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Babes In The Woods ( 1917)

Starring Virginia Lee Corbin. Runtime: 36 mins…..£7.49

 

Back Fire (1922)

Starring Jack Hoxie and Florence Gilbert, this film has a runtime of 57 mins and the print quality is only OK as the clarity is not great.

Plot: Two cowboys drift into town. Both are broke, and one of them jokingly suggests they rob the local express office. A citizen overhears them, and when the office is robbed soon afterwards, the cowboys are blamed for it…..£7.49

 

Back Pay (1922)

Directed by Frank Borzage and starring Seena Owen and Matt Moore, this film has a runtime of 88 mins and the print quality is very good.

Plot: Hester Bevins is a simple country girl who yearns for adventure. Though she has a handsome young man, Jerry, who is devoted to her, she leaves her village and goes to New York in search of a grander life. There she becomes the lover of a wealthy and unscrupulous businessman. But when Jerry returns blinded and dying from the war, Hester must choose between her new life and the man whose loyalty to her has never failed.

Review: Seena Owen stars as small-town Hester, a woman who yearns for the bright lights and excitement of New York. She lives in a boarding house and has a dull boyfriend Jerry (Matt Moore) who wants to marry. Hester wants more. She tells him she has a "crepe-du-chine soul." So off goes Hester, leaving Jerry to stand on the railroad track, watching the train disappear into the distance.
Flash forward. Hester is living the high life in New York. She has s sugar daddy (J. Barney Sherry) and a slew of fancy friends ... she even has a maid. She has everything she ever wanted, but there's a nagging in her soul because she's never quite forgotten Jerry.
She takes a trip with her friends to a spa close to her home town. While they go off for a ride, she wanders the old town and finds Jerry. They talk. He's still waiting for her. She goes back to the city even more unsure of her decision.
Flash forward. Sugar daddy has by now given Hester everything she ever wanted. She has a Rolls-Royce, a house on Long Island, furs and jewels. Jerry goes off to war and is wounded. When he's shipped back home she goes to visit, but he's worse off than she expected. He might have only weeks to live. What will Hester do? Ultra-sad weepie makes good use of Seena Owen's sad face. Even at her lavish parties, she always seems sad. She's excellent as Hester. Matt Moore is also excellent as the dull-but-loyal Jerry. Ethel Duray is also good as the selfish friend.
Sets designed by Joseph Urban and directed by Frank Borzage, this was a major Cosmopolitan production. The small-town scenes were likely filmed in upstate New York or rural New Jersey….£7.49

 

Back to God’s Country (1919)

Starring Nell Shipman. After her father is killed by an outlaw, Dolores marries Peter. While they're at sea in the Arctic, Dolores meets the ship's captain, who is the man who killed her father. The captain causes an 'accident' to happen to Peter, so Dolores is all alone and defenseless as they drop anchor in a remote harbor. This film is important as the oldest surviving Canadian film (and a good one at that). It is also renowned for a “nude” scene…..£7.49

 

Back Trails (1924)

Starring Jack Hoxie and Al Hoxie the film has a runtime of 47 mins……£7.49

 

Backstairs (1921)

Starring Fritz Kortner……£7.49

 

Bad Buck of Santa Ynez (1915)

Starring William S.Hart, this film has a runtime of 20 mins……£7.49

 

Balançoires (1928)

Directed by Noël Renard and starring Josette Perdriat, Robert Mérin, Huguette Dore and Roland Six, this film has a runtime of 30 mins and the print quality is excellent. This French silent has French intertitles and English subtitles.

Plot: A young couple go to the carnival. After some savage heavy petting they meet a sinister fakir who offers to sell them Truth for six sous. A set of uncanny events follow. At worst ‘avant-gardist’ in the extreme, at best the counterpart to Cœur Fidèle’s ‘fête foraine’ sequence after the abolition of melodrama. Excellent black screen cutting and chaotic camera shaking characterize the style.

Review: A elegant and sharply edited piece of work. Illustrates a day at the carnival flashing bare nipples making people know that the excitement of taking a carnival ride is sexual. Then after a lot of happy images everything changes and we come to the dark side. Drunks, gambling, demons and death as a couple is hypnotized and walk around as zombies. A truly odd and fascinating French art short!...£7.49

 

Baldevin’s Wedding (1926)

Directed by George Schnéevoigt and starring Einar Sissener/Victor Bernau/Johanne Voss, this film has a runtime of 128 mins and the print quality is good to very good, although there is some decomposition in the last few minutes of the film. This Norwegian silent film is presented with Norwegian only intertitles….£7.49

 

Ballet Dancer, The (1911)

Starring Asta Nielsen this Danish film has English intertitles and the excellent print has a runtime of 35 mins……£7.49

 

Bamboozled (1919)

Starring Fred Rains (Claude’s dad), Stan Paskin and Agnes Healy, this British comedy has a runtime of 35 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Plot: A young man takes his girl to the park hoping to find a nice private place where they can make out, but he just can't seem to find an empty bench. Frustrated, he takes up an enterprising young man on his offer to rent a mechanical woman so he can reserve space on an empty bench. Complications ensue.

Review: I saw this silent British comedy at Cinefest 2006 in Liverpool, New York. There was some murmuring in the (mostly American) audience when somebody spotted the name of this movie's production company in the credits: Swastika Films. Don't worry, folks. In 1919, Germany's National Socialist movement hadn't got started yet, and the swastika had not yet been co-opted by Nazis. In fact, the British government had set up a national health-insurance and savings scheme, and they needed a simple and distinctive image to put on the depositors' passbooks ... so they chose the swastika. During this same period, Rudyard Kipling's publisher was issuing Kipling's novels with a suavastika (an anti-clockwise swastika) on the covers. For audiences in British cinemas in 1919, the swastika had only favourable associations.
'Bamboozled' stars Fred Rains as an Alley Sloper-ish character who takes his girlfriend Gladys to the park in hopes of a quick snog, but they can never get a bench alone together. A young spiv named Priceless Percy offers a solution involving a mechanical woman. What happens is completely implausible but reasonably funny.
Fred Rains was a long-time stage actor who bore a marked resemblance to his son, none other than Claude Rains. At the time when 'Bamboozled' was made, Claude Rains had already begun a stage career of his own, but would soon settle down as a dramatics teacher (John Gielgud being one of his students) before trying his luck in Hollywood. The slapstick acting demonstrated by Fred Rains here in 'Bamboozled' is a far cry from his son Claude's subtle demeanour, but Claude had the benefit of sound films to display his magnificent voice….£7.49

 

Barbara Frietchie (1924)

Starring Florence Vidor……£7.49

 

Barbarian, The (1921)

Directed by Donald Crisp and starring Monroe Salisbury

Plot: Elliot Straive is a college professor who has left the evils of civilization behind to raise his son Eric in the purity of the Canadian wilderness. James Heatherton sends Mark Grant to get the mining rights to Straive's land as vast deposits of iron ore have been discovered there. Grant arrives as the elder Straive lies dying and has written a final note to his absent son. Grant tears off the portion of the letter with Straive's signature and forges a concession to the mining rights above the signature. Heatherton, dissatisfied with the unwitnessed signature of a dead man, decides to to himself to get Eric Straive to sign the concession. He sends his family on ahead on vacation. The family hires Eric as a guide, thinking him to be a mere backwoods barbarian. Eric and Heatherton's daughter Floria fall in love, but the relationship falters when she confesses that she has lied to him about why they are there. Grant returns upon the scene and tries to force Eric to sign. Eric nearly kills Grant with his bare hands before the look of horror on Floria's face brings him back to his senses. Eric nurses Grant back to health. Grant, won over by Eric's goodness, reforms. Eric agrees to sell the land to Heatherton in order to establish the music conservatory that Floria has told him that she always wanted.

Review: This rather creaky old film is the distant ancestor of both Tarzan's New York Adventure and Crocodile Dundee. What charm and appeal it possesses comes from the titular barbarian's (played by Monroe Salisbury) native intellect and superior character in contrast with the superficial, spoiled and dishonest citizens of civilization. The leading man (Salisbury) overacts with all the dramatic gestures and rolling eyes of stage-trained actors of the early silents. As the romantic female lead, Jane Novak is winsome and appealing and considerably less a slice of ham than Salisbury. Alan Hale is effective and suitably oily as the shady villain trying to steal the backwoodsman's land. Donald Crisp's direction of the film can mainly be faulted for his failure to reign in Salisbury and produce a more realistic, less stagy performance. But it was a Monroe Salisbury Production, so the leading man who was also the head of the production company might not have been amenable to direction. This film is worth watching for its historical interest as a forerunner of other Noble Savage films and for Miss Novak's performance…..£7.49

 

Barbed Wire (1927)

Starring Pola Negri and Clive Brook. In 1914 France, pastoral life on the Moreau farm is interrupted by war. Son Andre joins the army, a P.O.W. camp is built on the farm, and daughter Mona feels only hatred toward Germany. Arriving, the German prisoners cast approving eyes on Mona, but worsening war news keeps her hostile...until Oscar Muller, prisoner working on the farm, proves himself a good man by his actions. As the bond between Mona and Oscar strengthens, so does the neighbors' vituperation; even with the war's end, tragic results seem inevitable....£7.49

 

Bardelys The Magnificent (1926)

Starring John Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman, the print is very good and has a runtime of 90 mins……£7.49

 

Bare Knees (1928)

Starring Virginia Lee Corbin. Review: This must be the ultimate flapper comedy - an hilarious and risque look at a new fad, full of the new slang (in titles of course), bobbed hair and short skirts. If you love the roaring twenties don't miss this film. Virginia Lee Corbin is the head flapper - and she's delicious. Also gorgeous is Jane Winton as her straight sister. Corbin invades Winton's quiet life in a small town and shocks everyone - but she also reveals the underground activities at the local fun pier and married Winton's secret affair!....£7.49  Please note much improved print now available!

 

Bargain, The (1914)

Starring William S.Hart. Plot: 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. Review: William S. Hart had already honed his character on the stage and in short films. This is one of his earliest feature-length vehicles, and the basics of the formula are already present. Hart is the "good bad-man," who is reformed once in the presence of a pure woman. It's easy to see why Hart was so successful; his acting is more restrained than that of the other players. His worn face allows him not to stare into nothing in an attempt to convey emotion, as the others do here. There's crosscutting action, too, with outdoor shooting. At that time, filming outside is preferable for everyone: it's cheap for the studios, especially so with Westerns, and the camera is, theoretically, freed from the missing wall and cramped space of studio sets. Unfortunately, there's no John Ford directing this early silent feature-length film. There are bird's eye view shots, and the editing is freer, but, oddly, the only impressive shot in this film is inside: a one-minute panorama within a saloon……£7.49

 

Barnum Was Right (1929)

Directed by Del Lord and starring Glenn Tryon, Merna Kennedy, Otis Harlan and Basil Radford, this film has a runtime of 35 mins and the print quality is very good.

Plot: Freddie owns a failing old hotel. To attract new business he spreads the rumor that there's pirate treasure hidden somewhere in the building.

Review: This is not a silent film but a 5-reel sound film running 57 minutes. As was the practice at the time, a silent version was also prepared from the sound footage for theaters not yet so equipped. This silent version originally ran 48 minutes. Unfortunately, neither of these versions survive. All we have is a 35-minutes cut-down of the original silent release print which Universal just managed to squeeze on to 3 reels. Nonetheless, the movie is still reasonably entertaining, thanks to the vigorous acting of comedian Glenn Tryon and a very capable support cast, including, as Tryon's rival for the hand of heroine, Merna Kennedy, Basil Radford of all people in his movie debut, plus peppery Otis Harlan as the girl's millionaire dad. Quite a bit of cash was obviously spent on sets and effects. This unexpected largess also adds to the film's appeal….£7.49

 

The Bat (1926)

The forerunner of Batman directed by Roland West. A masked criminal who dresses like a giant bat terrorizes the guests at an old house rented by a mystery writer.  Review: I think the cinematography is great, the use of the dark sets is tops, and the plot is well thought out. The use of titles is superb. However, the odd thing to me is that almost every element of Bob Kane's "Batman" comics is seen here in the criminal called "the bat." He leaves messages addressed to the police commissioner, he wears a bat-head shaped mask, he climbs on roofs, etc. As a big fan of Kane's "Batman," I truly love this movie. One of the silent era's sleeping gems. The print is Excellent…..£7.49

 

Battle of Herman, The aka Die Hermannschlacht (1924)

The film is directed by Leo Konig and stars Antonie Jaeckel and Mia Pankau. The print is very good and has both English and German intertitles and has a runtime of 54 mins…..£7.49

 

Battle of the Ancre and Advance of the Tanks, The (1917)

Actual footage from World War 1……£7.49

 

Battle of the Sexes, The (1928)

I was very surprised when I watched this film that it was by director D. W. Griffith, as in places the direction looked very modern--much more than I had seen in many of his previous films. In particular, at the beginning, there are some very creative sweeping shots and camera tricks. They are also quite apparent towards the end of the film. Plus, even though this is at heart a morality tale, it seemed so much less histrionic and preachy than other Griffith films I've seen. For 1928, the film was well-done and quite watchable.
Jean Hersholt is a rich industrialist and Phyllis Haver decides when she first sees him that she MUST have him--not out of any love at all, but because she is a "gold digger". Despite his being a rather ordinary looking older man and being happily married, Ms. Haver throws her energies into snagging the guy. This actually leads to a cute scene where she is trying to think up how she will introduce herself to him--it doesn't go at all like she planned, but it does indeed work! And, disappointingly, Hersholt is at heart a dope and he falls for her routine without question. In the meantime, his family doesn't suspect until they accidentally catch him with the bimbo when he is supposed to be working late! Where exactly the movie goes next and all the little details I'll leave for you to discover. However, the movie is a breezy and interesting little film worth seeing if you like silent cinema…….£7.49

 

Battle of the Somme, The (1916)

Featuring actual World War 1 footage……£7.49

 

Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Russian silent directed by Sergei Eisenstein. A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resulting street demonstration which brought on a police massacre. Review: I was quite moved by Battleship Potemkin. I had shivers up my spine through so much of it: the firing squad scene, the plate with the religious phrase on it, the scene where the leader is hanging on a life-raft, the incredible crowd scenes, but most strikingly, the Odessa steps massacre. The nuanced performances are some of the most subtle and effective i've seen in silent films, though this is more of an action film than a straight drama, truth be told. I was surprised to find myself cheering for the revolutionaries on the Potemkin, and was in awe of the power of Eisenstein's cinema…..£4.99

 

Battling Bunyon (1924)

Starring Wesley Barry and Molly Malone the film has a runtime of 51 mins……£7.49

 

Battling Butler (1926)

Starring and Directed by Buster Keaton

Review: One of the best paced of all Keaton films, `Battling Butler' is not uproariously funny but is consistently amusing and entertaining. Being mistaken for an up-and-coming boxer, Alfred Butler (Keaton) falls in love and marries on the basis of this mistaken identity. Trying to keep his wife from finding out creates the needed comic situation to allow the humor to emerge. His leading lady, Sally O'Neil, sparkles in her supporting role. Snitz Edwards, humorous in his own right, is a delight as Keaton's valet. The final scene is a gem!….£7.49

 

Battling Fool, The (1924)

Starring William Fairbanks and Eva Novak the film has a runtime of 59 mins……£7.49

 

Battling Orioles (1924)

Starring Glenn Tryon. Review: If you like your silent comedies with plenty of energy, this one has enough hyperactivity to satisfy anyone. At first, I had my doubts, but once it started rolling, it won me over. The lead player, Glenn Tryon, identified on IMDb as Thomas Tryon's dad, is a very personable, adept comic actor and a pleasure to watch. He's easily the best thing in the film. Guess that's why he's the star. He plays a barber, who is the son of a former Orioles baseball player. Members of the team's club soon find this young pup making a shambles of their lives. In the meantime, Glenn's girl is in the clutches of her disreputable uncle at a disreputable nightspot where he hangs out with disreputable people. Perfectly disreputable. After the old fuddy-duddies kick Glenn out of their club, he goes to the nightclub to try to rescue his girl and is thrown out. The slapstick solution to the film soon follows…..£7.49

 

Be My Wife (1921)

Written by, directed by and starring Max Linder, the film also features Alta Allen, Caroline Rankin, Lincoln Stedman and Viora Daniel. The film has a runtime of 55 mins and the print quality is very good.

Review: The story has Linder coming up with a series of ruses in his attempts to woo his girlfriend Mary despite her aunt's disapproval. Most of the comic ideas work well, and there is also a good variety of material. There are sight gags and slapstick, some familiar ideas (including some seemingly inspired by other comedians of the era) and some original ideas. It builds up to a manic and very amusing climactic sequence that is certainly the highlight of the movie. It's quite good overall….£7.49

 

Bear Tamer, The (1912)

A Danish film with English intertitles, it was directed by Alfred Lind and has a runtime of 41 mins……£7.49

 

Beatrice Fairfax (1916) Disk 1

Starring Harry Fox and Grace Darling, this 15 episode serial also features in smaller roles Olive Thomas, Warner Oland and Elaine Hammerstein. The print quality is good to very good.

Episode 1: The Missing Watchman (August 7, 1916) the missing first reel has been reconstructed to begin the story using stills, 4 mins.

Episode 2: The Jealous Wife (August 14, 1916), 27 mins

Episode 3: Billy's Romance (August 21, 1916), 28 mins

Episode 4: The Stone God (August 28, 1916), 30 mins

Episode 5: Mimosa San (September 4, 1916), 29 mins….£7.49

 

Beatrice Fairfax (1916) Disk 2

Episode 6: The Forbidden Room (September 11, 1916), 29 mins

Episode 7: A Name for a Baby (September 18, 1916), 28 mins

Episode 8: At the Ainsley Ball (September 25, 1916), 24 mins

Episode 9: Outside the Law (October 2, 1916), 26 mins

Episode 10: Play Ball (October 9, 1916), 25 mins….£7.49

 

Beatrice Fairfax (1916) Disk 3

Episode 11: The Wages of Sin (October 16, 1916), 30 mins

Episode 12: Curiosity (October 23, 1916), 26 mins

Episode 13: The Ringer (October 30, 1916), 24 mins

Episode 14: The Hidden Menace (November 6, 1916), 29 mins

Episode 15: Wristwatches (November 13, 1916), 25 mins….£7.49

 

Beau Brummel (1924)

Starring John Barrymore and Mary Astor.

Review: Clyde Fitch's play, written for the great stage actor Richard Mansfield, is a very romantic interpretation of incidents in the life of George (Beau) Brummel, the Regency dandy whose name has become a watchword for sartorial splendour and correctness, and is itself freely adapted for this film, which showcases the unparallelled talent of John Barrymore in his prime, as Brummel. With revenge in his heart, Brummel sets out to manipulate London society in a great game due to his, because of his untitled station, having lost his lover, played well by 18 year old Mary Astor with whom Barrymore began an affair during this filming, and he utilizes his close relationship with his sponsor, the Prince of Wales, the Regent (later King George IV) to advance his plan. Barrymore's control of his scenes is unmatched as he expresses the widest possible range of emotion and reaction with the smallest movement of his eyes or mouth and although there are opportunities aplenty for emoting, his utilization of a prolonged gaze into the eyes of a lover or foe speaks volumes. Barrymore is strongly assisted by a very able supporting cast, including Willard Louis as the Prince of Wales, Aleck B. Francis as Brummel's loyal manservant, and, as the Duchess of York, the exquisite Irene Rich, whose rhythms and ability to focus upon her character's persona nicely complements Barrymore during their shared scenes. Harry Beaumont, as always, directs capably and is assisted enormously with his efforts by cinematographer David Abel, whose skill with large groups in complicated action was later markedly in evidence as he supervised the cameras during the best of the Astaire/Rogers pictures. Somewhat more than a cavil might be a desire for the scenario to have presented more of Brummel's full life rather than the lengthy treatment given to its denouement, and that lacking in accuracy, but certainly allowing Barrymore a good deal of dramatic opportunity, which does not go shunned…..£7.49

 

Beau Geste (1926)

Starring Ronald Colman.

Review:Michael "Beau" Geste leaves England in disgrace and joins the infamous French Foreign Legion. He is reunited with his two brothers in North Africa, where they face greater danger from their own sadistic commander than from the rebellious Arabs. Not a dull moment awaits the viewer in Beau Geste. Quite honestly, it's never boring. The great action scenes, great story telling, superb acting, fabulous art direction and amazing camerawork hold it up just as well today as in 1926…..£7.49

 

Beau Revel (1921)

Starring Lewis Stone and Florence Vidor……£7.49

 

Beauty's Worth (1922)

Starring Marion Davies.

Review: Marion Davies is a Quaker girl raised strictly by her two aunts. She goes to a fancy resort with childhood friend Hallam Cooley and his mother. Though she has a longstanding crush on him, he does not reciprocate, instead he is interested in a well dressed golddigger. To get his interest, Marion Davies allows rich and bored artist Forrest Stanley to dress her up and stars in his charade play, but when he does become interested, she realizes that he is only interested in the surface and goes for the artist instead. Most interesting for the doll charade scene, where Marion Davies gets to act. The film has a runtime of 112 mins.....£7.49

 

Bed And Sofa (1927)

Russian silent with English intertitles the film has a runtime of 87 mins……£7.49

 

Beggar From Cologne Cathedral, The (1927)

Rolf Randolf. This is an excellent print of the film with both English and German intertitles and a runtime of 101 mins…..£7.49

 

Beggars of Life (1928) **UPGRADE – BETTER PRINT**

Directed by William A.Wellman and starring Louise Brooks, Wallace Beery and Richard Arlen, there are 2 versions of this film available. The better quality print is very good to excellent and has a runtime of 82 mins. The second version has a runtime of 102 mins, but the print quality good, but grainy.

Plot: After killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond. She dresses as a boy, they hop freight trains, quarrel with a group of hobos, and steal a car in their attempt to escape the police, and reach Canada.

Review: A really great film. Great action scenes, and yet there are a lot of subtle scenes with nuanced acting. The social themes - child abuse, the desperation of the poor - are quite as relevant today, and make it easy to relate to, especially with the fine acting of Arlen and Brooks. Although the tone is serious, the scenes with Beery introduce an element of broad comedy. Also progressive for its time by having a black character as a respected equal of the others...£7.49

 

Behind The Door (1919)

Directed by Irvin Willatt and based on a story by Gouverneur Morris, this film stars Hobart Bosworth, Wallace Beery, Jane Novak and Gibson Gowland. It has a runtime of 71 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Review: Submarines became a theme in several of producer Thomas Ince's films related to World War I, as I outline in my Ince biography. Some of the motifs of Ince's False Faces and Civilization reappeared shortly; in Moving Picture World, Ince announced that he had "launched Hobart Bosworth in a specially prepared version of Gouverneur Morris' Behind the Door. In this production I have used the sea and submarines in a series of startling pictures which, I believe, will prove one of the screen sensations of the year." $10,000 was paid for the rights to the story. Morris, a prominent author, was an admirer of Ince who visited him at the studio on several occasions.
Released at the end of 1919, Behind the Door looked back at the Great War from the perspective of several years in the future, 1925, in depicting atrocities. Captain Oscar Klug (Bosworth) returns home to his Maine town, "alone, forlorn and forgotten." There he finds the dilapidated remnants of his taxidermy shop, where he once loved Alice Morse; "His was not the adoration of a Romantic Youth but the Love of a Man." As noted by an analysis of the film for screen writing purposes in the contemporary Photoplay Plot Encyclopedia, "the central character is made wholly sympathetic throughout the story." Klug is kindly, and overcomes the townspeople's resentment of Germans when war is declared; his family has lived and fought in America for a hundred years. Yet Klug, the German-American, will also become a victim of the beastly Hun of wartime propaganda. Behind the Door simultaneously denounces prejudice while offering a story to fuel the very same hatreds.
Klug becomes captain of a ship on which Alice stows away to be with him, but her gesture becomes disastrous when the ship is sunk by a U-boat. Alone, dying in a small boat, Klug and Alice find themselves apparently rescued by a submarine, but it is in fact the same U-boat. The captain, Lieutenant Brandt, played by Wallace Beery, takes Alice on board but leaves Klug to drown. Alice refuses Brandt's overtures, and he turns her over to his savage crew. Somehow Klug survives, vowing vengeance, and Brandt becomes his prisoner. Brandt boasts of what was done to Alice, and how, when his men were done with her, she was shot out through the torpedo tube (the only portion of her treatment not shown). Klug carries out his oath, to skin his adversary alive, but Brandt dies before the torture can be completed. Klug realizes Alice cannot be brought back, and at the close their spirits are united.
Director Irvin Willat, having rejoined the studio after wartime service, described the production. "I read the script, and I didn't like it—so I wrote a prologue and an epilogue—mainly to lengthen the story—and it's the only picture I ever made what you might call 'off the cuff.' But Gouverneur Morris had so carefully written—so beautifully written the story, that I was able to work directly from the magazine story more or less—and we made the picture. By adding the prologue and epilogue, I didn't have to drag out the story—I could make it as he had written it—short and effective."
Behind the Door is an example of Ince's belief that an unhappy ending is acceptable to the audience if it is the logical conclusion of the story or imparts a lesson. Critics labeled the movie as having an Edgar Allan Poe-like plot, and Photoplay commented, "it took courage to make such a picture as this, for it is a 'he-picture,' no pap for puking infants." Behind the Door cost $84,660 to produce, and grossed $289,039….£7.49

 

 

Behind The Front (1926)

Starring Wallace Beery, Raymond Hatton, Mary Brian, Richard Arlen, Chester Conklin and Gertrude Astor. Plot: During World War I a young man joins the army and winds up befriending another young recruit, not knowing that it's the same pickpocket who stole his watch. After finishing basic training, the two are sent to the front lines in France, where they wind up in trouble with the MPs, getting involved with some cute French girls and "volunteering" for a dangerous front-line mission, and their antics result in their endangering the armistice. Review: Wallace Beery joins the army and heads to France not knowing that his new best friend is the pickpocket who stole his watch. This silent movie is a great comedy about day to day life in the trenches of The Great War (before we knew to number them). The two friends spend time in the stockade, eat bad food and meet French girls. They also "volunteer" for a dangerous mission in no-man's-land, accidentally capturing an entire German company and violating the armistice. Laurel & Hardy repeated this gag in "Pack Up Your Troubles" a few years later. By 1926, Hollywood was making war dramas showing the courage and sacrifices the doughboys made. "Wings" and "Hell's Angels" would be made in the next three years. Maybe it was time to forget the horrors of the war and laugh at it for a while. The film has a runtime of 64 mins……£7.49

 

Behind Two Guns (1924)

Extremely rare silent western starring J.B.Warner

Plot: A lawman and his partner try to puzzle out the mystery of a highwayman who seems to be able to make the Wells Fargo loot magically vanish on its way to town.…..£7.49

 

Belle Nivernaise, La (1924) **UPGRADE – NOW WITH ENGLISH INTERTITLES**

Directed by Jean Epstein, THIS French silent film has a runtime of 51 mins and the print quality is good.

