Author Archive: Retro

Good guy trying to invade a gang of bad guys in this early western.

A confusing silent melodrama set at San Francisco’s famous Presidio, this film starred light leading man Johnnie Walker as a mysterious stranger thought by the soldiers to be a notorious masked highwayman. Senorita Anita (Shannon Day), however, is drawn to the young man — who proves to be a government agent in disguise. Produced by poverty row company Robertson-Cole, Captain Fly-By-Night was directed by William K. Howard, a fine craftsman who would later helm such powerful pictures as The Power and the Glory (1933) and the British Fire over England (1937).

The first of many filmed adaptations of Rex Beach’s adventure novel of the Alaskan gold-rush.

French country girl uses love affairs to climb the social ladder, until she becomes a courtesan to King Louis XV. English titles.

Harold as a wise, fun loving rural doctor who is taken to the big city to help a young girl escape the clutches of a slick doctor who has conned her family into thinking she is sickly, giving himself a cushy, full-time job. Harold arrives and saves the day with his unorthodox, folksy methods, including posing as a homicidal maniac!

Although the story line to this sentimental drama was ridiculously simple, director Renaud Hoffman managed to fill out five reels by adding a lot of warm, domestic touches. Robert Moore (David Torrence) achieves great wealth while his brother John (Willis Marks), a small farmer, has to struggle to support his wife (Ethel Wales) and seven children (Mary McLane, Billy Bonwin, Newton Hause, Miriam Ballah, Dick Winslow, Buck Black, and Thayer Strain). In spite of all his money, Robert feels his life is empty, so he writes John, offering him a nice house and a good allowance if he will let him have one of his children. John and his wife try to choose one child while the kids are sleeping, but they can’t bear to let any of them go. The next day, they decide that the oldest girl, who has musical talent, should go to Robert, since he can give her opportunities that they [...]

Devious bookie has a plan to ruin his rival for the affections of a judge’s daughter. “The Whip” is an uncontrollable but fleet-footed racehorse around which the story revolves. Dir. Maurice Tourneur.

Directed by Ernst Lubistch

Rich old Cyrus West’s relatives are waiting for him to die sothey can inherit. But he stipulates that his will be read 20 yearsafter his death. On the appointed day his expectant heirs arriveat his brooding mansion. The will is read and it turns out thatAnnabelle West, the only heir with his name left, inherits, if sheis deemed sane. If she isn’t, the money and some diamonds goto someone else, whose name is in a sealed envelope. Beforehe can reveal the identity of her successor to Annabelle, Mr.Crosby, the lawyer, disappears. The first in a series of mysterious events, some of which point to Annabelle in factbeing unstable.