1921-1936-Silent Film Journal
plus films in transition to sound film
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168 titles
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsPola NegriVictor JansonPaul HeidemannA charismatic lieutenant newly assigned to a remote fort is captured by a group of mountain bandits, thus setting in motion a madcap farce that is Lubitsch at his most unrestrained.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakEdgar G. UlmerRochus GlieseStarsErwin SplettstößerBrigitte BorchertWolfgang von WaltershausenTwo men and two women enjoy a pleasant Sunday at the beach amid the unending toil of the working week.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsGrigoriy AleksandrovMaksim ShtraukhMikhail GomorovA group of oppressed factory workers go on strike in pre-revolutionary Russia.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsWilly FritschGerda MaurusKlaus PohlA tenacious scientist blasts off for the moon in hopes of riches that may be found there.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinVirginia CherrillFlorence LeeWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
- DirectorGrigoriy KozintsevLeonid TraubergStarsDavid GutmanYelena KuzminaAndrei KostrichkinIn the beginning of the industrial revolution, the Paris Commune was established in 1871 against the rich and the powerful, and violently repressed by the army that remained faithful to a tamer form of Republicanism. How could the love story between a young sales girl and a soldier unable to decide if he was pro or against the radical fashion? Two short months were needed for the answer to be found - in blood and tears, and under rain that washes all past memories. Any day, a New Babylon shop will open with frilly things for the bourgeois girls. The washerwomen will be there to wash them.
- DirectorJacques FeyderStarsGreta GarboConrad NagelAnders RandolfAn unhappily married woman is caught up in scandal and murder when her affection toward a young man is misinterpreted.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsCharles FarrellMary DuncanIvan LinowA naïve young man is working on a logging camp beside a turbulent river. When it closes for winter, he opts to stay for the experience. He meets a woman who was the girlfriend of the outfit's boss--who was recently locked up for murder. This worldly lady and the innocent boy find a powerful attraction that builds to a violent climax.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsJanet GaynorCharles FarrellGuinn 'Big Boy' WilliamsMary, a poor farm girl, meets Tim just as word comes that war has been declared.
- DirectorHans RichterA short film which consists of a collage of images at a Berlin street carnival.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsMaria FalconettiEugene SilvainAndré BerleyIn 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.
- DirectorGrigoriy AleksandrovSergei EisensteinStarsBoris LivanovNikolay PopovVasili NikandrovA large-scale view on the events of 1917 in Russia, when the monarchy was overthrown.
- DirectorHans Richter
- DirectorFred NibloStarsGreta GarboConrad NagelGustav von SeyffertitzAn attractive Russian spy seduces an Austrian officer in order to get some important plans, but when she actually falls in love with him, both of them are placed in a dangerous situation.
- DirectorHans RichterStarsWerner GraeffWalter GronostayPaul HindemithHans Richter, noted for his abstract shorts, has everyday objects rebelling against their daily routine.
- DirectorHans RichterInflation explores the subject of money through photographs and with with stop motion animation techniques, adding faces of people impoverished and enriched by the unpredictability of finance.
- DirectorWalter RuttmannStarsPaul von HindenburgThis movie shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonTom McGuireErnest TorrenceThe effete son of a cantankerous riverboat captain comes to join his father's crew.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsJanet GaynorCharles FarrellNatalie KingstonA woman on the run from the law finds her past catching up to her just as she is on the verge of true happiness.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinMerna KennedyAl Ernest GarciaThe Tramp finds work and the girl of his dreams at a circus.
- DirectorJames Sibley WatsonMelville WebberStarsHerbert SternHildegarde WatsonMelville WebberAn avant-garde take on Poe's classic story of a traveller taking shelter at a household under a mysterious curse.
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsAl JolsonMay McAvoyWarner OlandThe son of a Jewish Cantor must defy the traditions of his religious father in order to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz singer.
- DirectorArthur RobisonStarsFritz KortnerRuth WeyherGustav von WangenheimA wealthy man invites the local wealthy bachelors over for a puppet show about men who covet another man's wife. The puppeteer is actually a witch and gives the men nightmares about what could happen if they date the lady of the house.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsRudolf Klein-RoggeAud Egede-NissenGertrude WelckerArch-criminal Dr. Mabuse sets out to make a fortune and run Berlin. Detective Wenk sets out to stop him.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsJanet GaynorCharles FarrellBen BardA street cleaner saves a young woman's life, and the pair slowly fall in love until war intervenes.
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsKruChantuiNahA snapshot of life in the jungles of Northern Siam.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
- DirectorClyde BruckmanBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMarion MackGlen CavenderAfter being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.