Plot: Bargeman Louveau finds an abandoned boy, Victor, and with the authorities permission takes him back to his own family where he raises him. 10 years later Victor and Louveau's daughter Clara have fallen in love, and it is then that Louveau is called to Paris, where it has been discovered that Victor is really the son of Maugendré, a charcoal shipper on the Nivernaise canal. Meanwhile, Victor protects Clara when a jealous bargehand attacks her and he manages to save the family barge from crashing into the lock. Returned to his real father, Victor is sent away to be educated but misses Clara and his life on the barges. When Maugendré realizes this he lets him return and when they are married he gives Victor and Clara a barge of their own. ……£7.49

 

Belle of Broadway, The (1926)

Starring Betty Bronson this film has a runtime of 61 mins and the print quality is very good to Excellent…..£7.49

 

Bells, The (1926)

Starring Lionel Barrymore. Plot: Mathias, an Alsatian innkeeper, murders a rich Pole staying at his inn But Mathias' conscience will not let him rest, and the murdered man's spirit drives the innkeeper nearly mad. The victim's brother calls for an inquest and brings with him a sideshow mesmerist supposedly able to read minds. Mathias, as burgomaster, is called upon to conduct the inquest, but under the intuitive eye of the mesmerist cannot resist torment of his own conscience. Review: This silent film kept my interest from the very beginning to the end and this was the first time I was able to view this film with Boris Karloff playing the role as a Mesmerist who had great powers of elevating people and being able to read the minds of guilty men who commit crimes. This story mainly deals with Lionel Barrymore, (Mathias) playing the role as an innkeeper who wants to become the mayor of his small town and is always giving free drinks to most of his customers or loaning money to them. However, Mathias is deeply in debt to a man who threatens to take his inn away from him and force him and his family into the street. Boris Karloff did have a brief role in this film but his great talent along with Lionel Barrymore made this a great silent film classic. If you like good Silent films, this is one of the best. Enjoy….£7.49

 

Beloved Blackmailer, The (1918)

Starring Carlyle Blackwell, the print is Excellent and has a runtime of 59 mins……£7.49

 

Beloved Brute (1924)

Starring Marguerite de la Motte and Victor McLaglen, this is a cutdown version of a longer film with a runtime of 32 mins and the print is of decent quality…..£7.49

 

Beloved Rogue, The (1927)

Starring John Barrymore and Conrad Veidt. Review: Superb silent version of the story of Francois Villon. Although remade in the thirties as IF I WERE KING, with Frank Lloyd directing, Preston Sturges scripting and Ronald Colman starring, this version is even better. Barrymore, with a cohort of comedians, plays the comic fool and the wine-depressed Villon with a verve that Colman could not match. The photography is startling in its beauty and innovation and the supporting cast, particularly Conrad Veidt in his American premiere, the incredibly beautiful Marceline Day, and the supporting comics, Slim Summerville and Hank Mann, steal every scene they are in. The print is very good…..£7.49

 

Below The Deadline (1929)

Directed by and starring J.P.McGown and also starring Frank Leigh Bill Patton and Barbara Worth this film has a runtime of 58 mins and the print quality is good to very good…..£7.49

 

Below the Surface (1920)

Review: This expertly rendered potboiler stars Hobart Bosworth as a great diver who is approached by some con artists who want him to front for a fake company recovering gold from wrecks. He refuses and they put pressure on him by vamping his son. Everyone plays their parts well and this silent movie from 1920 is beautifully acted -- particularly well underplayed by Bosworth and con man George Webb -- and well shot. The outdoor scenes are shot on location, including the diving platforms and that adds a great deal to movies like this: a touch of realism that later, slicker Hollywood movies would lose. Watch out for Gladys George, who spent the late thirties playing oversexed mature women ( best in THE MALTESE FALCON) as a young, innocent ingénue…..£7.49

 

Belphegor (1927)

Directed by Henri Desfontaines and starring Rene Navarre, Elmire Vautier and Lucien Dalcase, this is a 4 episode serial with a runtime of 212 mins. The print quality is good to very good.

Plot: A ghost haunts the famous Louvres museum.One night,he knocks an attendant out,near the statue of Belphégor.A journalist, Bellegarde ,investigates ,in spite of an infuriating mistress, Simone Desroches.When his investigation runs into difficulties, he is helped by detective Chantecoq,who succeeds in unmasking Belphégor.Much to his surprise, it's none other than Bellegarde's lover….£7.49

 

Ben Hur: A Tale of Christ (1925)

Starring Ramon Novarro and Francis X Bushman.

Review: After seeing the famous 1959 version of this film a number of times in the last 45 years, it was interesting to contrast this 1925 silent version to it. However, let me say right off the bat that I enjoyed both versions, and I am not going to get into the "which movie is better?" argument. This silent-film version was more true to the book than the more-famous 1959 movie, mainly from the Christian angle. Just look at the main title and notice "A Tale Of The Christ" was dropped for the '59 film even though that is the official title and the name of Lew Wallace's book. In this film, the life of Christ is much more prominent, and that's the major difference. Both films feature a cast of thousands, the great sea battle and the dramatic chariot race. We have the intense and bitter rivalry between Judah Ben-Hur and Messala, capped off by the chariot race. To compare action scenes would be unfair since cameras and technical knowledge improve with time. Both versions wowed audiences in their day. The chariot race in the '59 version is still considered by some the great action scene ever filmed, especially since it was done without special effects. Unlike the '59 movie, this silent version had TWO big stars in the leads: Ramon Narvarro and Francis X. Bushman, playing Ben-Hur and Messala, respectively. It also has an interesting mix of (mostly) black-and-white and tinted scenes. All the scenes involving Jesus had color. As in the '59 version, you never saw Christ's face. Both had touching scenes with Ben-Hur and his sister and his mother. Speaking of women, a shocker in this silent version was a quick parade of topless women. At 2 hours and 25 minutes this Ben-Hur was shorter than the '59 version. However, this is a long, long movie for a silent film and many people today probably wouldn't put up with no dialog for that long, but if you appreciate great film-making - from any era - this is a "must" for your collection. The film has a runtime of 141 mins…..£7.49

 

Bennie The Howl aka Benya Krik (1926)

Directed by Vladimir Vilner and starring Matvei Lyarov and Yuri Shumsky, the print is very good/excellent and has a runtime of 105 mins. **Please note the film has Russian only intertitles**…..£7.49

 

Berlin: Symphony Of A Great City (1927)

A train speeds through the country on its way to Berlin, then gradually slows down as it pulls into the station. It is very early in the morning, about 5:00 AM, and the great city is mostly quiet. But before long there are some signs of activity, and a few early risers are to be seen on the streets. Soon the new day is well underway - it's just a typical day in Berlin, but a day full of life and energy…..£7.49

 

Bestia (1917) aka The Polish Dancer **UPGRADE – Excellent restored print**

Directed by Aleksander Hertz and starring Pola Negri, Witold Kuncewicz, Jan Pawlowski Maria Duleba and Lya Mara, this film has a runtime of 44 mins And the print quality is excellent. Tis was apparently the first feature film made in Poland. The film has English intertitles.

Plot: A wild young girl runs away from her parents' house to support herself and attracts the attentions of a married man, who is prepared to abandon his wife and child for her. But a resentful lover from back home has also found work in the city...…£7.49

 

Betrothed, The aka I Promessi Sposi (1922)

Directed by Mario Bonnard and starring Emilia Vidali, Domenico Serra, Nini Dinelli and Mario Parpagnoli, this film has a runtime of 130 mins and the print quality is excellent. This I talian silent epic has Italian intertitles and newly created English subtitles.

Plot: Based on the famous historical novel by Alessandro Manzoni, and set between 1628 and 1630 in Lombardy "northern Italy" during the Spanish domination, tells of the contrasted marriage between the two young textile workers Renzo and Lucia. The 1922 version is the most ambitious and spectacular film in all Italian silent cinema, with remarkable mass scenes and some images that triggered the censorship.

Review: A highlight of the 37th Annual Pordeone Silent Film Festival and masterpiece in Italian Literature I Promessi Spossi (aka The Betrothed) 1922 was quite an epic. Cinematography in many scenes is very fluid and crafty, the lead actress of the film was quite interesting actress in her own right.The story of a man's dedication to marry his fiancée despite all the set backs one could imagine like the plague, civil war and religious bigotry.Couldn't have hurt if it was a bit shorter but the restoration done by the group in Milan Italy is quite extraordinary, I found the film quite interesting and was directed by Mario Bonnard Italian Actor turned Film Maker. I believe this has been released on DVD which is great since it is an fantastic Italian Silent….£7.49

Betsy Ross (1917)

Starring Alice Brady, this is the story of the woman who made the first stars and stripes flag. Quite interesting Historical drama……..£7.49

 

Better Man Wins, The (1922) **UPGRADE – slightly better print**

Directed by Frank S,Mattison and Marcel Perez and starring Pete Morrison, Dorothy Wood, E.L.Van Sickle and Jack Walters, this film has a runtime of 64 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent with the exception of a few of the title cards.

Plot: Nell is determined to run her ailing father's ranch herself and refuses Bill Harrison's offers of love and help. Dick, a city cabaret proprietor, and Grace, his star performer, become Nell's guests when they have an accident in which Grace sprains her ankle; Grace soon captivates Bill; and Dick encourages Nell to work for him. Bill accompanies Dick and Grace back to the city, but he learns Grace's true nature and returns west to Nell, who has realized her love for Bill.  ……£7.49

 

Better ‘Ole, The (1926)

Starring Syd Chaplin this is an excellent print with a runtime of 95 mins……£7.49

 

Betty And The Buccaneers (1917)

Starring Juliette Day and Charles Marriott, this film has a runtime of 65 mins. The tinted print is of good to very good quality.

Plot: Romantic adventure film in which the girl Betty, who dreams about pirates, and her gullible father is tricked by a set of real pirates. They are rescued by a young man who has a crush on Betty….£7.49

 

Beverly of Graustark (1926) **UPGRADE – Much improved print**

Directed by Sidney Franklin and starring Marion Davies, Antonio Moreno, Creighton Hale and Roy D’Arcy this film has a runtime of 78 mins and the print quality is excellent. The film inc;udes a very impressive colour sequence.

Review: Marion Davies stars as Beverly, an American student who gets talked into masquerading as her cousin Oscar after he gets injured in a skiing accident. Oscar (Creighton Hale) was just about to travel back to Graustark to claim the throne and secure the country from the evil General Marlanax (Roy D'Arcy). Of course there are complications when she falls for her bodyguard, Antonio Moreno, a goatherd who rescues the "prince" from an ambush.
Davies is a delight. The scene in which she must drain a huge tankard of beer (as a toast to the army) is hilarious. At a great ball, Davies manages to talk the scheming Carlotta (Paulette Duval) into taking off her gown, which Davies escapes with to flirt with Moreno. All is well when Oscar finally appears in Graustark.
Davies impersonated young men in many of her films (MARIANNE (both silent and talkie versions), LITTLE OLD NEW YORK, Hollywood REVUE OF 1929, and WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER come to mind). Davies also masquerades is many other films: in QUALITY STREET as her own niece, OPERATOR 13 as a black servant, EVER SINCE EVE as a frumpy secretary, GOING Hollywood as a French maid, etc.
BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK was a big hit at the box office and is said to be Davies' most profitable film for MGM.……£7.49

 

Beyond the Border (1925)

Starring Harry Carey and Mildred Harris, this film is a little known western…..£7.49

 

Beyond The Rocks (1922)

Starring Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson. Plot: Love, duty, and the scent of narcissus. Theodora, a young and penniless aristocrat, marries a much older man, self-made millionaire grocer Josiah Brown, so that her father and spinster sisters can live comfortably. Soon after the wedding, she finds herself falling in love with Hector, the Tenth Earl of Bracondale, a playboy she encounters on the social circuit of the very rich -- in the Swiss Alps, Paris, London, and the English countryside. Hector is attracted to her as well. Theodora must choose between love and duty, and then Josiah and Hector must make choices of their own……£7.49

 

Bid For Fortune, A (1917)

Starring Thomas Canning, A.Harding Steerman and Violet Graham, this British silent film has a runtime of 84 mins and the print quality is good to very good as some decomposition is evident in places.An Australian lawyer is entrusted with a curious Tibetan object known as the Rod of Knowledge, but soon discovers that dangerous occultist and evil mastermind Dr Nikola wants it for his own nefarious ends. A Bid For Fortune was an early British adventure serial which was packed together into this standalone feature that played in British cinemas during April 1917. Producer Sidney Morgan adapted Guy Boothby's tale from the hugely popular Doctor Nikola series. Boothby, an Australian immigrant to the UK, was mentored by Rudyard Kipling and his evil occultist Dr Nikola was a forerunner of Fu Manchu, appearing in a string of novels between 1895 and 1901….£7.49

 

Big Jump, Tha aka Der Grosse Sprung (1927)

Starring Leni Riefenstahl and directed by Arnold Fanck, this is an excellent restored print of the film with English intertitles and a runtime of 107 mins…..£7.49

 

Big Pal (1925)

Directed by John G.Adolfi and starring William Russell, Julanne Johnston, Mary Carr, Mickey Bennett and Hayden Stevenson, this film has a runtime of 43 mins and the print quality is good.

Plot: A judge’s daughter spurns his wealthy lifestyle and goes to do social work in poorer neighborhoods. There she meets a boxer contending for a championship.

Review: William Russell plays a prizefighter with both eyes on the heavyweight crown. Russell's nephew is freckle-faced Mickey Bennett, who idolizes his uncle to the nth degree. On the eve of the Big Fight, gangsters kidnap Bennett and order Russell to throw the fight. But the resourceful Bennett manages to escape his captors, and all's well when the final bell rings. Julanne Johnston costars as a social worker who falls in love with likeable lug Russell….£7.49

 

Big Parade, The (1925) **UPGRADE – Longer better print **

Directed by King Vidor and starring John Gilbert, Renee Adoree, Hobart Bosworth, Claire MacDowell and.Claire Adams this film has a runtime of 151 mins and the print quality is excellent.

Plot: The idle son of a rich businessman joins the army when the U.S.A. enters World War One. He is sent to France, where he becomes friends with two working-class soldiers. He also falls in love with a Frenchwoman, but has to leave her to move to the frontline.

Review: Even though I have already heard a great deal about this film, I was surprised to see the strength of the movie. It holds up very well, and it´s not very dated, except for some short comic scenes where John Gilbert is with his friends. There are several great and memorable moments, especially the one in which Gilbert and Reneé Adoreé are separated and the end of the movie, which is still very powerful. An almost perfect film…..£7.49

 

Big Show, The (1926)

Directed by George Terwilliger and starring John Lowell, Evangeline Russell, F.Serrano Keating, Jane Thomas and Joe E.Lewis, this film has a rumtime of 76 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Long believed lost, a copy of the film was discovered in 2010 in a cache at the New Zealand Film Archive.

Plot: The crooked brother of a cowboy working in a wild west circus comes to the show and coax the owner's daughter to marry him. All the while, stringing a one of the performers along. The cowboy has evidence his brother stole valuable oil lands, but attempts to use it to bargain the brother into doing the right thing-until it's stolen.

