Author Archive: Retro

Dir. Lionello De Felice. Biblical epic about Emperor Constantine who in 303 AD becomes emperor of Gaul and defeats the Roman Army.

The life of the First Protestant is depicted as he breaks away from the Catholic church in the 16th Century. Dir. Irving Pichel. A magnificent depiction of Luther and the forces at work in the surrounding society that resulted in his historic reforming efforts.

Dickens’ classic tale of the orphan boy who wanted “more”. Chaney is perfectly cast as Fagin.

Before it became one of Hollywood’s busiest B-picture mills, Monogram Pictures had a fondness for literary adaptations (The Moonstone, Jane Eyre etc.) Monogram’s 1933 Black Beauty was, of course, based on the classic novel by Anna Sewell. Only a few of the many anecdotal adventures of the titular black horse are dramatized herein. Black Beauty is raised by a loving family, is abused by unloving owners, then returns to the loving family again. Silent movie star Esther Ralston is top-billed, but the true acting honors go to Black Beauty herself. The story would be remade by 20th Century-Fox in 1946, and for television several times over.

Adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s comedy about a stuffy phonetics professor who transforms a flower peddler into a lady.

A septet of settler’s children find themselves orphaned and alone following a disaster on the Oregon trail. This fact-based, family-oriented adventure chronicles their cross-country odyssey as they make their way westward.