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

Dir: Donald Crisp

A young woman, disheveled and greatly distressed, stops criminologist Marcel Levington on the street and begs him to find a doctor for a man who is dying inside a nearby house of ill repute. Marcel and his friend, Dr. Rogers, enter the house and find the man, a prominent lawyer, dead, his heart pierced by a hatpin that the doctor recognizes as the one he recently gave his daughter Toinette. Rogers announces that the man has died of heart failure, returns home and demands an explanation from his daughter, who explains that she was lured into the house and attacked by the man. Realizing that Toinette killed the lawyer to defend her honor, Rogers and Marcel agree to protect her. Marcel retrieves Toinette's pocketbook from the proprietor of the house, Mrs. Clifton, who had planned to blackmail the girl, and then returns to Toinette, with whom he has fallen in love.

Dir: Donald Crisp

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

Lewis Vickers accidentally kills a man and goes to Central America. Here he meets Robert Lee, who bears a remarkable resemblance to him. Lee is a worthless young chap whose father is anxious to have him return to the United States. On his death bed Lee turns his papers over to Vickers and begs him to assume his name. Arriving in New York, Vickers goes to the Lee home as Robert Lee, and discovers that the dead man has willed him a badly blotted past that includes a wife and two children and a large collection of debts. He also finds a beautiful adopted daughter in the Lee household and promptly falls in love with her. The only way he can stand any chance of winning the girl is by telling the truth about himself. The arrival of his undesirable family and several of its friends and connections helps to bring out the truth, and the picture ends with a runaway marriage between Vickers and the adopted daughter.

Dir: Donald Crisp

In the mining town of Gunsight, an unscrupulous lawyer named Andrew McBain applies the obscure "Apex Law" to trick Rimrock Jones out of his newly discovered copper mine. Undaunted, the reckless young prospector locates an even richer mine. Having no money to develop the Tecolote, Rimrock borrows $2,000 from stenographer Mary Fortune, who, when the mine proves its worth, decides to retain a vote on the board rather than take back her loan. Plagued by deafness, Mary travels to New York to consult a specialist, followed by Rimrock, who now loves her. Stoddard, a Wall Street financier who has designs on Rimrock's mine, hires a vamp named Hazel Hardesty to detain Rimrock in the East, but Mary returns to Gunsight in time to prevent Stoddard from taking control of the Tecolote. Rimrock reappears to save Mary from Stoddard's gang, after which he locks the loyal Mary in an embrace.

Dir: Donald Crisp

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

While Bill Burnham is jailed for drunkenly shooting up the town, he receives a letter saying that his father has died, his sister Janet is about to marry a worthless count, and the family fortune is in danger. Unable to leave, he convinces his friend, Johnny Wiggins, a motion picture cowboy, to go to his home in Palm Beach, which Bill left as a boy, and impersonate him. Although Johnny's Western manner irritates Janet and her aunt, they put up with him because Bill's sanction for Janet's marriage is needed for her to receive her inheritance. When the count discovers that Johnny is not Bill, he tries to elope with Janet, but is prevented when Johnny lassoes him from his moving automobile. After Johnny forces crooked broker Milton C. Milton, at gunpoint, to make restitution for the losses Janet suffered through Milton's bad stock investments, Johnny marries Ruth, the maid, and leaves, promising that when Bill returns, things will get livelier.

Dir: Donald Crisp

Self-effacing Simpson Hightower leaves his small village after he loses his father's canning factory to Stephen Douglas, who also wins Simpson's plump girlfriend Tiny. Simpson then goes to work in a New York provisions office along with stenographer Hope and office boy Jimmy. Hope and Jimmy scheme to introduce Simpson as a silent partner when the Danish consul proposes a large contract. After a series of errors, Simpson is discharged and persuaded by his friends to return to his home town posing as a successful businessman accompanied by his secretary "Pep" and valet Jimmy. With their help, Simpson manages to get the Danish contract and buy his factory back. He also outgrows his love for Tiny, who has gained even more weight, and recognizes his love for "Pep."

