The Essential Watchlist that Capture the Essence of When You and I Were Young: Cult Guide

Dir: Alice Guy

Charlotte Baker is drugged and taken to a brothel by Paul, her fiance, who in reality is a pimp. To find her, Charlotte's family contacts the celebrated detective Bob Macauley whose sweetheart Sylvia is a struggling salesgirl and the sole support of her ailing mother. When she is turned down for promotion by her boss, Sylvia applies for a position with a kindly woman who has offered her help. To her horror, Sylvia soon discovers that the woman is a madame and has lured her to the same house of ill repute in which Charlotte is being held captive. Meanwhile, searching for Charlotte, Bob visits the brothel disguised as a gasman and discovers that Sylvia is a resident. Thinking that she is there willingly, Bob upbraids her, but upon discovering the truth he rescues her as well as Charlotte and delivers Paul to the authorities.

Dir: Alice Guy

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

To celebrate the sale of his painting "The Empress", Louis de Baudry invites his model, Nedra for a holiday in the country. After de Baudry has forced his way into Nedra's room, the hotel owner, Peters, photographs the two of them smiling. A year later, Nedra is married to rich Eric Bruce. Peters has blackmail on his mind.

Dir: Alice Guy

Two old fishermen sitting outside of their cabin see a boat at sea on fire. They rush to the life-saving station and report what they have seen. The ship is destroyed and the passengers are lost with the exception of a little boy. One of the old fishermen, who has a little girl the boy's age, decides to adopt him. The children become very fond of each other. Ten years later a New York lawyer comes to the fishing town and wants to adopt the child, but the boy is old enough to decide for himself, and does not want to go. The case is brought to court and it is decided that the child remain with his adopted parents, but that they place the money in the hands of a banker and the guardianship of the lawyer. Not very long afterward the banker is on the verge of bankruptcy and borrows from the boy's money. He has no means of returning it and decides to sell the boy some worthless stock in an unformed corporation. On his visit the banker falls in love with the young girl, now grown to be a beautiful young lady. The boy becomes jealous and seeing the banker kiss the girl fights with him on the edge of a cliff, from which the banker, who is not badly injured, falls. The boy, repentant, helps the banker to his father's house. The girl falls in love with the banker and elopes with him, but he soon neglects her for his gay companions and she returns to her father's home. The banker plans a robbery upon his own bank and is aided by crooks, who dig a tunnel under the bank and enter through the floor of the office. But the banker has already taken the money his confederates seek and flees to the fishing village where his wife is living with her parents. He is followed by the crooks, who trap him into giving them the stolen money. Having been seen by his wife's people, he takes the clothes from a body which is cast up by the sea, placing his own suit upon the unfortunate victim of the waves and placing a suicide note in the coat pocket. He tracks the crooks to a dive in the city and attempts to recover his stolen wealth, in a spectacular fight he follows one of his assailants down a fire rope from the window of a tall building, grappling with him in mid-air. The terrific struggle which ensues ends by the banker plunging headlong to the street below, thus ending his miserable career. The boy and girl live and love, as in their childhood, down by the sea.

Dir: Alice Guy

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

Robert, a poor artist, has a vision of a wonderful Madonna. He seeks a model vainly, until he meets, accidentally, the beautiful Lucille, a woman of the demimonde. She is drawn to the shabby artist, and forsaking her fashionable acquaintances, goes to pose for him. The two fall in love and Robert paints a wonderful picture of the Madonna, using Lucille as his model. Unknown to Robert, Lucille persuades an art merchant she knows to purchase the picture, which speedily brings Robert fame and fortune. The artist and his model are married, but with the access of wealth Robert grows cold in his devotion. Robert meets the Baroness, a woman of the world, who comes to sit for her portrait, and spends most of his leisure with her. Later he meets the Baron, her husband, who has known Lucille before her marriage, and is delighted at Robert's interest in his wife, to whom he is quite indifferent, because he thinks he can thus win Lucille's affections. Robert comes to keep an appointment with the Baron at his house and finds him lying dead in the hall, having just been killed by a workman whom he had wronged. He picks up the knife with which the crime has been committed just as the Baroness and her servants enter. Convinced that he is responsible for the death of her husband, the Baroness accuses Robert. He is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Lucille, whose devotion to Robert remains undiminished, and who resolutely believes in his innocence, becomes a charity worker, devoting her wealth and talents to the poor. A dying workman confesses to her his guilt in the death of the Baron and Lucille takes his deathbed statement in the presence of a notary and the police officials. Robert is freed, but does not seek his wife, believing that she no longer cares for him. Broken in spirit, he goes to the church for consolation, where his painting of the Madonna is hung, seeking solace for his hungry heart in viewing the portrait of Lucille. There the two meet and are reunited before the Madonna.

Dir: Alice Guy

A story of a female motorist that is brought to a resort in the Airondacks. Once brought in to heal from her wounds the male patrons find out that she has a rather bewitching way with men with total disregard of her ways.

Dir: Alice Guy

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Alice Guy

A family drama centered on the domestic life of a couple named Manning. The story explores the stability of their marriage and the challenges they face within their social environment during the early twentieth century.

Dir: Alice Guy

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

A young boy hears wondrous tales of London, where the streets are paced with gold. He leaves his country home to see his fortune in London.

Dir: Alice Guy

Young Martha Redmond, a poor girl from a small town, leaves to find a singing career in New York City. She doesn't find success as a singer, but finds a job as a model for a prominent artist, and soon becomes his mistress. When her lover throws her over to marry the daughter of a wealthy man, she becomes a "fallen women", a plaything for wealthy playboys. She meets Barrett, a millionaire's son, and begins to wonder if she might have a future with him, but it seems like he'll turn out to be just like "all the others".

Dir: Alice Guy

A Parisian doctor, infatuated with the wife of his benefactor, drugs and kidnaps her, and tries to convince the husband that she is dead.