Author Archive: Retro

Story of once-famous baseball team who have fallen into complacency, but are brought back to life when they recruit the son of a former player. Written by Hal Roach. Dir. Fred Guiol, Ted Wilde

A Tom Mix classic! Tom is a devil-may-care aristocrat whose father has mysteriously concealed all info about his deceased mother. One day, an old man shows up and shoots Tom’s father dead! The only clue Tom has is a picture of a far-away ranch in Idaho that was hidden away for years in a secret locked room in their mansion.

Young orphan girl is brought up by her father’s gold mining partner and is invited to stay with a rich aunt, but when the mine is proved to be worthless, the aunt forces the girl to become a servant. Watch for Edgar Kennedy as a bookie and William Colvin as the butler. Produced by Mack Sennett.

The Martin and Osa Johnson “expedition” documentary Simba seldom lets facts get in the way of a good story. Made under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History, the film purports to be an authentic filmed record of the Johnsons’ most recent foray into Africa. The title, it says here, is the native word for “lion,” of which there are plenty in the picture. The film’s highlight shows the intrepid Mrs. Osa Johnson bringing down a charging rhinoceros with one well-aimed shot. But the reusage of Simba footage in the Johnsons’ 1932 documentary Congorilla reveals that the rhino was merely scared away by the gunfire — a classic example of how the truth can be “adjusted” with the help of a clever editor.

Although nobody really cared about World War I by 1924 (it had been over for five and a half years), this melodrama tried to stir up some box office with its brazen patriotism. Thomas Gains (Carl Stockdale) and his wife, Mary (the always motherly Mary Carr), own a farm and have raised two boys, Johnnie (Johnnie Walker), and Silas (Cuyler Supplee). When the U.S. declares war against Germany, Johnnie is anxious to enlist. The draft board turns him down because of an eye injury so he signs up with the Salvation Army and heads for France. The cowardly Silas, meanwhile, stays home and marries Zelda Burrows (Rosemary Cooper), whose father (Mark Fenton) wants to get his hands on the Gains property so he can build a big dam. When Zelda sneers at Silas for staying home, he joins the army and dies on the battlefield. Since Thomas had given Silas the farm, Zelda is able [...]

Eddie Phillips works for his father, an oilman searching for deposits in the north woods. A puppy intended for Eddie falls out of the truck that’s transporting him and is stranded in the forest, but the pup learns to survive on his own and soon becomes master of his domain. A year or so later Eddie and another dog, White Fawn, happen to be camping near property owned by pretty young Betty Francisco when swindler Jim Mason discovers oil deposits on Betty’s land the tries to swindle her out of them, but the heroic dog, now named Thunder, determines to stop Mason and Eddie helps him, not knowing that Thunder is the dog originally meant for him.

Freddie owns a failing old hotel. To attract new business he spreads the rumor that there’s pirate treasure hidden somewhere in the building.

Young Leon Kanter dreams of being a great violinist. His parents scrape up the money for a violin and for lessons, and Leon rewards them by becoming a great player. But as an adult, Leon finds that people want more from him than just music.