The horse’s name was Sallie Gardner, a Kentucky-bred mare, and Muybridge used multiple cameras to photograph her as she galloped past. The project was financed by Leland Stanford, who owned a farm where he bred, trained, and raced horses. Eadweard Muybridge, 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the first name "Eadweard" as the original Anglo-Saxon form of "Edward", and the surname "Muybridge", believing it to be similarly archaic. Born in Kingston upon Thames, England, at the age of 20 he emigrated to the United States as a bookseller, first to New York City, then to San Francisco. In 1860, he planned a return trip to Europe, but suffered serious head injuries en route in a stagecoach crash in Texas. He spent the next few years recuperating in Kingston upon Thames, where he took up professional photography, learned the wet-plate collodion process, and secured at least two British patents for his inventions. He returned to San Francisco in 1867, a man with a markedly changed personality. In 1868, he exhibited large photographs of Yosemite Valley, and began selling popular stereographs of his work. In 1874, Muybridge shot and killed Major Harry Larkyns, his wife's lover, but was acquitted, in a controversial jury trial, on the grounds of justifiable homicide.[4] In 1875, he travelled for more than a year in Central America on a photographic expedition. Today, Muybridge is best known for his pioneering chronophotograph of animal locomotion between 1878 and 1886, which used multiple cameras to capture the different positions in a stride; and for his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting painted motion pictures from glass discs that predated the flexible perforated film strip used in cinematography. From 1883 to 1886, he entered a very productive period at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, producing over 100,000 images of animals and humans in motion, occasionally capturing what the human eye could not distinguish as separate moments in time. In his later years, Muybridge gave many public lectures and demonstrations of his photography and early motion picture sequences, travelling frequently in England and Europe to publicize his work in cities such as London and Paris.[6] He also edited and published compilations of his work (some of which are still in print today), which greatly influenced visual artists and the developing fields of scientific and industrial photography. He retired to his native England permanently in 1894. In 1904, the year of his death, the Kingston Museum opened in his hometown, and continues to house a substantial collection of his works in a dedicated gallery.

Individual photographs of the running of a buffalo shot in rapid succession. A viewer pointed out this is actually a Bison. :)

Annie Oakley is an 1894 black-and-white silent film from Edison Studios, produced by William K. L. Dickson with William Heise as cinematographer. Synopsis The film shows Oakley performing trick shooting as she was known for in her live shows. The first scene was of Oakley shooting her Marlin 91 .22 caliber rifle 25 times in 27 seconds. There is also a scene of her shooting composition balls in the air. The man assisting her is likely her husband, Frank E. Butler. Both were veterans of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.  Cast Frank E. Butler as Self (uncredited) Annie Oakley as Self (uncredited) Background The film is most notable for being Annie Oakley's first appearance on film. Thomas Edison had wanted to see if his kinetoscope could capture the smoke from a rifle, so he employed Oakley to film some of her shooting.  In 1894, kinetoscopes were installed in 60 locations in major cities around the country.  Viewing the films cost a nickel. It was filmed on a single reel using standard 35 mm gauge at Edison's Black Maria studio in New York, November 1, 1895. The original film had a 90-second runtime. The surviving film is preserved by the Library of Congress.

Men Boxing is an 1891 American short silent film, produced and directed by William K. L. Dickson and William Heise for the Edison Manufacturing Company, featuring two Edison employees with boxing gloves, pretending to spar in a boxing ring. The 12 feet of film was shot between May and June 1891 at the Edison Laboratory Photographic Building in West Orange, New Jersey, on the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, through a round aperture on 3/4 inch (19mm) wide film with a single edge row of sprocket perforations, as an experimental demonstration and was never publicly shown. A print has been preserved in the US Library of Congress film archive as part of the Gordon Hendricks collection. Directed by William K. L. Dickson, William Heise Produced by William K. L. Dickson, William Heise Cinematography William K. L. Dickson, William Heise Production company: Edison Manufacturing Company Release date : 1891 Running time 5 seconds Country United States Language Silent

