Author Archive: Retro

A wealthy minister in a mining town is something of an advocate for the miners’ safety, but he doesn’t really get involved in the issue. He is soon snapped out of that attitude, however, when his daughter is trapped underground in a mine explosion, along with the mine’s owner.

Dir. Erich Von Stroheim. The societal muddle of post-war Europe is the backdrop for this story of a bogus count who blackmails women.. One of the first million dollar pictures.

In this silent film, the unscrupulous son of a wealthy woman seduces his mother’s young, innocent maid and leaves the girl to suffer from heartache and shame.

Early canine adventures with Champion The Wonder Dog.

An opium smuggler is marked for murder in this story of the Chinese Mafia.

Early slapstick version of the L. Frank Baum story with comedian Semon as the Scarecrow and an early appearance of Hardy as the Tin Man.

The main part of the film is told in a flashback by a monk to two visiting noblemen on their way to Warsaw in the 17th century. He tells them how a mighty count named Starschensky once ruled Sendomir (Sandomierz), but after an intrigue in which his wife was unfaithful with her own cousin he had to use all his resources to build the monastery where they are now staying. At the end it is revealed that the monk is in fact Starschensky himself.

Little Sara Crewe is placed in a boarding school by her father when he goes off to war, but he does not understand that the headmistress is a cruel, spiteful woman who makes life miserable for Sara.

Dir. Fritz Lang.