Author Archive: Retro

American editor of a Japanese newspaper uncovers a sinister plot for world dominance when two of his friends are mysteriously murdered; and he might be next! Based on a true story. Produced by William Cagney. Dir. Frank Lloyd

When a young woman deserts her rancher husband and, with her son Ben, goes to live with the drunken Tom Blair. Blair raises Ben as his son, but kills Ben’s mother, causing the boy to return to his natural father. There, Ben falls in love with Florence Winthrop. Later, Ben gains revenge for his mother’s death by killing Tom, but he loses Florence, who decides to live in the East. When Ben learns that Florence has become engaged, he goes after her and issues an ultimatum: if she does not take him back, he will kill her fiancé. After first resenting Ben for his demand, Florence realizes that she loves him and returns West with him.

A sci-fi/espionage film in which world powers vie for control of a death ray during World War I.

Dustin Farnum and Winifred Kingston are a couple of poor Irish is to get married and have a cow. When Farnum reads that New York City has the finest police force in America, because it’s all Irishmen, Farnum decides that’s the place for him. So Miss Kingston sells her pig, Farnum borrows the rest, and it’s off to the New World for him. It takes him half the movie to get on the force, and he promptly loses his job, when he refuses to accept pay-offs from women who wear kimonos for his boss.

Tough, Irish tomboy Pickford mothers her policeman father while getting into trouble with the ethnically diverse denizens of the ghetto. Dir. Charles Chaplin.

Relatives of an eccentric millionaire gather in his spooky mansion on the 20th anniversary of his death for the reading of his will.

George K. Arthur plays a boob (in the bumpkin sense, not the anatomical one) who loses his best girl to a smooth bootlegger.

Woman cares for nine orphans while trying to fend off starvation and kidnappers. Dir. Victor Saville.

A young flapper tricks her childhood sweetheart into marrying her. He really loves another woman, but didn’t marry her for fear the marriage would end in divorce, like his parents’. Complications ensue.