Sherlock Holmes Baffled is a very short American silent film created in 1900 with cinematography by Arthur Marvin. It is the earliest known film to feature Arthur Conan Doyle's detective character Sherlock Holmes, albeit in a form unlike that of later screen incarnations. The inclusion of the character also makes it the first recorded detective film. In the film, a thief who can appear and disappear at will steals a sack of items from Sherlock Holmes. At each point, Holmes's attempts to thwart the intruder end in failure. Originally shown in Mutoscope machines in arcades, Sherlock Holmes Baffled has a running time of 30 seconds. Although produced in 1900, it was only registered in 1903, and a copyright notice stating this is seen on some prints. The identities of the actors playing the first screen Holmes and his assailant are not recorded. Assumed to be lost for many years, the film was rediscovered in 1968 as a paper print in the Library of Congress. Plot Sherlock Holmes enters his drawing room to find it being burgled, but on confronting the villain is surprised when the latter disappears. Holmes initially attempts to ignore the event by lighting a cigar, but upon the thief's reappearance, Holmes tries to reclaim the sack of stolen goods, drawing a pistol from his dressing gown pocket and firing it at the intruder, who vanishes. After Holmes recovers his property, the bag vanishes from his hand into that of the thief, who promptly disappears through a window. At this point, the film ends abruptly with Holmes looking "baffled". Production An 1899 advertisement for the mutoscope reading "The Mutoscope and how it makes money" in large, stylized letters with "for pennies, a moving picture machine, popular in all public places" in smaller lettering around a central picture. In the image, a lady wearing a long early 20th century dress and hat peers down the mutoscope viewfinder. An 1899 trade advertisement for the Mutoscope The film was produced by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company and was intended to be shown on the Mutoscope, an early motion picture device, patented by Herman Casler in 1894. The Mutoscope worked on the same principle as a flip book, with individual image frames printed onto flexible cards attached to a circular core which revolved with the turn of a user-operated hand crank. The cards were lit by electric light bulbs inside the machine, a system devised by Arthur Marvin's brother, Henry, one of the founders of the Biograph company. Earlier machines had relied on reflected natural light. To avoid violating Edison's patents, Biograph cameras from 1895 to 1902 used a large-format film measuring 2-23/32 inches (68 mm) wide, with an image area of 2 × 2½ inches, four times that of Edison's 35 mm format. Biograph film was not ready-perforated; the camera itself punched a sprocket hole on each side of the frame as the film was exposed at 30 frames per second. The director and cinematographer of Sherlock Holmes Baffled was Arthur Weed Marvin, a staff cameraman for Biograph. Marvin completed over 418 short films between 1897 and 1911 and was known for filming vaudeville entertainers. He later became known as the cameraman for the early silent films of D. W. Griffith. The identities of the first screen Holmes and his assailant are not recorded. Biograph films before 1903 were mostly actualities (documentary footage of actual persons, places and events), but Sherlock Holmes Baffled is an example of an early Biograph comedy narrative film, produced at the company's rooftop studio on Broadway in New York City. According to Christopher Redmond's Sherlock Holmes Handbook, the film was shot on April 26, 1900. Rediscovery The film was assumed to have been lost for many years until a paper copy was identified in 1968 in the Library of Congress Paper Print archive by Michael Pointer, a historian of Sherlock Holmes films. Because motion pictures were not covered by copyright laws until 1912, paper prints were submitted by studios wishing to register their works. Analysis A frame of the black-and-white film. Sherlock Holmes enters his parlour and taps the shoulder of a burglar who is collecting Holmes' tablewares into a sack. Holmes is wearing a dressing gown and smoking a cigar, the thief is dressed in black. Holmes first encounters the intruder. The plot of Sherlock Holmes Baffled is unrelated to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's canonical Sherlock Holmes stories; it is likely that the character's name was used purely for its familiarity with the public. Shot from a single point of view on a stage set, the intention of Sherlock Holmes Baffled was probably to act as a showcase for basic film trickery and film editing effects, particularly the stop trick first developed four years earlier in 1896 by French director Georges Méliès.

