Silent

Synopsis:
An alcoholic doctor on a Polynesian island, disgusted by white exploitation of the natives, finds himself marooned on a pristinely beautiful island.Read More »

The Moving Picture World, 31 December 1910 wrote:
At one time the Biograph Company had quite a reputation for sermons. Here is one which has much of the original flavor, representing a young man disobeying the wishes of his father, a minister, to become a preacher; sinking lower and lower until just as his father dies he kills a man in a saloon brawl, and but for the plea of a sister would have been taken to prison, even as his father died. Whatever may be thought of this type of picture individually, the power it exerts upon an audience cannot be questioned. Like the horrible examples graphically shown in the goody-goody Sunday school books these films possess a fascination which cannot be denied, yet perhaps few would care to acknowledge its influence. The dramatic attractiveness in this particular instance consists in reproducing a domestic scene, unhappily too common, in some of its aspects at least, in such a way that the events seem to be transpiring before the audience. It is a graphic and impressive illustration of the commandment to honor, which means obey, one’s parents.Read More »

“This Russian-made picture (distributed in the U.S. by Pathe) is typically gloomy. Prima donna Mary Mar (N.A. Lesienko) is surrounded by admirers. But a poet, Sergius (Ivan Mozukin) wants to be more to her and he proposes. So they marry, and she becomes involved in charity activities. On one of her rounds, she contracts smallpox and is quarantined. Even Sergius cannot enter the house. During her illness another opera star becomes the favorite in her stead. Mary’s face becomes horribly disfigured as a result of the smallpox and she has to auction off her belongings to pay her creditors. Finally Sergius returns. Mary is wearing a veil, and when he lifts it, he is disgusted by the sight of her. So she leaves him and becomes a beggar in the streets, while he goes to his studio and kills himself by drug overdose”
by ~ Janiss Garza, RoviRead More »

Jacques Averil leads an idle life that plunges him into lassitude and melancholy.
When he learns of his father’s suicide, a banker ruined by a shady ore speculation in Iceland,
he decides to take matters into his own hands.
An old friend of his father offers him the chance to sign on as a sailor aboard a terre-neuvas.
On the trawler, the law of the strongest, even the fiercest even the most ferocious…Read More »

Boisterous gangster kingpin ‘Bull’ Weed rehabilitates the down-and-out ‘Rolls Royce’ Wensel, a former lawyer who has fallen into alcoholism. The two become confidants, with Rolls Royce’s intelligence aiding Weed’s schemes, but complications arise when Rolls Royce falls for Weed’s girlfriend ‘Feathers’ McCoy.

Adding to Weed’s troubles are attempts by a rival gangster, ‘Buck’ Mulligan, to muscle in on his territory. Their antagonism climaxes with Weed killing Mulligan and he is imprisoned, awaiting a death sentence. Rolls Royce devises an escape plan, but he and Feathers face a dilemma, wondering if they should elope together and leave Bull Weed to his fate.Read More »

A former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.Read More »

The ship on which Bill Roberts is a stoker has just put into port, giving the crew one night ashore. The ship’s bad-tempered third engineer orders the stokers to clean up, while the engineer heads for a dockside bar, where he has a confrontation with the wife he had abandoned. Then, as Bill himself goes ashore, he sees a young woman attempt to drown herself. Bill dives in, saves her, and then, assisted by the engineer’s wife, sees that she is cared for. Bill and the rescued woman begin to enjoy one another’s company, but they must contend with the malice of the engineer, as well as a number of other complications.Read More »

Again not much info about Lépine, another director of the Pathé studio with a very limited career, again mostly fantasy stuff, to be noted is ‘Le tour au monde d’un policier’ lovely work.Read More »

Three outlaws come to the aid of a young girl after her father is killed.

Quote:
Bob Mastrangelo has called it “One of John Ford’s greatest silent epics.” The film possibly inspired the title for Akira Kurosawa’s 1958 film Three Bad Men in a Hidden Fortress, simply known as The Hidden Fortress in the rest of the world.Read More »