Must-Watch List in the Vein of Wash Your Step: Cult Guide

Dir: Joseph Henabery

Whenever The Young Fellow is troubled or undecided, The Hunch, a miniature version of The Young Fellow, perches on his shoulder offering common-sense advice and encouragement. Consequently, when The Young Fellow, recently hired as a cub reporter for The New York Herald , is assigned to interview a noted financier who earlier refused to admit a star reporter, he screws up his courage, scales the millionaire's wall and forces the interview from him at the point of a gun. The editor, much impressed, then asks the young man to unearth the facts concerning a scheme to defraud a group of minor stockholders in the town of Melford. Unless certain papers in the possession of an old bachelor are delivered to a board meeting, the villainous financier will win complete control of a local company, and the stockholders will lose their investments. With the aid of his Hunch, the aging bachelor's attractive secretary and The Young Fellow's spinster landlady, the determined reporter thwarts the millionaire and his gang of thugs, delivers the papers on time and obtains a sensational story. In the process, he captures the secretary's heart, while the spinster wins the kindly bachelor.

Dir: Malcolm St. Clair

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Don't Weaken! perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A dancing instructor gets involved with a newly rich family.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Ne'er-do-well Homer Cavender ventures to the city from Mainsville in an effort to find fame and fortune. Both elude him, and after clerking for two years, Homer returns home for a vacation. Impressed by his flashy clothes, the townspeople assume that Homer has achieved success. Attempting to win Rachel Prouty from his rival, Arthur Machim, Homer continues the deception by announcing that his employer, Kort and Bailly, has dispatched him to enroll stockholders for a proposed new plant to be built in Mainsville. Machim discovers the sham and denounces Homer as a crook. Meanwhile, Homer returns to New York, convinces his employers of the merits of his plan and comes home triumphant, with a proposal for both the new plant and for Rachel's hand in marriage.

Dir: Unknown Director

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

The Judge needs a present for his wife's birthday, so Harry suggests a new corset. They go to the shop, but he's so embarrassed to ask the saleslady he hides in a phone booth.Harry goes in, but finds a GUY wearing one, and runs out.They both dress as women to get back in, but Mrs. Rummy gets there and chases him out.

Dir: Unknown Director

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

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

While walking along the street one day, Arthur P. Hampton, an impoverished young doctor, and his chums, Stub Masters and Johnny Stokes, are persuaded to part with their last remaining funds by tag day solicitor Mary Jane Smith, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Doc's friends then hit upon a get-rich-quick scheme. Knowing that his Uncle George has promised a large sum of money upon his nephew's marriage, they persuade Doc to send out fake wedding invitations naming Mary Jane as the blushing bride. Uncle George, elated at the good news, writes to Mary Jane's aunt, Angelica Burns, an old sweetheart, to invite Mary Jane and Angelica to be his guests on an ocean voyage. Meanwhile, Mary Jane pays a visit to the doctor's office and, upon seeing the wedding invitations, becomes so flustered that she trips and sprains her ankle. Doc comes to her rescue and then begs her to pose as his wife. She agrees, but at ship-side, Stub and Johnnie confess all to Uncle George, who flies into a rage until Doc announces that he and Mary Jane have chosen a wedding at sea.

Dir: Edgar Jones

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

Dir: Joseph Henabery

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

An attractive young woman thrusts an attorney into wild adventures.

Dir: Hal Roach

An American book salesman (Lloyd) is persuaded to go to the kingdom of Thermosa to impersonate the Prince. He is greeted by a peasants' revolt before the real prince shows up to claim his throne and princess. The revolution succeeds, and the American is elected president of the new republic.

Dir: Joseph Henabery

Mountaineer Pap Clayton has promised his daughter Sairy Ann (Dorothy Gish) to his cousin Jed Martin, but Sairy Ann loves Dr. Richard Cavanagh (Sam DeGrasse), the son of Judge Lee Cavanagh. In the midst of a feud between the Claytons and the Jacksons, a jealous Jed sets out to kill Richard. Jed shoots a deputy who gets in his way and is taken before Judge Cavanagh, whom the Claytons have threatened to kill if Jed is convicted. The Claytons are true to their word when Cavanagh finds him guilty, and Richard immediately vows to kill Jed, who has escaped. Sairy Ann, however, reminds Richard that he has railed against family feuding and has said that only the law can take a life. A sobered Richard captures Jed and hands him over to authorities; then, after he has forgiven the Claytons, he and Sairy Ann become engaged.