Blue Beard (French: Barbe-Bleue) is a 1901 French silent film by Georges Méliès, based on Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Bluebeard". Plot A sinister aristocrat, Blue Beard, is looking for a beautiful woman to become his wife. Lured by his great riches, many noble families bring their most eligible daughters to meet him. None of the young women want to marry him, both due to his ghastly appearance and because he has already had seven previous wives – all of whom have mysteriously vanished without a trace. Bluebeard's great wealth, however, persuades one father to give his daughter's hand to him. She has no choice but to marry him, and after a lavish wedding feast, she begins her new life in his castle. One day as Blue Beard is going away on a journey, he entrusts the keys to his castle to her and warns his wife never to go into a particular room. Caught between the fear of her husband's wrath and her own curiosity, she is unsure of what to do regarding the forbidden chamber. Her curiosity manifests itself as an imp who taunts and mocks her with potential promises that the room might contain. In contrast, her better judgment comes in the form of a guardian angel, who attempts to dissuade her from entering the locked door. When her curiosity finally gets the best of her, she realizes that she has placed herself in great danger. She enters the dimly lit room, making out strange bag shapes. The room is a torture chamber, and these bags are dead bodies: the seven past wives of the murderous Blue Beard hanging on hooks, dripping stale blood onto the floor. The new wife drops the key in her horror and is stained with dead wives' blood which the wife relentlessly tries to wash off. Later that night, she dreams of seven giant keys haunting her. On Blue Beard's return, he discovers his wife's untamable curiosity and violently shakes her. She runs to the top of the tower and calls to her sister and brothers. Her relatives save her from death and pin Blue Beard with a sword to the castle walls. The angel appears to restore the murdered wives to life, and they are married to seven great lords. Production Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Bluebeard" had previously been adapted for film in 1897, in a short version for the Lumière Brothers' studio. Méliès may have known and remembered this film in preparing his elaborate ten-scene version, which adds several elements characteristic of his films, including the appearances of a good Fairy and the Devil. The film features Jehanne d'Alcy in the leading role of Blue Beard's wife, identified as Fatima in the French and American catalogues. Bleuette Bernon plays the fairy. Méliès himself appears in three roles: Blue Beard, one of the kitchen assistants, and the Devil. Méliès's production design for the film is eclectic, mixing Renaissance, Medieval, and Moorish elements as well as a giant modern-day bottle of Champagne Mercier. The final shot is an apotheosis in theatrical style, as would be used at the conclusion of a stage spectacular at Paris venues like the Théâtre du Châtelet.[1] The special effects are created with substitution splices, dissolves, stage machinery, and pyrotechnics. The exaggerated size of some props, particularly the Mercier bottle and the key to Bluebeard's chamber, point to Méliès's wish to emphasize certain details in the complex, sprawling wide shots of the film. In later cinema, when a grammar of narrative film editing became prevalent, such emphasis would often be given using closeups. Similarly, to clarify the film's plot within its spacious format, Méliès drew freely on 19th-century theatrical techniques, including exaggerated mime-based acting, carefully layered groupings of actors, and scenery painted with sharp, high-contrast detail. According to Méliès's recollections (as reported by his granddaughter, Madeleine Malthête-Méliès), the filming process was marked by an accident: during production of the penultimate scene, in which one of Bluebeard's brothers-in-law prepares to stab him, Méliès was knocked over, fell on the guard of his sword, and broke his femur. He finished the film but had to get an orthopedic cast on his leg that night. He was still wearing the cast at the grand re-opening of his stage venue, the Théâtre Robert-Houdin, on 22 September 1901. Release Blue Beard was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 361–370 in its catalogues.[3] A surviving print of the film, restored by the film preservationist David Shepard, was released on home video in 2008.