Review: The Big Show, the only feature-length motion picture produced by the Miller Brothers, is a behind-the-scenes melodrama set within their show. The story: Bill, a war veteran who has been defrauded by his brother, rescues Ruth, the elephant girl, and joins the company. Secretly engaged to Bill’s “bad brother” Norman—allegedly an oil millionaire—Ruth rebuffs her rescuer’s affection. Her elephant, however, knows a villain when he smells one and eventually gives Norman his just deserts….£7.49

 

Big Stakes (1924)

Starring J.B.Warner and Elinor Fair…..£7.49

 

Billy West Short Films (1919-1924)

1/ He's In Again (1918) 2/His Day Out (1918) 3/ A Rolling Stone (1919) 4/ Lines Busy (1924)……£7.49

 

Birth of A Nation (1915)

Directed by DW Griffith. Two brothers, Phil and Ted Stoneman, visit their friends in Piedmont, South Carolina: the family Cameron. This friendship is affected by the Civil War, as the Stonemans and the Camerons must join up opposite armies. The consequences of the War in their lives are shown in connection to major historical events, like the development of the Civil War itself, Lincoln's assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan….£7.49

 

Birth of A Race, The (1918)

Directed by John W.Noble and starring Louis Dean, Harry Dumont, Carter B.Harkness and Doris Doscher, this film has a runtime of 88 mins and the print quality is very good.

Plot: After a biblical and historical prologue detailing the evolution of the idea of democracy through the creation of the world, the flood, the crucifixion of Christ, the discovery of America, the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Civil War, the present-day threat to this idea by autocratic powers is dramatized. Fritz Schmidt, a German-American steel plant owner, and his son Oscar remain loyal to the Kaiser, while son George fights for the Allies. When the American army hospital where Louisa Schmidt works as a nurse is attacked by the Germans, Oscar, now a German soldier, assaults her, not recognizing his sister in the confusion. George, recovering in the hospital, kills his brother and then returns home to find his mother and a German spy struggling for some secret papers. George kills the spy, Fritz realigns his loyalty to the American cause, and the family is reunited.

Review: The film begins as a biblical epic, and a saucy one at that: there are numerous shots of bare-breasted nubiles at the court of Pharaoh. Eat your heart out, Cecil B. DeMille! The parting of the Red Sea is depicted by a title card - this is a pretty low budget film - and Jesus finally puts in an appearance at the 47:41 mark. Blessed with some unnaturally long eyebrows, he lectures to men of all races, but the crowd remains largely segregated throughout - and how a group of Asian attendees got to ancient Israel is not explained. Crucifixion is followed in short order by the arrival of Columbus in America, where he brings the gospel to the savages, after which Paul Revere alerts the locals to the arrival of the British Army and the Emancipation Proclamation is described as 'the last link in the chain of human equality'. Intended as a riposte to The Birth of a Nation, The Birth of a Race now plays more like a liberal apologetic - though it does anticipate the future integration of the armed forces….£7.49

 

Black Cyclone, The (1925)

Starring Rex The Wonder Horse the print is decent and has a runtime of 67 mins……£7.49

 

Black Diamond, The aka Le Diamant Noir (1913)

Directed by Alfred Machin and starring Albert Dieudonné, Blanche Derval, Fernand Crommelynck, this Belgian silent film with French only intertitles has a runtime of 50 mins and the print quality is excellent.

Plot: Luc Ogier is the secretary of a rich nobleman. Engaged to the charming Linke, he looks forward to the day of their wedding. Unfortunately, a valuable jewel is stolen and not only is Luc wrongly accused of the theft but all turn against him into the bargain. Put off by such injustice, the poor man decides to distance himself. He accompanies the explorer Santher on an expedition to the Congo…

Review: On instructions of the French company Pathé Frères, Alfred Machin develops a film industry in the Netherlands and Belgium from 1912 to the advent of World War One. He directs several quality films including La Fille de Delft, Maudite soit la Guerre and this wonderful gem Le Diamant Noir. A man is accused of theft and decides to quit the country. Machin’s favourite pet, the panther Mimir shares the lead roll in this film with a magpie.

An example of Belgian cinema before the first World War. A nicely done simple production. The story in itself is not that remarkable. About a man who is wrongly accused of stealing, getting turned away by everything and decides to go away to Congo and fight jungle animals. While away they find out he didn't do anything wrong and try to locate the poor bastard. Not that thrilling apart from fighting that big pussy cat, but it well enough acted to become pleasant viewing for a 50 minute 1913 drama….£7.49

 

Black Dream, The (1911)

This is a Danish film with English intertitles starring Asta Nielsen. The print is very good and has a runtime of 53 mins…£7.49

 

Black Gold (1924)

Starring Pete Morrison and Peggy Montgomery this film has a runtime of 38 mins and the print quality is very good…..£7.49

 

Black Oxen (1924) **UPGRADE, MORE COMPLETE VERSION**

Directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Corinne Griffith, Clara Bow and Conway Tearle this is an excellent print of the film although it has a prominent logo throughout. It now has a runtime of 75 mins and is therefore now only missing about 5 mins at the end.

Plot: As a romance develops between Clavering and Zatianny, he discovers the bizarre truth. Years ago, Mary Ogden went to Vienna and volunteered for a medical experiment, in which her ovaries were irradiated with radium treatments. This rejuvenated the fiftyish Mary, restoring her to the sexual vitality and physical youth of her early twenties. She re-invented herself as the European beauty Zatianny, and has now returned to her old haunts. For reasons never properly explained, the radium treatment works only on women, not men. This is a strange film, but an interesting one.... £7.49

 

Black Pirate, The (1926) **UPGRADE – BETTER COLOUR**

Directed by Albert Parker and starring Douglas Fairbanks, Billie Dove, Donald Crisp, Sam de Grasse and Anders Randolf, this early Technicolor film has a runtime of 95 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Storyline: A nobleman vows to avenge the death of his father at the hands of pirates. To this end he infiltrates the pirate band. Acting in character he is instrumental in the capture of a ship, but things are complicated when he finds that there is a young woman on board whom he wishes to protect from the threat of rape.

Review: A nobleman vows vengeance on the cutthroats responsible for his father's death. Becoming THE BLACK PIRATE, he joins their scurvy crew and quickly becomes their leader. But his plans for revenge become more complicated when he meets his first captive - a beautiful Spanish princess.
Roistering, robust & richly detailed, this was one of Douglas Fairbanks' greatest films. With enough excitement to satisfy any lover of adventure, one needs only read the film's prologue to get an idea of its delights: 'A page from the History and Lives of the most Bloodthirsty PIRATES who ever infested THE SOUTHERN SEAS. Being an account of BUCCANEERS & the Spanish MAIN, the Jolly Roger, Golden Galleons, bleached skulls, BURIED TREASURE, the Plank, dirks & cutlasses, SCUTTLED SHIPS, marooning, DESPERATE DEEDS, DESPERATE MEN, and - even on this dark soil - ROMANCE.' Aside from the bleached skulls, everything else is there as promised
Fairbanks is a joy to behold, exulting in his physical prowess, becoming a legend of the screen before the delighted eyes of the viewer. Can any other swashbuckler top the flair or élan of the sequence where Doug captures a merchantman single-handed, climbing up the forecastle & sliding down the slit sails on his dagger, light as any sprite? No one else would have even dared.
As the princess, Billie Dove is beautiful, but has very little to do except look frightened. Donald Crisp, in a change of pace role, is very enjoyable as a gruff one-armed Scots pirate who befriends Fairbanks. Anders Randolf & Sam De Grasse are the black-hearted pirate captain & lieutenant whom Doug must contend with and they are nasty indeed.
A milestone in cinematic history, this was one of the first movies to be filmed entirely in Technicolor. In its restored version, it is very pleasant to the eyes, its antique hues perfectly complementing the richly textured art design, costumes & sets.
For those interested in such things, there are explanations for the various special effects (the underwater attack, for instance), but the reader will need to look elsewhere for them. Sometimes too many facts can spoil the illusion of daydreams so necessary for the enjoyment of silent cinema. Find this fabulous film & dream on….£7.49

 

Black Tulip, The (1921)

This was a Netherlands/UK co-proction directed by Maurits Binger and Frank Richardson and starring Gerald McCarthy, Zoe Palmer, Eduard Verkade and Dio Huysmans. The film has a runtime of 81 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent. It was based on the Alexandre Dumas novel “La Tulipe noire”.

Review: Gerald McCarthy wants to develop the first black tulip and win the big prize from the Dutch horticultural society. Neighbor Harry Waghalter wants the money and fame, so he alerts the authorities that McCarthy has papers from his uncle, implicating him in treason. With McCarthy in jail, Waghalter can't find the tulips. McCarthy has the bulbs on him. He and beautiful warden's daughter Zoe Palmer fall in love, and there's lots of intrigue and nastiness in this adaptation of the Dumas novel.
The actors are pretty good, but co-directors Maurits Binger and Frank Richardson spend the first half of the movie in a cinematic lockdown, in which they use chapter-heading techniques to bring the audience up to speed on the story. It's only when Waghalter starts negotiating for the hand of Miss Palmer, that we see some sign that the directors have learned something of editing techniques, as the screen alternates between Waghalter and her father, played by Coen Hissink, deciding how she's going to spend her life, interspersed with the two lovers, that this movie begins to move. Later, we even get a bit of the dashing heroine, as Miss Palmer is the one running around and fighting the bad guy. It gives it up for the final ten minutes, however, as we get a bald deus ex machina….£7.49

 

Blackbird, The (1926) **UPGRADE – Excellent longer print**

Directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney, Owen Moore, Renee Adoree and Doris Lloyd this film has a runtime of 86 mins and the print quality is excellent.

Plot: Two thieves, the Blackbird and West End Bertie, fall in love with the same girl, a French nightclub performer named Fifi. Each man tries to outdo the other to win her heart.

Review: Lon Chaney gets to play his own evil twin in this Tod Browning crime adventure. The "Blackbird" is a low-life criminal who falls in love with Fifi, a music hall performer. Unfortunately, someone else loves her too: posh "West End Bertie," who wears a topper and a monocle like Bertie Wooster, but who's actually a crook himself, not above robbing his own friends while they're out slumming (including watching "chinkys" smoking opium).
The Blackbird and Bertie decide to become a team, but tension mounts as the Blackbird realizes that Fifi is falling for Bertie. Mixed in to the plot is the Blackbird's ex, who seems on a crusade to reform him, and his brother 'The Bishop', a helpless cripple known for his work among the poor. Blackbird and Bishop share a room but are never seen together.
The ending is tragic, as could be expected, but not without a trace of "cornball."
Browning's direction is excellent. He sets up the Limehouse location at the opening by showing a sequence of faces that evoke the atmosphere more than a mere set could do. He knew how to get the best out of Chaney, but the others in the cast also do a fine job with their facial expressions, all masterfully captured by Browning. ….£7.49

 

Blackmail (1929)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anny Ondra the print is of excellent quality and has a runtime of 84 mins. This is the silent version of the film, a sound version is also available. Plot: Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in 1920's London. Her boyfriend, Frank Webber is a Scotland Yard detective who seems more interested in police work than in her. Frank takes Alice out one night, but she has secretly arranged to meet another man. Later that night Alice agrees to go back to his flat to see his studio. The man has other ideas and as he tries to rape Alice, she defends herself and kills him with a bread knife. When the body is discovered, Frank is assigned to the case, he quickly determines that Alice is the killer, but so has someone else and blackmail is threatened. £7.49

Blasphemer, The (1921)

Directed by O.E.Goebel and starring George Howard, Augusta Anderson, Irving Cummings and Margaret Seddon,  this film has a runtime of 99 mins and the print quality is very good.

Plot: This rarely seen, silent religious feature was produced by the Catholic Art Association. After making it big on Wall Street, John Harden boasts that he is the master of his own fate and believes in neither God nor the Devil. Needless to say, he pays mightily for this hubris. His family is reduced to poverty, his friends desert him, and things turn from bad to worse until his childhood faith is restored.…..£7.49

 

Bled, Le (1929) **UPGRADE – Better Print**

Directed by Jean Renoir and starring Alexandre Arquillière, Jackie Monnier, Enrique Rivero and Diana Hart, this film has a runtime of 105 mins and the print quality is good to very good.

