The Auteur's Selection In the Shadow of Trumpet Island: Cult Guide

Dir: Tom Terriss

Louise Grayling escapes from a straight-laced aunt on a plea that she wants to visit her uncle, Captain Abe, on Cape Cod. Abe is henpecked by his housekeeper and rather looked down upon by the villagers who haunt his store. To give himself a fictitious glory he invents a fictitious brother, Amzon, who is a composite of all the pirates from Blackbeard to the food profiteers. Louise penetrates the deception and induced Abe to go away and come back as the fictitious brother. She has the time of her life keeping the placid Abe up to the reputation of his fire-eating brother, but all would have gone well had not some shipwrecked East Indians imagined that they recognized him as the desecrator of their Temple. Between them and the town people, who get the idea that Abe has been murdered by Amzon, Louise has her hands full, but Abe is transformed into his proper self, and a supposed fisherman who turns out to be a young millionaire rescues her from the mob and all ends happily after all. - Moving Picture World.

Dir: Tom Terriss

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

Maurice Dumars, a journalist, is enamored of Madeline Renard of a French opera company. She is to sing Marguerite in Faust and induces Monsieur Morin, a gold worker, to make a past replica of a string of pearls, which belong to her mother and which is worth $20,000, for the great jewel aria. Morin makes the counterfeit gems, and the next day is found dead. The $20,000 which Mr. Morin received from Madame Thibault to invest for her is missing from his effects but a note from him to Madeline which is found saying he had done her a great favor in making the jewelry casts suspicion upon the opera singer. When she makes her appearance as Marguerite in Faust she is hissed, and she tells of her business relations with M. Morin and of her mother's jewels. Simultaneous with her leaving the convent a year or so later, where she had gone to seek refuge, Dumars finds pinned on the walls of Mme. Tibault's inn the $20,000 in bank notes which M. Morin had given her and which she had carelessly left there . With the mystery cleared, Madeline is again sought by Dumars and all who had done an injustice. - Moving Picture World.

Dir: Tom Terriss

Due to her parents' coldness and constant struggle for social recognition, Marcia Van Arsdale grows into womanhood despising love. When mine owner Robert Jardine comes to New York, he causes the near bankruptcy of Marcia's father by manipulating the copper market. Marcia's parents bring about a marriage between their daughter and Robert, although Marcia makes it clear that she can never love. Marcia gives birth to a baby boy and is indifferent to the child until he is kidnapped one day. Marcia realizes her heart is filled with maternal love and also confesses her love for Robert. Christmas Eve brings only sadness to the Jardine home until Robert confesses that he arranged the kidnapping to kindle Marcia's emotional spark. The child returns to a happy family.

Dir: Tom Terriss

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

The opening picture finds Edith (Alice Joyce) in prison where she has been for the last three years. She is a widow and her baby has been placed in an institution. She is paroled, finds her child and steals him from the asylum. After wandering around she finally obtains a position in a department store, where Jim Roberts, superintendent, falls in love with her. They are married, but she fails to tell him of her past. Mabel, also freed from prison, demands that Edith join with her and her side partner in a crime, under threat of exposing her past to Jim. Jordan, a friend of Jim's visits them. He is a detective, and recognizes Edith as a former thief. Further to involve her, Mable, hiding from the police, forces Edith to give her refuge in her home, where she immediately proceeds to steal everything in sight, money being her particular passion. Jordan tells Jim he is harboring a thief and he tells Edith she must leave, but Edith, still fearing Mabel, confesses to the theft of money and Mable is allowed to stay. The two men then plan to trap Mable by placing $400 in a desk. As Edith takes the money from the desk, lights are flashed on and she stands before the two men as the thief. The distracted girl now tells her husband of her first theft to save her baby and of her present attempt to keep her past from him. The men have a battle, the detective gets badly beaten up, but is moved by her great courage, gives her back to Jim and the child and through his efforts she obtains a free pardon. - Review from Variety, May 10, 1918.