Jack and the Beanstalk is a 1902 American silent trick film directed by Edwin S. Porter. With ten sequential shots, Jack and the Beanstalk was twice as long as any previous studio film. According to Porter, "It took in the neighborhood of six weeks in the spring of 1902 to successfully make this photograph." Plot summary Duration: 10 minutes and 29 seconds.10:29 Jack and the Beanstalk (1902) In this earliest known adaptation of the classic fairy tale, Jack first trades his cow for the bean. His mother then makes him drop them in the front yard, and go to his room. As he sleeps, Jack is visited by a fairy who shows him glimpses of what will await him when he ascends the bean stalk. In this version, Jack is the son of a deposed king. When Jack wakes up, he finds the beanstalk has grown and he climbs to the top where he enters the giant's home. The giant finds Jack, who narrowly escapes. The giant chases Jack down the bean stalk, but Jack is able to cut it down before the giant can get to safety. He falls and is killed. Jack celebrates. The fairy then reveals that Jack may return home as a prince. Cast Actors Characters James H. White Farmer Thomas White Jack Elsie Ferguson Fairy Reception In The First Twenty Years: A Segment of Film History, Kemp Niver notes that "the sets were extremely impressive, for they showed considerable ingenuity in their design... Throughout the film, Porter used the possibilities of a moving picture camera in a new way through the spectacular use of dissolves between scenes, stop camera action to allow people to appear and disappear, and the use of lantern slides as a projector of thought within a moving picture production." Similarly, Charles Musser wrote that the film "contains all the elements that historian A. Nicholas Vardac sees in Life of an American Fireman: the pictorial development of two lines of action, spectacular devices such as the vision that introduces the second line of action, dissolves between scenes, and a change in camera position showing interior and exterior as the action moves from one space to the next."

These were made in the early stages of film development. Don't except anything earth shattering when watching. Lot of experimenting was going on then. Summary Opens on a stage with a painted backdrop of a forest or garden. On a park bench center stage sits a well-dressed woman with a dark veil obscuring her face, holding an open parasol overhead and a closed fan in her lap. A mustached cowboy enters, dressed in fringed chaps, boots, Western hat, neck kerchief, and pistol belt. When he spies the woman, he primps for a moment, arranging his mustache, and then approaches her. The cowboy takes off his hat and bows, then leans into the bench to talk with her. She rebuffs his numerous attempts to take her hand, but finally allows him to lift her veil. The cowboy reacts in horror as an animal face, perhaps a monkey's, is revealed, and then runs off the stage. A stylish gentleman in a suit with a straw boater and cane enters and sits familiarly beside the woman. He reaches over and removes what proves to be a mask as he and the now-beautiful woman have a good laugh. At one point, the gentleman gives her a kiss on the cheek. "A Western cowboy attempts to flirt with a veiled young lady sitting on a bench in the garden. After considerable persuasion she is induced to raise her veil, but to the cowboy's amazement she reveals a hideous face. The cowboy leaves in disgust, but his place is quickly taken by a dapper Eastern youth who removes the mask from the girl's face, and the two enjoy a hearty laugh over the cowboy's discomfiture. Names Bitzer, G. W., 1872-1944, camera. American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) Created / Published United States: American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, 1903.

The early days of cinematography. Don't expect much when watching except to see how history was about to change. Title: Stealing a dinner Other Title: Stealing a dinner by dogs Summary A man sits at the dinner table, with a row of dogs behind him and a black dog sitting near the table in the foreground. When the master rings a bell for service, a dog enters on her hind legs dressed in a servant's cap and apron. As she hops toward the table, however, a cat jumps upon the surface. The master tosses the cat off the table as the serving dog exits. The man rings the bell again but gets no response, so he takes off his dinner napkin and leaves the stage. Seeing this, the black dog turns and jumps on the table, where he promptly eats his master's dinner. The black dog then grabs the cat in his mouth and places it on the table. As the man returns to the table, he sees his empty plate and the cat crouched nearby. Thus blaming the cat for the stolen dinner, the man first scolds the feline and then draws a pistol aimed at the "thief." When the black dog sees the gun, however, he jumps on the table between the pistol and the cat, begging on his hind legs for the master to spare its life. The man grabs the dog by the collar, dragging him to the floor, and instead shoots the unlucky dog. A large dog--perhaps a Great Dane--in a policeman's uniform enters on his hind legs, grabs the man by the shoulders from behind, and chases him offstage. The other dogs follow in an excited pack. "Another exhibition by Prof. Leonidas' troop of cats and dogs. One of the dogs is shown stealing his dinner from the table in the master's absence. In order to cover his own crime, the dog places a cat on the table, where she is found when the master comes in. The master shoots the cat and is promptly arrested by a large dog dressed in policeman's clothes"--American Mutoscope & Biograph picture catalogue. Names Arniotis, Leonidas, 1862-1939, performer. Bitzer, G. W., 1872-1944, camera. American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) Created / Published United States : American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1903.

