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Easy Pickings (1927): The Drama Cult Classic You Need to See | Dbcult

Easy Pickings

Name: Easy Pickings
Director: George Archainbaud
Released: 1927
Cast: Kenneth Harlan, Philo McCullough, Anna Q. Nilsson, Charles Sellon, Zack Williams

1927George ArchainbaudIMDb: /10

Synopsis

Director

George Archainbaud

Cast

Billy Bevan

Gertrude Howard

Philo McCullough

Editor's Choice Analysis

Easy Pickings Review: Is This Silent Era Mystery Worth Your Time?

Is Easy Pickings worth watching today? Short answer: yes, but with a significant caveat. This 1927 silent film, a relic from an era brimming with cinematic experimentation, offers a fascinating, if sometimes frustrating, glimpse into the nascent stages of the mystery-thriller genre. It is a film crafted for the dedicat...

Archivist John

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Filmography

Movies by George Archainbaud

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The Midnight Guest

1923 · IMDb —

The Iron Ring

1917 · IMDb —

Diamonds and Pearls

1917 · IMDb —

The Girl from Nowhere

1921 · IMDb —

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Analysis & IMDb Ratings

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Birds of a Feather

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His Greatest Gamble

1934IMDb6.1

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Battle of the Cult

Intelligence Comparison

Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.

1927

Easy Pickings

George Archainbaud

ScoreCult MeterScore

50%Popularity50%

#366Archive Rank#176

1919

The Love Cheat

George Archainbaud

Analyze Head-to-Head

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Easy Pickings FAQ

The movie Easy Pickings was directed by George Archainbaud.

Easy Pickings was released in the year 1927.

Easy Pickings is a movie from United States.

Easy Pickings is categorised as Drama, Mystery in the cult cinema archive at Dbcult.

Easy Pickings features Billy Bevan, Gertrude Howard, Philo McCullough, Charles Sellon.

The screenplay for Easy Pickings was written by Louis Stevens, William A. Burton, Paul A. Cruger.

If you enjoy Easy Pickings, you might also like The Love Cheat (1919), As Man Made Her (1917), The Divine Sacrifice (1918), Yankee Pluck (1917).

Yes, Easy Pickings (1927) is featured in the Dbcult archive as a curated cult cinema title, known for its Drama and Mystery qualities.

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Summary

“Easy Pickings” orchestrates a convoluted inheritance scheme, pivoting on a lawyer's avarice and a desperate imposture. Following Simeon Van Horne's suspicious demise, his conniving attorney, Stewart, seeks to exploit a dual inheritance clause, only to find one beneficiary, Dolores, is deceased. His solution? Coerce Mary Ryan, a chance burglar, into impersonating the vanished cousin. What begins as a simple deception rapidly devolves into a labyrinthine mystery within the Van Horne estate: a disappearing corpse, a hidden passage swallowing Mary's accomplice, the unsettling appearance of a hooded specter, and a series of bewildering pranks played on an investigating detective. The chaotic pursuit of truth culminates in a surprising reveal by a figure oscillating between two identities, exposing Stewart’s guilt and ultimately unveiling Peter Van Horne's own calculated machinations, all while a budding romance blossoms amidst the chaos.

Synopsis

Simeon Van Horne is poisoned by Stewart, his lawyer, who hopes to get a part of the estate to be divided between young Peter Van Horne and Dolores, Peter's cousin. Knowing that Dolores is dead, Stewart, who catches Mary Ryan burglarizing the Van Horne home, induces her to pose as Dolores. Mary's companion, Tony, is pulled into a secret passage; Van Horne's body disappears; Remus, the colored servant, sees a black-hooded figure; the lights go off and on; and a detective is the object of many hoaxes perpetrated by the mysterious figure. When the figure (played alternately by Tony and Dr. Naylor) discloses the features of Van Horne, he frightens a confession from Stewart, then discloses himself as Peter's "chauffeur." Peter discovers that Mary deserves a part of the fortune and convinces her of his love.

Review Excerpt

"Is Easy Pickings worth watching today? Short answer: yes, but with a significant caveat. This 1927 silent film, a relic from an era brimming with cinematic experimentation, offers a fascinating, if sometimes frustrating, glimpse into the nascent stages of the mystery-thriller genre. It is a film crafted for the dedicated silent film aficionado, the historian of early cinema, and those with a genuine curiosity for how narrative suspense was constructed before the advent of sound. Conversely, it i..."

Archivist John

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