Polo, a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals by driving a small ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet.
High-stepper Earl Hastings is continually mistaken for his twin brother, Ezra, a meek professor at a girls' seminary, and his constant flirtations in and around the dormitories--most notably with the daughter of the dean--involve Ezra in several compromising situations. Finally, a woman pursuing Earl for breach of promise unscrambles the twins with the help of the dean's daughter.
1928 was the last year when silent films dominated the market, and this aviation-based action serial from Pathe was one of the studio's last. Some pieces are no longer extant (half of chapters 3&6, all of 7, 8, and 9, and the beginning of the 10th and final chapter), but the beginning and end are there as well as enough to follow the action adequately. The surviving Grapevine print is beautifully restored and tinted in spots, although you can tell the print is deteriorated in some of the surviving sections. Basically, an inventor (Josef Swickard, in a role not unlike the one he later played in THE LOST CITY) has created a silencer/muffler for planes to silence any engine sounds, and the bad guys are out to steal the invention and put it to evil use.
The Magic Flame (1927) is a feature film directed by Henry King, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and based on the play Konig Harlekin by Rudolph Lothar. George Barnes was nominated at the 1st Academy Awards for Best Cinematography. The film promoted itself as the Romeo and Juliet of the circus upon its release.
The story of a controversial white settlement in 1860s Spirit Lake, Iowa. Unbowed by the encroachment, Chief Sitting Bull vows to reclaim the land of his fathers. A long-thought-lost film finally surfaces after being unseen for over eight decades. Created and copyrighted by Sunset Productions in 1925 but not released until June 15, 1927, this silent epic features the superior Native American actor Chief Yowlachie (performing here under the name Chief Yowlache) as Sitting Bull.
