Author Archive: Retro

When Nazi anti-aircraft fire damages a British bomber, its crew bails out and seeks help from the Dutch underground.

Two teachers, man-hungry Doris and restrained Marian, visit the Yorkshire moors a year after friend Evelyn disappeared there. On a stormy night, they take refuge in the isolated cottage of Stephen, one-time pianist shellshocked in the Spanish Civil War. Doris flees as soon as the flood subsides; but Marian’s suspicions about Evelyn’s fate, in conflict with her growing love for Stephen, prompt her to stay on among the misty bogs.

An episodic biography of the 16th President of the United States.

The story of a struggling playwright in 1850s Paris and his mate whose love furnishes him with the inspiration he has long sought.

An Englishman takes possession of his grandfather’s Canadian land but he faces various challenges such as disgruntled locals, a ruthless contractor, a new power dam and his own bad health.

Lorenzo Tucker, known as the black Valentino

Jerry Barker finds a lost boy whose rich father is extorted into paying a ransom for his return but the boy accidentally dies and Jerry goes to prison.

Laurel and Hardy’s best feature film appearance is this stand out classic comedy from 1933. The Boys, henpecked husbands as usual, want to go to their lodge convention but the wives say, “No!” They devise a scheme to convince their wives they are going to Hawaii to cure Ollie of a bad cold and go to the convention anyway, then wish they hadn’t! Filled with Hal Roach character actors this laugh filled film is a must for fans of the Boys and features Charley Chase as an obnoxious convention-goer. Dir. William A. Seiter

Simple Russian villagers find their happy lives interrupted when the Nazis ignore former treaties and begin a brutal occupation of Russia. Lots of songs written by Ira Gershwin and Aaron Copland. Produced by William Cameron Menzies. Dir. Lewis Milestone