Excursion to the Moon (French: Excursion dans la lune) is a 1908 French silent film directed by Segundo de Chomón. The production was supervised by Ferdinand Zecca, designed by V. Lorant-Heilbronn, and released by Pathé Frères. The film is an unauthorized remake, and an almost shot-by-shot copy, of Georges Méliès's 1902 film A Trip to the Moon. The film follows Méliès's scenario closely and includes many of its features, with some variations: for example, the Selenites are not vulnerable to umbrellas, but rather appear and disappear at will; the capsule lands inside the Man in the Moon's open mouth rather than hitting its eye; and the Selenite who returns to Earth is a "dancing moon-maiden" who is betrothed at the end of the film to one of the astronomers. This film has occasionally been misidentified as a work by Méliès. Of the film's 180 meters, 72 were colorized using a Pathé stencil process.

La Photographie électrique à distance, released in the United States as Long Distance Wireless Photography and in Britain as Electrical Photographer, is a 1908 French short silent comedy film directed by Georges Méliès. Plot In a glass-roofed workshop, an inventor is surrounded by mechanical devices for a complicated machine. The inventor's servants show in a respectably dressed lady and gentleman; the inventor welcomes them in and begins to demonstrate his invention to them. Setting the machine in motion, he unrolls a large screen and places a small image of the Three Graces on a chair; thanks to the machine, the Graces are projected at life-size on the screen, and they briefly come to life before disappearing. Next, the inventor and his staff give a further demonstration, with a model in Grecian garb being projected. As before, the projected image takes on its own life, waving to the gentleman visitor. The visitors indicate that they are ready to be photographed by the wireless process, and the lady takes a seat in front of the photographic apparatus. Her head appears in close up, projected on the screen; the projected head makes grotesque faces, including a mostly toothless grin and a fierce scowl. The lady faints from shock and has to be revived with smelling salts. The inventor, proffering apologies, ushers the gentleman client to the seat, but he fares even worse: his projected portrait shows him as a hairy, monkey-like creature, gibbering maniacally. In a rage, the gentleman runs around the room, trying to destroy the machine, but touching one of the devices gives him an electrical shock that makes his hair stand on end. He rushes to his lady companion, whose outer garments are torn apart when she stands too near another device, leaving her in her chemise and petticoats. The two clients leave the studio in a rage, while the inventor and his servants laugh uproariously. Production Méliès appears in the film as the inventor, with Fernande Albany as the lady client. The film's painted set evokes the contemporary design for photography studios, built partly of glass and iron; the actual studio in which Méliès made his films was built on such a design. Several other Méliès sets have similarly self-referential elements, including the photography studio in A Mix-up in the Gallery and the workshops and factories in A Trip to the Moon, The Impossible Voyage, and The Conquest of the Pole.[3] The film's special effects were created using substitution splices, superimpositions, and dissolves. Themes The Three Graces appear on the inventor's screen With its photographic apparatus creating fresh and unexpected views of its subjects, Long Distance Wireless Photography can be seen as an allegory for the seemingly magical properties of cinema.[4][5] The film scholar Mark Bould described the film as a satirical look at film's capabilities for artificiality and realism: Méliès's embrace of artifice satirises the notion that by capturing the surface of the world the camera not only reveals things indiscernible to human perception but also shows the 'truth' of the world. At the same time, the satirical portraits … suggest artifice's ability to project truths that elude the camera's photochemical recording processes. The film can also be seen as anticipatory science fiction; the film scholar Linda Williams cited the film as "an uncanny anticipation of the not yet invented marvel of television." The film writer Dennis Fischer likewise described the film as showing "a large screen television some twenty years before the device's actual invention." The film critic William B. Parrill likened the machine to a science-fiction device in the 1958 film The Fly: "Unfortunately, it seems to be some sort of matter transmitter, like those in The Fly, which occasionally mixes in the odd bit of extraneous matter." The philosopher Eugene Thacker cited Long Distance Wireless Photography as an example of his concept of dark media, "the mediation of that which is unavailable or inaccessible to the senses". Thacker notes that the machine in the film, by generating comically altered versions of the things it is intended to photograph, "serves a kind of pedagogical function as to the inner workings of cinema itself." Other Méliès films with themes relating to dark media include The Mysterious Retort and The Black Imp. Williams described sexist and voyeuristic overtones in the scene in which an image of the Three Graces is projected, "reproducing an image of women's bodies to the voyeuristic measure of male desire." The film scholar Elizabeth Ezra went further, commenting that the machine does not in fact attempt to show actual women at all, but rather only an image from a male imagination: "These constructed women are also machines in themselves, which do exactly what they are programmed to do, and whose behavior differs noticeably from that of real women."

