My complete alphabetized index of nearly 500 silent movie reviews. Reviews listed in order by title with no divisions for genre or length. I post new silent movie reviews every Sunday and sometimes in between as well!
0-9
49-17 (1917): Ruth Ann Baldwin wrote and directed this love story set in a restored western ghost town.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916): Jules Verne’s classic novel gets the blockbuster treatment in this watery epic.
The ‘?’ Motorist (1906): Zany and twisted British science-fiction featuring a couple escaping to outer space after the run over a traffic cop.
A
Absalom (1912): A biblical tale of rebellion, revolution, revenge and a guy with just too much hair.
The Ace of Hearts (1921): Lon Chaney plays an anarchist with a broken heart and access to explosives.
Across the Mexican Line (1911): Action-romance with spies and telegraphs and early film heartthrob Romaine Fielding.
Adam’s Rib (1923): Affairs, romance and parental love collide in this DeMille bedroom comedy. Heavily influenced Bringing Up Baby.
Admiral Cigarette (1897): One of the earliest examples of a movie advertisement.
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926): Cut paper silhouettes tell this Arabian Nights tale.
Aelita Queen of Mars (1924): Groundbreaking science fiction hidden inside a social comedy.
After Midnight (1915): Broncho Billy Anderson takes a non-western role as a burglar who stumbles onto domestic drama.
Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915): A bank robber tries to go straight but may be done in by his own kindness.
Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928): The silent version of an early all-talkie about a bank robber going straight.
Alice in Wonderland (1915): A version of the famous tale that faithfully captures the flavor of the original illustrations.
All Night (1918): A very young Rudolph Valentino stars as a would-be suitor locked in a room with his love… all night.
The Ancient Law (1923): German film about a Jewish lad who leaves his shtetl for the bright lights and stage of Vienna.
And the Villain Still Pursued Her; or, the Author’s Dream (1906): Zany sendup of melodramas and their villains.
Annabell Lee (1921): New England boiled romance.
Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1895): Hand-colored dancing was a smash hit.
Annie Oakley (1894): Annie struts her stuff for the Edison film company.
Antosha Ruined by a Corset (1916): A wayward husband must get rid of an incriminating undergarment before his wife returns.
Are Parents People? (1925): A spunky kid gets just a little tired of her parents’ bitter breakup and takes matters into her own hands.
Are Parents Pickles (1925): James Parrott stars as a fire extinguisher salesman who must join a secret society to make a sale.
The Artist (2011): This Oscar-winning romantic comedy is one of the more controversial silent films in my collection.
Asphalt (1929): Gloriously seedy romance between a German traffic cop and a sophisticated thief.
B
Back to God’s Country (1919): Nell Shipman’s wilderness adventure with feminist overtones. Good stuff.
Bad Buck of Santa Ynez (1915): William S. Hart’s Good Bad Man takes a tragic turn.
Barbed Wire (1927): Pola Negri’s farm gets turned into a POW camp. Fortunately, one of the prisoners is Clive Brook.
Bare Knees (1928): Virginia Lee Corbin plays a fun-loving flapper who just may be the moral girl in town.
The Bargain (1914): William S. Hart’s very first feature and a real rip-snorter of a western!
Barney Oldfield’s Race for a Life (1913): Ford Sterling’s nefarious plots against Mabel Normand are thwarted by Mack Sennett and a race car.
The Bat (1926): Proto-Batman yarn set on a dark and stormy night.
Battleship Potemkin (1925): The Soviet epic to end all epics. A new restoration makes all the difference!
Be My Wife (1921): Jealousy is the main theme of this Max Linder comedy.
Before the Face of the Sea (1926): Eerie Finnish drama and murder mystery set on an isolated island.
The Beggar of Cologne Cathedral (1927): German crime picture with plenty of Roaring Twenties.
Behind the Door (1919): The infamous film about a sea captain and taxidermist who has a grudge and some knives.
Behind the Screen (1916): Charlie Chaplin is a stagehand at a comedy studio who engages in what is possibly the screen’s first pie fight.
The Bells (1926): Lionel Barrymore is a murderer wrestling with his conscience. Boris Karloff in a supporting role.
The Beloved Blackmailer (1918): A young lady is tired of her boyfriends hypochondria, so she has him kidnapped by boxers. And then sends a ransom note to his dad.
The Beloved Rogue (1927): John Barrymore’s medieval swashbuckler and Conrad Veidt’s American debut!
Below the Surface (1920): Paternal love and treasure diving collide in this little-known drama.
Ben-Hur (1925): The remarkable and epic (in every way) production is still unrivaled for beauty and scope.
Betrothal of Student Pöllövaara (1920): Finnish comedy about romance and ruined weddings.
Beyond the Border (1925): Harry Carey’s droll western romantic comedy of mistaken identity.
The Big Swallow (1901): A charming and slightly twisted English trick film.
The Black Pirate (1926): Douglas Fairbanks takes on color and piracy in this adventure classic.
Blackmail (1929): Alfred Hitchcock’s last silent and his first talkie.
The Blot (1921): Lois Weber tackles the low wages of academic labor in this drama.
Blue Beard (1901): Georges Melies goes gory in this macabre adaptation of an equally macabre fairy tale.
The Blue Bird (1918): Maurice Tourneur’s style over substance approach is perfect for this fantasy.
Blue Blazes Rawden (1918): William S. Hart plays a lumberjack (he’s okay) with a guilty secret.
Body and Soul (1925): Paul Robeson makes his screen debut as both a corrupt preacher and his shy twin brother.
The Bold Bank Robbery (1904): Sleazy crime melodrama from Lubin, one of the brasher early American studios.
The Boob (1926): A very young Joan Crawford puts in an appearance in this comedy about a wannabe federal agent.
Bout de Zan Steals an Elephant (1913): Exactly what it says on the tin.
The Boy and the Convict (1909): Off-brand, abridged version of Great Expectations.
Boys think They Have One on Foxy Grandpa, But He Fools Them (1902): Early example of an on-screen comic adaptation.
Braveheart (1925): Fishing rights and interracial romance figure into this college football picture.
Brute Island (1914): A truly nasty film about horrible people doing awful things.
Bucking Broadway (1917): A jolly western romp. John Ford was still in his first year of directing.
Bug Vaudeville (1921): Winsor McCay animates his own Rarebit Fiend cartoons.
Bully for Pink (1965): The Pink Panther finds himself with a surprising partner when he tries to become a toreador.
The Burglar on the Roof (1898): A burglar learns not to mess with women and their brooms. One of the earliest available Vitagraph films.
The Burglar’s Dilemma (1912): A burglar is used as a scapegoat when Henry B. Walthall needs someone to blame for the murder of his brother.
The Burglary (1926): Finnish rural drama about moonshining, theft and patent medicine.
Burlesque on Carmen (1915): Charlie Chaplin takes on Cecil B. DeMille and opera in this spoof.
The Burning Crucible (1923): A perfectly insane comedy of romance, mystery and the world’s craziest detective agency.
Burning Heart: An Indian Tale (1912): A Camargue western with love and cattle rustling.
The Busher (1919): The story of baseball and egos. Pre-stardom Colleen Moore and John Gilbert co-star.
Buy Your Own Cherries! (1904): Popular temperance tale receives a screen adaptation.
C
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy (1900): Where do babies come from? This short endeavors to explain with cruciferous vegetables
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920): The legendary expressionist tale of a man, a box and a sleepwalker.
California Straight Ahead (1925): Reginald Denny loses his fiancee but decides to win her back on the road to California.
