The Auteur's Selection In the Shadow of When a Girl Loves: Cult Guide

Dir: Phillips Smalley

Lydia Jansen is a faithful and loving wife, though unknown to her husband, a customs inspector, she has become addicted to smoking opium. In the parlance of the underworld this devil's brew is called "hop." Her own father, a politician in the city in which they live, is the head of an opium importing gang, which is the principal medium whereby the addicts obtained their supply of opium. Lydia's craving for the drug is so great, and her desire to conceal the habit from her husband so strong, that she is embroiled in a series of blackmailing attempts by her maid, who is affianced to the stevedore through whom most of the opium is landed from the vessels by which it is smuggled. Her attempts to satisfy her craving for hop, at a time when the government is closing in upon the smugglers, excites her husband's suspicion, and of course he thinks another man has entered her life, and it is only through an almost superhuman exercise of willpower that she finds the strength to conquer her appetite and confess to her husband the terrible habit which she had formed, and thus relieving the terrible suspicion which had grown like a hunting nightmare into his very life. The shock of finding that he himself had contributed to his own daughter's downfall causes the father's suicide and the capture of the entire opium smuggling gang.

Dir: Phillips Smalley

A poor shopgirl is offered a "good time" for a week by the son of her employer. She accepts, but the offer is misunderstood by her brother, who informs the girl's parents of her "fling."

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

Dir: Phillips Smalley

Mrs. Forbes, longtime housekeeper at the country mansion of disappointed, embittered aristocrat Mr. Evringham, who is almost a luxurious recluse, is worried: the household has been turned upside-down by the advent of the wife of Evringham's dead son Lawrence, who has arrived with her daughter Eloise. The mother is a schemer who, reduced to her last penny, is pulling every wire to induce wealthy young Dr. Ballard to marry Eloise. It looks as if she is going to succeed and the need for success is imperative because Mr. Evringham is set against his female dependents, whom he might expel from his home at any moment. Then word comes from another son, Harry Evringham, who writes that he and his wife must make a business trip abroad and he asks his father to take Jewel, the child he has never seen, into his home until they return in six weeks. Old Mr. Evringham reluctantly agrees to his son's request. He hates children and is gruff, unresponsive, and self-centered. The only reason he agrees to take the child is because his daughter-in-law, the widow, tries to get him to refuse. He hates this daughter-in-law; therefore takes Jewel in to spite her. Upon her arrival, Jewel meets with a very cool reception. She finds that, according to the Christian Science teachings with which she is familiar, that she has entered a household of hatred and discord. She puts the scriptures and Mrs. Eddy's teachings to practical use and proves to all scoffers that she has found and can demonstrate the truth. Jewel takes a strong liking to her bluff, stern, old grandfather and he finds his heart softening under her influence. She cures herself of a fever which she says came o because a shadow of hatred passed over her for the house's inmates. She wins the heart of the grim housekeeper when she redeems her drunkard son from the grip of the liquor demon, she converts Eloise to the truth of Divine Science, and she proves to everyone that Science can win in spite of all. She reaps a harvest of good from a bleak, barren soil, uniting the strained and jarring household by chain after chain of love.

Dir: Phillips Smalley

Wally Dreislin commits suicide because his family disapproved of his romance with chorus girl Estelle Ryan, the newspapers, delighting in all the details of the affair, turn Estelle into a national celebrity. Fame only increases her power to attract men, and she soon is involved in a romance with Jansen Winthrop, another young man from a wealthy family. Jansen's alarmed mother then begs Robert, her other son, to end the relationship. Obediently, Robert kidnaps Estelle and takes her to a remote hunting lodge with plans to keep her there until she agrees to leave Jansen. After several weeks, however, Robert realizes that Estelle's reputation as a vamp has been completely engineered by the press. As a result, Robert sends for Jansen to retrieve his sweetheart, but when he arrives, Estelle announces that she has fallen in love with her abductor, and then begins a romance with him.

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

Dir: Phillips Smalley

Fenella, a poor Italian girl, falls in love with a Spanish nobleman, but their affair triggers a revolution and national catastrophe.

Dir: Phillips Smalley

Accustomed to flirting and dropping every suitor at her feet, Cora Madison - a young woman belonging to one of the most prominent families in the city - collides with Valentine Corliss, a newcomer.

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

Dir: Phillips Smalley

John Wall meets his new sweetheart and takes her to the movies; his neglected wife Anne follows them there. Molly, disobeying her parents, meets her boyfriend at the same theater. A working man with his wife and children, all obsessed with the sordidness of their lives, also attend the movie, as does a dishonorable young man. They watch a film called 'Life's Mirror' in which they see their own lives turned into dramas, complete with possible "final curtains.": Molly, who refuses to listen to her parents, sees her motion-picture surrogate give birth to an illegitimate child after she is abandoned by her boyfriend; Anne Wall, tired of the phoniness of John's wealthy family and friends, deserts him and their children to return to the slums and do charity work for the needy. After the movie, John, sadder but wiser, leaves his sweetheart and goes home with Anne, Molly decides to apologize to her parents, the working man's family realizes that they must look to the future, and the young man promises to lead a more responsible life.

Dir: Phillips Smalley

When Betty arrives from the Convent to visit her uncle's family they are careful to hide all the extreme low-necked gowns and other worldly things lest they shock the devout convent girl. Instead of shocking, Betty finds them fascinating and they install in her a desire to learn more about the fascinations of the world. When Jim Denning proposes to her, she says she loves him but she must see the world first. Angrily he leaves her as she sits beside the fireplace, whose dreamy flames inspire her to tempt a knowledge of things unknown to her. Out into the world she goes, where she sees and learns many things but with pangs and heartache. At a vital moment when she is about to faint dead away, the faithful Jim arrives and catches her in his arms. Betty awakens to find it has all been just a dream, and faithful Jim has no problem convincing her of the full meaning of a home and that the world and its false promises are not for her.

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

Dir: Phillips Smalley

In 1840, while California is ruled by Mexico, American settlers are in constant danger from Mexican marauders. After a band of Mexican soldiers led by American renegade George Granville kill the parents of Leonardo Davis, he vows vengeance and begins a career as a masked highwayman who terrorizes the Mexican offenders. Because Leonardo gives his plunder to those Americans who have been robbed, and he protects the women, children, poor, and helpless from attacks, he becomes known as "Captain Courtesy." At the San Fernando Mission, Leonardo falls in love with Eleanor, the orphaned ward of Father Reinaldo. For Eleanor's sake, Leonard renounces his mission of vengeance and joins the California Riflemen. When Granville learns about a cache of gold hidden at the Mission, he organizes an attack. Leonardo crashes through the stained glass window on his horse and rides to General Stephen Kearny's troops encamped in Los Angeles, who then rout the Mexicans. When Granville boldly admits that he slew the Davises, Leonardo fights him, but Eleanor persuades him to spare Granville's life.

Dir: Phillips Smalley

K is a mysterious man who settles into a small town and becomes a beloved figure there. However, when the life of his rival in love suddenly depends on K's previously unsuspected abilities, his past life is revealed.