Author Archive: Retro

Classic film of a hillbilly family feuding with outlaws. The outlaws hijack the community’s mail, and it’s up to a young hillbilly boy who dreams of being a mail carrier to come to the rescue. Dir. Henry King.

In order to catch a pair of international swindlers called Lord and Lady Rathburne, government agent Bill Swift disguises himself as a cowhand and gets a job on a ranch. The couple is planning to steal an expensive black pearl from Bill’s boss, a retired sea captain named Randall. To complicate matters, Bill soon falls in love with Randall’s pretty young daughter, Helen.

An amateur boxing champion stops at West Point to see a dress parade and falls for the commandant’s daughter. He wins an appointment to the Academy and begins a rivalry for her affection.

Early filming of the “Faust” legend, as a student sells his reflection to the Devil in order to get a beautiful girl. German titles. Dir. Paul Wegener.

Hajj, a beggar, awakes on the steps of a mosque in Mecca, and has one wild day as he cheats, steals, attempts an assassination, is imprisoned, escapes, saves his daughter from a harem, is banished, and eventually makes a trip back to Mecca. Dir. Carol Reed.

Two identical Englishmen exchange places during WWII so that new German bombs being tested in France can be investigated.

The rich, amoral Zelie is married to Pierre Boucheron, “The Rat” – but her interest in another man is an open secret. Forced to defend his honour, the Rat takes refuge in his old domain of the Paris underworld. But even here he has a rival – and when murder is afoot, the sinister Morel’s ambition threatens to cost the Rat dear.

After the bandit Jim Stokes robs the stage he is wounded fleeing. Recuperating at a ranch, he falls in love with and marries the daughter. Now wishing to go straight he tries to return the money but is recognized and captured. When the Sheriff then loses the recovered money at a crooked roulette table, he and Stokes strike a bargain.