Plot A young woman passing through a cemetery at night is suddenly startled by a voice coming from one of the graves. She wishes to rush away, but the ghost appearing compels her to remain. He explains to the terrified girl that she must go to the kingdom of Satan and get a bottle of the Water of Life, which she must bring back to him. The girl consents to do as he desires and starts forth on her expedition after the precious fluid. Director: Segundo de Chomón Writer: Segundo de Chomón Star: Julienne Mathieu

The King and his official astronomer are alone in the study viewing the heavenly bodies through the monstrous telescope. They go out on the balcony and the gay old ruler is much absorbed in the phenomenon and spends some time in studying the stars and planets. The evening has been well spent with the many mysteries which have made such a deep impression upon the King's mind that they are still with him in his dreams. Upon retiring for the night, he has a wonderful nightmare, in which he imagines that he is climbing up a long ladder to the planet Jupiter. He passes all the other planets and receives an official salute from each one in honor of his exalted position upon the earth. Finally arriving at Jupiter, he is admitted to the palace of the King, where he is granted an audience with the high potentate. They become so effusive in their welcome and so strenuous in their mode of entertaining that he wishes to be back on earth once more. Finally, after witnessing all that is to be seen, he expresses a desire to return home, so he is picked up bodily and thrown off of the planet, but luckily for him he grabs the ladder and starts to descend. As he is passing Mercury, someone cuts the ladder, his royal highness is precipitated through the air, where he lands with an awful bump on earth. And then he woke up, only to find himself groveling on the floor of his room. Details Release date: August 13, 1909 (United States) Country of origin: France Languages: None/French Also known as: Sueños de un astrónomo Production company" Pathé Frères

The Country Doctor is a 1909 American short silent drama film written and directed by D. W. Griffith. Plot A doctor (Frank Powell) leaves his sick daughter (Adele DeGarde) to assist a neighbor that is gravely ill, and ignores his wife's requests to come home and take care of his own daughter who is getting worse. Cast Kate Bruce as Poor Mother (uncredited) Adele DeGarde as Poor Mother's Sick Daughter (uncredited) Gladys Egan as Edith Harcourt – Daughter (uncredited) Rose King as Maid (uncredited) Florence Lawrence as Mrs. Harcourt (uncredited) Mary Pickford as Poor Mother's Elder Daughter (uncredited) Frank Powell as Doctor Harcourt (uncredited)

