Rare Cinematic Gems Exploring the Legacy of Wild Winship's Widow: C...

Dir: Charles Miller

Sylvia Maynard is a stenographer for a theatrical producer and tries to prove to her boss, that she can act by posing as a society woman at a lavish house party. Don Meredith, the struggling playwright who wrote the work in which Sylvia wishes to star, also masquerades as a famous writer at the party in order to prove that the central thesis of his play is valid: that one can pose in any role in high society and get away with it. Sylvia, introduced as the widow of Captain Milton Brown, falls in love with Don, but her joy turns to panic when her supposedly dead husband suddenly appears. The amused captain allows Sylvia to continue her impersonation for a time but advises her to leave the party. Don, heartbroken, also leaves, but after several adventures in which he helps Sylvia retrieve papers stolen during the party by a German spy, the two lovers are reunited in their true identities, and the play debuts successfully.

Dir: Charles Miller

After his wife/model dies of starvation with her portrait unfinished, an impoverished artist meets another woman with a striking resemblance to her.

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

Dir: Charles Miller

Jim Morrison, an English army officer who comes from a very old and prominent family, marries the ravishingly beautiful but unscrupulous Cleo, who has no qualms about using her sexual allure to get the luxuries she wants but that her husband can't provide. When Jim is sent off to war, Cleo embarks on a series of affairs, one of which results in her becoming the love slave of a German spy--the very spy that her husband has been assigned to track down.

Dir: Charles Miller

Vera Souroff, a young Russian girl, is seized on the street and dragged into a room where three officers of the Czar's guard have been dining. The lights are turned out and the girl is outraged. The crime is brought to the attention of the Czar. Vera cannot tell which of the three officers is the guilty man. The Czar orders Count Nicho, the eldest of the three officers, to marry the girl, and makes them all turn over their fortunes to her. They are then sent to prison. The revolution breaks out. Vera saves her husband at the risk of her own life, as she wishes to wring from him the name of the man that violated her. Nicho, now honestly in love with his wife, admits that he was her assaulter, and the couple clasp each other in a fervent embrace.

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

Dir: Charles Miller

Rejected by the townspeople because her father is a squatter, Tess Skinner nevertheless wins the love of the wealthy Frederick Graves, who secretly marries her. When Frederick's mother insists that he marry heiress Madelene Waldersticker, he lacks the courage to admit that he is already married and instead acquiesces to his mother's wishes. For her husband's sake, Tess conceals his crime of bigamy. When her baby is due, Tess is summoned before a council of churchmen and banished from the church because she refuses to name her betrayer. Left alone upon the death of her father, Tess is shielded by Mr. Young, a middle-aged admirer who offers her and her baby the protection of his home. Several years later, Frederick dies of a heart attack and Tess rewards her faithful friend by becoming his wife.

Dir: Charles Miller

While covering a sensational divorce case, reporter Janice Salsbury becomes disillusioned with the institution of marriage. Convinced that her impending marriage to fellow reporter Billy Williams will result in a loss of her freedom, Janice breaks her engagement and enters a period of Bohemian living. Her mentor, elderly Phillips Hartley, sadly watches as Janice's friends lose all respect for her and finally succeeds in effecting a reconciliation between Billy and Janice.

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

Dir: Charles Miller

Margot Hughes is a butterfly society girl who sells herself to the highest bidder. Her husband does not press his ownership "by right of purchase," and she misunderstands his delicacy and she things that love is lost to her. She goes to France to serve the cause of humanity. There they meet again and understanding comes. For the Program: A loveless marriage that turned out differently. - Moving Picture World, February 2, 1918.

Dir: Charles Miller

When a distant Irish relative dies, a young American travels to Ireland to obtain his inheritance. He gets far more than he bargained for when a beautiful Irish colleen catches his eye.

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

Dir: Charles Miller

A homely young girl, lonely and unhappy because she alone of all the girls in her town does not have a soldier sweetheart, pretends to be the fiancée of a famous combat aviator. When the flyer's mother learns of the "engagement," she accepts the girl as her future daughter-in-law, just in time for complications to arise in the form of the truth.

Dir: Charles Miller

Young Samson Oakley III is the only son of Samson Oakley II, the distinguished head of a prominent Wall Street firm. When he is expelled from college--although for an offense he didn't commit--his angry father puts him on a small allowance and basically exiles him. However, when he marries a chorus girl, his father disinherits him altogether. Desperately trying to make some money, the young man discovers he has an innate talent as a safecracker. His newfound skill is put to the test, though, when he discovers that several of his father's crooked colleagues are plotting to take over his father's firm by spreading false rumors about his death and stealing some valuable securities.