The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912): Pioneering stop motion animation short about the lives of adulterous insects.
Camille (1921): Alla Nazimova is breathtaking in this adaptation of the famous Dumas book and play.
The Campus Vamp (1928): Carole Lombard’s early career as a Sennett girl.
The Canadian (1926): Superbly acted story of a city girl trying to survive life and marriage in the Canadian heartland.
Captain Fracasse (1927): A proper French swashbuckler with an unknown Charles Boyer as the baddie.
Captain January (1924): Baby Peggy and Hobart Bosworth form an unlikely family determined to stay together no matter what.
Captain Kidd’s Kids (1919): Harold Lloyd is trying to win back his fiancee but is thwarted by a band of flapper pirates.
The Captive (1915): Early DeMille romance is a saucy, winking affair about a Turkish POW and his Montenegrin jailer, played by Blanche Sweet.
The Captive God (1916): William S. Hart plus Aztecs equals… I’m not sure. Wonderfully weird.
Carmen (1915): The oft-told tale of Gypsy flirtation and romantic obsession.
Castles for Two (1917): An Irish-themed romance that was censored for its use of stereotypes.
The Cat and the Canary (1927): An old dark house comedy. It was a dark and stormy night…
Celebrating 300 Years of the Romanov Dynasty (1913): Documentary short showcasing the doomed royal family.
The Charlatan (1929): Little-known whodunnit. A light and clever mystery. Highly recommended.
The Cheat (1915): Splendidly lurid melodrama. Embezzlement, affairs and a branding iron.
Chess Fever (1925): Think gaming addiction is a modern problem? This charming Russian comedy will prove you wrong!
The Chess Player (1927): Historical sci-fi mashup about Polish independence and life-like robots.
Chicago (1927): The original version of the future musical. Cecil B. DeMille is the uncredited director.
The Children in the House (1916): Weird little melodrama about a playboy who gets involved in a bank robbery to finance his mistress.
Children of Eve (1915): Viola Dana plays a street waif who becomes an undercover agent trying to expose abusive child labor practices.
Christine of the Big Tops (1926): Pauline Garon stars as a trapeze artist who falls for a doctor. As they do.
La Cigarette (1919): A wry domestic comedy from Germaine Dulac about a husband, a wife and a poisoned cigarette.
The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom (1924): Everybody is in love with the cigarette vendor of the title but she only has eyes for a film director.
Cinderella (1899): Méliès adds his own spin to the fairy tale.
Cinderella (1914): Mary Pickford’s take on the ever-popular tale of a cinder girl, a ball and evil gnomes. Yes, evil gnomes.
Cinderella (1922): Lotte Reiniger’s gorgeous silhouette animation on display in this classic fairy tale.
Cinderella Cinders (1920): Alice Howell tries to hold onto a job, not so easy with spiked punch on hand.
Circus Clowns (1922): Baby Peggy plays a circus bareback rider who was kidnapped by an evil ringmaster.
City Lights (1931): Chaplin proves that the silents are not dead.
Clash of the Wolves (1925): Rin-Tin-Tin and his lovely lady Nanette must save Charles Farrell from claim jumpers.
Claws of Gold (1926): A Colombian expose of the Panama Canal’s shady past.
Cleopatra (1912): Helen Gardner’s passion project about the Queen of the Nile.
The Colleen Bawn (1911): A real-life Irish murder provides the framework for this story of jealousy, death and money.
Comic Costume Race (1896): Comedians vie for laughs in a foot race.
The Confederate Ironclad (1912): Anna Q. Nilsson stars as a spy trying to blow up an ironclad battleship.
The Confession (1920): A priest must keep silent when his brother is falsely convicted of murder.
Conrad in Quest of His Youth (1920): Thomas Meighan’s midlife crisis leads him in search of love.
The Copper Beeches (1912): The first authorized screen adaptation of Sherlock Holmes is a study in accidental hilarity.
Corporal Kate (1926): All about the doughgirls of WWI. Well, kinda. A war buddy comedy with Vera Reynolds and Julia Faye.
The Cossack Whip (1916): Viola Dana stars as a petite Bolshevik who wants a bit of gory revenge.
The Cossacks (1928): Obnoxious ripoff and general bomb, ostensibly based on a novel by Tolstoy.
A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929): A stylish late silent directed by Anthony Asquith.
The Country Doctor (1909): A rare chance to see Florence Lawrence in her prime.
The Cradle of Courage (1920): William S. Hart hangs up his spurs and joins the San Francisco Police.
Crazy Like a Fox (1926): Charley Chase feigns insanity in order to escape an arranged marriage.
The Crazy Ray (1923): Rene Clair’s debut as a director is a charming sci-fi comedy about a global freeze ray and subsequent bank robbing opportunities.
The Cruise of the Jasper B (1926): A bizarre pirate comedy that could not possibly have been made by a sober crew.
The Curse of Quon Gwon (1916): The earliest surviving Chinese-American feature written, produced and directed by a woman.
Custer’s Last Fight (1912): The Battle of Little Bighorn is dramatized in sunny California.
Cyrano de Bergerac (1900): This short film features hand-color and sound. You read the date right.
Cyrano de Bergerac (1925): Gorgeous stencil-colored take on the famous play.
D
Daddy Long Legs (1919): Mary Pickford has a secret admirer but she has to get through college, darn it.
Daisy Doodad’s Dial (1914): Florence Turner directs and stars in this droll comedy about a face-pulling champion.
Dance of the Seasons: Winter, Snow Dance (1900): Short dance film directed by Alice Guy.
The Dancer’s Peril (1917): A Russian-flavored ballet drama starring a very young Alice Brady.
Dangerous Traffic (1926): Low budget reporter picture starring Francis X. Bushman, Jr.
The Daughter of Dawn (1919): A gentle romance shot in Oklahoma with a cast made up entirely of Comanche and Kiowa locals.
The Delicious Little Devil (1919): Mae Murray is the tasty succubus of the title with a pre-fame Rudolph Valentino as her leading man.
Deliverance (1919): Helen Keller stars in her own biopic.
Derby Day (1923): Our Gang decides to host their own derby with whatever “horses” they can find.
The Detective’s Dog (1912): Alice Guy’s crime and pet adventure picture.
The Detectress (1919): Gale Henry gets to the bottom of a surreal mystery.
The Devil’s Needle (1916): Norma Talmadge and Tully Marshall play a couple of artistic junkies in this exploitation picture.
Diplomatic Henry (1915): Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew’s long lost domestic comedy deals with a tattletale husband and a pair of plaid pants.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912): A sanitized and abbreviated take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920): John Barrymore’s take on this classic tale of terror.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920): Sheldon Lewis takes on the double role.
Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde (1925): Stan Laurel’s uproarious spoof of the famous book and film adaptations.
Don’t Change Your Husband (1919): If she followed that advice, we wouldn’t have a movie. Swanson and DeMille collaboration.
The Doll (1919): A mama’s boy does not want to get married. So he buys a lifelike doll to pose as his wife. Of course.
The Doll-House Mystery (1915): When a stack of valuable bonds go missing, an ex-con neighbor is blamed for the crime.
Don Juan (1926): John Barrymore romances his way across Europe but falls for Mary Astor.
Double Whoopee (1929): Laurel and Hardy meet Jean Harlow.
The Dragon Painter (1919): Sessue Hayakawa’s contemplative drama examines the roots of the creative process.
The Dream (1911): Mary Pickford gives her wayward husband what for, at least in his dreams.
Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906): Too much cheese toast = wild, wild dreams! Trippy stuff.