The Country Doctor is a 1909 American short silent drama film written and directed by D. W. Griffith. Plot A doctor (Frank Powell) leaves his sick daughter (Adele DeGarde) to assist a neighbor that is gravely ill, and ignores his wife's requests to come home and take care of his own daughter who is getting worse. Cast Kate Bruce as Poor Mother (uncredited) Adele DeGarde as Poor Mother's Sick Daughter (uncredited) Gladys Egan as Edith Harcourt – Daughter (uncredited) Rose King as Maid (uncredited) Florence Lawrence as Mrs. Harcourt (uncredited) Mary Pickford as Poor Mother's Elder Daughter (uncredited) Frank Powell as Doctor Harcourt (uncredited)

The Country Doctor is a 1909 American short silent drama film written and directed by D. W. Griffith. Plot A doctor (Frank Powell) leaves his sick daughter (Adele DeGarde) to assist a neighbor that is gravely ill, and ignores his wife's requests to come home and take care of his own daughter who is getting worse. Cast Kate Bruce as Poor Mother (uncredited) Adele DeGarde as Poor Mother's Sick Daughter (uncredited) Gladys Egan as Edith Harcourt – Daughter (uncredited) Rose King as Maid (uncredited) Florence Lawrence as Mrs. Harcourt (uncredited) Mary Pickford as Poor Mother's Elder Daughter (uncredited) Frank Powell as Doctor Harcourt (uncredited)

Produced by the Biograph Company of New York and directed and co-written by D. W. Griffith. Herbert Yost stars in this short as the 19th-century American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe, while Linda Arvidson portrays Poe's wife Virginia. When it was released in February 1909 and throughout its theatrical run, the film was consistently identified and advertised with Poe's middle name misspelled in its official title, using an "e" instead of the correct second "a". The short was also originally shipped to theaters on a "split reel", which was a single reel that accommodated more than one film. This 450-foot drama shared its reel with another Biograph short, the 558-foot comedy A Wreath in Time. Prints of both films survive. Plot The film focuses on Edgar Allan Poe and his wife Virginia Clemm, who is bedridden and seriously ill. While Poe comforts her, a raven suddenly appears on a bust of Pallas displayed on a high shelf in her room. Inspired by the sight, Poe writes "The Raven", his greatest poetic work. He then leaves, hoping to sell the poem to a local newspaper or book publisher so he can buy much-needed food and medicines for Virginia. At a newspaper office, the first potential buyer rejects the creation. Desperate for money, Poe rushes to another publisher's office, where a man and a woman are busy editing. Initially, one editor dismisses Poe's poem, but the other one reads the work, likes it, and pays him for it. Poe then uses the money to buy a basket of food and other items for his wife. Virginia is still lying in bed when he returns home, where he proudly unfolds a new blanket, he also purchased, but as he places the blanket on her, he realizes that she had died while he was gone. Poe is devastated by her loss, and the film ends with him crying over her body. Cast Herbert Yost as Edgar Allan Poe Linda Arvidson as Virginia Poe Arthur V. Johnson as publisher at first office Charles Perley as "Resident poet" at first office David Miles as publisher at second office Anita Hendrie as editor at second office Production The screenplay for this short was co-written by director Griffith and Frank E. Woods. The drama was shot using three interior corner sets at Biographs headquarters and main studio, which in 1908 and 1909 were located inside a renovated brownstone mansion at 11 East 14th Street in New York City. Filming by company cinematographer G. W. Bitzer was completed in just two days, although records differ as to those exact dates. Profiles on the film at the Library of Congress cite January 21 and 23, 1909, while Biograph production records, which are noted in the 1985 reference D. W. Griffith and the Biograph Company, give earlier dates: December 21 and 23, 1908. Lighting The lighting of sets was invariably a collaborative effort between director Griffith and his cinematographers, most notably in his work with "Billy" Bitzer. Film historian and university professor Joyce E. Jesionowski in her 1987 book Thinking in Pictures: Dramatic Structure in D. W. Griffith's Biograph Films regards Edgar Allen Poe as a notable one in Griffith's early filmography, a production that illustrates his growing awareness of the power of set lighting in establishing mood and enhancing storylines that, unlike stage plays, relied totally on orchestrating visual elements within a silent medium: Griffith's most theatrical use of a lighting effect, his most conscious use of light as atmosphere, occurs in a group of films that are less admirable for their construction than for the tone set by their lighting. Edgar Allen Poe [sic] (1909) is such a film, impressive in its pre-expressionist harshness of the contrast between light and shadow in the shots. With further regard to the moody "harshness" of the lighting employed by Griffith and Bitzer in this production, in an introduction to a copy of the short preserved in its film museum, the EYE Institute in the Netherlands states, "Although there is little to distinguish [Edgar Allen Poe] now from its contemporaries, it had new and advanced lighting, notably the so-called 'Rembrandt lighting' or profile portrait-effect." Now a standard lighting technique in cinematography and studio photography, the use of such "Rembrandt lighting" in 1909 predates by six years its credited use in motion pictures, most notably by Cecil B. DeMille in his 1915 production The Warrens of Virginia. Release and promotion Split-reel promotion of the film with the comedy A Wreath in Time Just days before the short's release on February 8, 1909, biograph marketed it as "a work of art" that the company produced to commemorate "this season of [Poe's] birthday centennial."

