Author Archive: Retro

Early Tyler western that defined his cowboy character as he falls for outlaw gangleader’s daughter.

Norma Talmadge plays a pretty young secretary who must dress dowdily to avoid the licentious overtures of her male employers. She takes a job as the social secretary to a wealthy woman, whose daughter is about to marry a nasty foreign count. Talmadgepulls a few strings to set the daughter on the right course. Out of gratitude, Talmadge’s employer grants permission for the girl to marry her handsome son. A straightforward, unadorned comedy-drama, The Social Secretary is of interest today for the presence of Erich von Stroheim, cast as one of Talmadge’s predatory former bosses (he should have played the count).

A Pair of Silk Stockings is a 1918 American silent marital comedy film starring Constance Talmadge and Harrison Ford. It was directed by Walter Edwards and produced and distributed by Select Pictures Corporation. The film is based on a 1914 Broadway play of the same name.

Fired railroad worker attempts to derail an express train on the engineer’s last trip. The first talkie made in England, the first half of the film is silent, second half is sound.

Bizarre camera work highlights this eerie psychological drama about a mysterious count who discovers that his wife is involved with several men.

Weak-willed Reverend is killed trying to clean up the lawless town of Hell’s Hinges, making bad guy Hart go straight to avenge the murder. Produced by Thomas H. Ince. Dir. Andrew L. Stone.

Toni Le Brun, a beautiful Viennese singer, becomes the ward of the wardrobe mistress of a Monte Carlo nightclub. Her benefactor, however, is actually a baroness incognito. Toni falls in love with the handsome Richard, but as they prepare to marry, she comes to believe he is only after the wealth accompanying her new noble status. But truth, like true love, will not be kept secret long. Directed by Lewis Milestone (“All Quiet on the Western Front”, “Of Mice and Men”), Art Direction by William Cameron Menzies (“Gone With The Wind”). Dir. Lewis Milestone.

Using a false accusation of unlawful land-squatting, Bill Edwards (Al Ferguson(1)’) goes to the County Seat and has Sheriff Brown to swear out a warrant against sheep-herders Marie Valerian (Neva Gerber) and her father (Silver Tip Baker. The Sheriff sends a Deputy, “Thundering” Thompson (Cheyenne Bill_, back to serve the warrant. Thompson learns that Edwards is only trying to force the Valerians to sell their sheep to him at a cheap price, and comes back without serving the warrant. This enrages Edwards who enlists the aid of a local cattleman and his hands to drive off the sheep. Thompson sets out to keep this from happening.

A girl is kidnapped and held captive in an ancient Egyptian temple. She is rescued and flees to England, but soon finds that her mysterious captor is still haunting her.