The Dreyfus Affair (1899): Georges Melies directed a series of newsworthy vignettes about the then-current trial of Alfred Dreyfus.
The Drummer of the 8th (1913): Melodrama about a little boy who runs away from home to join the Union army.
Duck Soup (1927): Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are true partners for the first time in this early version of Another Fine Mess.
The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916): Lois Weber directs ballerina Anna Pavlova in an epic historical romance set in Naples.
E
The Eagle (1925): Valentino goes Russian as a masked bandit who robs from the rich and.. oh, you know the rest.
East Lynne (1916): Theda Bara is the vampee instead of the vamper in this warhorse Victorian melodrama.
East and West (1923): The earliest surviving Yiddish film is also a delightful romantic comedy.
The Egyptian Mummy (1914): A young Constance Talmadge stars in this comedy of archeological fraud.
Eleanor’s Catch (1916): Director Cleo Madison plays with expectations in this melodrama… or is it?
Eleven P.M. (1928): A bizarre melodrama about crime, death, revenge and dogs with human heads.
Ella Cinders (1926): Colleen Moore’s fast and funny roaring twenties Cinderella story.
Emerald of the East (1929): A British production shot in India deals with conspiracies and rebellion.
The Enchanted Cottage (1924): Richard Barthelmess is a WWI veteran who finds healing and love in unexpected places.
Eve’s Leaves (1926): Lesson: Don’t shanghai the man you love! Highly empowered heroine.
An Excursion to the Moon (1908): Segundo de Chomon’s copycat lunar adventure is still worth checking out.
Exit Smiling (1926): Beatrice Lilly’s film debut about an understudy in a touring company who dreams of stardom.
The Extra Girl (1923): Mabel Normand dreams of film stardom but reality isn’t quite what she expected.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (1925): Fast and funny farce about an American in Moscow.
The Eyes of the Mummy (1918): Ernst Lubitsch’s melodrama about a dancer, a stalker and a pyramid.
F
The Faithful Dog; or, True to the End (1907: A short film about an incredibly loyal little poodle.
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928): Jean Epstein’s Poe adaptation.
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928): Watson and Webber’s Poe adaptation.
Falling Leaves (1912): A little girl tries to save her dying sister in this O. Henry-esque tearjerker directed by Alice Guy.
Fast and Furious (1927): Reginald Denny poses as a racecar driver to win the woman he loves.
Fatima’s Coochee-Coochee Dance (1896): A belly dance performance that may or may not have been censored.
Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916): Newlyweds finds themselves waterlogged.
Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition (1915): Our leads run into trouble due to roving eyes and electric couches.
Feeding the Baby (1895): Warm domestic scene and one of the earliest projected films.
Feel My Pulse (1928): Bebe Daniels is a hypochondriac and reluctant heroine. Richard Arlen and William Powell support.
Felix the Cat Trifles with Time (1925): Felix finds himself transported back to prehistoric days.
The Fighting Eagle (1927): Rod La Rocque and Phyllis Haver are delightful in this Napoleonic swashbuckler.
Finlandia (1922): Documentary about, well, Finland.
First International Competition for Airplanes in Brescia (1909): A real Italian airshow caught on film.
Flirting with Fate (1916): Douglas Fairbanks is unlucky in love and so, in a fit of despair, he hires a hitman to kill him. And then he changes his mind. Oh dear.
The Flying Ace (1926): When the railroad payroll is stolen, it’s up to a WWI pilot to recover it.
A Fool There Was (1915): Theda Bara is a vamp who destroys men because it’s fun. Mwahahaha!
For His Son (1912): A greed for profit leads a physician to coke up his soft drink.
For Ireland’s Sake (1914): Rebellion and romance in British-ruled Ireland, filmed on location.
The Forbidden City (1918): A variation on Madame Butterfly that follows both the doomed mother and her daughter.
Forbidden Fruit (1921): Cecil B. DeMille’s deliciously overdone take on the story of Cinderella.
The Forty-First (1927): A Soviet sniper falls in love with her target, a czarist officer.
The Four Feathers (1929): Heart-pounding version of the famous adventure story. Prominently features a pre-stardom William Powell.
Four-Square Steve (1926): Fun, unpretentious western with a very young Fay Wray as the uncredited leading lady.
Fox Trot Finesse (1915): Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew play a zany May-December couple.
A Friend in Need (1914): A charming Hepworth short about a heroic pony and a very naughty spaniel.
Friends (1912): Mary Pickford is a mining town resident caught between Lionel Barrymore and Henry B. Walthall. Biograph Short.
From Paper to Newspaper (1919): A Dutch documentary on the physical making of the news.
From the Manger to the Cross (1912): Early feature film written by Gene Gauntier and shot on location in Egypt and the Holy Land.
The Frozen North (1922): Major mythbusting for this Buster Keaton comedy.
G
The Garden of Eden (1928): A humorous look at a singer’s quest for love in Monte Carlo.
The Gay Shoe Clerk (1903): A comedy of manners and an early use of a closeup.
Genuine (1921): Robert Wiene’s follow-up to Caligari shares much of the same cast and crew.
Getting Gertie’s Garter (1927): Marie Prevost is the proud owner of a scandalous undergarment. Gasp!
The Ghost Train (1927): An action-adventure film from Mexico concerning the exploits of a bandit and an investigator.
The Girl of the Rancho (1919): Famed hostess Texas Guinan stars as a two-fisted ranch boss.
Girl Shy (1924): Harold Lloyd is terrified of women but that doesn’t stop him from writing a guide to seducing them.
The Girl with the Hat Box (1927): Anna Sten is a delight as a milliner who marries a penniless student so that he can use her apartment.
A Girl’s Folly (1917): Doris Kenyon plays a country teen who hopes to break into films. Great behind-the-scenes footage.
The Godless Girl (1929): Cecil B. DeMille’s story of teenage atheists battling their religious peers takes a turn for the weird when everyone lands in a brutal reform school.
The Gold Rush (1925): Charlie Chaplin heads to the frozen north looking for love and gold. Classic.
The Golden Chance (1915): Early DeMille melodrama about a modern Cinderella and the burglar she is married to.
The Great Divide (1915): A perfectly vile melodrama set in Arizona. Often remade, for some reason.
The Great Train Robbery (1903): Edwin S. Porter’s western adventure classic.
The Great White Silence (1924): Footage of Captain Scott’s doomed Antarctic expedition edited into a groundbreaking documentary.
Gretchen the Greenhorn (1916): Dorothy Gish charms as a Dutch girl who gets enmeshed by a counterfeiting scheme.
The Gun Fighter (1917): William S. Hart plays a character called The Killer. What else do you need to know?
Gypsy Blood (1918): Pola Negri and Ernst Lubitsch’s take on Carmen.
H
Haceldama (1919): French melodrama about revenge, kidnapping and cowboys.
Habeas Corpus (1928): Stan and Ollie turn to grave robbery in this delightfully sick short.
Haldane of the Secret Service (1923): Harry Houdini’s final film concerns a gang of Chinese counterfeiters.
The Hands of Orlac (1924): Conrad Veidt loses his hands but the mitts of a recently-executed killer are sewn on in their place.
Hands Up! (1926): Raymond Griffith plays a spy caught between two women. The solution is novel.
Haunted Spooks (1920): Harold Lloyd has to stay overnight in a mansion with a few… uncanny residents.
Hawthorne of the U.S.A. (1919): A jingoistic “comedy” starring Wallace Reid and Harrison Ford.
Head Winds (1925): An eccentric, yacht-owning millionaire decides to kidnap the debutante of his dreams.
