Cinematic Discoveries Following the Footsteps of Wandering Daughter...

Dir: James Young

One of the customs in the Breton island of St. Batiste is the lashing of any woman involved in a extra-marital affair. As a result, when Sidonie (Marie Doro) starts an affair with English vacationer Warren Harding (Elliott Dexter), the townsfolk prepare to mete out punishment. To avoid it, Sidonie elopes with Warren, but when she finds him making love to another woman, her first response is conditioned by her upbringing, and she attacks the woman with a whip. Afterward, Sidonie returns alone to St. Batiste, and gets ready to accept her lashing. Just before her public humiliation, however, Warren arrives and refuses to let the whipping take place, after which he pledges to remain faithful to Sidonie.

Dir: James Young

With the electric-ray machine that he invented, a scientist brings his daughter back to life after she dies in a car crash but he fails to revive her soul at the same time.

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

Dir: James Young

After his wife's death, Thomas Singleton suffers a temporary breakdown and is committed to an asylum by his scheming half brother, Jordon Morse. Although Jordon has been appointed the guardian of Thomas' little daughter Virginia, he shuns the responsibility, placing the girl in the care of an old mammy and planning to retrieve her only on her eighteenth birthday, when she comes into possession of her mother's fortune. Sixteen years pass. Thomas, deeply worried about his daughter's well-being, escapes the asylum, and after sending Virginia to live with a poor but kindly cobbler named Lafe Grandoken, he dies. Virginia's chance meeting with millionaire Theodore King leads to romance, and her happiness is complete until Morse, anxious to secure her money, hires Maudlin Bates to kill Theodore. When Bates, plotting to double-cross Morse, threatens Lafe, Morse enters and shoots the gunman, but Lafe is accused. Morse imprisons Virginia, but she escapes in time to free Lafe and bring the villain to justice.

Dir: James Young

Helene Marie, on the run from the Russian police in St. Petersburg, plots to kill the Czar.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Rose o' Paradise perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: James Young

Robert Strickland, the self-confessed murderer of Gerald Trask, refuses to defend himself on the witness stand. His attorney, however, cross-examines Strickland's wife and by questioning his daughter Doris as well, he exposes the fact that years earlier Trask had seduced Mrs. Strickland. This evidence is sufficient to call for a verdict of not guilty from eleven of the jury, but the twelfth member holds out because money disappeared from Trask's safe the night of the murder, and evidence points to Strickland as the thief. When Glover, Trask's secretary, is cross-examined, however, he breaks down and confesses to the robbery, thus clearing the way for Strickland's acquittal and his reunion with his family.

Dir: James Young

After her parents death, young southerner, Barbara King, must now live with her uncle Rufus Jamison, who reminds the girl of her mother wasted life when she married an artist. Rufus forces Barbara to do housework to support himself. One day, Barbara sneaks away to exhibit her father's latest work, she meets the artist Gordon Carroll and his father, the governor. When Uncle Rufus discovers Barbara's secret studio in the attic, he destroys the statue of his father, and Barbara then fatally stabs him with a candlestick. Barbara is convicted, sentenced, and sent to a prison.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of My Official Wife perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: James Young

College friends Percy Darling and Richard Kettle take their new wives on board a boat going from New York City to Albany. Just before sailing, however, Mrs. Kettle and Percy realize that they have left some baggage on shore, and so rush out to get it. The boat leaves without them, and a distressed Mrs. Darling and Richard, left in each other's company, decide to pose as husband and wife to prevent a scandal. When the boat docks, they learn that the last train has left, and so they hesitantly check into a hotel as a couple and spend the night together. The next day, Mrs. Kettle and Percy track down the "newlyweds" and are shocked to see them in the hotel lobby, arm in arm. The ruse is quickly explained, and the correct couples are soon sorted out.

Dir: James Young

Mountain girl Plutina lives with her grandfather, refuses to marry moonshiner Dan Hodges, preferring instead Zeke, a young farmer. When Zeke learns that Dan, in revenge, shot Plutina's pet trained bear, Zeke vows to kill him. After a revenue officer, shot by Dan, is cared for by Zeke's mother, Dan vows to kill Zeke. Dan and Zeke fight, and although Dan is beaten, he escapes into the mountains. Sometime later, the revenue officer secures for Zeke the position of overseer of government timber lands. As Zeke waits for a train after missing the first one, he learns that Dan, who has threatened to kill Plutina's grandfather and sister and set fire to their house unless Plutina marries him, has abducted her. Zeke arrives at a hidden cave where Dan has taken Plutina just as she is about to jump from a cliff. The ensuing brawl ends when Dan is plunged over the cliff. Finally, Zeke and Plutina marry.

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

Dir: James Young

When a woman's husband is presumed dead in the war, her sister, for her own unscrupulous reasons, attempts to get her remarried. But the husband, it seems, is not dead after all.

Dir: James Young

During World War I, young Englishman Hawtrey Burke captivates New York society with his charming manner and his skill at polo, but he incurs the scorn of the woman he loves, Elinor Warden, who, having recently returned from war-torn Belgium, cannot understand why Hawtrey is not on the front lines. When shipping agent Joseph Fuhrman is murdered, Elinor's brother Dudley, who is on furlough from France, is tried for the crime based on the accusation of Eric Werner, who covets Elinor. During the trial, the lights are extinguished and Dudley is shot. Hawtrey is arrested but later released on a technicality. Later, when the British Commission sails to the United States, Hawtrey sends a wireless message to the steamer warning of a nearby U-boat, and upon the Commission's safe arrival in New York, he is revealed as a British Secret Service agent. Werner is arrested as the German spy who shot Dudley, who had been working for Hawtrey, whereupon a penitent Elinor confesses her love for the Englishman.