Plot: Claudie, a young French woman, inherits her uncle's property in Algeria, much to the disappointment of her scheming cousins Diane and Manuel. On the ferry she meets and falls for Pierre, an idle young man who has squandered his inheritance and is on his way to beg from Christian, his rich but rough-and-ready uncle, who owns a neighbouring farm to Claudie's. Made to work on the farm by Christian as a loan condition, Pierre is soon a changed man, and proposes to Claudie. But when his Arab friend Zoubir invites the Europeans on a hunting party, Diane and Manuel see their chance to move against their cousin.Review: The opening shot is a shortened sweeping pan of an Algerian landscape begging questions of producer intrigues in the cutting-room. A montage of traditional Algerian activities juxtaposed with shots of ancient ruins. The montage continues with shots of the machines of industry and agriculture. A shot of a steam engine provides a self-reflexive nod to the audience embarking on this travelogue introduction. The opening is pseudo-documentary, quasi-ethnographic. No snide portrayals of "primitive" culture (expected from Renoir). That being said, the juxtaposition of shots tend to evoke sentiment and curiosity (imagination, if you will and atypical of Renoir's ethos on interior-exterior truths). I would characterize Le Bled (from my own research) as transitional within the evolution of his lesser known stylistic system. Low angle shots provoke psychological associations for audience identification while one-shot closeups obliquely framed further psychological effects while adding a painterly quality. Renoir also provides some development within his famous stylistic system. For example, great depth of field at the docks juxtapose staged actors in the foreground with non-actors milling about in the background - the effect is dramatic, especially within Renoir's oeuvre. Unobtrusive camera-work has novel use through positioning with obstructions in the mise-en-scene... naturally arranged to habitually eclipse views of other background objects with seemingly greater human utility (cars and houses). Renoir poses a pointed question about the inherent value and utility of nature to forming humanity's own will. Prophecy in the scenario as old army buddies reacquaint after a random run-in (Renoir would have a similar encounter during the filming of Toni, later inspiring the scenario for Grand Illusion). Good staging/blocking of actors keeps the narrative pace fluid and progresses plot without having to resort to intertitles. However, this directorial choice has Renoir again furthering a psychological identification through promoting a sense of 'photogenie' - rendering the text impressionist in more ways than one. The film, accused of predictability and banality, seemingly has subtly complex characters. A young man lovestruck then quickly affirms not needing to rush into marriage and proceeds to focus on his own inner development through toil. Some propaganda though as the film was commissioned as a centenary celebration of colonization in Algeria. A rich uncle left a significant inheritance for his niece - a fortune gained from 'nobly' tilling the land and utilizing the strong Algerian agricultural foundation to build a stable infrastructure. Despite controversial politics, it is the direction that is most interesting in this film. Renoir, is always ahead of his time (mainly due to making repetition of production practices anathema)... La Fille's collision montage sequence (admittedly influenced by Abel Gance), Carrefour's establishing the qualities of film noir prior to its application in Hollywood, Toni as exemplary of neo-realism prior to its canon in Italy, the great depth of field in films like Regle preceding Welles's Kane and Renoir had already shifted to a critically self-reflexive 'counter cinema' approach to the Tradition of Quality before Godard and Truffaut had established it themselves in features. Le Bled perhaps presents nothing new per se but Renoir's combination of technique and atmosphere is novel and elusive. Renoir's empowering the female voice is brought forth in Bled as the niece states to her hapless courter "You have no get-up-and-go. If only I were a man". This sentiment fits Renoir's oeuvre, where representing women under an ethos of egalitarianism is paramount. The mobile framing present is at the service of tracking character movement and not constructing space. It is hard to accept Renoir's denial of being influenced by the medium's ability to represent psychology in light of a provocative sequence where a mysterious battalion of the French Army arrives on the shores. However, the 'spirit' of France is not brought into question in the Gancian sense and the 'J'accuse' moment is appropriated/bastardized as a 'J'accepte' moment (this bastardizing of Zola-Gance for propagandistic ends surely irked Renoir in this commissioned film). The sequence's superimposed soldiers marching (dissolve) into tractor riding farmers in a cavalcade sweeping across the cliffs into the horizon is haunting. Reverie of France's ability to grow and progress will be tiresome for some spectators (it reminds of Stalinist SR Stakhanovite-themed films) but nevertheless the direction and visuals are immaculate (despite the historicist semantics at play). The farmer-soldiers vanish into "thin" air through superimposed dissolves. The intertitle "J'accepte" teaches nephew that Algeria is worth the effort to cultivate - it is French land! I am sure Renoir was relieved when sound came in (with his next film). The sentimental portrayals in this commission are a far cry from more subtle psychology employed for characterization once Renoir had greater control of his projects. 'Easter-egg-hunt' reveals the Pan flautist (motif) sitting merrily watching and being watched. Le Bled is three acts with the second dragging and not fusing the story into a unity. The story would have more strength if it focused wholeheartedly on Claudie (the inheritor). Her choice of suitor (one accused of "pussying out" all the time and the other acquiring a 'feeling' for the rich history of the land) is of most interest (recalls Fabri's Korhinta for this reviewer). Claudie's feisty verve infuses scenes with energy and interest. Some accused Le Bled (reductively) of being nothing more than a propaganda piece - I disagree. Bled raises some serious moral and socio-political questions ( the gazelle hunt scene frames these questions nicely). A long take centralizes a murdered baby gazelle in the frame while fallen French girl is at the edge of the frame. This scene reminds of the concepts of brutality that Aime Cesaire raised in his polemical-poetic charges against (post-)colonization of the Third World. The film ends with an exciting action sequence and seemingly tragic end. The end chase drags somewhat following the climax but when the falcons are let loose, an element of panoramic continuity is unleashed that reengages the spectator. This film has a heartfelt ending, in this reviewer's opinion. Some of the performances are a little too theatrical, but not overwhelmingly so. Highly Recommended for Renoirites....£7.49

 

Blighty (1927)

Directed by Adrian Brunel and starring Ellaline Terriss, Lillian Hall Davis and Jameson Thomas, this film has a runtime of 106 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Plot: A chauffeur becomes an officer and later cares for his master's widow and child.

A different take on the Great War, this film focuses on the effects on those left behind. Set on the Home Front, far from the battlefields, the film portrays the mixture of suffering and loss, joy and hope experienced by an English family, from the start of the conflict to the first anniversary of Armistice.

Review: A War Story Without a Battle Scene. A Story That Takes You From the Assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand to Armistice Night in Old London. (Print Ad- Calgary Daily Herald, ((Calgary, Alta.)) 16 October 1929)….£7.49

 

Blind Hearts (1921)

Directed by Rowland V.Lee and starring Hobart Bosworth, Wade Boteler, Irene Blackwell, Madge Bellamy, Raymond McKee and William Conklin, this film has a runtime of 50 mins and the print quality is good to very good but has decomposition in places. The film has Italian intertitles with hardcoded English subtitles.

Plot: In 1898 friends John Thomas and Lars Larson travel to the Yukon with their wives to make their fortunes. While in Alaska Thomas' wife gives birth to a boy, and Larson's wife has a girl, Julia. However, Larson spots a birthmark on his daughter's shoulder that resembles one on Thomas' shoulder, and he begins to suspect that he may not actually be the girl's father. Over the next 20 years the two become millionaires, but Larson's wife dies. Julia and Thomas fall in love and wish to marry, but Larson is determined to oppose it. Complications ensue….£7.49

 

Blind Husbands (1919) **UPGRADE – Better longer print **

Directed by and starring Erich von Stroheim and also featuring Sam de Grasse, Francelia Billington and Gibson Gowland, there are 2 versions of this film available. The first has a runtime of 92 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent. The second is the European version Die Rache Der Berg which has a runtime of 100 mins and the print quality is very good.

Plot: Here is a photoplay which excels because it is built on the solid foundation of a real idea, namely, the universal carelessness and inattention of husbands to their wives after, in common parlance, they have them securely bound by the gold or platinum band of domestic slavery. Just as long as husbands allow themselves to take their wives for granted, to forget the little attentions and kindnesses after the honeymoon is ended, then pretty young wives will be the prey of Don Juans who appease them with pretty sayings and suave signs of devotion. This is the main is the theme of "Blind Husbands," this particular case being set in the Alps and brought to a happy finale by the timely awakening of the husband. As the wife, Francelia Billington uncannily resembles Dorothy Phillips, Miss Billington's performance is excellent at all moments, Erich Von Stroheim is nothing less than delightful as the would-be lover while Sam de Grasse portrays a husband to the life! Motion Picture Magazine, March 1920.

This was Von Stroheim's directorial debut and was a very impressive start…..£7.49

 

Blind Justice (1916)

Directed by and starring Benjamin Christensen, also starring Karen Caspersen, Peter Fjelstrup and Charles Wilken, this film has a runtime of 100 mins and the tinted print is of excellent quality.

Plot: A simple-minded circus strongman, John Sikes, has been wrongly accused of a crime committed by Wilken. On the run with his infant son, he enters an affluent house and seeks help from Ann, but is taken captive and imprisoned. Fourteen years pass. Ann has married Dr. Richard West. John, a broken man, is released early for good behaviour. He goes to find his son Robert at the orphanage, but the boy was adopted years before. A flashback shows the baby being adopted by Ann. "Slim" Sam Morton runs a ring of thieves specializing in dog-napping. John knows one of them from prison. One of the gang sells a dog to Dr. West. He also steals the keys to West's country house, The Lindens. The thieves burgle the house. In the sack of loot, John finds a box belonging to Ann, the woman he believes betrayed him years before..£7.49

 

The Block Signal (1926)

Very rare film featuring an early role for Jean Arthur.

Review: Ralph Lewis stars as "Jovial" Joe Ryan, an aging but still vital railroad engineer. Suffering from failing eyesight, Joe is victimized by Bert Allen (George Cheseboro), a younger man who covets both Joe's job and the old man's pretty daughter Grace (Jean Arthur). Reduced to working as a flagman thanks to Bert's chicanery, Joe devotes his spare time to developing a block signal, which will automatically stop a train in case of emergencies. As a result, Joe gets his old job back, his young rival is booted out, and Jean is able to marry the man of her dreams, bridge-builder Jack Milford (Hugh Allen). The Block Signal might be worth seeing if only to watch a very young Jean Arthur in one of her first major roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Please note the quality of picture is below usual standard….£7.49

 

Blonde For A Night, A (1928) **UPGRADE – Improved Print**

Directed by E. Mason Hopper and F.McGrew Willis and starring Marie Prevost, Franklin Pangborn, Harrison Ford, T.Roy Barnes and Lucien Littlefield, this film has a runtime of 54 mins and the print quality is good to very good.

Plot: After an argument, a newlywed decides to test her husband's fidelity by disguising herself as a blonde.

Review: In this silent farce, Marie Prevost as Marie and Harrison Ford as Bob are newly weds honeymooning in Paris. After Bob's friend George visits, Marie and Bob start arguing about small matters and Marie leaves and visits her friend Hector (played by the wonderfully mildly prissy Franklin Pangborn) who owns a fashion house in Paris. To test Bob's affection for her and at Hector's encouragement, Marie decides to don a blonde wig and a fake beauty mark. When Bob and George visit the fashion house they both are immediately smitten by the blonde Marie. As Bob and George are loitering outside her door, Hector tells Marie via a title card "That pair of one cent stamps must be sticking around trying to play post office." Bob of course does not recognize the blonde as his wife and George tells Marie that Bob is "...just a human lemon hanging around for some one to give him a squeeze." I love the title cards in silent comedies. The boys ask Marie out and she invites both of them for dinner at her suite at the Ritiz (a suite adjoining Bob and hers). We're soon informed that "dinner is ready from soup to nuts - but the nuts hadn't arrived yet." Soon the nuts and Hector arrive and there is much scurrying about. Even as absurd as it is, I'm a fan of farce and this one is enjoyable. Particularly noteworthy is Franklin Pangborn, his comedic time and mannerisms add greatly to the fun of this film. Also interesting is the glimpse we get of the fashions and customs of the very wealthy. While awaiting for Marie to return, Bob dresses for lunch, then dresses for tea and then dresses for dinner. The wealthy had both a lot of clothes and a lot of time on their hands.…£7.49

 

Blood and Sand aka Sangre y Arena (1917)

This was the very first version of Blood and Sand, the screenplay for the film was written by the author of the novel, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, who also co-directed the film with Ricardo de Banos. The film stars P. Alcaide, Mark Andrews, Matilde Domenech and Jose Portes, it has a runtime of 59 mins and the print quality is good to very good.

Plot: . Juan Gallardo, a poor but ambitious young shoemaker's son in Southern Spain yearns to be a matador. To that end he and his companions set out for Seville where he eventually finds fame and fortune in the arena. Fawning admirers and parasites, beginning with his brother in law and sister, whom he sets up in their own business surround him. He marries his sweetheart Carmen, only to to neglect her when he meets a Dona Alvira, a man-eating femme fatale attracted to celebrities as long as they remain on top. He also meets a notorious bandit, Plumitas who terrorizes the local countryside and happily evades the law. Eventually, due to his obsession with Dona Elvira, Juan's skills begin to slip and his star begins to fade. His adoring followers drift away and he is fatally gored in the arena. Despite the efforts of the Doctor, Ruiz, he dies with his faithful wife Carmen at his bedside. At the same time, the bandit is recognized in the audience by a detective and is shot dead during an escape.

Review: The first of several versions of Sangre y Arena (Blood and Sand) based on the novel by the best selling Spanish novelist Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. A comment on the shallowness of fame and adulation, this version was made in 1916 under the direction of the author, who also wrote the screenplay. Subsequent versions were made in 1922 starring Rudolph Valentino, 1941 with Tyrone Power and Rita Hayworth, and 1989 with Sharon Stone. While the 1941 version shot with 3- strip Technicolor is held as the gold standard, the original film stands up amazing well considering the limitations of film in 1916 (the year it was shot) and the fact that it was made during the first world war. I do not know if it was shown in the English speaking world as the only version existing has Spanish language title cards.
Several of Blasco Ibáñez's novels were filmed and both the novels and films can still be found today. Blood and Sand, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, both Rudolph Valentino vehicles. Torrent, with Greta Garbo, and Mare Nostrum can be a little harder to find. The original version of the Four Horsemen, an anti-war statement, is considered superior to the later 1962 blockbuster, and was a wildly successful film, one of the greatest moneymakers of all time, when it was released.
I am giving the film an 8, as the locations, photography and acting are excellent for a time when films were new. This must have really been something to the audiences of the time, and comparable with D.W. Griffith's 'Intolerance'. The acting is surprisingly free of the exaggerated gestures, forehead clasping, hand writing and over emoting of silent films, perhaps because it was a Spanish and not Hollywood production. Not surprisingly, the screenplay closely follows the plot of the novel without some of the additions and deletion of the later versions, with the exception of the critic, Curra, whom I am sure I remember from the novel.
The film has been restored and rebuilt from bits and pieces found in the Czech film archive and a private collection, is considerably shorter than the original length, as well as very patchy in parts. It also appears to have had fresh title cards in places. For the few really bad sections it would have been better to use stills with title cards explaining the action, as has been done with Rudolph Valentino's 'The Young Rajah'.
For a modern viewer, the rather buxom ladies are a little surprising and an indicator of changing tastes. None of them would be considered attractive today unless they shed half their weight. Despite this minor griping, for a film now 101 years old, shot on severely deteriorating nitrate film, it stands up very well and is interesting to those who like to compare the different versions of a work and see what early non-Hollywood cinema was like. One other interesting part is seeing the street scenes of beautiful Spanish cities at the beginning of the 20th century….£7.49

 

Blood and Sand (1922)

Starring Rudolph Valentino. Juan is the son of a poor widow in Seville. Against his mother's wishes he pursues a career as toreador. He rapidly gains national prominence, and takes his childhood sweetheart Carmen as his bride. He meets the Marquis' daughter Dona Sol, and finds himself in the awkward position of being in love with two women, which threatens the stability of his family and his position in society. He finds interesting parallels in the life of the infamous bandit Plumitas when they eventually meet by chance. The film also features a highly charged performance by Nita Naldi…..£7.49

 

Blood and Steel (1925)

Starring Helen Holmes. Plot: The president of a railroad that is trying to build a new line in the west travels to the site to find out why construction is so far behind schedule. What he doesn't know is that his trusted assistant is being secretly paid off by a rival railroad to delay the building of the line…..£7.49

 

Blood Ship, The (1927)

Directed by George B.Seitz and starring Hobart Bosworth, Jacqueline Logan, Richard Arlen, Walter James and Fred Kohler, this film has a runtime of 67 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Plot: A disgraced sea captain signs on as a crewman on a cargo ship. He discovers that the vessel is captained by the very man who stole his ship, a sadistic brute who also took the former captain's wife and daughter. The ship's crew is composed mostly of sailors who were shanghai'ed aboard and are kept in line by the brutal captain and his even more fearsome first mate. The captain and one of his fellow crewmen--who has fallen in love with the man's daughter, who now belongs to the brutal captain--try to unite the crew to end the brutal reign of the captain and his henchman….£7.49

 

Blot, The (1921)

Directed by Lois Weber and starring Philip Hubbard, Margaret McWade, Claire Windsor and Louis Calhern, this film.