Headin’ Home (1920): Babe Ruth stars in his own biopic, which, naturally, has little to do with reality.
The Headless Horseman (1922): Will Rogers stars in an adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
The Heart of a Hero (1916): Robert Warwick plays doomed American Revolution spy Nathan Hale in this lavish historical production.
The Heart of Humanity (1918): Erich von Stroheim arrived in style as the cartoonishly wicked villain of this propaganda flick.
Heart of Wetona (1919): Norma Talmadge tries to go native. The results are mixed, to say the least.
Hell’s Hinges (1916): William S. Hart takes out the trash as only William S. Hart can.
The Helpful (?) Sisterhood (1914): Norma Talmadge is a poor student who turns to shoplifting in order to keep up with her rich sorority sisters.
Her Night of Romance (1924): Constance Talmadge is an heiress who falls for Ronald Colman’s gold-digger.
Her Sister from Paris (1925): Constance Talmadge plays twins who send a caddish Ronald Colman’s head spinning.
Here and the Great Elsewhere (2012): Gorgeous and deep pinscreen animated film.
The Hessian Renegades (1909): Mary Pickford helps win the American Revolution.
Himmelskibet (1918): Considered the world’s first space opera, this Danish pacifist epic revolves around a manned mission to Mars.
His First Flame (1927): Harry Langdon is a recent college graduate who joins the fire department.
His People (1925): An immigrant family struggles to to understand one another in this understated drama.
Hobson’s Choice (1920): A “spinster” decides to take her future into her own hands as she sets up business with her father’s workman.
The Hoosier Schoolmaster (1924): A teacher finds love and solves a mystery in rural Indiana.
Hotel Imperial (1927): Pola Negri’s biggest American hit, a wartime espionage romance.
A House Divided (1913): Alice Guy’s domestic comedy addresses the then-novel idea of legal separation plus cohabitation.
The House in Kolomna (1913): Ivan Mosjoukine disguises himself as a cook in order to sneak into his girlfriend’s house. Does not go according to plan.
The House of Mystery (1921): Ivan Mosjoukine headlines this exciting serial about a man who is wrongfully convicted of murder.
The House on Trubnaya (1928): Delightful Soviet rom-com about love, humor and unionizing domestic workers.
Hula (1927): Clara Bow sets her cap for Clive Brook and nothing can deter her.
The Hussar of Death (1925): This Chilean adventure film tells the story of real-life freedom fighter Manuel Rodriguez.
I
The Idol Dancer (1920): D.W. Griffith’s tale of an island girl who is caught between a missionary and an atheist. Clarine Seymour’s only starring role.
The Immigrant (1917): Charlie Chaplin brilliant short examines immigration, injustice and the best way to eat a plate of beans.
In Adam’s Dress and a Bit in Eve’s Too (1931): Finnish comedy about a group of people who are short one suit of clothes.
In the Days of the Thundering Herd (1914): Early, non-glitzy Tom Mix westerns about the perils of wagon train travel.
In the Moonshine Country (1918): A mini documentary about moonshiners and their wild, wild ways.
The Indian Tomb (1921): Conrad Veidt as a maharajah looking to bury his wife. She’s not dead yet but he’ll be seeing to that shortly.
The Inside of the White Slave Traffic (1913): Melodrama allegedly showing the inner workings of trafficking.
The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship (1905): Melies treats us to another fantasy but this one has dark hidden depths.
The Iron Fist (1927): Drug dealers terrorize a city in this Mexican crime picture.
IT (1927): Clara Bow’s signature film about a shopgirl falling for the boss’s son.
The Italian (1915): Acclaimed drama about the perils endured by recent immigrants in the United States.
Ivanhoe (1913): The Universal film crew ventured to Wales for this adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s medieval epic.
J
Jack and the Beanstalk (1902): Early epic fairy tale from Edwin S. Porter of Edison.
Jewish Luck (1925): The best of the Soviet Yiddish stage assembled to make this comedy about a would-be matchmaker.
Joan the Woman (1916): Cecil B. DeMille’s very first epic takes on the life of Joan of Arc.
The Jockey of Death (1915): Delightfully bonkers crime melodrama with a cast of real circus acrobats.
John Rance, Gentleman (1914): Antonio Moreno is thoroughly vamped by Norma Talmadge.
The Joke That Failed (1917): Rare Hepworth burglary comedy.
Judex (1916-1917): The vengeance and love life of a caped vigilante. Move over Batman!
Judith of Bethulia (1914): Blanche Sweet wields a wicked sword in D.W. Griffith’s ancient epic.
Just Imagination (1916): Surreal Musty Suffer comedy.
K
Kean (1924): Biopic of the regency stage legend. Stars Ivan Mosjoukine.
Keno Bates, Liar (1915): William S. Hart’s tall tales get him into a pickle, including being shot by his leading lady.
Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914): Audiences first saw Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp character in this short.
Kidnapped (1917): The earliest feature adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, thought lost for decades.
Kiki (1926): Norma Talmadge is a would-be showgirl who falls for her boss and proceeds to squat in his apartment.
King of the Wild Horses (1924): Rex the Wonder Horse is the equine monarch of the title.
The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903): A spectacular fairyland spectacle from the wizard of cinema.
Kismet (1920): The earliest surviving version of this Arabian Nights fantasy about a beggar trying to get his daughter married.
The Kiss (1896): This film created a scandal when it was released… or did it?
A Kiss from Mary Pickford (1927): Sendup of the cult of celebrity and a cute and appealing romance in its own right.
L
The Lad from Old Ireland (1910): The first fiction film shot in Ireland, this is an immigrant romance.
Lady Godiva (1911): The famous au naturel horseback ride is dramatized by Vitagraph.
The Lady of the Dugout (1918): Real-life outlaw Al Jennings makes a movie about his adventures.
Lady of the Night (1925): Norma Shearer tackles dual roles as a tough chick and a pampered debutante both in love with the same man.
Lady of the Pavements (1929): Lupe Velez steals the show in D.W. Griffith’s last silent film.
Lady Windermere’s Fan (1925): Ernst Lubitsch’s gloriously clever adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play.
The Last Command (1928): Emil Jannings and Josef von Sternberg join forces to create this tragedy of the Russian Revolution.
The Last Days of Pompeii (1908): Early Italian epic with plenty of pizzazz.
The Last Performance (1929): Conrad Veidt is a jealous magician with a box full of swords. I foresee nothing going wrong.
The Last Warning (1929): Astonishingly stylish theatrical murder mystery from director Paul Leni.
Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928): Lon Chaney and Loretta Young star in this under-horrified circus flick.
Leaving Jerusalem by Railway (1896): Early travel footage and one of the earliest moving shots in cinema.
Legende du roi Gambinus (1912): A French musical with gorgeous stencil color. Yes, I said musical.
L’enfant du Carnaval (1921): Ivan Mosjoukine wrote, directed and starred in this early version of Three Men and a Baby.
The Leopard Woman (1920): Louise Glaum vamps away in an espionage romance.
Les Vampires (1915): Louis Feuillade’s anarchic serial about a mad criminal gang terrorizing Paris.
Less Than Dust (1916): Mary Pickford stars as a nice girl from India who falls for a British officer.
Limite (1931): One of the most famous Brazilian films ever made, this artie indie deserves its reputation.
The Lion of the Moguls (1924): Ivan Mosjoukine plays an Asian prince who flees to Paris and becomes a film star.
The Little American (1917): An American girl falls for a German boy on the eve WWI. Rare collaboration between Mary Pickford and Cecil B. DeMille.
