The Ten Commandments
The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf. The…
Return to Reason
Experimental film, white specks and shapes gyrating over a black background, the light-striped torso of Kiki of Montparnasse (Alice Prin), a gyrating eggcrate. One of the first Dadaist films.
La Roue
Sisif, a railwayman, saves a young girl named Norma orphaned by a train crash and raises her as his own daughter alongside his son, Elie. As she becomes an adult,…
Mälar Pirates
Three boys steal a sailboat and sail away for a summer adventure on Lake Mälaren. Based on Sigfrid Siwertz’s novel.
Drifting
In Shanghai, an American girl who helps runs an opium ring meets an American agent disguised as a mining engineer. The two fall in love, and she has to determine…
Cœur fidèle
The good guys win out in this sweet tale about a young orphan who is abused for much of her life but who eventually finds happiness when she marries an…
When Knighthood Was in Flower
Mary Tudor falls in love with a new arrival to court, Charles Brandon. She convinces her brother King Henry VIII to make him his Captain of the Guard. Meanwhile, Henry…
The Trap
A miner’s happiness is destroyed when a rival steals his mine. He becomes obsessed with revenge, and plans a trap for the man who took his mine.
Timothy’s Quest
Timothy and Gay, orphans from the slums of Boston, escape to Maine in search of a home and manage to thaw Avilda’s embittered, grief-stricken heart. A charming pastoral about two…
The Smiling Madame Beudet
An unhappily married woman devises a scheme to get rid of her husband.
Sodom and Gomorrah
Exposed to bad influences since childhood, Mary, a young girl is pushed by her mother to approach an elderly banker by the name of Harber. After almost driving her fiancee…
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a master at solving the most impenetrable mysteries, but he has his work cut out for him on his latest case. As the famed detective investigates an…
Phantom
Lorenz Lubota is a city clerk with no direction in life. One day on his way to work he is run over by a woman driving a chariot and he…
Oliver Twist
Oliver’s mother, a penniless outcast, died giving birth to him. As a young boy Oliver is brought up in a workhouse, later apprenticed to an uncaring undertaker, and eventually is…
Othello
Even without the benefit of sound, the 1922 German adaptation of Othello seems more operatic than Shakespearean. This may be due to the casting of Emil Jannings, to whom restraint…
Nanook of the North
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada’s northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful…
Merry-Go-Round
A nobleman, posing as a necktie salesman, falls in love with the daughter of a circus puppeteer, even though he is already married to the daughter of his country’s war…
Foolish Wives
A con artist masquerades as Russian nobility and attempts to seduce the wife of an American diplomat.
Blood and Sand
Juan is the son of a poor widow in Seville. Against his mother’s wishes he pursues a career as toreador. He rapidly gains national prominence, and takes his childhood sweetheart…
Back Pay
This 1922 Frank Borzage film is a masterwork waiting to be rediscovered. Hester Bevins is a simple country girl who yearns for adventure. Though she has a handsome young man,…
Four Around the Woman
Harry Yquem buys his beloved wife some jewelry in a place where underworld middlemen trade in fake and stolen goods. By chance, he spots a man with whom his wife…
What Do Men Want?
According to this Lois Weber production, men don’t really seem to know what they want at all — first Frank (J. Frank Glendon) wants to be an inventor. Then he…
Too Wise Wives
An insecure wife fears her husband may be straying back to an old flame.
The Haunted Castle
The sinister Count Oetsch scandalizes the aristocratic social gathering at Castle Vogelod as he announces his intention to “crash” the festivities. Baroness Safferstätt is expected shortly, and the guests are…
The Kid
A tramp cares for a boy after he’s abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her…