Top-Tier Alternatives Exploring the Legacy of When Broadway Was a Trail: Cult Guide

Dir: O.A.C. Lund

George Arden and his wife, Jeanette, enter a deserted house in the woods and Jeanette, in a weakened condition is placed by her husband on a straw-covered cot. He then hastens to camp for a doctor. As he is going past a saloon in the town, he is hit in the head by a stray bullet. He falls prostrate to the ground where he is later found by Joe, a Canadian half-breed, who, with the aid of three friends, tries to stop the flow of blood. Joe goes to the cabin where he sees that Jeanette has given birth to a child and is in a dying condition. The crowd from the dance hall is homeward bound when the light from the cabin attracts their attention and some of the women enter. Louise picks up the infant and another woman bends down over the still form of the mother. Next day we see George in the back room of the saloon. His reason is gone and he has lost the power of speech. He finds a cave and draws back into it for refuge. Joe is appointed godfather at the christening of the motherless infant. He says, "She came to us like the autumn wind. Let her name be Autumn." There is a lapse of fifteen years. Autumn has been brought up by her godfather. Outside the Golden Eagle Saloon stands "Nobody." Right below his eye is a scar from a bullet wound. In the gambling room of the Eagle saloon we see Kate, her lingers covered with diamonds. At the other end of the table sits a gambler known as Diamond Jack, with whom she is apparently in love. The scene shifts to the headquarters of the Royal Mounted Police, where Trooper Dick is told that a Chinaman, Hop Lee, has been trying for fifteen years to find George Arden. Dick is given an old-fashioned photograph with an autograph of George Arden and is assigned by his captain to make a search for the missing miner. Dirk arrives at Camp Eldora and makes the acquaintance of "Autumn." Joe induces Diamond Kate to provide a fine dress for Autumn, so that she can go to the ball that evening to attract customers. Dick proceeds to the dance hall and presently Autumn, clad in the new dress Kate has given her, comes in to watch the game. Dick and Autumn recognize each other. Thinking he is unnoticed, Jack spins the wheel quickly and moves his hand to the corner of the table to pull off a crooked deal. As Jack's hand disappears underneath the edge of the table we see Dick grasp it and hold it in a firm grip. With his other hand Jack draws a gun and shatters the lamp chimney, putting the house in almost total darkness. Autumn hides behind the shutter. A group of men move toward her holding on high the apparently lifeless body of Dick, which they throw into the river below. Autumn rouses "Nobody" and draws him toward the rapids, where they throw a rope to Dick, who has revived. By an investigation of the contents of a crevice in the wall of the cave in which "Nobody" lives Dick learns the identity of the mysterious person. Kate the next day watches Jack leave the saloon and follows him. Joe meanwhile leads Autumn up to the cross-road of the trail leading to Frenchy's cabin, where he has promised Jack to bring her. Kate sees Jack enter the cabin. He draws Autumn to him and kisses her passionately. Kate opens the door and dashes the contents of the pepper castor into Autumn's face. It blinds her. She then fires at Jack. Dick, walking along the trail, turns quickly as he hears the shot. Kate presses the gun into Autumn's hand and disappears into the next room. Dick enters and sees that Autumn still holds the hot revolver in her hand. Kate returns to the room with a surprised expression and Dick takes from her shoulders the shawl which shows a smoking hole through which the bullet had passed. Dick question the two girls and each denies her guilt. The crowd insists that Jack must be avenged and clamor to have both women hanged. A man seizes a coiled lariat from the wall and the mob leads the two girls to a tree nearby. Dick dispatches a boy to ride to headquarters to summon the mounted police. A horse is led under the hanging noose and as the mob makes a dash at the terrified women Dick holds up his hand and says. "Wait. The gallows shall decide between them; the innocent shall hang the guilty." Then addressing Kate, he says, "You say you are innocent. Are you prepared to hang this woman?" Kate shouts, "Fling the murderess on the horse at once and give me the whip." The mounted police are now in sight. Dick puts the same question to Autumn, asking her if she is prepared to hang Kate. Autumn moans, "I cannot." Dick exults at Autumn's answer and says to the crowd, "Judge for yourselves who is the guilty one." Kate makes a dash to escape through the crowd, which yells, "Hang the murderess." The mob gets Kate away from Dick. The mounted police pull up their horses and raise their rifles. The noose is about Kate's neck and the mob are about to draw it. Six rifles blaze away. The rope is severed and Kate falls fainting upon the horse's neck. Dick delivers his prisoner to the mounted police. Later we see Dick at the headquarters with "Nobody." Hop Lee enters and "Nobody" gives no sign of recognition. Captain Mills, who is on duty, questions both men searchingly. The surgeon declares it to be a case of lost memory resulting from a bullet wound which a successful operation will cure. Two weeks later "Nobody's" memory has been restored. He knows he is George Arden, but the past fifteen years remain a blank. He recalls that he left his wife in an old abandoned cabin near Camp Elora, but believes that this only happened yesterday. Dick takes "Nobody" to the old cabin in an effort to solve the mystery and "Nobody" remembers the cabin. Joe is prowling around the woods with his gun and with him is Autumn. Autumn, seeing the two men, approaches to ascertain what they want. "Nobody" sees her coming and takes her for his wife. A light dawns upon Dick. He summons Joe and asks, "Where is the girl's mother?" Joe answers, "She died here fifteen years ago." Then he points to her grave through the window. The mystery is solved and Dick makes his report to headquarters. A year later Dick and Autumn plan their marriage.