Little Annie Rooney (1925): Mary Pickford is a spunky kid trying to save the fella she loves, who is a wannabe gangster.
The Little Match Seller (1902): Elaborate special effects in this tragic little fable about an impverished child.
Little Nemo (1911): Charming early animated film from Winsor McCay.
Little Old New York (1923): Marion Davies dresses as a boy to gain an inheritance in early-1800s New York.
Little Orphant Annie (1918): No, the title is not a typo. Twee film features a very young Colleen Moore.
The Little Princess (1917): Mary Pickford and ZaSu Pitts charm in this adaptation of the beloved classic.
Lizzies of the Field (1924): A wild car race culminates in a spectacular crash. It’s Sennett!
Lorna Doone (1922): Romance, bandits and a lost heiress all figure into the Maurice Tourneur film.
The Lost Battalion (1919): A recreation and dramatization of historic events starring some of the surviving veterans.
The Lost World (1925): Dinosaurs on a lost plateau! Early stop-motion is a showstopper.
The Love Charm (1928): A showcase for early Technicolor.
The Love Flower (1920): Criminal acts in the South Seas; Carol Dempster stars in the D.W. Griffith tale of a man and daughter on the run from the law.
The Love Light (1921): Mary Pickford is an Italian lighthouse keeper who falls for a German spy. Frances Marion directs.
Luck (1923): Johnny Hines plays a rich kid who takes a bet that he can earn a fortune on his own in a year.
The Lucky Devil (1925): Richard Dix plays a male model on a road trip with a cursed car. Chaos and comedy ensue.
The Lumberjack (1914): A romance of Wisconsin made by itinerant filmmakers and starring the local who’s who.
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Mabel at the Wheel (1914): Mabel Normand takes on double duty as the director and star of this racing comedy.
Mabel’s Dramatic Career (1913): Mabel Normand is a jilted maid who makes good in the movies.
Madame Has Her Cravings (1906): Alice Guy’s pregnancy comedy.
Madame Tutli-Putli (2007): Brilliant stop motion animation.
Made for Love (1926): A zany melodrama about an archaeologist, a tomb, a curse and some dynamite.
The Magic Cloak of Oz (1914): L. Frank Baum himself oversaw this production. The results are mixed but entertainingly so.
The Magician (1926): Mad science and a bit of superstition.
Making a Living (1914): Charlie Chaplin’s film debut without a square mustache in sight.
Male and Female (1919): Cecil B. DeMille’s shipwreck fantasy with bonus lions.
The Man and the Moment (1929): Rod La Rocque and Billie Dove play a pair of posh lovers in this part-talkie.
The Man with the Twisted Lip (1921): Eille Norwood’s Sherlock Holmes tries to solve the case of a missing banker.
Manhandled (1924): Gloria Swanson ditches the glamour stuff to play a shop girl looking for love in all the wrong places.
The Maniac Barber (1899): Gleeful decapitation-by-razor in this macabre comedy.
Manslaughter (1922): Cecil B. DeMille at his most wacky, this is the story of a madcap heiress who runs over a speed cop.
Mantrap (1926): Clara Bow runs wild in the Canadian woods. Great fun!
The Mark of Zorro (1920): Douglas Fairbanks leaps, dashes, fences and fights his way across old California.
Married? (1926): Constance Bennett finds herself in an arranged marriage and saving her hubby from a sawmill.
The Married Virgin (1918): A very young Rudolph Valentino is the slimy villain of this picture.
Max Learns to Skate (1907): Max Linder is a dapper gent who quickly becomes un-dapper once he hits the ice.
Max Sets the Style (1914): Max Linder charms as a foppish fellow who must convince everyone that work boots are the new style.
Max’s First Job (1910): Max Linder tries to get a job in the movies.
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1921): Rare British production of the novel by Thomas Hardy.
McKinley at Home, Canton, Ohio (1896): The presidential nominee plays himself.
The Mermaid (1904): Fun with undersea creatures.
The Merry Jail (1917): Early Lubitsch comedy of wackiness and wicked wit.
The Merry Widow (1925): Erich von Stroheim’s megahit of class, love and… wink wink, nudge nudge.
A Message from Mars (1913): The red planet sends a representative to Earth in order to turn a selfish boor’s life around.
Michael Strogoff (1926): A mega-epic with heart, brains, beauty and more Ivan Mosjoukine than you can shake a stick at!
Mickey (1918): Mabel Normand takes on feature films in a mining camp Cinderella tale.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1909): An unfaithful but fun take on the Shakespeare comedy.
Mighty Like a Moose (1926): Charley Chase gets plastic surgery. Chaos ensues.
The Miracle of the Wolves (1924): Raymond Bernard’s spectacular medieval epic.
Miss Lulu Bett (1921): Feminism and family drama blend in this subtle film of ugly ducklings and second chances.
Miss Mend (1926): Soviet serial in the American style with plenty of action and intrigue.
Mr. Flip (1909): Early Ben Turpin comedy from Essanay. Contrary to popular opinion, NOT the first cinematic pie in the face.
M’Liss (1918): Mary Pickford is hell on wheels and armed with a slingshot, determined to bring her dad’s killers to justice.
A Modern Musketeer (1917): Douglas Fairbanks is out to save Kansas with his chivalry! Kansas says: “Thanks but no thanks.”
The Monster (1903): An Egyptian man tries to bring his wife back from the dead.
The Monster (1925): Lon Chaney is the mad scientist, not the monster. A pity. Cute comedy-mystery set in an asylum.
Monte Cristo (1922): John Gilbert as Dumas’s famous vengeance-seeker.
Moscow Clad in Snow (1909): A Pathe actuality showing the once and future Russian capital on a snowy winter day.
Mr. Silent Haskins (1915): William S. Hart plays a saloon operator who falls for his partner’s heiress.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1919): One of those smiling-through-the-tears dramas about poverty, love but no cabbages.
A Muddy Romance (1913): Curses! Foiled again! A very messy Keystone comedy with Ford Sterling and Mabel Normand.
Mum’s the Word (1926): Charley Chase must pose as a butler when he goes to meet his new step-father.
My Best Girl (1927): Mary Pickford’s last silent feature. Co-starring future husband Buddy Rogers.
My Cousin (1918): Enrico Caruso plays dual roles in this comedy about love in Little Italy.
My Grandmother (1929): Georgian comedy about a corrupt civil servant in search of a benefactor.
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916): Douglas Fairbanks is wild and crazy in this cocaine-fueled Sherlock Holmes spoof.
The Mystery of the Rocks of Kador (1912): Classic melodrama with all the trimmings and a decidedly French accent.
The Mystery of the Sleeping Death (1914): Melodramatic hokum with one amazing tracking shot.
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The Narrow Road (1912): Elmer Booth is an ex-con trying to go straight. It helps that he is married to Mary Pickford.
Naughty Boy (1927): British comedian Lupino Lane must pose as a small child to help his dad land a date.
Nedbrudte Nerver (1923): Danish mystery-comedy about a reporter who witnesses a murder but nobody believes him.
Nelly la domatrice (1912): A lion tamer leaves her husband for a rich lover but soon regrets her decision.
Nero (1909): Early Italian epic about a mad monarch, a lyre and a pesky city that needs burning.
The New York Hat (1912): Lionel Barrymore is Mary Pickford’s mysterious benefactor in this tale of gossip, love and hats.
Nicholas Nickleby (1912): A condensed adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel with colorful characters galore.