Dir: Donald Crisp

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Johnny Get Your Gun perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Joe, a good natured Italian, runs a basement ice, coal, and wood establishment in the cheap Italian "East Side." Trina, daughter of old Capino, a cobbler, lives next door. She is fond of Joe and is relieved when she learns that Joe's "sweetheart," who arrives from Italy, is none other than his little old "Mama Mia," his mother. Godfrey Kelland, district attorney, is a candidate for the governorship, and Joe's sympathies and efforts are enlisted in his behalf. The Weasel, a notorious crook, is arrested as he seeks refuge in Joe's house, and suspicions are cast upon Mama Mia. Just at this time Mrs. Kelland loses a diamond pin which is discovered in Mama Mia's possession. Baby Kelland has placed the pin in the basket of clothes which Mama Mia is to wash and she is found "guilty" and sentenced to two years in the penitentiary. In the meantime, Joe and his mother have witnessed an attempt upon Kelland's life and assisted him, but nevertheless Kelland is vigorous in his prosecution of Mama Mia. A little later Mrs. Kelland discovers the baby putting another piece of jewelry in the basket and she decides that Joe's mother is innocent. Two crooks from the gang determine to put a stop to Kelland's activities and to "plant" a golf ball filled with nitroglycerin so that Kelland will be blown up as by an unknown accident. They play upon Joe's feelings and induce him to place the ball. Just as Kelland is about to strike the ball, Mrs. Kelland and Trina come into the grounds, and to save them Joe takes the blow upon his own body. Joe's confession that the ball was intended for him incites Kelland's anger, but Mrs. Kelland's story of the baby's innocent part in the tragedy, and her pleadings, soften the politician's heart, the little Italian family is reunited, and Trina's happiness also secured.

Dir: Donald Crisp

Marcellini, a successful wine dealer, has a sudden heart attack and dies. His will leaves his entire fortune to his only kin, a husband and wife who operate a small farm. Guido, the husband, agrees against his better judgment to move on to the Marcellino estate. Before he knows it he is up to his neck in marriage troubles, people trying to swindle him out of his inheritance and blackmail.

Dir: Donald Crisp

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

The most popular man in the lumber camp near Quebec is Jean, the cook, whose flapjacks are celebrated for their delectability. Jean's compassionate nature is aroused when a dejected stranger known as Silent Jack comes to the camp. Discovering Jack crying one day, Jean learns that his wife has left him. To reunite the couple, Jean pretends that he too is married and induces Jack to write an affectionate letter from him which he then presents to Mrs. Jack. The ruse reconciles the couple, but distresses Jean's sweetheart Marie when she learns that Jean already has a wife. Jean finally explains everything satisfactorily to Marie, and after the two are married, they leave for the city to open a flapjack palace financed by the grateful Jack.

Dir: Donald Crisp

George MacFarland, a wealthy young man who loves adventure, bets his friends Thornton Brown and Arthur Sole $20,000 that he can commit a crime and elude the police for a year. After he forges a check, George heads West and does escape arrest for nearly a year, despite the proliferation of police circulars bearing his name and his favorite expression, "Believe me, Xantippe." In a Colorado hunting lodge, he meets Sheriff Kamman's pretty daughter Dolly, who recognizes and tries to arrest him. According to the terms of the bet, however, he must be captured by a genuine officer of the law, which Dolly is not. With the stroke of midnight, the year elapses and George wins the bet as well as the sheriff's daughter.

Dir: Donald Crisp

Wealthy young bachelor Stanley Jordan attends a Red Cross Benefit at the country club, where he meets and falls in love with Betty Lovering and unwittingly offends social leader Mrs. Vandergraft. Discovering that the Vandergrafts have initiated a campaign to ostracize him from the club, Jordan, incensed, decides to get even: he disguises himself as a Russian Countess and returns to the club, where he is wined and dined. As a member of society, he is welcomed into the homes of the rich, where he proceeds to steal their valuables and donate them to the Red Cross Fund. The series of thefts alarms the neighborhood, and a detective is hired. Just as the detective is closing in on the Countess, it is announced that the Russian has been a victim of assault and is lying on her deathbed. Betty, concerned, calls on the Countess, only to discover that she is none other than Stanley Jordan, the man she loves.