Author Archive: Retro

A railroad worker accepts a colleague’s offer to stay in his home, but when his friend is called out one night to stop a runaway train, he makes a play for the man’s wife.

Classic tale of man who is torn away from his family and unjustly imprisoned for years before he can make his escape and realize his plans for revenge.

Former safecracker comes home from the war and is torn between loyalty to his old gang and the principles he learned in the army. Written by Lambert Hillyer. Dir. Lambert Hillyer.

Heroine Holmes is a reckless railroad employee who must find out what’s going on when the boss’ private train vanishes.

Two sisters are hired by a renowned philanthropist who is actually the leader of a group of white slavers, and they must use their wits to free the enslaved women. Written by George Loane Tucker. Dir. George Loane Tucker.

This picture is one of Norma Shearer’s early starring efforts, and she’s not nearly as good here as she was in other pictures she made around the same time such as Channing of the Northwest or Man and Wife. When Jim Allen (Gladden James believes Dare to be responsible for his father’s ruin, he avoids the man’s daughter, Marjorie (Shearer). But Marjorie is in love with Jim and she tracks him down to a cabin in the mountains. Stewart Leighton (Richard Neill) is also there. Leighton takes her in, but his polite demeanor is a ruse and he tries to attack her. She’s saved only by the intervention of a bearded stranger — who turns out to be Jim’s father. The truth finally comes out and the young couple are united. The star’s mother, Edith Shearer, has a small part as a secretary, which she performs with a flair that Norma lacked.

Swashbuckling rogue battles with Bergundians for King and Country. Dir. Basil Dearden.

Mountain climbers are trapped by a blizzard. English titles.

Lazy scoundrel makes his wife support him and his family, but when his wife chases him away for flirting with another woman, he meets an old man who gives him a drink that makes him sleep for twenty years. Dir. Bob Hill.