Author Archive: Retro

Judith Allen stars as Telephone Operator Helen in this Monogram actioner. Most of the story is built around newsreel footage of the recent Ohio and Tennessee Valley floods. As telephone linemen Red (Grant Withers) and Shorty (Warren Hymer) race against time to hook up phone wires to a huge dam, the storm clouds gather and the weather gets really rough. Even so, Red and Shorty pause every so often to romance local telephone gals Helen and Dottie (Alice White). When the inevitable flood arrives, Helen’s courage and stamina during the crisis leaves a lasting impression on Red, who gives up his minor flirtations and proposes marriage. Telephone Operator was one of several comeback attempts for onetime silent-screen favorite Alice White, who was still trying to recapture her former glory as late as 1948’s Flamingo Road.

Set against the background of the Battle of Waterloo, Becky Sharp is the story of Vanity Fair by Thackeray. Becky and Amelia are girls at school together, but Becky is from a “show biz” family, or in other words, very low class. Becky manages to insinuate herself in Amelia’s family and gets to know all their friends. From this possibly auspicious- beginning, she manages to ruin her own life, becoming sick, broke, and lonely, and also ruins the lives of many other “loved ones”. In the movie we get to see the class distinctions in England at the time, and get a sense of what it was like for the English military at the time of the Napoleonic wars.

A doctor who has spent his career working on ways to revive the dead sees his chance to prove his theory by performing his procedures on a recently deceased dog.

A young songwriter from Vermont travels to New York City to sell a song to a popular singer.

An American officer discovers a Nazi plot to take over a strategic island in the Pacific.

The female leader of an international crime ring steals a valuable artifact that can give her the power to control men’s minds. Federal agents are dispatched to get it back and stop her evil plans.

A kindly old man is neglected by his selfish and greedy family.

Irene Roma, a young Russian teacher at an American mission near Shanghai, is entrusted with an amulet by her brother Peter Roma, who has been wounded by Igor Sargoza, a discredited Russian secret agent, who is aware of the amulet’s value. Needing a Russian passport in order to leave Shanghai, Irene presents her problem to Howard Barclay, an English friend of her brother’s, and his friend, Johnny McGinty, an American newspaper photographer. Barclay suggests that McGinty marry her, thereby giving her his American citizenship. A Chinese friend sends the bride a beautiful mandarin figure, to be used as an incense burner but Johnny decides to use it as a hiding place for the amulet. Barclay learns that the marriage does not make Irene an American citizen, but he obtains a Chinese special passport and the three friends, after beating off another attack by the Sargoza gang, reach the Japanese merchant ship that is to take [...]

Owner of salon catering to fat society dames must deal with a dull fiance, a romantic stranger, the jealous blond who loves him, and the lecherous husband of a client.