Category Archives: Random film stuff

Mystery Mountain (1934, 12 chapters) A railway construction team that is attempting to tunnel through a mountain comes under attack by a gang led by a mysterious criminal known as “the Rattler”. Manager Frank Blayden (Edward Earle) suspects that someone … Continue reading →

Seven Keys To Baldpate (1929) Author William Halliwell Magee (Richard Dix) is challenged by his friend, Hal Bentley (Crauford Kent), to complete a 10,000 word story within 24 hours, midnight to midnight. When Magee accepts the bet, Bentley offers him … Continue reading →

The End Of The World (1931) So: long story short. Abel Gance’s first sound film was an adaptation of the novel, La Fin du Monde, by the French astronomer and author, Camille Flammarion (which was translated in English in 1894 as Omega: … Continue reading →

The Madness Of Dr Tube (1915) Original title: La Folie du Docteur Tube. The most interesting thing about this short, experimental film directed by Abel Gance is the evidence it provides for how quickly certain scientist tropes got nailed down—the … Continue reading →

The Eyes Of The Mummy (1918) Original title: Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes Of Mummy Ma). Arranging his sightseeing during a visit to Egypt, Prince Hohenfels (Max Laurence) is strongly discouraged from visiting the tomb of Queen Ma. Overhearing, … Continue reading →

When The Earth Trembled (1913) Also known as: The Strength Of Love; or, When The Earth Trembled. This sort-of-proto-disaster movie offers a very early example of the bait-and-switch. Advertised as a graphic representation of the San Francisco earthquake, in fact … Continue reading →

The Other (1913) Original title: Der Andere. After he has accident while out riding, the respected Dr Hallers (Albert Bassermann) develops – unknown to himself – a secondary personality who begins frequenting public houses and making criminal associates. One night, … Continue reading →

The Queen Of Spades (1910) Original title: Pikovaya Dama. While much of Russian society, including most of his fellow-officers, gambles for high stakes, German (Pavel Biryukov) cannot afford to play and only looks on. German is one of those who … Continue reading →

Officer 444 (1926, 10 episodes) Robert Preston Brownley (Ben Wilson) – “Uncle Bob” to the children of his precinct, and Officer 444 to his colleagues – is the a member of the “Flying Squadron” under the command of Captain Jerry … Continue reading →

Napoléon (1927) Abel Gance’s epic filming of the life of Napoleon Bonaparte is a production almost impossible to address in a standard review, not least because there is no such thing these days as “the” version of the film. In … Continue reading →