Author Archive: Retro

The “Clowns” of the title are Laurel and Hardy, Keaton and the lesser-known but still hilarious Charley Chase, and the clips here show them all at the peak of their form.

These no-frills presentations by Robert Youngson keep the clips and their contents at the forefront, with music and narration as perfect none-too-intrusive accompaniment.

Hardships and struggles of a family trying to support themselves on a farm. Dir. Jean Renoir.

Happily married couple fall victim to mediocrity, and decide to divorce and see other people.

The port city of Bristol, England, in the 1800s is home to Java Head, a sailing ship line company. The owner has two sons. One, a handsome seafarer, is in love with a local girl, but cannot marry her due to a long-running feud between their fathers. After a lengthy voyage, he returns with a very exotic, noble Chinese wife, which scandalizes the conservative town. His other son, a “landlubber”, seeks to convert to steamships, to the disgust of his father. Even worse, he is secretly dealing in contraband.

Newspaper reporter pretends to have murdered a fellow employee, in order to prove his point that capital punishment should not be based solely on circumstantial evidence. Unfortunately, the fellow employee mysteriously disappears, and the reporter is sentenced to be executed! Dir. Charles Lamont

In a crumbling fortress on the Nile, a despotic Hindu is holding a British explorer prisoner: Sir Hubert, who has discovered the hidden tomb where Cleopatra’s treasure is buried.

Pair of swindlers try to sell phony oil field stock to the residents of a veteran home. Dir. Ralph Staub.

Reporter, insturmental in a crime arrest, is both the target for murder and a prime murder suspect.

Dr. Christian attempts to get public housing for a group of squatters, but must first face an epidemic of meningitis that is spreading through the homeless community. Dir. Bernard Vorhaus.