The Cossacks (1928) A Silent Film Review
I have a bone to pick with this film but I think I’ll have to get in line behind its star, John Gilbert, its screenwriter, Frances Marion, and one of its ex-directors, Victor Tourjansky. MGM’s attempt...
View ArticleHaldane of the Secret Service (1923) A Silent Film Review
Harry Houdini attempted to parlay his legendary career as an illusionist into a film career and this was his final effort. (He also directs.) Playing the titular secret service agent, Houdini must...
View ArticleThe Captive God (1916) A Silent Film Review
William S. Hart plays a native Mesoamerican who falls for an Aztec princess. This goes over about as well as you can imagine and our hero soon finds himself marked for sacrifice. A change of pace...
View ArticleTiger Rose (1923) A Silent Film Review
Stage star Lenore Ulric brings her signature role to the screen in this melodrama set in Canada. We have Mounties, trees and bloody revenge. The usual Hollywood Canadian wilderness picture, in other...
View ArticleRescued by Rover (1905) A Silent Film Review
When a baby is kidnapped, it’s up to the family dog to save the day! An early entry in the Heroic Dog genre of motion pictures, this British production has charm to spare. Home Media Availability:...
View ArticleThe Black Pirate (1926) A Silent Film Review
Douglas Fairbanks plays a vengeful nobleman who disguises himself as a pirate in order to take down bad guys and save a princess. It’s Swashbuckling 101 stuff but Fairbanks has a secret weapon:...
View ArticleThe Ghost Train (1927) A Silent Film Review
There are criminal happenings on the Veracruz railroad and Adolfo Mariel is sent in to investigate. What he finds is a criminal gang led by the mysterious Ruby and the stationmaster’s inevitably...
View ArticleThe Yankee Clipper (1927) A Silent Film Review
William Boyd is a shipping heir who hopes to trade tea with China but first must best his British rivals in a race to Boston. Elinor Fair is aboard as the love interest and Junior Coghlan as a kid with...
View ArticleIvanhoe (1913) A Silent Film Review
A young knight returns from the Crusades and finds himself entangled in some rather nasty business when rival knights go on a kidnapping spree. Fortunately, he has some help from King Richard and Robin...
View ArticleKidnapped (1917) A Silent Film Review
David Balfour (Raymond McKee) sets out to claim his inheritance in 18th century Scotland but his greedy uncle has other ideas. One kidnapping later, David finds himself on the run with a Jacobite rebel...
View ArticleCaptain Fracasse (1929) A Silent Film Review
A penniless nobleman decides to venture out into the wide world when a troupe of itinerant actors spend the night at his chateau. Chaos ensues, of course, and there is plenty of fencing, fighting,...
View ArticleRobin Hood (1912) A Silent Film Review
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen… Or in this case, running through the glen and getting arrested a lot. A loose and chipper adaptation of the popular legend from Fort Lee, New Jersey....
View ArticleEmerald of the East (1929) A Silent Film Review
An uprising, a double kidnapping and one thwarted execution by tiger… And that’s just the first half. This film was partially shot on location in India and was based on a novel by Indian author Jerbanu...
View ArticleThe Runaway Engine (1911) A Silent FilM Review
Oh no! There’s a runaway engine on the rail line! And the only one who can save us is Alice Joyce! Joyce stars in a Kalem railroad romance, which features an inter-class love story and a pretty...
View ArticleBetty and the Buccaneers (1917) A Silent Film Review
A daydreaming young lady who fantasizes about pirate adventure gets more than she bargained for when her father falls victim to a nautical scam. Fortunately, the Secret Service is on the case. Home...
View ArticleThe Rose of Old St. Augustine (1911) A Silent Film Review
Real-life gentleman pirate Jean Lafitte is the central character in this big budget Selig romance. When our hero goes undercover in a Spanish outpost, romance and jealousy soon endanger his life and...
View ArticleOld Ironsides (1926) A Silent Film Review
Officially the story of the Constitution’s successful attack on Tripoli to fight back against the Barbary pirates but really a love story between a sailor and the shipowner’s daughter and a bromance...
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