Plot: The Professor dispenses the wisdom of the ages and does not make a living wage. The sons of the rich and powerful are students lacking any motivation. The next door neighbor of the Professor, businessman Olsen, has money and lots of food, while the Griggs have hardly any. Both Peter Olsen and Reverend Gates are taken by the beauty of young Amelia Griggs. When rich son Phil West falls for Amelia Griggs and befriends the poor Reverend Gates, he finally sees the difference in his life and theirs and tries to do something to change that.

Review: Lois Weber was one of the few women directing films in the early part of the 20th century, and she tended to focus on socially conscious themes of her time. This film has to do with how society rewards educators versus other better-paid professions, even though those well-paid professionals needed the services of the educator to learn their trade in the first place. In this particular film the contrast is between a professor's family that is living on the professor's near-poverty wage and their prosperous next-door neighbors, the family of a shoe-maker. Made in 1920, it is a more realistic look at "genteel poverty" than you were likely to get at the movies at that time. In 1920 the poor were mainly shown as agrarian folk living in "Tobacco Road" style poverty or those living in crime-ridden tenements. This shows that the poor can live in middle class areas with the veneer of a middle-class lifestyle but just be lacking in funds to finance anything that comes at them that is out of the ordinary.
The film focuses on the professor's daughter and her two suitors. One is an equally poverty-stricken preacher, the other played by a 26 year old Louis Calhern, is a wealthy student of the professor's. The professor's daughter becomes ill, and the doctor says that what she needs is "nourishing food". Her mother decides to do what she has never done before, go into debt. However, the grocer demands cash upfront for all purchases. The desperate mother returns home and notices that the next-door neighbor has a very tempting chicken cooling in the kitchen window. What she does next, the daughter's reaction, and the kindly gestures of Calhern's character lead up to a well-played yet predictable ending.
This film reveals several interesting points about life that was true until the 1960's. One fact is that one of the most expensive commodities in life until that time was food. That is why the professor's family is less worried about calling a doctor for the daughter than they are about how they are going to afford the balanced diet their daughter requires for recovery. Another expensive commodity was furniture, as is pointed out by the professor's worn home furnishings. Today cheap and attractive furniture abounds, and it might leave some scratching their heads when they see families terrified of someone coming and taking their furniture for payment of a debt. Nobody would do that today since used furniture is practically worthless.
This film is worthwhile viewing, and one of its best points is that it doesn't paint anyone in the film as either completely good or bad. The qualities and weaknesses of all of the players are shown realistically, and overall I recommend this film.…£7.49

 

Blue Bird, The (1918)

Directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Tula Belle, Robin MacDougall, Edwin E.Reed and Emma Lowry, this film has a runtime of 75 mins and the print quality is very good.

Plot: Two peasant children, Mytyl and Tyltyl, are led by Berylune, a fairy, to search for the Blue Bird of Happiness. Berylune gives Tyltyl a cap with a diamond setting, and when Tyltyl turns the diamond, the children become aware of and conversant with the souls of a Dog and Cat, as well as of Fire, Water, Bread, Light, and other presumably inanimate things. The troupe thus sets off to find the elusive Blue Bird of Happiness.

Review: There seem to be only a few directors of cinema's infancy whose films are worth much attention; Maurice Tourneur is one of them. His films may not always be the most entertaining, but most of them that I've seen contain something that interests. "Alias Jimmy Valentine", for example, has major story problems, but the heist scene is outstandingly filmed for 1915. Here, too, the allegorical messages (the bluebird is happiness and such) are too sappy at times, but then there's an inspired shot or something else innovative.
The dark, flickering transfer of a deteriorated, bleeding print surely takes away from much of the visual qualities of this picture, but some of the photography and the color tinting shines through. Tourneur had some preparation for the dreamland journey of this film with the dream climax in "The Poor Little Rich Girl" of the previous year. The wonder and imagination of a child are well affected. Despite its age, the film's best element is still apparent; I think that is its awareness. Perhaps, most obviously, this film is comparable to "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), but more so to the 1914 trilogy, which Baum produced. The animal costumes are especially reminiscent, as are the cheap, but nice-looking backdrops and sets. Showing even more awareness are the trick shots in the way of a Méliès fantasy and the final shot where the boy turns to the camera and directly addresses the audience concerning the film's parable. So, to an extent, Tourneur overcomes the wear of age and the kiddy bluntness of the allegory….£7.49

 

Blue Blazes Rawden (1918)

Starring William S.Hart, Robert McKim and Jack Hoxie. Plot: Rawden, a lumberjack in the North woods, fights with crooked dance hall owner 'Ladyfingers' Hilgard over the affections of Babette DuFresne. Hilgard is killed. When Hilgard's mother and younger brother arrive in the remote logging town, Rawden attempts to ease their suffering by creating the fiction that Hilgard had been a well-loved man who died naturally. But when young Eric Hilgard learns the truth of his brother's death, he comes gunning for Rawden. Review: Hilarious comic take on Hart's patented Good Bad Man role sees him as a rough tough lumberjack, "Blue Blazes" Rawden -- apparently Hart's cameraman, Joe August, wanted to photograph primary forest, so they set it up that way.
When Hart kills saloon-owner-regular-villain Robert McKim, he inherits not only the saloon and McKim's girlfriend, but a mother who comes over from England to see her long lost boy. Soon everyone is in a conspiracy to not let mother know what a scalawag her son was, but when she announces she wants to take Rawden back to England with her, the girlfriend tries to spill the beans…..£7.49

 

Blue Blood aka Sangue Blu, aka The Princess of Monte Cabello (1914)

Starring Francesca Bertini this Italian silent film has English intertitles and a runtime of 64 mins. The newly restored print is excellent…..£7.49.

 

Blue Bottles (1928)

Directed by Ivor Montagu and starring Elsa Lanchester, Charles Laughton (his screen debut), Joe Beckett, Dorice Fordred and Marie Wright, this film has a runtime of 29 mins and the print quality is ok to good. Also notable is that H.G.Wells gets a writing credit on the film!

Plot: As criminals assemble for a convention, a policeman investigates and is abducted. A young woman finds his whistle and blows it. The full forces of the law assemble. The confrontation between order and disorder ensues, with our heroine caught up in it.

Review: Elsa Lanchester picks up a whistle from a deserted street and blows on it. Within seconds, she is surrounded by a horde of uniformed policemen who do battle with a horde of uniformed crooks in a house, with Miss Lanchester trapped in the middle of the fight.
That's Charles Laughton shooting at Miss Lanchester at about 10:30 into this short feature. They would marry the following February. Whether this is intended simply as a silly piece of business, or as a satirical piece of business is something I cannot tell at this distance in time. Certainly, H.G. Wells, who is credited with devising the piece, was a serious writer and quite adept at phrasing his concerns through the elaborate symbolism of his scientific romances. He was also quite adept at devising elaborate games that served only to amuse; he was one of the founders of war gaming using toy soldiers and carefully written rules.
In any case, I laughed several times in this short feature. I'm pretty sure that's what the creators intended….£7.49

 

Blue Eagle, The (1926)

Starring: George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor and Margaret Livingston. Directed by: John Ford.

Review: Imagine a version of What Price Glory in which the two brawlin' rivals take on a big drug dealer who has a James Bond-like lair complete with submarine. You couldn't have sold that as a blaxploitation film to AIP in the 70s-- though you might be able to sell it as a Jackie Chan movie now-- but who'd have ever thought that you could have sold it as a John Ford picture at Fox in the twenties? That's basically what this very minor but watchable Ford film is about; it might be better if the lost footage, sadly, didn't include the big naval battle scene in the middle. Gaynor is charming as the object of the rivals' affection, though this is no rival to Sunrise as a pairing of her and O'Brien…..£7.49

 

Blue Jeans (1917)

Directed by John H.Collins and starring Robert Walker, Viola Dana, Sally Crute and Clifford Bruce, this film has a runtime of 84 mins and the print quality is good.

Review: I really enjoyed getting a chance to see silent film actress Viola Dana in action in this film at Capitolfest in Rome, NY after hearing so much about her and seeing her spritely interviews in the 1980 documentary "Silent Hollywood". It really is a rather interesting melodrama with Viola Dana in the lead as June. When we first see her she is sitting out in a field wearing a huge pair of cover-alls and the titles tell us she is homeless and hungry. I saw not a pair of blue jeans in sight for the entire film. A flashback shows us she was kicked out of the orphanage for picking flowers on the grounds to put on her mother's grave. A young man, Robert Walker as Perry Bascom, finds her, feeds her, and places her with a couple - The Tutweilers - whose only daughter disappeared years ago when she ran off with a rascal. Perry has come to town to take over the local saw mill.
Now at this point things become as tangled as a later 20th century soap opera. Apparently Bascom is not the name Perry is using because there were some real rascals in the Bascom family in the past and his prospects will be hurt in town if it gets out he is related to them. Not only that, but it turns out that a Bascom is the man that ran off with the Tutweillers' daughter and is thus June's father. Could she and Perry be related? That would be too bad because Perry and June just got married, which is also too bad because Perry was married before to a woman who turned out to have a husband at the time of the marriage, thus Perry's marriage to her was not legal. Yet wife number one shows up in town to claim she is Perry's REAL legal wife. Meanwhile there is a dishonest politician, Ben Boone, who wants to use public office to steal everything in town, including the sawmill. Perry wants to run against Boone and take away his ability to do graft.
I know it sounds confusing, but it is a beautiful little story. And there is a scene at the end where predictably the villain tries to saw someone in half at the saw mill. Who he tries to saw and who comes to the rescue is not so predictable though.
Just a few words about the cast. The actor playing Perry, Robert Walker, was born in 1888. The actor and actress playing the Tutweilers, however, were born in 1877 and 1872,respectively. This is odd because Jacob Tutweiler looks a good thirty years older than Perry, and I thought he looked too old to be playing the husband to the character of Cindy Tutweiller, but she is actually five years older than him! Perhaps it is just a good makeup job, but the ages did surprise me.
Another odd point - When Perry first comes into town he has June on the back of a bicycle. Ben Boone decides he wants to assault the girl and just lifts her off the bicycle in broad daylight! Perry fights him and retrieves June but Ben seems very angry that Perry intervened and threatens to run him out of town. All of Boone's associates saw what happened and acted like it was much ado about nothing. An interesting piece of culture coming to us from 100 years in the past….£7.49

 

Bobby Vernon Short Films Vol 1 (1927-1929)

Four silent shorts from this forgotten comedian: Save the Pieces (1927) The Sock Exchange (1928) His Angel Child (1929) and Sappy Service (1929)…£7.49

 

Bobby Vernon Short Films Vol 2 (1917-1928)

Four more silent shorts: Splash Yourself (1927) Stop Kidding (1928) Sweeties (1928) Teddy At The Throttle (1917)

 

Body and Soul (1925) **UPGRADE – Much improved print**

Written and directed by Oscar Micheax and starring Paul Robeson (his film debut), Marshall Rogers, Lawrence Chenault and Chester A.Alexander, this film has a runtime of 92 mins and the print quality is excellent.

Plot: A minister is malevolent and sinister behind his righteous facade. He consorts with, and later extorts from, the owner of a gambling house, and betrays an honest girl, eventually driving them both to ruin.

Review: Of course, we will never have a chance to see a director's cut of Body and Soul. Were that possible, then we would certainly see a completely different movie.
Many of the obvious flaws in the film were due to Oscar Micheaux's difficulties in getting the production past the censors. Despite the fact that the convict is acting as a minister, the act of showing one in a minister's robes drinking was too much for the time.
Today it would be a matter of getting several million dollars from the studio and re-shooting sections of the movie. Oscar Micheaux did not have this luxury. This meant that he had to use the little money available to him to change a completely unacceptable movie into one that would help pay the bills.
The only way to do this was to add an ending that corrected everything, and cut the sections of drinking, which happened to be crucial to the story. This resulted not only in a lack of explanation for the story and very clumsy movements from one scene to the next.
The drinking scenes have been replaced, which lengthens the film to eight of its original nine reels. This certainly helps, but the alternative ending remains. I am thinking that the director's cut would not have included this and Oscar Micheaux would have a much better movie.
Of course, Paul Robeson drives this movie (his only silent appearance), and moviegoers now know of his brilliant voice. Sans this, his penetrating eyes showed the emotion that must have matched his stage performances, which makes this a movie that can be recommended.….£7.49

 

Bohemian Girl (1922)

Starring Ivor Novello. This film is incomplete being 49 mins of the original 70 mins running time. The missing section at the beginning of the film is explained with title cards and the only other piece missing is the final credits. What remains of the film is good quality (7/10) and is very interesting. Well worth viewing……£7.49

 

Bolshevism On Trial (1919)

Starring Robert Frazer and Leslie Stowe this is a very good print of the film with a runtime of 70 mins……£7.49

 

Boob, The (1926)

Starring Gertrude Olmstead and Joan Crawford, this is an excellent print of the film with a runtime of 61 mins...£7.49

 

Boomerang, The (1919)

Starring Henry B.Walthal, this is a very good print of the film with a runtime of 63 minsl…..£7.49

 

Border Sheriff (1926)

Starring Jack Hoxie this film has a runtime of 41 mins and the print quality is scratchy but of good clarity…..£7.49

 

Border Vengeance (1925)

This western feature stars Jack Perrin…..£7.49

 

Borderline (1930)

Starring Paul Robeson, this is an excellent print of the film with a runtime of 72 mins…..£7.49

 

Born To Battle (1926)

Directed by Robert de Lacey and starring Jean Arthuir, Tom Tyler, Ray Childs, Fred Gamble and Frankie Darro, this film has a runtime of 50 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Plot: Dennis Terhune (Tom Tyler), ranch foreman for John Morgan, an eastern capitalist, discovers that there is oil on Morgan's ranch shortly after Morgan has deeded the ranch to Daley, western manager for the Morgan properties. Dennis rides after Daley and retrieves the deed, saving Morgan's ranch and securing for himself the love of the financier's daughter, Eunice (Jean Arthur).

