Author Archive: Retro

Dickson Greeting’ is credited as one of the world’s very first films in the world and was made by William Dickson. It is only a 3 second film but it still captured the essence of motion and was made in 1891. It was the first public demonstration of motion pictures in the United States to a public audience as he showed it to The General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) in Edison’s lab. The very first sound-film was the ‘Dickson Experimental Sound Film’ by William Kennedy Dickson and is known to be the very first film with live recorded sound and was made in America. The very first hand-coloured film was called ‘Annabelle Serpentine Dance’ by William Dickson in America as it was distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company in 1895, a company based in New York City at the time. Theatres started to be built for films in the US as the first building exclusively [...]

The station at Lonedale is in charge of an old operator and his daughter. The young engineer who makes the run between Lonedale and civilization is the sweetheart of the operator’s daughter, and upon receiving his call on this particular day he escorts her to the station, where, finding her father suffering from a nervous headache, she takes his place at the key after bidding adieu to her engineer sweetheart as he mounts into the cabin of his engine and rolls away. As her father leaves he discovers that his revolver is out of order and takes it with him to fix it. The old operator has forgotten, however, that this is the first of the month, on which a large sum of money is expressed to the station from the city office of the Lonedale Mining Company for the payroll. The train pulls in and she receives the express bag of money. Two tramps [...]

A young man fights to overcome a piratical arms smuggler and to win the heart of a rich man’s daughter.

After missing his train, Stan Laurel meets a Good Samaritan who invites him back to his home for rest and relaxation. It proves a most arduous vacation but even amidst the angry suffragettes and demanding hosts, Laurel hazards into love.

Just before he hit it big with Felix the Cat, Pat Sullivan did a handful of Charley Chaplin cartoons for Universal Pictures. In this one, as you might guess, the Tramp gets a job on a farm.

In CHASING THE CHASER, written and directed by comedian Stan Laurel, a cross-dressing detective is hired to expose a husband with a wandering eye. Watch for a brief appearance of Fay Wray (of KING KONG fame) as the nursemaid.

Outlaw leader “Draw” Egan, believed dead, turns up in the town of Yellow Dog. The townsfolk believe him to be William Blake, a strong and law-abiding man. They appoint him sheriff to rid the town of the hoodlums who have nearly taken over. He does so with dispatch, becoming a genuinely lawful and respected member of the town’s society. But then Arizona Joe, one of Egan’s old gang, shows up in Yellow Dog, threatening to expose Egan if he doesn’t help his old comrade take over the town

Robert and Beth Gordon are married but share little. He runs into Sally at a cabaret and the Gordons are soon divorced. Just as he gets bored with Sally’s superficiality, Beth strives to improve her looks. The original couple falls in love again at a summer resort.

An intrepid reporter and his loyal friend battle a bizarre secret society of criminals known as The Vampires.