The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of Wrath of the Seas:...

Dir: Donatien

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Dallas M. Fitzgerald

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

Returning to England a hero after saving a British garrison in India, Leigh Dering marries Jean Desmond, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Humiliated by the patronage of his wealthy father-in-law, Leigh turns to drink, estranging him from Jean. Returning home one night he finds the body of his wife's father. When Jean accuses her husband of the crime, Leigh disappears, making it seem as if he has been killed in a railway accident. Five years pass and Leigh has become a victim of drink and drugs, barely existing in India. Jean marries Willoughby, an unscrupulous officer who was forced to leave India when his betrayal of the Rajah's sister earned the enmity of the ruler, thus endangering the garrison that Leigh had rescued. When Willoughby returns to India with his new wife, the Rajah seizes upon the opportunity for revenge. Planning to blow up the palace during a reception, the Rajah is thwarted by Leigh. In a rage, the Rajah kills Willoughby in hand-to-hand combat, thereby permitting the reconciliation between Jean and Leigh, who have already paid the price of redemption.

Dir: Harry Garson

Marta Estevan is ready to leave the convent where she has been reared. Dona Luisa Artega, mother of Rafael and the young girl's guardian, arranges a marriage between the two, because she thinks that Marta's influence will rescue her son from the wild life he is leading and make a man of him. Marta rescues the American Bryton, when he is attacked by Indians, and falls in love with him. Rafael's mother sends Bryton away by telling him that the girl has entered a convent for life, and after telling Marta that Bryton had been killed on the trail she exacts a vow from the girl that she will marry her son. Marta marries Rafael. Bryton comes back after the marriage and after Marta has found out the true character of her husband. The story moves on from this point to a happy ending, but with much action of tense and strenuous nature in between. - Moving Picture World, May 15, 1920.

Dir: Cecil M. Hepworth

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

A soldier's tunic button, made from Aladdin's lamp, grants his wishes.

Dir: Maurice Tourneur

Having endangered his life by foolishly gambling away funds entrusted to him by the Carbonari, an Italian secret society, London banker Bernard Huddlestone appeals to Northmour, an adventurer, for protection. Northmour takes Huddlestone and his daughter Clara to his castle in Scotland, offering them safety in return for Clara's hand in marriage. There Clara encounters Frank Cassilis, an old adversary of Northmour's, and falls in love. Trouble brews between the two men, but when the Carbonari discovers Huddlestone's hiding place and storms the castle, the fugitives band together to fight the avengers. Coming to the realization that only his sacrifice will appease the attackers, Huddlestone steps out and meets his death. Northmour, deciding that married life would prove too monotonous, gives up his claim on Clara to Cassilis.

Dir: Charles Swickard

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Alf's Button perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A young Egyptian goes to the rescue of his employers, a wealthy European family, when they are menaced by a local strongman and his gang.

Dir: Bertram Millhauser

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: William F. Adler

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

A travelogue/documentary including explorations of the fauna and people of Siam, New Guinea, and Java, with interpolations of an apparently fictitious encounter between the filmmakers and cannibalistic natives of Frederick Henry Island in the South Pacific.

Dir: Aubrey M. Kennedy

Wealthy oil magnate Harry Mangin is in love with his competitor James Murdock's daughter Blanche. Mangin schemes to ruin Blanche's father so that the girl will be forced to accept his attention. However, Blanche loves "Sky Eye" Blake, an aviator at the adjoining U. S. aviation field. When Mangin is driven in desperation to muster his own private air force in order to destroy his rival's oil plants, "Sky Eye" takes to the skies to quell the riot. After several daring escapades, "Sky Eye" captures Mangin and wins Blanche for his bride.

Dir: George Beranger

John Fenton visits a fortune-teller to gain insight into his parentage. While there, a police raid occurs, and he climbs the fire escape to the apartment above. There he finds a girl standing over the body of a young man who has just shot himself. The girl, Belle Charmion, explains that her half brother, Gordon Brewster, had stolen some jewels from their uncle and, fearing that the police would capture him, had attempted suicide. Fenton conceals the brother in another room and impersonates him when the police arrive. Later, he and Belle take Brewster to his uncle's home. In the excitement, the jewels have been forgotten, and Fenton returns to search for them. By this time, the family butler, who is a member of an underworld gang, has tipped off his friends, who then steal the Fenton jewels. At the butler's home, a scuffle ensues; Fenton recovers the jewels and learns that he is actually a distant relative of the Charmions, having been kidnapped in infancy by a crook. With both mysteries thus resolved, Belle and Fenton become engaged.