Review: Early film for both cowboy star Tom Tyler and everyone's sweetheart Jean Arthur. Fairly ordinary western for it's time, and the best thing was the smug look Arthur kept giving Tyler for doing very cowboy things….£7.49

 

Born to Battle (1927)

Extremely rare film starring Bill Cody.

Plot: A cowboy is framed for his father's murder. His investigation leads him into the middle of a bitter feud between two families, and he winds up falling in love with the niece of the man who actually killed his father.….£7.49

 

Borrachera del Tango, La (1928)

This is an Argentine film with Spanish only intertitles and directed by Edmo Cominetti. The print is only OK and has a runtime of 98 mins: Plot: In a middle class family in Buenos Aires, a conflict arises between their two sons. One is a carefree playboy who spends his nights on cabarets. The other, a promising engineer who is the pride of the family…..£7.49

 

Branded A Bandit (1924)

Starring Yakima Canutt, this is a very good print of the film with a runtime of 57 mins. Plot: A miner has struck it rich and gives some ore to cowhand Jess Dean to take to his granddaughter. But Horse Williams has the miner shot and uses the ore found on Jess to accuse him of the murder. Jess escapes from the mob of townspeople who later learn that the body of the supposedly dead miner has mysteriously disappeared…….£7.49

 

Brass (1923)

Starring Marie Prevost and Monte Blue……£7.49

 

Braveheart (1925)

Starring Rod La Rocque and Lilian Rich, this is a very good print of the film with a runtime of 50 mins…..£7.49

 

Breaking of the Drought, The (1920)

This is an Australian silent film with a runtime of 87 mins and a good to very good print quality…..£7.49

 

Bridal Party at Hardanger, The (1926) aka Brudeferden i Hardanger

Norwegian silent film with English intertitles, this is a superb print of the film starring Aase Bye and Henry Gleditsch with a runtime of 104 mins. Another version is available from a previous restoration with a runtime of 74 mins……£7.49

 

Bride of Glomdal, The (1926) **UPGRADE** Excellent print

Directed by Carl Dreyer, this is an excellent print of the film with English intertitles and a runtime of 74 mins

Plot: Tore takes over the rundown family farm. Applying his youthful energy, he intends to make it into a big farm like Glomgården on the other side of the river, where beautiful Berit loves. Tore falls in love with her, but her father has promised her to rich Gjermund. As her wedding to Gjermund draws near, Berit runs away and seeks refuge with Tore and his parents. She soon falls deathly ill but recovers, asking for, and getting, her father's permission to marry Tore. Jealous Gjermund is determined to prevent their wedding, however, in a dramatic climactic scene playing out around the rushing river.

Review: For this production, Dreyer went to Norway and shot a story with a certain peasant candor (that would later reappear in "Ordet", in a graver tone) and that for the most part takes place outdoors, as opposed to "Michael", in which the action is confined to the sets designed by Expressionist architect Hugo Häring (who apparently did not work in films again). Dreyer narrates a tale of young love between the son of a poor farmer and the daughter of a rich one, and how the strong young woman fights to be with the man she loves, in spite of the actions taken by her father and another suitor, whose evil actions cause the most spectacular sequence during the day of the wedding, when the groom falls into a river and is swept away by its current, in the midst of floating logs, down to a waterfall. A pleasant and gentle dramatic comedy, "The Bride of Glomdal" does not suggest what was next to come from Dreyer: "The Passion of Jeanne d'Arc"……£7.49

 

Bride’s Play, The (1922)

Directed by George Terwilliger and starring Marion Davies, John B.O’Brien, Frank Shannon and Wyndham Standing, this film has a runtime of 72 mins and the print quality is excellent.

Plot: A young woman is courted first by an older gentleman who loves her, then by a young poet. Upon falling in love with the poet after his relentless pursuit of her, he disappears to Dublin for weeks, during which time, she fears some tragedy may have befallen him. She goes to find him, only to discover he has been courting many women during his absence, one of whom, sets her straight at to his deceitful carousing ways and she returns home. After reading of her upcoming marriage to the other man in the paper, the poet rushes to interfere with the wedding

Review: Marion Davies stars as an Irish lass pursued by an older man (Wyndham Standing) and a rakish poet(Carl Miller). She falls for the poet until she discovers he has a bevy of girlfriends and eventually settles for the older man, who happens to be the local lord. People wonder if the lord will re-enact the ancient custom of the "bride's play," whereby the bride addresses the gathered men and asks if he is the one she loves best. Traditionally, the men say no and when she asks the groom, he says yes.
As with many Davies films, this one has a fantasy sequence which shows Davies as a 12th Century woman named Enid who enacts the "bride's play" but runs off with her true love when she asks if he is the one she loves best. They leave the would-be groom fuming.
But in the modern-day story, as she is about to enact the "bride's play," the poet makes a startling appearance and takes his place in line. What will happen when she asks him the fateful question? Gorgeous film with ocean backdrops and massive castle sets by Joseph Urban, who also designed Davies' ENCHANTMENT and THE RESTLESS SEX. Davies is, as always, very beautiful as the medieval Enid and the modern-day Aileen. Standing is 20 years her senior but that's what the plot calls for. Thea Talbot plays the jaded Sybil, and George Spink plays the butler. Spink supposedly wrote a symphonic score for the film's premiere but it seems to be lost.
Davies is always worth watching, and the lush surroundings and beautiful camera work enhance the film greatly….£7.49

 

Bright Lights of Broadway, The (1923)

Directed by Webster Campbell and starring Doris Kenyon, Harrison Ford, Edmund Breese, Claire de Lorez and Lowell Sherman, this film has a runtime of 61 mins and the print quality is only OK, being a transfer from tape.

Plot: An innocent country girl who happens to have a lovely singing voice falls under the influence of a ruthless Broadway producer. At first she's dazzled by the producer's surface charm as well as those bright lights the title refers to, but eventually gets a dose of reality (after accidentally becoming involved in a murder and a race against time to save a condemned man). The film also includes a truly hair-raising train crash….£7.49

 

Bringing Up Father (1928)

Starring Marie Dressler and Gertrude Olmstead this film has a runtime of 67 mins……£7.49

 

Broadway Drifter, The (1927)

Starring George Walsh and Dorothy Hall this film has a runtime of 90 mins……£7.49

 

Broadway Love (1918)

Directed by Ida May Park and starring Dorothy Phillips, Lon Chaney, Juanita Hansen and William Stowell, this film has a runtime of 61 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Plot: A small-town girl goes to New York hoping to become a star on Broadway, but the best she can do are roles as chorus girls. She falls in with a "fast" crowd, notably a "party girl" named Cherry Blow, and finds herself involved with wild parties, horny millionaires and her boyfriend from back home who has come to New York to marry her.

Review: 'Broadway Love" was directed and co-scripted by Ida May Park, an early director whose work is genuinely noteworthy in its own right, not merely because she was a woman. Park's films tend to feature female protagonists in realistic situations from the period shortly before American women got the vote.
Midge O'Hara (Dorothy Phillips) is a small-town gal who goes to New York in hope of success as a Broadway actress. She meets a good-time gal named Cherry Blow(!), who is ostensibly a chorus girl but is actually a 'party girl': the film is remarkably explicit about this. Cherry Blow has already sucked all the money out of wealthy playboy Jack Chalvey, no longer so wealthy.
By now, Midge is working as a 'chorus girl', though the film implies that this description might be more figurative than literal. Midge had a 'fellow' back home named Elmer Watkins: we read his name on screen (in a letter from Midge's aunt) before we meet him. Having seen several comedies in which Buster Keaton played hick characters named Elmer (to say nothing of Elmer Fudd), I expected Elmer Watkins to be a real hick rube. Surprise! He turns out to be a realistic bucolic character, not a stereotype. But Elmer is played by Lon Chaney, so it's no surprise that this actor would give a realistic and credible performance.
Elmer has come to New York to propose to Midge and take her home, but she mocks his rustic appearance. He follows her to a wild party. (This movie was made before Prohibition, yet the booze they're drinking in this scene appears to be bathtub gin.) Embarrassed by Elmer's attentions, Midge asks a man named Rockwell to take her back to her flat. Rockwell complies, but when they get there he tries to force himself on her, clearly believing that a chorus girl won't say no. Midge flings herself out of Rockwell's moving auto (nice stuntwork here), and is injured. Rockwell, being basically a decent chap, pays her hospital bill.
Elmer abruptly marries another woman, but decides to hang about New York with her for some reason. In contrived circumstances, Midge persuades Chalvey to pretend to be her husband, hoping to make Elmer jealous. Meanwhile, Rockwell is showing legitimate romantic interest in Midge ... until he learns from Elmer that she's married to Chalvey. SPOILER NOW. All ends happily, after some confusion.
There are some fairly contrived plot twists here, but many other photo-dramas of this period are far more guilty of that particular crime. Park does an excellent job of telling this story on a low budget: much of the story takes place in Manhattan's theatre district but has clearly been filmed elsewhere. The entire cast give excellent performances. As Elmer, Chaney's performance is notable because his character doesn't fit in with these sophisticated city types, and could easily have become a stereotype, yet Chaney expertly keeps the character fresh. Juanita Hansen, who often played sluttish roles, is impressive as Cherry Blow: I regret that her character's name is more laughable than Park might have intended. I'll rate 'Broadway Love' 8 out of 10….£7.49

 

Broken Blossoms (1919)

Starring Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess and Donald Crisp and directed by DW Griffith. Plot: Cheng Huan is a missionary whose goal is to bring the teachings of peace by Buddha to the civilized Anglo-Saxons. Upon landing in England, he is quickly disillusioned by the intolerance and apathy of the country. He becomes a storekeeper of a small shop. Out his window, he sees the young Lucy Burrows. She is regularly beaten by her prizefighter father, underfed and wears ragged clothes. Even in this deplorable condition, Cheng can see that she is a priceless beauty and he falls in love with her from afar. On the day that she passes out in front of his store, he takes her in and cares for her. With nothing but love in his heart, he dresses her in silks and provides food for her. Still weak, she stays in his shop that night and all that Cheng does is watch over her. The peace and happiness that he sees last only until Battling Burrows finds out that his daughter is with a foreigner. £7.49

 

Broken Butterfly, The (1919)

Directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Pauline Starke, Lew Cody, Mary Alden, Peaches Johnson and Nina Byron, this film has a runtime of 59 mins and the print quality is excellent.

This film has French intertitles with English subtitles.

Plot: Before she parts from him for a while, a woman falls in love with a composer, working on a symphony, who she encounters in the forests of Canada.

Review: In the wiles of Canada outcast Maracene Eliot has but one friend, her dog. The aunt who raised her has done so cruelly leaving the young lady isolated and without a past. She meets a composer who falls for her but she refuses to marry him because she has no history. He returns to Europe, writes a classical piece inspired by her and it promptly flops. Meanwhile Marcene decides to drown herself and the child of the composer. Professionally and personally at a low point he glumly goes about his life when he meets Marcene's sister who explained her sisters predicament and perhaps the reason for the aunt's callousness. He marries the sister and then returns with her to Canada where answers to nagging questions await along with a couple of other surprises.
This copious tear jerker has more than its fair share of poignant moments in a somewhat contrived narrative that remains mostly in a permanent state of melancholy. Director Maurice Tourneur vision however is both graceful and deliberate in his telling, presenting a good deal of tasteful canvases that covers for the lack of action. Pauline Stark's touching performance is ultimately what carries the picture and opens the floodgates as a true orphan of the storm….£7.49

 

Broken Heart of Broadway (1923)

The film stars Colleen Moore and Alice Lake. Review: Here's Colleen Moore in one of her first starring roles, as a girl lured by the bright lights and glamour of a Broadway career. As you can guess from the title, things don't go well for her at first, and there are plenty of temptations for a good girl to go wrong. But since this is a Colleen Moore silent, instead of a Warner Bros. Pre-Code talkie, there's sure to be a happy ending!  Colleen was just on the verge of stardom herself at this point; her breakthrough in "Flaming Youth" was less than six months away. But even at this point, she plainly has the talent and charm that would serve her well as a top Hollywood star.….£7.49

 

Broken Mask, The (1928)

This is an extremely rare film starring Cullen Landis. Plot: A dancer, Pertio, with a disfigured face is helped by a surgeon. The surgeon loves Caricia, but Caricia loves Pertio. The surgeon withdraws treatment and Pertio's disfigurement comes back. Will Caricia still love him?  £7.49 Please note the quality of this film is below par

 

Brother of the Bear (1921)

Directed by Philip Carle and starring Mary Aston, Huntley Gordon, Charles Slattery and Bradley Barker, this film has a runtime of 30 mins and the print quality is ok.

Review: Huntley Gordon has a pet bear and a bad temper. The latter gets him fired from his job at the lumberyard, that and the accusation he's been stealing lumber and selling it to the competitors. this means he's not only out of a job, but out his girl: Mary Astor, the owner's daughter. So he punches Bradley Barker, the guy who forged the damning documents, which dumps him in the river. It would be an utterly forgettable back-woods movie, except that it seems to be Miss Astor's first film appearance. She looks pretty good, and even manages a couple of poses that will become her standard, casual look….£7.49
 

Brothers (1929)

Starring Barbara Bedford this film has a runtime of 81 mins…..£7.49

 

Brothers Schellenberg (1926) aka Two Brothers **UPGRADE – Slightly better print**

Directed by Karl Grune and starring Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover, Liane Haid, Henri DeVries and Werner Fuetterer, this film has a runtime of 81 mins and the print quality is very good. This is a German silent with English intertitles.

