The Essential Watchlist Similar Cinematic Experiences to Where Ligh...

Dir: Colin Campbell

Bruce Wilton has amassed a fortune which he lavishes on his wife Vera. But a note of menace creeps into their happy home. No one hears it at first, except Father Kelly, a priest and Bruce's former tutor. The priest goes quietly to work with his sharpened mental sense to find the person who is causing the adverse influence in the house-hold. When he is on the verge of discovering the cause, calamity sweeps in on Bruce; his fortune is swept away and in a manner that he believe his wife was the cause of his ruin.Husband and wife are separated, divorced and their home is destroyed, and yet the cause remains unknown. But Father Kelly, with his faith that moves mountains, goes on quietly, serenely and confident with but one purpose in mind - the happiness of those he loves.

Dir: Colin Campbell

"Bird," a clerk in Fordham's drugstore, agrees to place a large sum of money in the store's safe for a traveler, but when the man requests a bottle of medicine, Bird poisons the remedy, and the visitor is found dead in his hotel. Bird flees with the money, but several years later he returns, the money long since squandered. Unless Fordham's daughter Eleanor marries him, he threatens, he will tell the police that Fordham committed the crime. Eleanor's sweetheart, fireman Jack Manley, is puzzled by her involvement with Bird and decides to investigate. By chance, he meets an old alcoholic who once worked for Fordham and possesses the evidence to clear the druggist and convict Bird. The latter, fearing that he will be exposed, cuts the signal wires to Fordham's house and then sets it on fire, but Eleanor telephones the fire station, and the entire department is soon on the scene. Jack risks his life to save Eleanor and the old drunk, who finally exposes Bird. Soon afterwards, Jack and Eleanor climb aboard the fire engine to ride to their own wedding.

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

Dir: Colin Campbell

Daisy Brooks, wife of Roanoke Brooks, night watchman in the factory of Robert Garlan, does not love her husband or her daughter, Elizabeth. Instead, she loves his money and she enters the primrose path with Garlan in order to satisfy her love for finery. Garlan, a roué, also neglects his infant son, Wynne, for worldly pleasures. In time Daisy Brooks' double life is discovered by her husband, and she kills herself in Garlan's mansion. At the appearance of Roanoke, who has followed, Garlan jumps from a window and kills himself. Roanoke buys a little farm where he lives with his daughter. With the passing years, Elizabeth, daughter of Roanoke, reaches womanhood and is known to her father as "Sweet Alyssum." Wynne Garlan, son of Robert Garlan, has grown to manhood and has married a woman of the world. Wynne, a poor bank clerk, is unable to provide for his wife in the way she wishes and she enters into an affair with Thurlow, the cashier of the bank where Wynne is employed. Thurlow steals from the bank and causes Wynne to be suspected of the crime. Wynne, in terror of arrest, escapes, and arrives in the country near Roanoke Brooks' farm. Sweet Alyssum dreams that her father's land has developed into an immense oil field. She pleads with him to dig for oil and he does so. Wynne Garlan, who has assumed the name of Wyatt, secures employment on Roanoke Brooks' farm. Wynne, later becomes a school teacher and Sweet Alyssum, his pupil, loves him dearly. He, for a time, withstands the innocent young girl's endearments but finally succumbs to her beauty and they elope and are married. When Roanoke Brooks hears of the marriage he is overcome with anger, but as he confronts the pair upon their return to the farm, oil is discovered. Joyful because Alyssum's dream has been realized, Roanoke Brooks forgives the couple and they reside with him. Two years pass by and Sweet Alyssum has become a mother. The oil fields have prospered and all is happiness in Roanoke Brooks' home. Thurlow, the crooked bank clerk, has not prospered during these years and finally wanders to the oil fields. There he sees Wynne Garlan. Thurlow informs the sheriff of the county that Wynne Garlan, known there as Wyatt, is a crook, and that if he is married he is guilty of bigamy for he has a wife living. The sheriff, upon Thurlow's instigations, telegraphs to New York and receives a reply to hold Wynne Garlan, who is wanted by the law. The justice of the peace, who is a friend of Roanoke Brooks and of Sweet Alyssum, goes to Roanoke's home to break the sad news. Roanoke determines to take the law into his own hands. The prosecuting attorney of the county also appears to get information from Sweet Alyssum concerning her husband's actions. When Sweet Alyssum is informed that her husband is accused of bigamy, she sacrifices even her own reputation for him and exclaims: "He cannot be charged with bigamy, for we were never married." Wynne Garlan leaves the magistrate's office and goes to Roanoke Brooks' home. As he enters the gate, he is seen by Roanoke Brooks, who seizes a rifle. As he is about to fire on Wynne, Sweet Alyssum places her little child between her father's rifle and her husband. Then a message comes from the police department of the city which reads as follows: "Garlan obtained divorce two years ago. No charge against him for bank robbery. Hold Thurlow. He is your man." Then it is that the girl tells her father that what she said about Wynne not marrying her was false as she wanted to protect him from arrest. And as Roanoke Brooks gathers his beloved daughter into his arms and shakes Wynne by the hand, the magistrate and the prosecuting attorney retire from the scene and are later instrumental in capturing Thurlow.

