Hand-Picked Alternatives for Fans of Varsity Show: Cult Guide

Dir: Maurice Campbell

Having long ago left his country sweetheart, May Barber, Willoughby Finch is about to marry Molly Farringdon when a simple phone message from May leads him to the mistaken belief that she plans to disrupt the wedding. May, now an actress known by her stage name of Rilla Rooke, meets and falls in love with Finch's best man, Hale Underwood, on the train taking her home from a successful tour. Learning from a friend that Finch is in distress over a vamp's threat to ruin his wedding, May offers to pose as Finch's lover to drive the vamp away. Her appearance at Finch's wedding rehearsal, however, only confirms Finch's worst suspicions, since May and the vamp that he fears are the same. May's charade also alienates Underwood, but she clarifies the situation that evening at a jazz party at Underwood's apartment, and both pairs of lovers are reunited.

Dir: Roy Clements

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

A man agrees to marry the daughter of a deceased friend - who is, in fact, being impersonated by the servant girl of the daughter, who has also already died.

Dir: Raoul Walsh

Dave Henderson, an orphan who has become the beneficiary of a rich man's will, falls in with race-track crooks Martin Tydeman and Bokky Sharvan who bilk him out of his $100,000 inheritance. In retaliation, Dave steals the money from Tydeman's safe, but is caught and sentenced to five years in jail. In prison, Dave becomes friendly with Millman, who is about to be released, and reveals the money's hiding place to him, arranging to rendezvous at the end of Dave's term. Once released, Dave is hounded by members of Tydeman's gang as well as the police, who are waiting for him to retrieve his bounty. While taking refuge at the house of Capriano, an old bomb maker, Dave falls in love with the old man's daughter Teresa. However, Capriano sets a trap for Dave, who awakens in a drugged state to find the $100,000 missing. With the help of Millman and Teresa, Dave recovers the money, turns it over to the police and resolves to go straight.

Dir: Roy William Neill

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of From Now On perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Mary Wayne (Constance Talmadge) is left alone and penniless in New York City after her father dies. She desperately needs a job after being thrown out of her apartment for causing a small fire while cooking. At an employment agency she becomes fast friends with a sick girl, Nell Norcross, and assumes her identity and good references to start work as a secretary for elderly socialite Caroline Marshall, which soon involves playing wrangler to the lady's college-dropout nephew William "Bill" Marshall (Vincent Coleman). Bill is much more interested in going to illegal boxing matches with his buddy Peter Stearns (Ned Sparks) than in throwing lavish dinner parties for his family's high-society friends. While Mary tries to do her job and keep her true identity from being discovered, William begins to fall in love with her.

Dir: Herbert Blaché

French dancer Sigrid, diagnosed with a weak heart, is ordered by her doctor never to dance again. But when her dancing skills are needed by her lover's father to help quell a native uprising on the East Indian frontier, she determines to dance whatever the cost.

Dir: Sidney Franklin

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

A chorus girl hopes to rise to stardom and thus accepts the advances of a wealthy man. But she becomes fearful of her reputation and safety. In an attempt to escape the rake's attentions, she hides out with a disparate group of men who room in a house called "The Barn." There she learns that there is more to life than that found on the stage.

Dir: Jacques Jaccard

Douglas MacLeod of the Royal North West Mounted Police is in love with Suzanne Foucharde, who has adopted an abandoned Indian baby, the illegitimate child of Louis La Rocque and Na Fa Kowa. When La Rocque insinuates that the baby is Suzanne's, her brother Henry defends his sister's honor and kills the villain. In spite of his love for Suzanne, it is Douglas' duty to arrest Henry. He does so, but later allows him to escape, taking the bullet himself that was fired after Henry by Constable Burke. Meanwhile, the dead body of Na Fa Kowa is found, accompanied by a note proving that the Indian was the baby's mother. In the spring, when Douglas recovers from his wounds, he and Suzanne are married.

Dir: Kenneth S. Webb

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

Mary Horton, a country girl, moves to New York to make her living as a seamstress, where she meets Hilda Newton, an old neighbor who has renounced her country ways for the immoral life of the city. Mary moves in with Hilda and meets Bob Merrick who, charmed by the girl's innocence determines to protect her. Just as she is about to succumb to evil influences, Mary is called home to her mother's sickbed where she is denounced for her evil ways by her former sweetheart, Horace Worth. However, when Hilda's friends decide to visit Mary, Bob Merrick defends her reputation and proposes to her. The couple decide to remain in Mary's country village, while Hilda and her friends return to the city.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

A lady marries a horse trainer but withholds herself until her crippled brother is cured.

Dir: Cecil M. Hepworth

A soldier's tunic button, made from Aladdin's lamp, grants his wishes.