Dir: O.A.C. Lund

Col. Brendon, Chief of the English Diplomatic office, upon his departure for France, turns the office over to Capt. Mills, with the understanding that Jim Clifford, one of the ablest men in the Secret Service, will assist him. Among the papers left in Capt. Mills' care is a valuable document marked "File 117." Capt. Mills invites the boys of the war office to his apartment to play cards. Jim goes but does not play. He amazes them by explaining that he possesses the almost uncanny ability to tell the value of his opponents' hand. Capt. Mills loses heavily. In a rage he accuses Jim of being a sharp, and that he has been assisting one of the players by coaching him from behind. Jim resents this, and in a quarrel that follows Capt. Mills throws a glass of whiskey in his face. Later, his friends convince the Captain that he was in the wrong and owes Jim an apology. The Captain apologizes, but decides to give him an impossible task to perform and thus discredit him. Capt. Mills goes to the war office that night and abstracts "File 117" and the next day instructs Jim to search for it. At the end of a week he rebukes Jim for his unsuccessful search. Capt. Mills and Jim are invited by Lady Marion to spend the weekend at her place in the country. Capt. Mills accepts the invitation, but Jim remains behind to continue his search. He meets a cabman who asks him to return a cigarette case the Captain left in his cab a week before. Jim questions the cabman and learns that the Captain went to the war office after the card game in his home. Jim breaks into Capt. Mills' apartment, and after drugging the butler searches the premises. He fails to find the missing paper. Jim then learns that Capt. Mills is going with the weekend party for a short cruise in the beautiful Grace Weston's yacht. He disguises himself and succeeds in getting aboard. The next day the yacht tears a great hole in her side, when she crashes into treacherous drift ice. The entire party and crew, excepting Grace and Jim, get away in the lifeboats and are picked up by a steamer and taken back to England. Jim picks Miss Weston out of the water, in an unconscious condition, and takes her aboard a life raft. They land on an island along the coast. When they become hungry Jim suggests that he try to catch some fish, and asks his companion if she can spare anything from her apparel to use for a fishing line. While unlacing a string from her corset, she accidentally drops the missing papers from her bodice, which Mills had given her to keep for him. She recovers the papers quickly, but Jim decides to get them. The next day Jim and Grace are rescued, and taken back to England. In the meantime Col. Brendon has heard of the missing file, and calls Capt. Mills to task. The Captain, thinking the papers are lost with Grace, and knowing that Jim is mysteriously missing, places the blame upon him. Jim arrives, tells the Colonel of his experience, and is promptly promoted. Capt. Mills is dismissed from the service, and Grace, learning the truth of matters, finds that she has a growing interest in Jim.

