Author Archive: Retro

Ladd has one of his earliest roles in this comedy with music as he gets mixed up in romantic complications involving two sisters and an opera singer

A doomed, race horse gets a lucky break when a plucky young jockey rescues him from a date with the glue factory and, fixes his wounded leg and prepares him to race again. Unfortunately, just before the Big Race begins, the jockey is kidnapped and must somehow escape in time to ride his steed to victory.

Cantankerous recluse hires a new housekeeper who takes over his life. Dir. Kurt Neumann.

The story focuses on Cecil John Rhodes, a man who did everything from hunting diamonds, acting as a statesman of England and helped organize the colonies of South Africa…as well as being a figure of controversy by today’s standards.

Tonight, first contact will be made! A beautifully-crafted tale of a superior being from Venus who has the power of life and death at his touch. Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Neal’s glowing and sensitive performance as a woman caught up in the biggest event in history is complemented by Helmut Dantine’s powerful, moving portrayal as the Stranger. Suggested by events in the sci-fi classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” this film is a touching, humanizing and haunting story of “first contact” with a peaceful and advanced intelligence from another planet coming to Earth with an ultimatum and out-of-this-world powers to back it up.

Based on a story by Somerset Maugham, The Beachcomber was originally released in Great Britain as Vessel of Wrath. This English version was much franker–and much more fun–than the abbreviated, watered-down US release prints. Even the American version, however, is successful in capturing the spirit of Maugham’s tale of slovenly remittance man Charles Laughton drinking and wenching away his monthly allowance in the picturesque Dutch Islands. Elsa Lanchester (the real-life Mrs. Laughton) plays the prim sister of sanctimonious missionary Tyrone Guthrie, who slowly regenerates the wastrelly Laughton. Our hero redeems himself fully through his courageous behavior during a cholera epidemic. This version of The Beachcomber is based on the stage adaptation by Bartlett Cormick; the 1955 remake, which played faster and looser with the Maugham original than the Cormack version did, starred Robert Newton, who plays the local British authority in the 1938 film. The Beachcomber was the only film directed by producer Erich Pommer, [...]

Noted composer goes stale in this colorful tale of backstage life. Music by Oscar Strauss and it’s gay and lifting.

Prominent businessman offers a million dollar reward for the capture of Adolf Hitler. Three ex-cons devise a scheme to get the reward and bring Hitler to justice. Amazingly, based on a true story! Dir. Nick Grinde

Bank teller Vince Grayson wakes from a nightmare in which heand an unknown woman murdered a man in a strange, mirroredroom. Only a dream…but Vince finds that he has physicalobjects and bruises from his “dream.” His cop brother-in-lawdismisses his story…until the family, on a picnic, takes shelter from a thunderstorm in a deserted mansion containing that mirrored room. Is doom closing in on Vince?