Dir: Colin Campbell

Caleb Conover, a railroad section boss, marries Letty, the daughter of a man of higher social standing, after rescuing her from harassment in a rough Italian neighborhood. By unrelenting force and tenacity, Conover becomes the corrupt political boss of his county, and the railroad president. His son Gerald refuses to work, and marries a chorus girl who is after his money and who retains her former lover. When Conover's daughter Vera returns from Europe supposedly married to a prince, Conover throws an elaborate reception and drunkenly nominates himself for governor. Anice Lanier, Conover's trusted secretary, to whom he is attracted, likes Clive Standish, a lawyer Conover cannot corrupt. After she steals compromising letters Conover wrote to his broker, Conover learns that Anice is the daughter of a man he earlier ruined. When Letty informs him that Vera's "prince" was untitled, the marriage not legal, and that she is starving in Paris, Conover, his drive now gone, loses the election to Standish.

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

Dir: Colin Campbell

A man is found guilty of murdering a woman by way of circumstantial evidence, and is executed. Afterwards, it is discovered that his supposed victim is not dead at all, but working as a prostitute in a Western city. Scenario was written for the screen by Maibelle Heikes Justice, who was an outspoken opponent of capital punishment.

Dir: Colin Campbell

New York broker Bruce Corbin comes to Kentucky to force Allan Pomeroy, whom Bruce can prove is a forger, to give him his daughter Ruth in marriage. Even though she loves Spencer Vail, Ruth agrees, and despite Pomeroy's death, they wed. Ruth soon discovers that Bruce, to avenge his father's death in a feud with the Pomeroys, married her so that she would be childless, thus ending the Pomeroy family. Because Bruce was born during a thunderstorm, he temporarily goes insane whenever he hears a thunderbolt and forgets his actions while affected. Knowing this, Ruth seduces him during a storm, the night before he is to leave for a year. Later, when Bruce sees Ruth's child, he starts to choke it, believing it to be Vail's, but Ruth stops him by telling him of the stormy night. After four years in a distant marriage pass, Bruce loses his fortune because of another thunderbolt. Ruth leaves, but later they are reconciled because of the child.

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

Dir: Colin Campbell

Surrounded by a group of children, poet James Whitcomb Riley narrates the story of Little Orphant Annie, who loses her mother at an early age and is sent to an orphanage. Annie charms the other children with her stories of goblins and elves until her uncle comes to claim her. He and her aunt force Annie into a life of drudgery, treating her so cruelly that Big Dave, a neighboring farmer, takes her from them and places her in the charge of the kindly Squire Goode and his wife. Big Dave, who intends to marry Annie, is called away to fight in World War I. When Annie hears the news that he has been killed, she pretends to be gravely ill but wakes up to learn that it has all been a dream.

Dir: Colin Campbell

Former college football hero Kirk Anthony, to the disappointment of his father, a railroad magnate, refuses to enter the business world. Kirk prefers to coach the university team and carouse, until he is drugged during a drunken victory party and put aboard a steamer bound for Panama by an embezzler who switches clothes with him. During the trip, Mrs. Edith Cortlandt, who has married her diplomat husband for convenience, falls in love with Kirk. In Panama, Kirk and Allan Allan, a Jamaican friend, are arrested when Kirk's efforts to use American firefighting methods cause a riot. After Mrs. Cortlandt's influence gets Kirk out of jail and into a job, he falls in love with Chiquita Garavel, the daughter of a Spanish grandee. When Mrs. Cortlandt warns Kirk not to marry Chiquita, her husband overhears. He insults Kirk in public, and Kirk vows revenge. After Cortlandt commits suicide, and Kirk, who has secretly married Chiquita, is arrested, Mrs. Cortlandt withholds Cortlandt's suicide note, but Kirk's father arrives and convinces her to help arrange Kirk's release.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Who Shall Take My Life? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Colin Campbell

Miss Otis nearly hits a derelict with her car, and out of sympathy she gives him some money and advises him to "clean up and keep clean." Soon after, the derelict meets Esther, an anarchist who involves him in a plot to blackmail a banker. When he realizes that Miss Otis is the banker's daughter, the derelict tears up the banker's check but is arrested and committed to an asylum. Esther, who is in love with the derelict, helps him escape, and he resolves to attain a position of wealth and importance. After he earns his fortune, he rejects Esther's affections and asks Miss Otis to marry him.

Dir: Colin Campbell

U.S. Secret Service agent Truxton Darnley attires himself as a sailor and boards a schooner owned by Gus Olsen, who has been employed by a German spy named Von Linterman to smuggle arms to German raiders in the South Seas. During the voyage, Truxton learns that Gus and his men plan to blow up the National Munitions Plant in San Francisco, but Gus discovers his identity and throws him overboard. Truxton is washed ashore on the island of Moana, where he meets and falls for Lurline, the daughter of beachcomber "Brandy" Cain. Promising to return to her, Truxton boards a steamer bound for San Francisco in the hope of saving the munitions plant, and soon afterwards, Brandy sells Lurline into marriage with Gus. Seeing Truxton's steamer, Lurline dives from Gus's schooner, and her sweetheart rescues her. In San Francisco, Gus abducts Lurline and forces her to dance in his Barbary Coast saloon, but Truxton and his men raid the bar, and Gus is killed. After receiving the happy news that her real father is the owner of the munitions plant, Lurline joins Truxton, the man of her dreams.