- DirectorEsfir ShubStarsMikhail AlekseyevAlexei BrusilovNikolai ChkheidzeIn May 1913 the Romanov Dynasty celebrates its 300th anniversary at the Russian throne. The last emperor in the long line is Tsar Nicholas II. He rules over a country with huge social and economic differences. Russia is for the most part still an agrarian society, but capitalism and its industries are growing. In 1914 Russia gets involved in the First World War. Tsar Nicholas II declares a general mobilization. A vast number of peasants and workers have to go to the front as soldiers. After three years the country is ruined by the war, and there is a shortage of provisions. In February 1917 workers begin striking in the capital, Petrograd. Their protests are soon joined by soldiers. A complete anarchy is threatening the country, when the parliament, called the duma, reorganizes the power structure by forming a new Provisional Government. At the same time the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies forms another ruling body at the City Hall of Petrograd. In this situation Tsar Nicholas II sees no other possibility than to resign from his government. On the 4th of March 1917 he declares his abdication from the throne. The new Provisional Government and its war minister Kerensky continue the war. This presents an opportunity for the Bolsheviks to organize demonstrations and to persuade the workers and soldiers to overthrow the Provisional Government and seize power themselves.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsAleksandr AntonovVladimir BarskiyGrigoriy AleksandrovIn the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.
- DirectorFred NibloCharles BrabinChristy CabanneStarsRamon NovarroFrancis X. BushmanMay McAvoyA Jewish prince seeks to find his family and revenge himself upon his childhood friend who had him wrongly imprisoned.
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonHoward TruesdaleKathleen MyersWith little luck at keeping a job in the city a New Yorker tries work in the country and eventually finds his way leading a herd of cattle to the West Coast.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinMack SwainTom MurrayA prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune, and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsEmil JanningsMaly DelschaftMax HillerAn aging doorman is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbors and society after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsJean BörlinInge FrïssFrancis PicabiaAn absolute dada movie. Somebody gets killed, his coffin gets out of control and after a chase it stops. The person gets out of it and let everybody who followed the coffin dissapear.
- DirectorDonald CrispBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonKathryn McGuireFrederick VroomTwo spoiled rich people find themselves trapped on an empty passenger ship.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBernhard GoetzkeLil DagoverWalter JanssenWhen a woman's fiancé disappears, Death gives her three chances to save him from his fate.
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonKathryn McGuireJoe KeatonA film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsEdna PurvianceClarence GeldertCarl MillerA kept woman runs into her former fiancé and finds herself torn between love and comfort.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMargaret LeahyWallace BeeryThe misadventures of Buster in three separate historical periods.
- DirectorHans RichterBlack and white rectangular images fade in and out of the screen. Their movement make them sometimes look like they're panning from side to side. Their movement also make the black and white individually change from foreground to background and visa versa.
- DirectorBuster KeatonEdward F. ClineStarsBuster KeatonJoe RobertsVirginia FoxIn an attempt to forget his lost sweetheart, Buster takes a long trip at sea where he boards a whaling ship with a strict captain.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinEdna PurvianceSyd ChaplinDisguised as a priest, an escaped convict makes his way to Texas. He ends up in a small rural town where the townsfolk mistake him for their new church minister.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonJohn BrownPhyllis HaverA hapless amusement park attendant finds his runaway balloon ride has left him in a strange predicament.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonRenée AdoréeEdward F. ClineA sincere young man leaves his home to win his fortune so he can marry his home town sweetheart.
- DirectorAllan DwanStarsDouglas FairbanksWallace BeerySam De GrasseA nobleman becomes the vigilante Robin Hood who protects the oppressed English people from the tyrannical Prince John.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonVirginia FoxJoe KeatonAfter being mistakenly certified as an electrical engineer, Buster is hired to wire a house.
- DirectorBuster KeatonMalcolm St. ClairStarsBuster KeatonVirginia FoxJoe RobertsBuster Keaton shoes horses and repairs cars, with mixed results.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsAllakariallakAlice NevalingaCunayouIn this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonEdward F. ClineVirginia FoxA series of mishaps manages to make a young man get chased by a big city's entire police force.
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonVirginia FoxJoe RobertsBuster helps a Native American tribe save their land from greedy oil barons.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonEdward F. ClineSybil SeelyBuster and his family go on a voyage on his homemade boat that proves to be one disaster after another.
