Author Archive: Retro

Tranquil is the existence of the Kiowa tribe which our story involves until the approach of the conquerors, the white men, who claim the land that had long been possessed by this tribe of Shoshone family. On this eventful day. Silver Eagle and Minnewanna plight their troth by the side of the mountain brook. They have hardly returned to the wigwam of the chief, Silver Eagle’s father, when an Indian rushes up with the news that the paleface is coming. The little settlement is thrown into a panic of fearful anticipation, for they have endured many bitter experiences. Their fears are realized, for the white men appear and order the poor Indians to move. This they do with stoicism, and packing up their effects they start on the long trek. Minnewanna, however, is detained by the men to act as a slavey. Silver Eagle is at first inclined to remain by her side, but his [...]

At the Italian boarding house the male boarders were all smitten with the charms of Minnie, the landlady’s pretty daughter, but she was of a poetic turn of mind and her soul soared above plebeianism and her aspirations were romantic. Most persistent among her suitors was Grigo, a coarse Sicilian, whose advances were odiously repulsive. The arrival at the boarding house from the old country of Giuseppe Cassella, the violinist, filled the void in her yearning heart. Romantic, poetic and a talented musician, Giuseppe was indeed a desirable husband for Minnie. All this, of course, filled Grigo with bitter hatred and he vows vengeance, which you may be sure he will work with extreme subtlety. All preparations are made for the wedding, and when the day arrives Grigo is ready for it. He has contrived an infernal machine with a pistol so arranged that its explosion means death to anyone standing in front of it. [...]

After three years at sea, Edward returns home to find his sweetheart forced into an engagement with a much older man.

A very pretty girl, is always surrounded by many male admirers, much to the dismay of one very shy fellow, who never can get a chance to speak with her. One day the girl visits a friend in another town and by coincidence the shy fellow is staying at the same house. Next morning the girl’s friend must leave her to run an errand. The girl hears a strange noise coming from one of the rooms. Not knowing the shy fellow is there, she locks the door of his room. Meanwhile, two burglars have broken in and seize the screaming girl. Hearing her scream and unable to break down the locked door, the young fellow climbs out of the window. He races into the room and scares the burglars, who make their escape. The girl, now being in such an hysterical state, does not recognize the shy fellow. She runs screaming from the house with [...]

This early D.W. Griffith short shows the director’s interest in Jewish ghetto life, portrayed here with sympathy and sentimentality. The melodramatic plot involves the conflict between generations in an immigrant Jewish family.

A young couple struggle to get ahead, the wife always assuaging the troubles of her melancholy husband. As he climbs the ladder of success, he abandons the homely values and takes up with another woman. His wife leaves him, returning to her mother’s home where she bears a child. When the husband is abandoned by his concubine, remorse drives him to find his wife…

Dir. D.W. Griffith. Humble fisherman Enoch marries sweet Annie Lee. He becomes a sailor to earn more for his growing family. After a stormy shipwreck, Enoch swims to the shore of a deserted island. Annie awaits in vain for his return. 

George Peabody is a young man who has been giving free rein to his inclinations, the principal one being drink. One might have concluded he was lost, but there was the chance which the hand of Providence always bestows in the person of pretty little Ruth King, who had secretly loved George since their childhood days. She succeeds in persuading him from his reckless life, and he determines to cut off from his old loose companions by going out West and making a man of himself. Bidding Ruth and her mother good-bye, he realizes that he loves his little preserver and promises to return worthy of her love and confidence. They plight their troth with their first kiss and a heart shaped locket, which Ruth wears, she breaking it in two, giving George one side while she retains the other, which symbolized the reunion of their hearts with his return. George is fortunate to strike [...]

George Forrester has suffered the loss of his beloved wife, the mother of his little ten-year-old child. The child is forced to become his little housekeeper, while Forrester secures work at the pigeon farm. While thus employed, he meets a former sweetheart and renews his attentions, feeling that she might prove a second mother to his child; but no, on serious consideration he realizes that he could not meet the wants of a second wife, as he finds that her tastes are extravagant, and do his duty to his child, hence he determines to sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of his child, sending her off to school that she may rise above her present environment, while he toils to make ends meet. Several years later we find the girl returning from school, having grown to young womanhood. She is surprised and grieved to see such a change in her father. As she views [...]