Author Archive: Retro

Atwill is a free-wheeling philanthropist who keeps getting accused of murders. He is acquitted by the fact that the witnesses testify that he spoke to them, when he is a deaf mute. What’s going on here? Dir. Wilfred Lucas, Phil Rosen

State trooper is killed by gold hoarders and his brother swears revenge.

Six jobless brothers who find work as extras on a movie set are mistaken for studio executives.

Biopic of Saturday Review editor and political journalist Norman Cousins who developed and promoted a self-made health therapy consisting of intake of large quantities of vitamin C and making oneself laugh as much as possible.

Dick Tracy and Pat Patton try to solve a case involving the Claw, an arch-villain with a hook instead of a right hand, who killed a man during a heist. Dir. John Rawlins

Set amidst the roaring engines, and high-speed rivalries of a racetrack, this thriller tells the story of a test driver and a mechanic who must prove themselves innocent of false charges that get them booted off the track before the big race.

A playboy takes a job as an assistant district attorney, finds himself up against a tough crime boss and his gang.

Teenagers plot the robbery of an armored car.

The plot of the Pine-Thomas adventure quickie Submarine Alert is more than a little beholden to Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps. Richard Arlen plays FBI radio engineer Lee Deerhold, who turns bitter and vindictive when he is abruptly fired. Actually, his termination was engineered by his FBI superiors, so that Deerhold will be susceptible to a job offer from a gang of Nazi saboteurs. When Deerhold finally gets wise to what’s going on, he finds himself being hotly pursued by practically everyone else in the picture. The better-than-average cast includes Wendy Barrie as undercover agent Ann Patterson, Nils Asther as a mysterious doctor, and Abner Biberman, Marc Lawrence and Dwight Frye as various villains.