Author Archive: Retro

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.

Pinkie Brown is a small-town hoodlum whose gang runs a protection racket based at Brighton race course. When Pinkie murders a journalist called Fred Hale whom he believes is responsible for the death of a fellow gang-member, the police believe it to be suicide. This doesn’t convince Ida Arnold, who was with Fred just before he died, and she sets out to find the truth. She comes across naive waitress Rose, who can prove that Fred was murdered. In an attempt to keep Rose quiet Pinkie marries her. But with his gang beginning to doubt his ability, and his rivals taking over his business, Pinkie starts to become more desperate and violent.

Two versions of the classic Harriet Beecher Stowe tale of slavery. Latter version features Sam Lucas, the first black man to get the lead role in a movie, and also stars Hattie Delero, Irving Cummings.(1903 & 1914) Dir. Robert Daly.