Category Archives: Random film stuff

The Lost Jungle (1934) While a feature-film reworking of a serial is nothing unusual, this version of The Lost Jungle differs significantly from its 12-chapter counterpart in many respects. Most surprisingly, it includes long stretches of footage shot specifically for … Continue reading →

The Lost Jungle (1934, 12 chapters) “I do all my training without beating the animals up,” declares Clyde Beatty, World’s Greatest Animal Trainer, at the outset of this serial—which is to say, it’s perfectly okay to capture, confine, choke, bully … Continue reading →

Terror Island (1920) Harry Harper (Harry Houdini) designs a submarine with new features including a hatch by which people may enter and exit while submerged. He plans to use it to search for the wreck of the Hawk, which was … Continue reading →

The Return Of Chandu (1934, 12 episodes) When an attempt is made to abduct the Princess Nadji (Maria Alba), she leaves Egypt for California, staying at the home of Dorothy Regent (Clara Kimball Young) and her children, Bob (Dean Benton) … Continue reading →

Tales of Hoffmann (1916) Based upon the opera by Jacques Offenbach and Jules Barbier; original title: Hoffmanns Erzählungen (Hoffmann’s Stories). This silent German film is simultaneously rather disappointing and very important—the first because it adheres closely to its secondary source, … Continue reading →

In Night And Ice (1912) We tend to consider it poor taste now if a film about a real-world disaster follows too hard on the heels of the disaster itself, but such was evidently not the case in 1912, when … Continue reading →

Moby Dick (1930) After a three-year voyage, the whaling ship Mary Anne sails into New Bedford. While friends and family look anxiously for loved ones, some of those gathered, particularly the women, gaze upwards into the rigging, at the reckless … Continue reading →

Submarine (1928) While naval diver Jack Dorgan (Jack Holt) searches for and buoys a sunken wreck, on the deck of their ship Bob Mason (Ralph Graves) acts as his phone contact. When a bomb is released overboard to destroy the … Continue reading →

The Stone Rider (1923) Original title: Der steinerne Reiter. At a peasant wedding in a valley, an old man tells the younger people that there was a time when such a thing would not have been permitted. He points out … Continue reading →

Der Dämon des Himalaya (1935) Well. I swore after 713 Prosit Posadku that I wouldn’t do this again, but here I am trying to make sense of a non-English-language film—led astray this time partly by the suggestion of more demons … Continue reading →