Jack Ackroyd
1889 - 1962The Cruise of the Jasper B
James W. Horne
Rod La Rocque, Mildred Harris
The film stars actor Rod La Rocque as Jerry Cleggert, a good-natured descendant of an infamous clan of pirates who resides aboard the rickety ship Jasper B. Cleggert is informed that in order to inherit a large inheritance, he must marry by his twenty-fifth birthday-- otherwise he would relinquish all claims to his impending fortune. Jerry soon meets his ideal would-be bride Agatha Fairhaven and the two immediately fall in love. Complications arise when Jerry's cousin, the dastardly lawyer Reginald Maltravers claims Agatha as his own. The courting couple suffer a series of mishaps on the way to altar; they are waylaid en route by a trio of bandits, escape from a runaway taxi cab, and outrun a mob of unscrupulous state authorities.
The Cruise of the Jasper B
Sold at Auction
Charley Chase
'Snub' Pollard, Wallace Howe
This Hal Roach comedy short I found on the "American Slapstick" DVD collection of rare silent comedies starts bizarre and has an anything goes-quality one rarely sees in Mr. Roach's output. It stars Snub Pollard who is initially introduced as a baby left on a doorstep before we see him fully grown about 20 or so years later still in that basket! From there, he gets bumped car to car crossing the street prior to getting literally thrown through a window as an auction is taking place! Also appearing is James Finlayson as a man who's items accidentally get sold.
Sold at Auction
Isle of Escape
Howard Bretherton
Monte Blue, Myrna Loy
On a South Sea island, Stella operates a hotel for her mother, who is constantly drunk on liquor smuggled by Shane, the principal trader and virtual dictator of the island. Dave Wade, exhausted from the heat, lands on the shore near the hotel and reports having escaped from a nearby cannibal island. Stella has her servants, Manua and Loru, care for him, but Shane, to whom she is married but with whom she has never lived, orders him taken to his house, intent on stealing his gold. In a drunken orgy, Shane takes the gold, provoking a fight in which Stella aids Wade. When Ma Blackney dies and Stella recovers the gold, she suggests they go to another island and establish a trading business; but because of a misunderstanding, Stella is kidnaped by the natives and taken to the cannibal island. Disregarding their differences, Wade and Shane join forces and go to the island; Shane sacrifices himself to stall the cannibals while Stella and Wade flee to the sea.
Isle of Escape
A Truthful Liar
Hampton Del Ruth
Will Rogers, Jack Ackroyd
The two-reel comedies Will Rogers made for producer Hal Roach during the 1923-4 season are a mixed lot. Two of the shorts feature parodies of then-current movie stars (Douglas Fairbanks, Valentino, etc.) and are still enjoyable for buffs interested in the silent era.
A Truthful Liar
The Isle of Lost Ships
Irvin Willat
Jason Robards Sr., Virginia Valli
The Isle of Lost Ships is a 1929 talking film released in an alternative silent version with a Vitaphone track of effects and music. It was produced by Richard A. Rowland and distributed by Warner Bros..
The Isle of Lost Ships
The Whole Truth
Ralph Ceder
Stan Laurel, James Finlayson
A prosecutor instructs the audience of a courtroom to observe the tearful and slightly hysterical wife (Helen Gilmore) who is sitting in the witness box, and claims she is this way due to her husband, who shows up very infrequently. For the defence (James Finlayson), he never did anything to be proud of - and was proud of it. He sits there smirking and sipping a glass of water before being momentarily distracted. He goes to take another sip of his drink but instead picks up a different glass containing something very different.
The Whole Truth
Take Next Car
J.A. Howe
James Parrott, Jobyna Ralston
In this 1922 Pathe-distributed, Hal Roach silent-era comedy, the owner of a local streetcar business is in danger of losing his franchise, but the streetcar operator (played by Paul Parrott) and his girl friend (who happens to be the boss's daughter; portrayed by Jobyna Ralston) try to save the day.
Take Next Car
Post No Bills
Ralph Ceder
James Parrott, Marie Mosquini
Paul Parrott plays an obsessive-compulsive bill poster in this thoroughly average Hal Roach comedy from 1923. Hired to help publicize a new Gloria Snootful picture, Paul goes bonkers with glue and paper and ends up attaching promotional material to any surface within his reach, including the rear ends of a number of people, though his attempt to nail a poster to a glass window is somewhat less successful.
Post No Bills