Dir: O.A.C. Lund

Although Margaret "Peg" Martyn of the Carolina territory loves Terry, a poor poet, her father, Sir Wyndham Martyn, wishes her to marry the ancient Arthur Elliott. At the engagement party, Peg's wish that "the pirates might get her" comes true when Captain Bones and his men ransack Martyn's estate and carry Peg off to their ship. The most vicious mate of the crew, Flatnose Tim, wants to kill Peg, so to save herself, she feigns death. The pirates are about to bury her in their secret treasure cave when she fools them into believing that she is a ghost. After Tim discovers her deception, however, she is taken back to the ship, where Terry, now commanding his own ship and crew, rescues her. Impressed with Terry's bravery, Sir Martyn finally blesses the poet's marriage to his daughter, after which the couple returns to the cave to retrieve the pirate treasure.

Dir: O.A.C. Lund

The mining district of Cobalt, Ontario, is the setting for the greater share of the picture, and there is careful attention paid to the scenes taken on board the millionaire's yacht, when Gresham is determined to get to his bank in time to prove to the clearing house committee that he is solvent and in so doing foils the Baylis attempt to take his mine away from him. It is not alone for the control of the mine that there is a struggle, but there is a girl in the story who is sought after by the two big men. Alice Chandler is worth the struggle. For a long time there seems little hope for Gresham, but the great moment comes when he is able to save Alice's life by carrying her to safety through a wild day, in which they both are at the mercy of the overflowing waters from a dam.

Dir: O.A.C. Lund

Honor, an orphan who relates stories about the Land of Heart's Desire to the neighbor's poverty-stricken children, is adopted by a wealthy United States senator, Stanley Middleton. When World War I erupts, Middleton becomes too concerned with affairs of state to notice his wife Irma having an affair with Frank Schiller, a German agent, who merely is using Irma to secure information. Finally, the senator sees the silhouettes of Schiller and his wife in an embrace, but Irma accuses Honor, and the girl is turned out of the house. The next day, Irma is caught giving Schiller secret papers and the two are killed. Honor weds Middleton's secretary, Chester Holbrooke, and the couple plans to care for the heartbroken senator.

Dir: O.A.C. Lund

The story relates how a hunchback in revenge against a woman who has repulsed him, lures her stepdaughter to the stage and assists her to become a dancer. The girl, whose name is Elaine, has two lovers, for one of whom, John Butler, she forms a sincere attachment. Her stepmother goes to see her dance, and the hunchback, still enraged at her, murders the woman. The hunchback goes mad and is killed by falling from a cliff. Butler, Elaine's lover, is accused of killing him. but Elaine clears him of the charge by proving the hunchback was the murderer of her stepmother. Elaine and Butler find that their mutual loves will make them happy in marriage.

Dir: O.A.C. Lund

Phoebe Lester, a little country girl, whispers to her pet hen, "You've laid an egg for a man from New York. Ain't you proud?" and while taking breakfast to Philip, the new boarder, who came from that distant place, she gazes at him as if he has come from an unknown land. Returning to the city with a newfound love and regained health, Philip struggles to sell his poems to bring his "egg" girl to her New York. In the meantime, Phoebe's brown hen proves to be a golden one, and her egg money buys a ticket to Philip and her Wonderland. On the train, Laura, a flashily-dressed woman, meets Phoebe and, tempting her with a nice new dress, takes her to her house. There, Owen, a former employer of Philip, is fascinated by her simplicity. Such grandeur and strange "fizzy" drinks overwhelm her, but Providence intervenes, when the little brown hen hops into the street with Phoebe scrambling after. A big-hearted policeman finds her and takes her to Philip, and acts as "bridesmaid" at their wedding. Their little home, built on much love and little food, is brightened by the adoption of Johnny, an abandoned baby, that Philip finds on the dumbwaiter. Johnny brings good luck and Philip secures a good job through Owen and in nicer quarters their cup of happiness seems to be full, when Owen, to further his ends, contrives to get Philip to gamble with borrowed money. Phoebe, convinced by trickery, that Philip is unfaithful, is heart-broken and believes that love and her New York are unreal after all. But, the yielding, grief-stricken country girl awakens Owen's better self, and with his help the unhappy household is reunited.