- DirectorBuster KeatonMalcolm St. ClairStarsBuster KeatonVirginia FoxJoe RobertsA series of adventures begins when an accident during photographing causes Buster to be mistaken for Dead Shot Dan, the local bad guy.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonBartine BurkettCharles DoretyA drifter at an amusement park finds himself both the bodyguard and hit man of a man targeted by a criminal gang.
- DirectorWalter RuttmannAgainst a dark background, several bright, curved or rounded shapes pulse towards the center of the screen, one at a time. They are followed by many other shapes, some irregular, some pointed, others rounded. The abstract shapes move into or across the screen in harmony with the musical score.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonVirginia FoxJoe RobertsStrange things ensue after a young man attempts to take his own life.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonVirginia FoxJoe RobertsA bank clerk ends up in a seemingly haunted house that is actually a thieves' hideout.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinEdna PurvianceJackie CooganThe Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put their relationship in jeopardy.
- DirectorCharles SheelerPaul StrandThis groundbreaking silent documentary captures the beauty and majesty of the New York City in its streets, skyscrapers, bridges, rail yards and harbors.
- DirectorJay LeydaArrival in the Bronx is shown with a view from an elevated train as it enters the city. Then follows a montage of sights from the Bronx. Many typical neighborhood activities are shown, along with scenes from many local businesses.
- DirectorHans RichterStarsStella F. SimonEntertaining Dadaist experimental short, similar to Man Ray's work, full of shifting geometric shapes, stock footage of seagulls, flying eyeballs, and glaring floating heads.
- DirectorHans RichterAn abstract short film from Hans Richter in which a series of unrelated images are edited together.
- DirectorWalter RuttmannThird instalment in a series of short, abstract animations, featuring bright shapes moving against a dark background. The shapes move across the screen in harmony with the music.
- DirectorWalter RuttmannAs early as 1909, Walter Ruttmann explored the artistic properties of the film. His theoretical and practical work led in 1919 to the first "absolute film", Opus I. Ruttmann placed "painting more time" halfway between painting and music.
- DirectorWalter RuttmannWalter Ruttmann's (Metropolis 1927) fourth abstract animated short in the series. In this the last film he has found a cohesion between the music and the action. The synergy between the music and the on screen action can be felt.
- DirectorAleksandr MedvedkinStarsPyotr ZinovyevYelena YegorovaMikhail GipsiA hapless man undergoes misadventures with avaricious clergy, a tired horse, and a walking granary on his road to collectivized happiness.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardHenry BergmanThe Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
- DirectorFernand LégerDudley MurphyStarsKiki of MontparnasseFernand LégerDudley MurphyA pulsing, kaleidoscope of images set to an energetic soundtrack. A young women swings in a garden; a woman's face smiles. The rest is spinning cylinders, pistons, gears and turbines, kitchen objects in concentric circles or rows - pots, pan lids, and funnels, cars passing overhead, a spinning carnival ride. Over and over, a heavy-set woman climbs stairs carrying a large bag on her shoulder. An Art Deco cartoon figure appears, dancing. This is a world in motion, dominated by mechanical and repetitive images, with a few moments of solitude in a garden.
- DirectorViking EggelingA tilted figure, consisting largely of right angles at the beginning, grows by accretion, with the addition of short straight lines and curves which sprout from the existing design. The figure vanishes and the process begins again with a new pattern, each cycle lasting one or two seconds. The complete figures are drawn in a vaguely Art Deco style and could be said to resemble any number of things, an ear, a harp, panpipes, a grand piano with trombones, and so on, only highly stylized. The tone is playful and hypnotic.
- DirectorDziga VertovA series of newsreel films from Dziga Vertov, Elizaveta Svilova, and Mikhail Kaufman which document Russian Life in the early 1920s.
- DirectorDziga VertovA series of newsreel films from Dziga Vertov, Elizaveta Svilova, and Mikhail Kaufman which document Russian Life in the early 1920s.
- DirectorDziga VertovA series of newsreel films from Dziga Vertov, Elizaveta Svilova, and Mikhail Kaufman which document Russian Life in the early 1920s.
- DirectorDziga VertovA series of newsreel films from Dziga Vertov, Elizaveta Svilova, and Mikhail Kaufman which document Russian Life in the early 1920s.
- DirectorDziga VertovA series of newsreel films from Dziga Vertov, Elizaveta Svilova, and Mikhail Kaufman which document Russian Life in the early 1920s.
- DirectorMannus FrankenJoris IvensRegen is an experimental documentary film directed by Joris Ivens in 1929. It can be defined as a cinematic-poem. In 2021 Breve Storia Del Cinema restored the film with a new score composed by Nikolas Labrinakos.
