Film vs Film
Select two cult films to compare side by side.
Old Loves and New Synopsis
Gervas Carew's wife, Elinor, has deserted him while he was fighting for France, for Lord Clyde Geraldine, a cad of the first order, but Elinor, in turn is cast off when Lord Geraldine turns his attention to an Irish lass, Marny. Marny has no idea of Geraldine's past nor his brutal nature. Carew goes to Algiers where he studies medicine and becomes a friend of the Aranian tribes, who call him the "Desert Healer.' Lord Geraldine comes to Algiers for his health, and is beating Marny when Carew is passing their house one night. Carew rescues her and carries her off to his desert tent. Lord Geraldine comes after him the next day looking for revenge, but Lord Geraldine makes his elephant mad, and the elephant gores him to death. Carew and Marny take up light tent-keeping together, and the circle is completed.
The Hand of Peril Synopsis
James Kestner is a government secret agent on the trail of a band of counterfeiters and particularly anxious to locate the head of the gang, Frank Lambert, who, in addition to his skill as a counterfeiter, is known to the underworld as the only man who can fill in the perforations of a used bank check. Kestner locates the band in their underground work shop near the river front. He cleverly maneuvers his way into the headquarters of the band when it is empty, but is caught in the act of searching for incriminating evidence by "Bull's Eye" Cherry, a clever girl crook, and one of the mainstays of Lambert's crowd. Lambert and his daughter, who has been educated in crime by her father, return to find Kestner held at the point of Cherry's revolver. Lambert is for killing the detective outright. Impressed by Kestner's brave demeanor, Maura intercedes in his behalf, but finding her father determined in his intention to kill the government agent, she pretends that the police are outside. The counterfeiters make their escape without settling accounts with Kestner. Kestner locates the criminals in their new quarters. One of his assistants trails "Bull's Eye," who has the new counterfeit plates in her possession, but she cleverly evades capture and returns the plates to Lambert's headquarters. Kestner forces his way into the gang's rooms, arriving just in time to witness a desperate battle between Lambert and Tony Morello, one of his accomplices, whose passion for Maura has led him to attempt to force his advances upon her. Lambert kills Morello with a knife, but before dying the man acquaints Maura with the fact that Lambert is not her real father, but that he stole her when a baby and reared her to this life of crime. Kestner places Lambert under arrest, but the crook evades capture a second time by a ruse. Kestner's assistant arrives with the police, but Kestner permits Maura to go free on account of her having saved his life on the occasion of their first meeting. Kestner is determined to capture Lambert single-handed. He trails him to a midnight rendezvous on a wharf, where he and Lambert fight it out to a finish. The revolver battle between the two men in the dark culminates in a hand-to-hand encounter in which Kestner ultimately proves victor, but has barely strength enough to handcuff himself to his unconscious opponent before collapsing. In the end Kestner induces Maura to return to the straight road, and she takes up her home with his mother. The story closes with the intimation that the romance so strangely begun will lead, as time passes, to a life of happiness for them, together.
"The Hand of Peril" is currently leading in ratings, making it a stronger choice for newcomers to the genre.
Suggested Watch:
Old Loves and New