Dir: O.A.C. Lund

A Nihilist Russian, Olga Petcoff goes after her younger sister killer, only to find herself being the romantic interest of several military men willing to wage war to win her heart.

Dir: O.A.C. Lund

Because she has been dishonored by playboy John Radon, Stella Dean, a simple country girl, flees to the city to hide her guilt. There she develops a reputation as a profligate member of the chorus line, and eventually obtains great wealth as the courtesan known as the Black Nightingale. One day she meets Milton Taylor, an artist from her home town who knew her when she was an innocent country girl, and he prevails upon her to pose as his model of the Madonna. Stella agrees and is cleansed by the experience. When Milton discovers Stella's reputation, however, he begins to drink and leaves her, his illusions shattered. Repentant, Stella converts her mansion into a refuge for foundlings and returns to her home town of Pleasantville where, her soul cleansed, she is reconciled with Milton.

Dir: O.A.C. Lund

Dorian Keene, a broker, who has lost most of his money in Wall Street, and his wife, Florence, dissatisfied with her lot, wants a divorce. Out of his great love for her, Dorian agrees to allow her to have it. While the papers are being prepared Sanders, Florence's god-father, confesses to Dorian that he has misappropriated funds belonging to Florence. He fears an exposure, since she is getting a divorce, and may demand an accounting. Dorian promises to do what he can to protect Sanders. They go to Dorian's hunting lodge, where Florence agrees to meet Dorian with her lawyer. There Sanders weakens and tells Florence of the missing funds. She turns upon him in a violent temper. A maid hears them quarreling and soon afterward hears a shot. Hurrying into the room she finds Sanders dead with a bullet wound in his temple. She tells Dorian that Florence has killed Sanders. In his devotion to his wife, Dorian takes the blame for the crime. Then he escapes in an automobile. Down the road Dorian encounters a highwayman who holds him up, takes his clothing and the machine, and leaves his outfit with the bewildered broker. Further along the road the automobile goes over a steep embankment and the car is burned. The body of the highwayman is charred beyond recognition, and everyone thinks it is Dorian. Dorian, penniless, wanders to the water front in New York, intending to take a ship for Europe. There he learns that Henry Morgan, a fellow broker, who was instrumental in making Florence dissatisfied with her lot, has bought his old yacht, the Sea Gull, and is arranging for a smuggling expedition. Morgan has lost nearly all his money, and, in desperation, has taken a contract to smuggle Chinese into this country for a thousand dollars a head. Dorian succeeds in getting a job aboard the yacht as a stoker. The yacht puts to sea, and when some distance from land, meets another vessel, from which the Chinese are taken aboard. As the yacht nears New York, Dorian, after many thrilling incidents, gains control of the wireless apparatus, and notifies the Federal authorities of the smuggling scheme. A revenue cutter meets the yacht and the captain and crew are arrested. The captain names Morgan as the man higher up. Meanwhile Morgan has been pressing his suit with Florence, who, believing her husband dead, has agreed to marry Morgan. Instead, he urges her to come to him without a ceremony. Florence then spurns him, and realizing his true nature turns her thoughts to Dorian. Then the government agents call to arrest Morgan, and at the same time she learns that her husband is alive. Florence sends for Dorian, welcomes him home, and together they tear up the papers for the proposed divorce, which she has kept in her possession.