Review: Please note this is not a review of this print of the film which is much improved!!) It's true the existing print of this film is poor, but this film deserves a restoration. It clearly has fantastic acting by some of the best actors of the day and has very interesting camera angles which I haven't seen in a film of this period before. A good clean up would let us see it to its advantage. It's not fair to judge it by today's standards, but at the same time, I see a lot in it that makes it special. Come on, someone, give us a restoration on DVD. I would pay for it to see the acting alone. It shined through the blur. As for the plot, sure it's good versus evil, but so are most movies today. I hope for the future. ..£7.49

 

Brown of Harvard (1926)

Starring William Haines and Jack Pickford.

Review: One of the biggest hits of 1926, Brown of Harvard is a exciting comedy/drama featuring regatta and football scenes that gave William Haines the role he needed to become a major star. It's patented Haines all the way: brash smart aleck who takes nothing serious until he is rejected by everyone wises up and becomes a man/hero and wins the girl. No one worked this formula like Haines. A terrific comic actor (Little Annie Rooney with Mary Pickford, Show People with Marion Davies), Haines could swing from comedy to tragedy with a change in facial expression. He is a total joy in this film as he was in Tell It to the Marines (with Lon Chaney) and West Point (with Joan Crawford), where he repeats the formula. Mary Brian is good as the girl, Jack Pickford is very good as the sickly roommate, Ralph Bushman is the rival. Edward Connelly, Mary Alden, David Torrence, Guinn Williams, and Grady Sutton co-star. This film is noted now for its homoerotic relationship between Haines and Pickford and for being John Wayne's film debut as a Yale football player (but I never spotted him). Haines was a top-five box office star starting with this picture through 1932. It's a shame he has been largely forgotten and that most of his films appear to be lost. He was one of the most appealing and talented actors of his time…..£7.49

 

Bruder (1929) aka Brother

Directed by Werner Hochbaum. Runtime: 84 mins. At the moment this film is only available with German intertitles…..£7.49

 

Brute Island (1914) aka McVeagh of the South Seas.

Starring and directed by Harry Carey. McVeagh rules his island with an iron fist, but he went to the South Seas to forget and the woman he’s trying to forget crosses his path again….£7.49

 

Buckaroo Kid, The (1926)

Starring Hoot Gibson.

Plot: Mulford sends Ed Harley to manage Radigan's rundown ranch. He makes a success of it but when called to return, he asks Radigan for a loan. Radigan says he can have the loan but not his daughter, but Ed wants both.

Review: Hoot Gibson brings his trademarked blend of cowboy heroics and comedy to this lively silent western. Hoot plays an orphan taken in by a wealthy rancher, who, as an adult, must face off against some unfriendly ranch hands when he is made foreman. Of course, there is a little romance for Gibson as well.…..£7.49

 

Bucking Broadway (1917)

Starring Harry Carey…..£7.49

 

Burn Em Up Barnes (1921)

Johnny Hines, a popular light leading man of the early 20s, starts as Burn 'Em Up Barnes -- even his parents call him Burn 'Em Up', so I suppose odd baptismal names were popular back then -- in this racing car comedy, a popular genre of the era (Wallace Reid starred in a series of them for Paramount). The script is fast and furious until the plot kicks in, with funny titles and sight gags galore….£7.49

 

Burglar By Proxy (1919)

Directed by John Francis Dillon and starring Jack Pickford, Gloria Hope, John Francis Dillon and Robert Walker, this film has a runtime of 69 mins and the print quality is very good. A logo is visible throughout.

Plot: A terrible toothache causes Jack Robin to stop his automobile in front of the home of Dorothy Mason. Noticing a flat tire, Jack attaches his automatic pump and forgets about it as he listens enthralled to Dorothy's singing. When the sound of the burst tire brings Dorothy running out, Jack feigns injury so he can be nursed by her. After he leaves the house, and Dorothy's father discovers some important invention plans missing, Harlan Graves, Dorothy's suitor, suggests that Jack stole them. Jack, suspecting Graves, breaks into Graves' home to clear himself and meets a real burglar, "Spider" Kelly, who adopts Jack as his guide. They blow up a safe at a house party where Jack suspects the plans to be hidden. The papers are found, Graves is arrested and Spider, disappointed that Jack made such a mess in blowing the safe, goes off, leaving Dorothy and Jack happily alone….£7.49

 

Buried Treasure (1921)

Directed by George D.Baker and starring, Marion Davies, Norman Kerry, Anders Randolf and Earl Schenck, this film has a runtime of 66 mins and the print quality is excellent.

Plot: Strung around the idea of reincarnation, this film goes back in time to the days of the Spanish galleons and pirates burying their treasure; treasure to be found centuries later.

Review: Most of the movie survives in excellent shape, and in a fine toned print. Enough of the the final reel exists for the story to be finished with a series of stills and titles. It's not all one would wish for -- the location shots at sea are washed out -- but the story is interesting and for 1921, it's extremely well told, typical for something four or five years later, thanks, in no small part, to set design by Joseph Urban, titles by Fred Waller, camera-work by Harold Rossen, and a skilled cast.
Marion Davies is the daughter of Anders Randolf, "The Pirate of Wall Street". He wants her to marry John Charles, a European aristocrat whose only saving grace is his title. She loves Norman Kerry, a penniless doctor, and she and her father clash over the matter. When daddy orders her to marry John Charles after they all come back from an ocean voyage, she starts to have fits, in which she starts to write things backwards in her diary that seem to lead them to buried treasure. Then, when her mother asks her to read her something, a ghost directs her to a pirate story that mirrors her own situation.
The outcome of the movie will be no surprise to anyone, but there are enough engrossing details, from a costume party in a beautiful chamber to a desperate fight against pirates, that anyone who enjoys a well done movie for its own sake will have no complaint….£7.49

 

Burning Daylight (1928)

Starring Milton Sills and Doris Kenyon……£7.49

 

Burlesque on Carmen, A (1916)

Starring Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance and Ben Turpin. Charlie Chaplin’s two-reel version of this film, his final release for the Essanay Company, premiered in December 1915. After Chaplin left the studio, Essanay expanded the film, adding new scenes with Ben Turpin and Wesley Ruggles as gypsies, reinserting outtakes Chaplin had discarded, and even splicing in multiple takes of scenes already included. Essanay's four-reel "feature" was released in April 1916. Chaplin was furious and filed a lawsuit against his former employers, but Essanay won the case in court. This is that longer version of the film. Runtime: 47 mins

 

Burning Cauldron, The aka Le Brasier Ardent (1923) ** UPGRADE - Longer better quality print **

Directed by and starring Ivan Mozzhukin and also featuring Nathalie Lissenko, Nicolas Koline and Camille Bardou, this film has a runtime of 108 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent. It has French intertitles and English subtitles.

Plot: A woman, named simply "Elle" and her husband, a wealthy industrialist, are not on the best of terms. While she enjoys the way he caters to her every whim, she wonders whether he really loves her. He, on the other hand, torments himself by imagining rivals. One morning she awakens from a nightmare in which she has been pursued by a man in various guises, who turns out to be the famous Detective Z, whose memoirs she has been reading. When she and her husband quarrel over leaving Paris permanently for a country estate, he goes to the "Trouve Tout" Agency and hires, of all people, Detective Z, to win back her affection. She promptly steals their marriage contract. Z tracks down the document and is nearly seduced in the process, but he resists her and returns to the comforts of home, his adoring mother, and a pet bulldog. In a chic restaurant one evening, she challenges him to a dancing duel, which he wins. After her confession of love, he goes home with a toothache. The contract is ...

Review: This is a movie that requires several viewings to appreciate. It has a sort of hypnotic charm and oddness about it that I found gripped my attention throughout, even when I wasn't exactly sure I was understanding the message.
Ivan Mosjoukine plays the famous Detective Z who is hired by a husband to investigate his wife and persuade her to leave Paris and move with him to South America. The plot is superficially a standard detective story, but it has so many bizarre twists it ends up defying categorization. Mosjoukine shows his great talent for comedy in this film, and has a playfulness and charm that are really adorable. He's such a little boy, dissolving in tears when his heart is broken, and then bouncing with delight when all ends well.
There's one scene in this movie that's too difficult to describe, but it's a sort of crazed women's dance marathon, and the way it ends - with the women turning the tables and making the men all dance frenetically together - is so funny, it made me laugh out loud in a way no other silent movie has ever done. The sets have an overpowering, surreal effect - the human beings are always moving about in rooms and on staircases that are far bigger than anything a normal person would experience. The scene where the husband blunders into the detective agency, and is confronted by a synchronized line of tuxedoed detectives on traveling chairs that slide about in formation, is quite unforgettable. It's like a cross between a Fred Astaire dance number and a Kafka nightmare. The ending has a twist I never saw coming, and probably was a big reason why the movie failed at the box office. It's a happy ending, but just bizarre - even in France, I can't imagine an audience in 1923 thinking that this was a believable way to end a quasi-mystery, no matter how well Mosjoukine prepared them in advance with all the surrealist details. I'd really like to see this movie completely restored; it is visually exciting, and deserves a wider audience. Come to think of it, the time may be right for someone even to remake it - it's quite outside of any real time period, and would not come across as dated at all. ……£7.49

 

Burning Soil (1922)

Directed by FW Murnau. This rare gem is only available with German subtitles.

This early film of Murnau's could have been titled GREED, like the Von Sroheim masterwork, because that is what it is about. Murnau tends to paint morality canvases in his films: lust and infidelity in SUNRISE; lust for youth and immortality in FAUST; flaunting society norms in TABU; false pride in THE LAST LAUGH, etc. THE BURNING SOIL has the same early silent film look as does NOSFERATU, straightforward and slightly hard of line. Within only a few years cinematography was to become an entirely different creature and no one had lusher images than did Murnau of that period. The story is simple. An old farmer dies and leaves his two sons the farm. The one son is content to stay and continue his father's work. The other is ambitious and lusts for wealth. He infiltrates himself into the home of a wealthy landowner, becoming his secretary and transcribing his will. He romances both the landowner's daughter and her stepmother but chooses to marry the latter at the old man's death, even knowing the daughter has gained almost all the inheritance, the stepmother being bequeathed the mansion and the "devil's field." The latter is a piece of property that abounds in superstition since it contains a hole that was seen once to "burn." Our conniver knows petroleum is buried there and plans to sell it and retire rich, having married to obtain wealth at the expense of love. His plans go awry but not before he wrecks a number of lives. The story is well told, well directed, and the performers are all adequate. A tinted print was recently discovered in Europe after being believed lost for many years. Worth seeing for Murnau's tight and interesting directorial style before he became "artistic" and as a fine example of early German silent film…..£7.49

 

The Busher (1919)

A young baseball pitcher in the bush leagues is discovered by a big-league manager and given his chance in the major leagues. But will he be up to the challenge? This film stars Charles Ray and features two stars to be, John Gilbert and Colleen Moore.

Review: The latest Paramount starring Charles Ray is entitled "The Busher." It is a comedy drama that has thrills, laughs and sobs, and above all Charles Ray in a role that fits him to a tee. The production is a five-reeler written by Sarie Snell with scenario by R. Cecil Smith. The direction was by Jermome Storm with Chester Lyons grinding the film box. It is a rube story with the hero a small time baseball pitcher who gets into one of the small leagues, makes good, does a flop because his head gets swelled and finally returns to the little town to rehabilitate himself. He succeeds in doing this by jumping into a game of ball that the local team is playing and does the usual "save the game in the ninth" by slamming out a homer and sending home a couple of the gang that were on the bags.  Whoever wrote the titles ground out some laugh producing stuff that gets to the audience in great shape. The direction is corking throughout the picture, and the director has made a delightful use of the Ray "hick" mannerisms. His ball playing touches are well directed, and the action in the games is handled so that the audience is on the game at all times.

The photography is also worth more than passing mention for several of the shots showing pastoral scenes are particularly effective. The one scene with the cow, Ray, and Colleen Moore is worthy of a master painter's brush. Miss Moore is the ingénue lead opposite the star. She enacts the rural beauty in a delightful manner. Jack Gilbert, Jay Morley and Otto Hoffman as members of the supports are all that can be asked for. The scenes for the greater part are exteriors, and the production cost cannot be very great, but it meets the requirements of the story. There is one particularly effective comedy scene showing a small town shadow sociable that gets any number of laughs. "The Busher" is well worth playing and particularly so at this time of the year when all audience in America are bound to have a little of the baseball bug working on them. Variety May 30 1919….£7.49

 

By The Law (1926)(original title: Po Zakonu)**UPGRADE – Improved print**

Directed and written by Lev Kuleshov and starring Aleksandra Khokhlova, Sergey Komarov, Vladimir Fogel, Pyotr Galadzhev and Porfiri Podobed, this film has a runtime of 78 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Plot: A five-person team of gold prospectors in the Yukon has just begun to enjoy great success when one of the members snaps, and suddenly kills two of the others. The two survivors, a husband and wife, subdue the killer but are then faced with an agonizing dilemma. With no chance of turning him over to the authorities for many weeks, they must decide whether to exact justice themselves or to risk trying to keep him restrained until they can return to civilization.

Review: With a gripping story and effective technique that establishes a memorable atmosphere and heightens the suspense, this lesser-known Russian-made silent melodrama is well worth tracking down. The plot, which (interesting to note) comes from a Jack London story, is quite efficient in getting a world of possibilities out of a situation that involves only a handful of characters. The technique relies mostly on the kind of montage approach that some of the Soviet film-makers apparently favored, and it shows how effective that technique can be when used in the right setting. Set in a remote, frozen, and often claustrophobic location in the Yukon, the story focuses on the dilemmas faced by a husband and wife who must contend with a crazed killer even as they battle the elements. Both the practical challenges and the ethical/moral decisions they face are brought out well by the way that many short takes are pieced together in a fashion that constantly emphasizes the unstable and confused nature of the situation that the characters face. Only some occasional overacting (especially by the wife character) detracts from the effect, and it all leads up to a compelling final sequence. Overall, it's a distinctive and most interesting film that works quite well…….£7.49

 

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Clara Bow

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