Editor's Top Picks Following the Footsteps of Winner Take All: Cult...

Dir: Unknown Director

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Charley Chase

A young married couple volunteer to take charge of several orphans after the asylum has burned down. Of course they find their hands full with their troublesome charges.

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

Dir: Maurice Campbell

Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.

Dir: Alfred Santell

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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

Dir: Hal Roach

An American book salesman (Lloyd) is persuaded to go to the kingdom of Thermosa to impersonate the Prince. He is greeted by a peasants' revolt before the real prince shows up to claim his throne and princess. The revolution succeeds, and the American is elected president of the new republic.

Dir: Robert Thornby

Mary Willard takes over her father's railroad after his death. Her major competitor is a ruthless crook named Harvey Judson. She arranges for Judson to be kidnapped and taken to an isolated spot deep in the forest and turned loose to fend for himself. She accompanies the kidnappers to the wild and Judson, not knowing who she is, begins to fall in love with her. Complications ensue.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Main 1-2-3 perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Jerome Storm

Ne'er-do-well Homer Cavender ventures to the city from Mainsville in an effort to find fame and fortune. Both elude him, and after clerking for two years, Homer returns home for a vacation. Impressed by his flashy clothes, the townspeople assume that Homer has achieved success. Attempting to win Rachel Prouty from his rival, Arthur Machim, Homer continues the deception by announcing that his employer, Kort and Bailly, has dispatched him to enroll stockholders for a proposed new plant to be built in Mainsville. Machim discovers the sham and denounces Homer as a crook. Meanwhile, Homer returns to New York, convinces his employers of the merits of his plan and comes home triumphant, with a proposal for both the new plant and for Rachel's hand in marriage.

Dir: Unknown Director

The Judge needs a present for his wife's birthday, so Harry suggests a new corset. They go to the shop, but he's so embarrassed to ask the saleslady he hides in a phone booth.Harry goes in, but finds a GUY wearing one, and runs out.They both dress as women to get back in, but Mrs. Rummy gets there and chases him out.

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

Dir: Alfred Santell

Two foreigners own a hardware and plumbing store. The Amalgamated Hardware Company, a trust, make Mike and Louie an offer on their place, which they refuse. Amid their denunciation of the trust Madge and her sweetheart, Jack Kennedy, enter. Jack has come to ask Madge's uncles for her hand, but they will give Jack no answer. That evening Madge is told the story of her life. Her father, while mining in the West, was killed by a blast and she has been raised by Mike and Louie, who are informed by John Andrews that her father passed away leaving nothing. Jack's father, "Boss" Kennedy, is the silent partner with John Andrews, none other than the former partner to Madge's father, in the Amalgamated Hardware Company. Though a crook, Kennedy endeavors to keep his actions from his boy. Andrews and Kennedy decide to squash the two Dutchmen by opening a store across the street and underselling them. Eventually the trust forces the foreigners out of business. Madge gets a position in a laundry where an alkaline tank explodes and blinds her. Andrews and Kennedy argue and vow "to get" each other. Mike and Louie read that a specialist has come to town, who can perform an operation upon the blind which will enable them to see, but charges $300 for his service. Mike and Louie offer to sell their store to Kennedy, who refuses them. He refers them to Andrews if they are in search of charity. Leaving Jack in charge of the store, Mike and Louie visit Andrews. Introducing Madge as Miss Morton, the Dutchmen do not notice that Andrews is surprised. He informs them that he will think about it. Madge's name causes visions of the past and Andrews sees his old partner as he died begging Andrews to take care of his child, for which he wills him one-half interest in his mine. After Morton's death the mine paid enormously and Andrews took no further interest in Madge other than to inform her guardians that she had been left nothing by her father. Andrews is informed that Kennedy is double-crossing him and that Jack is caring for the store across the street. Andrews buys the store for $500. Crooks learn that Mike and Louie have $500 and that night rob them of their money. The crooks are captured and in the night court Mike and Louie accuse them. The crooks send for Kennedy who arrives with Jack, and the "Boss" has his henchmen released and Mike and Louie get the worst end of it. Jack, realizing his father's actions, demands an explanation, which results in an argument and the boy leaves his father's house. Intent upon revenge, Mike and Louie steal into Kennedy's house and rob him of $500, which pays for Madge's operation. Inspired by their success, they go out to make another haul and accidentally get into Andrews' home, where they rob his private safe and get a tin box which they take home. On opening it, they find evidence to prove Andrews' guilt and resolve on revenge. Madge is released from the hospital, able to see again. Andrews in attempting to get even with Kennedy, frames circumstantial evidence proving Jack guilty of stealing the tin box. In the court trial everything is going against Jack when Mike and Louie jump up and confess. Andrews makes a get-away, but Mike and Louie are sentenced to two years in State prison. For one year they are remorseful but later are shown as trusted trusties. They speak to their fellow convicts and impress upon them the folly of wrong-doing; they avert a break in the prison, and are in truth "beloved rogues." One day they are called to the warden's house to set a banquet table, where they are interrupted by the entrance of Madge, Jack Kennedy, the Governor of the State, and a clergyman, and invited to the wedding of Madge, having been released by the Governor.

Dir: Richard Smith

Two female candidates for Chief of Police live across the hall from each other, and their political rivalry follows them home, leading to plenty of hi-jinks.