Nick Winter and the Theft of the Mona Lisa (1911): This comedy was filmed just weeks after the real Mona Lisa heist.
A Night in the Show (1915): Charlie Chaplin takes on two roles in this variation of a music hall classic.
Nomads of the North (1920): Playing a leading man for once, Lon Chaney is a Canadian trapper on the run from the law.
The Nose (1963): Alexeïeff and Parker’s pinscreen animation adaptation of Gogol’s surreal masterpiece.
Nursery Favorites (1913): Edison’s players have fun dressing up as Mother Goose characters in this early musical.
The Nut (1921): An eccentric Douglas Fairbanks vehicle and one of his last silent films with a modern setting.
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Oh, Doctor! (1925): Reginal Denny plays a hypochondriac who turns daredevil when he falls for Mary Astor.
An Old Man’s Love Story (1913): A May-December arranged marriage is foiled by true love.
The Old Oregon Trail (1928): There’s not much actual pioneering in this poverty row western but the background story is fascinating.
Oliver Twist (1909): Vitagraph version of Dickens’ famous novel.
One Exciting Night (1922): It’s not exciting, it takes much longer than one night, it’s horrendously racist.
Onésime the Clockmaker (1912): Our hero decides to interfere with the laws of time and space in order to get an early inheritance.
Onésime vs Onésime (1912): A twisted and violent comedy about our title character’s clone problems.
Onésime You’ll Get Married or Else (1913): A bride auction does not go as planned and our hero must escape.
The Old Baron of Rautakylä (1923): Moody Finnish gothic complete with hidden wills and secret passages.
Only Me (1929): Lupino Lane plays every role in a vaudeville show– from the chorus girls to the audience!
The Original Movie (1922): Animated film visualizes the woes of a filmmaker in prehistoric times.
Our Mutual Friend (1921): Faithful Danish adaptation of Dickens’ final completed novel.
Out of the Deep (1912): Perfectly bizarre melodrama about a sunken treasure and a caped villain.
Out West (1918): Arbuckle, Keaton and St. John take on the tropes of the wild west in the usual zany manner.
Over the Fence (1917): Harold Lloyd introduced his signature Glass character in this baseball-themed short.
The Oyster Princess (1919): Early Lubitsch film regarding an American girl’s quest to marry a penniless German prince and all the problems it causes.
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The Palace of the Arabian Nights (1905): Georges Melies dives into fantasy with this fairy tale potpourri.
A Pair of Silk Stockings (1918): Constance Talmadge and Harrison Ford (not that one) play a divorced couple in this marital farce.
A Pair of Tights (1929): Iconic humor from the short-lived but wonderful comedy duo of Marion Bryant and Anita Garvin.
Parabola (1937): An exciting examination of curves on the screen.
Parisian Love (1924): One of Clara Bow’s poverty row films, it tells the tale of love among the French Apache.
Patouillard Newspaper Hawker (1911): French comedy about earning a bit of cash selling papers.
The Patsy (1928): Marion Davies’ wit and charm make for a delightful comedy.
The Peasant Women of Ryazan (1927): A drama about two young ladies dealing with love, loss and war.
The Peasants’ Lot (1912): Rare pre-revolution Russian silent, a gorgeous celebration of village life.
Peck’s Bad Boy (1921): Jackie Coogan cemented his star status in the painful comedy.
The Penalty (1920): Lon Chaney becomes Lon Chaney in this crime/horror classic about a legless mastermind.
The Perils of Pauline (1914): The iconic Pearl White serial is… well… not all that good.
Peter and the Wolf (2006): Academy Award winning stop motion animation.
The Phantom of the Opera (1925): The iconic Lon Chaney horror film with love, hate, jealousy and, of course, opera.
The Pinch Hitter (1917): Charles Ray stars in this baseball/college dramedy about a nobody making good when he’s called up to bat.
The Pirates of 1920 (1911): A near-future bit of science-fiction about sky pirates who attack by zeppelin.
The Plague of Florence (1919): The plague parallels the influenza epidemic in this German epic.
The Plastic Age (1925): Clara Bow stars as the wild girl on the college campus who has to be noble to save her football player boyfriend.
The Play House (1921): Buster Keaton takes on dozens of roles in this absurdest comedy of showbiz.
The Polish Dancer (1917): Pola Negri’s earliest surviving film appearance, a cautionary tale about the wild Polish night life.
Polly of the Circus (1918): Mae Marsh plays a circus rider who is injured and falls for a minister.
Pool Sharks (1915): W.C. Fields makes his movie debut in this knockabout comedy.
The Power of the Press (1928): Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. wows as a cub reporter out to solve a murder. Frank Capra directs.
The Prairie Pirate (1925): Unintentionally hilarious western about a bandit who steals cigarette butts. Really.
The Primitive Lover (1922): Constance Talmadge and Harrison Ford’s divorce does not go as planned.
Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy (1909): An impressive trick film from the folks at Vitagraph.
The Prisoner of Zenda (1922): What do you do if your identical cousin, a king, is kidnapped? Replace him until he can be rescued!
Pumps (1913): Cute romantic comedy about a couple bonding over too-tight shoes.
Putting Pants on Philip (1927): Oliver Hardy must try to get his Scottish nephew, Stan Laurel, to wear trousers.
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Que Viva Mexico! (1932/1979): Sergei Eisenstein’s unfinished celebration of Mexico and its people.
The Queen of Atlantis (1921): The tale of an immortal queen and her collection of ex-lovers encased in bronze.
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Raffles (1925): House Peters takes on the role of Raffles, gentleman crook and results are mixed. Hedda Hopper supports.
Raffles the Amateur Cracksman (1917): A very early John Barrymore feature concerning Raffles, the gentleman crook.
The Railway of Death (1912): Madcap and violent French (!) western with one of the best chases in pre-feature film.
Ramona (1910): A tragic tale of racism and displacement, this was also one of the earliest authorized film adaptations of a novel.
Ranson’s Folly (1926): Richard Barthelmess plays an Army officer with too much time on his hands so he decides to stage a fake robbery.
Rapallo (1914): Italian actuality showing off this vacation spot.
The Rat (1925): Ivor Novello and Mae Marsh are reunited in this story of a Parisian street criminal and his naive roommate.
A Reckless Rover (1918): A comedy from the infamous Ebony company.
The Red Kimona (1925): Torn-from-the-headlines tale of murder and redemption with an all-female production team.
The Red Lily (1924): Ramon Novarro and Enid Bennett are innocent lovers who fall into degradation and despair.
The Red Mill (1927): Marion Davies goes Netherlands with mixed results.
The Red Spectre (1907): A gloriously strange special effects showcase that also features an enchanted battle of the sexes.
Redskin (1929): A sensitive and sympathetic portrayal of life at the Indian schools of the southwest. Shot in Technicolor.
Regeneration (1915): Raoul Walsh enters the seedy criminal underworld in this tale of criminal reform.
Rescued by Rover (1905): A delightful early entry in the Genius Heroic Dog genre, this British film still charms.
The Return of Boston Blackie (1927): This crime melodrama is a vehicle for Strongheart, the handsome German Shepherd.
The Return of Draw Egan (1916): William S. Hart plays a bandit-turned-lawman. Standard Hart fare but executed rather well.
Revolution in Russia (1905): The Potemkin Mutiny is dramatized in this French production.
The Road to Yesterday (1925): Weird and wacky time travel melodrama with major starpower.
Roald Amundsen’s South Pole Journey (1910-1912): Real footage of the Norwegian explorer’s successful expedition to Antarctica.