Dir: Tom Terriss

An expose of the methods used by a police-department to extract a confession from a suspect, regardless of innocence or guilt, and the effect and consequences on a family when an innocent member breaks under the interrogation methods and confesses to a crime he did not commit.

Dir: Tom Terriss

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

William Lanyon, a West Indian planter, dies and leaves all his estate to his nephew, Dick Lorient, a New York society rounder, who is engaged to be married to his cousin, Dulcie Lanyon. Dick leaves to inspect his property and John Stark, the overseer, to whom the estate has been left in the event of Dick's death, conspires to gain possession of the property. In Jamaica, Dick meets the "Woman," and in the Flame of Passion, passes through rushing waters and fires of hell. How he escapes the siren's deadly fascination and the villainous scheming of Stark is depicted herein.

Dir: Tom Terriss

Frank Draper, a patriotic young American, has invented the most wonderful explosive in the world which he intends giving to the United States. In defending a pure girl from the machinations of an enemy, he is involved in a serious crime which sends him, an innocent man, to prison. Angered at this interruption to their plans and desirous of obtaining the explosive for a foreign government, international spies connive successfully at Draper's escape. They then hold him a prisoner and the young patriot is given the choice of sacrificing his own life or that of his country. He chooses the preservation of the latter, and his sands of life have almost run out, when trapped and bound, he is rescued at the eleventh hour. Thankfully acknowledging his escape and returning to freedom, he gives to his country a wonderful weapon of preparedness and together with the nation's thanks, he receives the love of the girl he once defended.

Dir: Tom Terriss

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

Young, innocent, confiding, it is a shock to Ann Fenton to learn that her supposed husband is not a business man, but a gambler, and that her marriage is bigamous. The child is taken from her by a Helping Hand Society and apprenticed to a brutal farmer. She is left upon her own resources. Seven years later Fenton again crosses her path, but she finds happiness in honorable marriage while her betrayer is taken away to face a murder charge, and the Song of the Soul now rises in full, pure tones from the breast of the happy wife and mother.

Dir: Tom Terriss

John Burkett Ryder, "the richest man in the world," determines to discredit a judicial decision which works against the interest of his millions by discrediting its author, Judge Rossmore, and causes impeachment charges to be laid against him in Congress. The judge's daughter Shirley Rossmore, learns of his trouble and returns home from Paris, where she has won success as a writer. She is loved by Jefferson Ryder, son of the magnate who is slowly killing her father. Determined to force the millionaire's hand, she publishes "The American Octopus" under a pseudonym, using Burkett's character as the central figure. He is attracted by the book and brings Shirley, whom he knows as Sarah Green, to his home to write his biography. This is the opportunity she is seeking, as it gives her a chance to obtain the two letters which will clear her father's name. Jefferson Ryder helps her secure the desired papers, but his father catches him and denounces him as a thief. Shirley, who loves Jefferson, cannot stand to see him so branded and confesses her identity to his father. The "Lion" had long since been won by the charm of the "Mouse," and the story is cleared up in pleasing style. - Moving Picture World 1919.

Dir: Tom Terriss

Innocent Kaly Dial comes to New York from the Cumberland Mountains and gets employment at a fashionable dress shop owned by a friend of her deceased mother. Peter Vernon, the brother of the owner, falls in love with her, but Kaly becomes attracted to suave John Crispen, not knowing of his reputation as a Lothario and his shady business deals. Crispen scoffs at conventional marriage and rearing children, preferring "comradeship," while Vernon offers marriage. Kaly finds herself attracted to Crispen's unconventionality and, believing that he loves her, goes with him to a hotel, but soon realizes that his love is not right and asks to be taken back. Crispen complies even though he knows he will face imprisonment when he returns. Vernon takes Crispen's case and after finding out that Crispen is already married, gets him off with the promise that he will never see Kaly again. After a year, Kaly falls in love with Vernon and they are married.