Author Archive: Retro

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.

Early silent adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel; Captain Nemo’s submarine adventures.

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 [...]