Robin Hood (1912): A French production company making an English legend in New Jersey. Empowered Maid Marian is the highlight.
A Romance of the Redwoods (1917): Mary Pickford and Cecil B. DeMille join forces. City girl + stagecoach bandit + trees = romance!
Rough Sea at Dover (1895): Exactly what it says on the tin.
Rubber Tires (1927): Road trip comedy about a family driving from New York to California ahead of the tax man.
The Runaway Engine (1911): Exciting railway action film with Alice Joyce saving the day.
Rusalka (1910): A jilted woman takes watery revenge in this Russian film based on the Pushkin poem.
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Saturday Night (1922): Cecil B. DeMille takes a look at what happens after “happily ever after”
Sawdust and Salome (1914): Norma Talmadge plays a circus performer who marries into a scandalized family of snobs.
Scaramouche (1923): Ramon Novarro is a lawyer-turned-actor-turned-swordsman seeking revenge as the French Revolution dawns.
The School for Scandal (1923): A very young Basil Rathbone plays a scoundrel in this adaptation of the famous Georgian play.
The Sea Hawk (1924): Milton Sill plays an Elizabethan privateer who is framed for murder and forced to join the Barbary corsairs.
The Sea Lion (1921): Hobart Bosworth is a bitter captain who seeks revenge against the woman who betrayed him.
The Seine Flood (1910): Rare footage of Paris underwater. (Don’t worry, no one died in the disaster.)
Seven Keys to Baldpate (1917): George M. Cohan is an amateur detective who must solve the murder of… Hedda Hopper?
Seven Years Bad Luck (1921): Max Linder works his magic in his very first American feature. Includes the famous mirror scene.
The Shamrock and the Rose (1927): An Irish family battles their Jewish neighbors– until their oldest kids fall in love.
Shaun the Sheep (2015): Aardman’s masterful family film about a clever little sheep in the big city.
She Goes to War (1929): Eleanor Boardman plays a socialite who finds herself on the front lines and under enemy fire during WWI.
The Sheik (1921): Valentino’s signature role: A love-sick sheik who kidnaps an Englishwoman to be his bride.
Sherlock Holmes (1916): William Gillette’s legendary take on Holmes, long lost but recently recovered.
Sherlock Holmes (1922): John Barrymore takes on the role of the world’s greatest detective.
Sherlock Holmes Baffled (1900): A mysterious snippet of film that may be the first appearance of Holmes on the screen– or not.
Shiraz (1928): This Indian-German co-production is a fictionalized account of the building of the Taj Mahal.
Shivering Spooks (1926): Our Gang must deal with a phony psychic and a “haunted” house.
Shoes (1916): Lois Weber’s social drama about poverty and the wage gap, all symbolized by a pair of shoes.
Shooting Captured Insurgents (1898): Reenacted newsreel designed for Spanish-American War propaganda.
Shooting Stars (1927): British sendup of filmmaking and movie stardom with bonus murder.
Shore Leave (1925): Richard Barthelmess wants a ship, Dorothy Mackaill has a ship. Can it work out?
Show People (1928): Marion Davies stars in this riff on show biz. One of the cutest, most sparkling comedies of the 20’s.
The Sick Kitten (1903): Cute little British short about children caring for their kitten.
Silent Movie (1976): Mel Brooks sets out to revive silent films by making one himself.
Skinner’s Dress Suit (1926): A young couple tries to climb the social ladder in the 1920s with hilarious results.
The Sky Pilot (1921): King Vidor’s snowy romance was an early hit for Colleen Moore.
Slick Sleuths (1926): Mutt and Jeff attempt to track down an incorporeal criminal.
Slipping Wives (1927): Early pairing of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
The Smiling Madame Beudet (1922): A dark domestic comedy with a feminist twist from Germaine Dulac.
The Smoking Out of Bella Butts (1915): Flora Finch’s anti-smoking activism divides a town.
Snow White (1916): Walt Disney’s inspiration for his famous cartoon.
The Social Secretary (1916): A secretary tries to fend off amorous employers by pretending to be plain. Rare Norma Talmadge dramedy.
Sodom and Gomorrah (1922): An Austrian mega-epic with a cast of tens of thousands under the direction of Michael Curtiz.
Soft Shoes (1925): A cute comedy about a western sheriff who travels to San Francisco and falls for a lady burglar.
Sold at Auction (1923): Snub Pollard finds nothing but trouble when he accidentally auctions off the wrong house.
Soldier Man (1926): Harry Langdon spoofs The Prisoner of Zenda in this darling comedy.
Son of the Sheik (1926): Valentino’s final film. A fancier, bigger sequel to The Sheik.
The Song of Love (1923): Desert romance cornball with a spectacularly mismatched cast. Obviously, a must-see.
The Soul of the Beast (1923): The story of a girl and her talking elephant who are mistaken for the antichrist.
Souls for Sale (1923): A behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood with all the trimmings: Star cameos, studios, sets, serial killers…
South (1919): Real footage from the disastrous/heroic Shackleton Antarctic exploration.
Sparrows (1926): Mary Pickford’s southern gothic tale is one of her best.
Spies (1928): Fritz Lang’s stylish thriller lays the groundwork for all espionage films that followed.
The Spoiled Darling’s Doll (1913): A comedy with an unexpectedly sinister undercurrent.
Spring Fever (1927): Joan Crawford and Billy Haines find love on the golf links.
The Sprinkler Sprinkled (1895): Possibly the first movie comedy.
The Squaw Man (1914): One of the first features filmed in Hollywood and Cecil B. DeMille’s directorial debut.
The Star Prince (1918): A sort of sci-fi fairy tale written and directed by Madeline Brandeis about a celestial child on earth.
Stella Maris (1918): Mary Pickford plays dual roles in this Dickensian drama.
Straight Shooting (1917): John Ford’s first feature is a cattlemen vs. farmers yarn with plenty of, well, shooting.
The Stolen Voice (1915): Robert Warwick is an opera star whose voice disappears courtesy of a romantic rival who is an evil hypnotist.
The Strong Man (1926): Harry Langdon’s hit comedy about a Belgian soldier looking for his wartime pen pal.
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927): A Lubitsch-directed royal rom-com with Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer.
The Suburbanite (1904): A city family tries to relocate to the suburbs, chaos ensues.
The Sunbeam (1912): A gentle comedy from D.W. Griffith about misfits who form an unlikely family.
Surrender (1927): The village rabbi’s daughter falls for a genocidal Cossack. As one does.
Suspense (1913): Lois Weber directs and stars in this stylish film that lives up to its title.
Sweet Alyssum (1915): Tyrone Power, Sr. heads up this family melodrama.
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The Taking of Luke McVane (1915): William S. Hart is badder than usual in this western tragedy.
A Tale of Two Cities (1911): The Vitagraph players take on the massive novel in a truncated adaptation.
A Tale of Two Cities (1917): Director Frank Lloyd gives us the French Revolution on an epic scale.
Tales of the Thousand and One Nights (1921): An Arabian Nights fantasy shot on location in Tunisia.
The Taming of the Shrew (1908): Florence Lawrence was at the height of her fame when she starred in this loose adaptation of the Shakespeare play.
Tarzan of the Apes (1918): Everyone’s favorite vine swinger makes his motion picture debut.
Teddy at the Throttle (1917): Gloria Swanson and Teddy the Great Dane join forces in this Keystone comedy.
Tempest (1928): John Barrymore’s Russian tale of love, madness and love. Oh, and that pesky revolution.
Ten Nights in a Bar Room (1926): The oft-filmed alcoholism melodrama made with an all-black cast.
