Author Archive: Retro

Masterful film relating the events of St. Joan’s trial and subsequent martyrdom, features a legendary performance by Falconetti. English titles. Dir. Ernst Lubitsch.

Lavishly details the events of the 1917 Bolshevik uprising, with much rare footage of Soviet Russia. Dir. Sam Taylor.

Young woman gets help from an East Indian fortune teller as to which path she should take in life: to marry for money or for love, or to pursue a career in opera.

Express office clerk is duped into helping with a robbery, but his brother, an honest rancher, must clear him of the charges.

Early railroad drama.

Young D’Artagnan travels to France, befriends the Three Musketeers and must protect the monarchy from being discredited by the power hungry Cardinal Richelieu.

Fireman Dan McDowell has been taking care of the fire horses for many years, but when the department becomes motorized, the beloved horses are sold off. Efforts to train Dan to drive the new fire trucks fail, and he’s forced to retire.

Honest cowboy gets help from his German Shepherd wonder-dog, Wolfheart when a rancher is murdered.

Student Raskolnikow, who has written an article about laws and crime, proposing the thesis, that un-ordinary people can commit crimes if their actions are necessary for the benifit of mankind, murders an old woman, who operates a crooked loaning house, as well as her sister, who made the mistake of visiting her at the wrong time. He is suspected of the crime, but somebody else confesses to the murder. Meanwhile, he has fallen in love with Sonja, the street-walking daughter of an ex-official who was fired because of drinking. Raskolnikow’s sister is engaged with an arrogant official, who dislikes him, because Raskolnikow gave Sonja 25 Rubel for her father’s funeral. When Raskolnikow tells him his opinion of his behaviour against the poor, he tries to show he’s a good guy also to the public and showing that Sonja is also a thief at the same time by framing her of a theft of 100 Rubels. [...]