Author Archive: Retro

Lowly clerk in a New York button factory takes up the philosophy that a person may have anything he wants if he concentrates on it. This costs him his job, but he soon finds he has been proclaimed King in the country of Vulgaria. Written by Anita Loos and John Emerson. Dir. Edmund Goulding.

Vegetarian health food tycoon is embarassed by his carnivorous son, and states that junior must get his picture in the paper before he can receive a half interest in the business and marry his true love. Written by John Emerson and Anita Loos. Dir. L. Frank Baum.

Railroad tycoon sends his cowboy-obsessed son Fairbanks to the West to check on a railroad deal and cure him of his preoccupation, but Doug soon finds himself in the middle of train holdups, Indian raids and kidnappings; there’s even a heroine named Nell!. Written by Anita Loos and Horace P. Carpenter.

Valentino as a Russian Robin Hood is out to avenge the murder of his father and to outwit the Czarina. Young Cossack lieutenant becomes the masked “Black Eagle” to avenge his father’s murder. Delightful romantic costume picture is referred to by some as one of Valentino’s finest performances. Based on a story by Alexander Pushkin. Original music score by Blaine L. Gale. Dir. Clarence Brown

Desperate for money, a rancher decides to trap and sell wild horses, using barbed wire. The local Navajo tribe tries to persuade him not to do it.

A rich but hypochondriac heiress inherits a sanitarium. What she doesn’t know is that it is a front for bootleggers, and a hideout for criminals on the run from the law.

Girlfriend of a penniless artist dumps him, so he hires a hitman to kill him; but when the artist’s life starts taking a new direction, he decides he wants to live! What now? Dir. Frank McDonald.

New lodger in private boarding house may be the infamous Jack the Ripper. Written by Alfred Hitchcock; the first REAL Hitchcock film! Dir. Alfred Hitchcock.

Rise and fall of a peasant boy who becomes Spain’s most famous Matador, but is seduced by a scheming woman. Valentino’s most famous role.