the Civil War begins Ned Burton leaves his Southern love Agatha Warren and joins the Union army. He is later protected and saved from death by Agatha in spite of her loyalty to the South.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

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

Chimmie is sent to Death Valley, California as part of a railroad scheme. He's to pretend to have discovered gold there, then set a new transcontinental record heading East. It doesn't quite work out that way.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

Road agent Ramerrez hides out in his girlfriend's store where the Sheriff knows him to be. The Sheriff plays The Girl a game of cards to decide Ramerrez's future. She wins. She later saves him from a hanging. She rides off with him.

Dir: Cecil B. DeMille

Opera singer Renee Dupree is in love with struggling composer Julian who falls very seriously ill. She goes to impresario Mueller for the money Julian needs but is saved from sacrificing her virtue when a jealous lover kills Mueller.