Mark Horn, once a lowly shoeshine boy, grows up to become a millionaire on Wall Street, but because of his experiences as a youth, still harbors a grudge against the rich. His money and position gain him entrance to high society, and he decides to drive wealthy Wayne Madison to ruin, agreeing to save Madison only if he lets Mark marry his daughter Viva.
C. Gardner Sullivan
United States
From the first iris-in on a Lower-East-Side curbstone, where a ragged urchin slaps blacking on a banker’s spat, The Conqueror announces itself as a celluloid symphony of upward venom. Director Reginald Barker, armed with Gardner Sullivan’s scalpel-sharp intertitles, lets the camera loiter on shoes the way fetishists l...
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Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.
Reginald Barker
Reginald Barker
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" From the first iris-in on a Lower-East-Side curbstone, where a ragged urchin slaps blacking on a banker’s spat, The Conqueror announces itself as a celluloid symphony of upward venom. Director Reginald Barker, armed with Gardner Sullivan’s scalpel-sharp intertitles, lets the camera loiter on shoes the way fetishists linger on silk ankles; every cut reveals strata of leather, lacquer, and later, ticker tape—proof that America lets you climb so long as you leave your fingerprints on the ladder ru..."
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