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Select two cult films to compare side by side.
The Iron Claw Synopsis
Episode 1: "The Vengeance of Legar" The story begins years ago on an island in the South. Enoch Golden, a wealthy planter, catches Jules Legar, a scheming physician, making love to his wife in an attempt to learn the secret hiding place of Golden's wealth. Suspecting the worst, Golden sends his wife away, and as punishment to Legar has his handsome face branded with white-hot irons and his hand crushed in a vise. Then Legar, set free, swears vengeance and begins his villainy by opening the sluice-gates that keep the sea from inundating the island. The waters rush in and the entire island is flooded and its houses swept away in the swirling waters. Legar kidnaps Golden's daughter, Margery, whom, in the next scene, twenty years later, we see grown to beautiful maidenhood, in his ominous power. Hate still lives in Legar's heart, and he sends Margery to a denizen of the underworld in whose house she is to be detained. But here steps in a mysterious gallant known as "The Laughing Mask," who saves her, for the nonce, from her fate.
The Closing Net Synopsis
Frank Clamart, abandoned illegitimate son of a wealthy merchant, flees to Paris and joins a gang of "society crooks" led by Chu-Chu and Leontine Petrovsky, his sometime-lover. To prove his prowess to the gang and to Leontine, with whom he has fallen in love, Frank attempts to rob the house of a well-to-do family but is shot by the owner. As Leontine escapes unharmed, Frank is inspected by the owner's wife, who, recognizing a birthmark on Frank's wrist, identifies him as her husband's missing half-brother. Nursed back to health by his sister-in-law, Frank agrees to renounce his life of crime, but when a jealous Chu-Chu breaks into the house and steals the family jewels, Frank is suspected. To exonerate himself, Frank tricks Chu-Chu and retrieves the gems. Determined to have revenge, Chu-Chu tries once more to rob the house and, when caught by Frank, shoots him in the shoulder. Frank pursues Chu-Chu in a taxicab, forces him over a cliff, then leaves with his new love, the cab driver, who fires a shot that kills Chu-Chu.
"The Iron Claw" holds a slight edge in general audience appreciation, but "The Closing Net" offers its own unique cult appeal.
Suggested Watch:
The Iron Claw