Author Archive: Retro

In this romantic drama, two carnival barnstormers vie for the affection of a lovely woman. Their rivalry has deeper roots, as they were mortal enemies when they were WWI fighter pilots. To get the American once and for all, the German pilot tries to frame his rival’s little brother.

In this western, an insurance salesman falls in love with the daughter of a sheriff. After her father is murdered by a mysterious killer, the salesman swears to bring the murderer in. With the help of another, they soon figure out the mystery and bring the outlaw–who is really a prominent citizen in town–to justice.

Robert Gordon (Leon Janney), a sheltered 18-year-old youth reared in a Catholic school, believes he has a vocation for the priesthood. He is taken to live with his father in his palatial Florida home. There he falls in love with his step-sister, Patricia Morrow (Eleanor Hunt), ten years his senior. He runs away and joins the R.A.F. Shot down in battle, he is rescued and taken to a monastery where he renounces the world to study for the priesthood.

Academy Award-winner Ken Darby serves as musical director of this biopic detailing the remarkable life of beloved melody maker Stephen Foster, whose songs “Oh! Susanna” and “Camptown Races”, among others, were still being sung by Americans from coast to coast over 150 years after his death at age 37. As a young boy, Foster’s remarkable gift for song was strongly discouraged by his father. Though young Foster would grow up to become a bookkeeper, his passion for music ultimately led him to gain recognition as a professional songwriter. In the years that followed, his songs “Swanee River” and “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair” became instant classics. And though Foster would die in relative obscurity, his wealth of creativity would ensure his immortality though an impressive collection of unforgettable melodies.

A woman (Maude Eburne) must continually save her brother (Donald Meek) and his ungrateful children from financial ruin.

A concert pianist leaves London to dive for pearls on Thursday Island in the South Seas.

Larceny on the Air is a Republic B-plus picture “drawn from today’s headlines.” In this instance, the news event pounced upon was the mid-1930s Federal crackdown on patent-medicine quacks. Robert Livingston stars as a doctor who takes to the radio airwaves to campaign against cure-all charlatans. Livingston’s mission is compromised when he falls in love with Grace Bradley, daughter of the medicine-racket ringleader. Somehow Larceny on the Air found the time to accommodate a musical number, “Sittin’ on the Moon” (from the 1936 Republic picture of the same name).

A police lieutenant and a female reporter investigate a series of murders comitted by a hooded killer in an old dark house.