That Certain Thing (1928): Frank Capra’s charming romantic comedy about a gold-digger who ends up providing her own gold.
Theodor Körner (1912): Patriotic and epic biopic of the German soldier-poet who died during the Napoleonic Wars.
The Thief of Bagdad (1924): Douglas Fairbanks plays a thief who lives in Bagdad. It really is that simple.
Three Million Dollars (1911): A pleasantly goofy western rom-com starring matinee idol J. Warren Kerrigan.
Three Word Brand (1921): William S. Hart plays twins, a cowpuncher and a governor.
Through the Back Door (1921): Mary Pickford sets out to find her long-lost mother.
A Throw of Dice (1929): An Indian-German co-production about love, assassinations and power plays.
Tiger Rose (1923): A young woman tries to save her boyfriend from the long arm of the law in this smashing little adventure.
Tol’able David (1921): Richard Barthelmess is his country David vs. Goliath tale.
The Toll Gate (1920): William S. Hart gets very dark indeed in this violent revenge tale.
The Toll of the Sea (1922): Anna May Wong plays a young Chinese girl who is seduced and abandoned by an American merchant.
The Tong Man (1919): Sessue Hayakawa is a gangland assassin who (shock!) falls for the daughter of his target.
Tonka of the Gallows (1930): A woman’s decision to comfort a condemned man leads to her downfall.
The Trail of ’98 (1928): This Alaskan gold rush epic was one of the last of the big silents.
A Trip to Mars (1910): Edison’s Martian fantasy with gigantic aliens and a very confused alchemist.
A Trip to the Moon (1902): Melies’ iconic science fiction short.
Troubles of a Grass Widower (1908): Max Linder discovers that the single life is no fun at all when his wife goes home to mother.
Two Arabian Knights (1927): Howard Hughes-produced action/comedy. Fast, funny and thoroughly enjoyable.
Two-Gun Gussie (1918): Harold Lloyd is a jazz pianist out west who accidentally becomes the most feared man in town.
Two Knights of Vaudeville (1915): A trio of rascals sneak into a vaudeville playhouse and chaos ensues.
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Under Royal Patronage (1914): Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne were THE power couple of the ‘teens. See them in action.
Under the Claw (1912): A wacky and wonderful French adventure starring the fearless Berthe Dagmar.
The Undesirable (1915): Rare example of Michael Curtiz’s Hungarian work.
The Unholy Three (1925): Lon Chaney is a ventriloquist and would be criminal mastermind who uses parrots to steal jewels.
The Unknown (1927): Lon Chaney plays an armless serial killer posing as a knife-thrower. Yeah…
An Unseen Enemy (1912): Lillian and Dorothy Gish make their debut as sisters under attack.
An Unsullied Shield (1913): Family portraits come to life to berate their descendant in this Edison drama.
Upstream (1927): Long lost showbiz comedy from John Ford.
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The Vagabond Prince (1916): Kind of a gender-reversed Roman Holiday with the prince of a Balkan kingdom running away to San Francisco and taking up with a dancer named fluffy.
The Vanishing Lady (1896): Méliès gives the old stage trick a cinematic update.
Variety (1925): Emil Jannings stars in E.A. Dupont’s stylish tale of carnivals, jealousy and murder.
The Volga Boatman (1926): The alternate title should be Communists Need Love Too. Yummy hokum from DeMille.
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Wagon Tracks (1919): William S. Hart is a wagon guide out for revenge in this grim western.
Wanda’s Trick (1918): Delightful romantic comedy about a lottery winner and her boss directed by Rosa Porten.
Wara Wara (1930): The only known surviving silent era film made in Bolivia, this is a star-crossed romance between a conquistador and an Aymara princess.
Warning Shadows (1923): Jealousy, murder and shadow puppets blend into an intense cinematic experience.
Way Down East (1920): D.W. Griffith’s rural melodrama. Blizzards, chases, romance, what else could you want?
Waxworks (1924): A writer is dragged into a nightmare world that he has created through his stories. German classic.
West of Zanzibar (1928): A entertaining and grotesque melodrama from the incomparable Lon Chaney.
When the Clouds Roll By (1919): Douglas Fairbanks plays a superstitious young man who is being driven insane by a mad scientist.
When the Tables Turned (1911): Rare Edith Storey western comedy about practical jokes gone wrong.
Where Are My Children? (1916): Lois Weber tackles both birth control and abortion in this melodrama starring Tyrone Power.
Where the North Holds Sway (1927): A two-fisted Mountie attempts to avenge the death of his brother.
While the City Sleeps (1928): Lon Chaney plays a lovesick cop.
The Whispering Chorus (1918): DeMille gets serious in this drama of crime, guilt and conscience.
The White Devil (1930): Ivan Mosjoukine, Lil Dagover, Betty Amann. ‘Nuff said.
The White Rose (1923): Later melodrama by D.W. Griffith. A sort of Southern Scarlet Letter.
Why Change Your Wife? (1920): DeMille’s best bedroom comedy with Gloria Swanson as a prude who learns to loosen up.
The Wicked Darling (1919): Thought lost for years, this is the first collaboration between Lon Chaney and Tod Browning.
Wild and Woolly (1917): Douglas Fairbanks plays New Yorker obsessed with the old west but gets more than he bargained for when he finally gets to Arizaona.
The Wildcat (1921): Deranged German comedy concerning the hyperkinetic romance between a bandit girl and a smooth-talking army officer.
The Wind (1928): Lillian Gish’s silent masterpiece, co-starring Lars Hanson and a wind machine. A true psychological classic. Do not miss this one!
The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926): Ronald Colman and a very young Gary Cooper vie for the hand of Vilma Banky.
The Wishing Ring (1914): A delightful gem about a lord’s son and a parson’s daughter having the cutest little romance.
Within Our Gates (1920): Oscar Micheaux takes on racism, lynching and white supremacy in this harrowing picture.
The Wizard of Oz (1925): Widely considered one of the worst silent films ever made. But is it really?
The Woman in the Suitcase (1920): Enid Bennett plays detective as she tries to track down her father’s mistress.
A Woman of the World (1925): Small-town America meets Pola Negri. And she’s got a whip, folks!
Won in a Cupboard (1914): Mabel Normand directs and stars in this raucous romantic comedy.
Wonderful Absinthe (1899): Alice Guy’s short comedy about the perils of distracted drinking.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910): The first 100% motion picture adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s famous tale.
The Wrath of the Gods (1915): Sessue Hayakawa, Tsuru Aoki and Frank Borzage (!) star in this Japan-themed Inceville flick.
The Wright Idea (1928): Johnny Hines and his quick-dry ink save the day.
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The X-Rays (1897): A mischievous scientist uses his x-rays on a courting couple.
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The Yankee Clipper (1927): William Boyd captains a wooden ship in a race from China to North America.
Yizkor (1924): A Yiddish production shot in Austria about a handsome Jewish guardsman who catches the eye of a lusty, aristocratic Christian.
You Remember Ellen (1912): Romantic film shot in Ireland and based on the poem of the same name by Thomas Moore.
You’d Be Surprised (1926): Raymond Griffith plays a coroner who hopes to date the prime suspect in a sensational murder.
Young April (1926): Bessie Love and Joseph Schildkraut are as cute as can be in this Ruritanian romantic comedy.
The Young Rajah (1922): Rudolph Valentino plays a rajah hiding out in the USA after a coup.
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Zander the Great (1925): Marion Davies tries on the drama-comedy-western-crime genre for size.
Movies Silently 