- DirectorDziga VertovThis documentary film is showing the hard labor of countrymen in industrial production to strengthen the U.S.S.R. economy and turning their country into a world power.
- DirectorCharles DekeukeleireStarsYvonne Selma
- DirectorAleksandr DovzhenkoStarsStepan ShkuratSemyon SvashenkoYuliya SolntsevaIn the peaceful countryside, Vassily opposes the rich kulaks over the coming of collective farming.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsVictor SjöströmHilda BorgströmTore SvennbergOn New Year's Eve, the driver of a ghostly carriage forces a drunken man to reflect on his selfish, wasted life.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsEsther RalstonJames HallGustav von SeyffertitzIn late 19th century Vienna, Lena Smith, a naive peasant girl from Hungary, has a child by a corrupt young cavalry officer, and goes to work his house as a servant, hiding the truth from his unsympathetic father, while the son returns to his profligate ways. Robbed of her child first when he is a baby, and later when they are separated by the war, she suffers imprisonment, contempt, and shame in order to protect the child.
- DirectorFred C. NewmeyerStarsHarold LloydMildred DavisNoah YoungAn idle, wealthy playboy foolishly joins the Navy when the father of the girl he wants to marry tells him to get a job to prove himself worthy.
- A training film stressing accuracy for Western Union's keyboard operators, who were mostly women.
- DirectorFred C. NewmeyerStarsHarold LloydMildred DavisAggie HerringAn ambitious coat-room checker impersonates an English nobleman.
- DirectorAleksandr DovzhenkoStarsSemyon SvashenkoGeorgi KhorkovAmvrosi BuchmaA soldier returns to Kyiv after surviving a train crash and encounters clashes between nationalists and collectivists.
- DirectorRowland V. LeeMauritz StillerStarsPola NegriClive BrookClaude GillingwaterDuring WWI, a French farm girl and a German P.O.W. fall in love.
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonSnitz EdwardsSally O'NeilA love-struck weakling must pretend to be boxer in order to gain respect from the family of the girl he loves.
- DirectorRalph BartonStarsPaul RobesonSinclair LewisAnita LoosA home movie version of the Dumas play: a young woman becomes a courtesan and tragedy befalls her.
- DirectorJames W. HorneBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonAnne CornwallFlora BramleyRonald's high-school valedictory address praises books and condemns sports. His girlfriend Mary condemns his attitude. Fearing to lose her to rival Jeff, he decides to go to college and pay more attentions to sports.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsLouise BrooksFritz KortnerFrancis LedererThe rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsGrigoriy AleksandrovAleksandr AntonovSergei EisensteinFilmic insert to Eisenstein's modernized, free adaptation of Ostrovskiy's 19th-century Russian stage play, "The Wise Man" ("Na vsyakogo mudretsa dovolno prostoty"). The anti-hero Glumov tries to escape exposure in the midst of acrobatics, derring-do, and farcical clowning. Several members of Eisenstein's troupe at the legendary "Proletkult" stage theatre in Moscow briefly appear in this little film.
- DirectorFred C. NewmeyerSam TaylorStarsHarold LloydMildred DavisJohn T. PrinceCountry doctor Jack Jackson is called in to treat the Sick-Little-Well-Girl, who has been making Dr. Saulsbourg and his sanitarium very rich, after years of unsuccessful treatment. Dr. Jack's old-fashioned methods do the trick, and the quack is sent packing.
- DirectorMan RayStarsKiki of MontparnasseJacques RigautA long series of unrelated images, revolving, often distorted: lights, flowers, nails. A lightboard appears from time to time carrying the news of the day. Then, an eye. A woman in a car drives along country roads. Farm animals. She descends from the car, again and again. Images: dancing legs, seashore, swimming fish, geometric shapes, cut glass. A man removes his starched collar. It rotates. A girl has garishly painted eyes. No, she's only fooling. Those were her eyelids.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsGösta EkmanEmil JanningsCamilla HornThe demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsJohn GilbertGreta GarboLars HansonChildhood friends are torn apart when one of them marries the woman the other fiercely loves.
- DirectorSam TaylorStarsHarold LloydJobyna RalstonNoah YoungAn irresponsible young millionaire changes his tune when he falls for the daughter of a downtown minister.
- DirectorFred C. NewmeyerSam TaylorStarsHarold LloydJobyna RalstonRichard DanielsA shy young man who can't talk to women ventures out to publish a book full of fictional conquests, but finds true love along the way.
- DirectorErich von StroheimStarsRudolph ChristiansMiss DuPontMaude GeorgeA con artist masquerades as Russian nobility and attempts to seduce the wife of an American diplomat.