Mary is coerced into helping with a burglary of a minister's apartment. Later she repents and goes to the minister's storefront mission to help. Director - D.W. Griffith Writers - D.W. Griffith Stanner E.V. Taylor Stars - Stephanie Longfellow, Arthur V. Johnson, Henry B. Walthall, Mary Pickford

Four customers are having a peaceful game of cards in a quiet café. The atmosphere bring heavy, the waiter falls asleep and has a beautiful dream in which two angels come and play to him on violins, with such charm that he is transported to the seventh heaven. The dream changes, and we see him going through many amusing and fantastic scenes. Finally, customers annoyed by his snores, wake him by pouring seltzer over him.

Directed by D. W. Griffith, based on Helen Hunt Jackson's 1884 novel Ramona. Through a love story, the early silent short explores racial injustice to Native Americans and stars Mary Pickford and Henry B. Walthall.[1] A copy of the print survives in the Library of Congress film archive. The film was remade in 1928 (dir. Edwin Carewe) with Dolores del Río and 1936 (dir. Henry King) with Loretta Young. Plot Ramona chronicles the romance between Ramona (Mary Pickford), a Spanish orphan from the prestigious Moreno family, and Alessandro (Henry B. Walthall), an Indian who appears on her family's ranch one day. Ramona's foster mother's son Felipe (Francis J. Grandon) proclaims his love for Ramona, but she rejects him because she has fallen for Alessandro. They fall deeply in love, yet their desire to wed is denied by Ramona's foster mother, who reacts by exiling Alessandro from her ranch. Cast Mary Pickford as Ramona Henry B. Walthall as Alessandro Francis J. Grandon as Felipe Kate Bruce as The Mother W. Chrystie Miller as The Priest Dorothy Bernard Gertrude Claire as Woman in west Robert Harron Dell Henderson as Man at burial Mae Marsh Frank Opperman as Ranch hand Anthony O'Sullivan as Ranch hand Jack Pickford as A boy Mack Sennett as White exploiter Production Advertisements for the film emphasized that it was made "by arrangement with Little, Brown, & Company," the publishers of Jackson's novel. The film was shot on location in Ventura County, California, "at identical locations wherein Mrs. Jackson placed her characters." When D.W. Griffith directed Ramona, the Biograph production company had fallen into hard times. Still based in New York to rival the now broken up Edison Company, Biograph needed a fresh face. Griffith joined the company in 1908 as a writer and actor. Soon, however, the head director of the company, Wallace McCutcheon, fell ill and his son had little success with taking over for him. This led Grifith to become the principal director for the company, and the only director for films made at Biograph between June 1908 and December 1909. During these few months, Griffith turned out an exceptional number of films, with estimates of one 12 minute and one 16 long minute piece per week. The company actually began its venture out West to Hollywood thanks to Griffith's work on Ramona because he wanted to film on location in Ventura, California. Longtime friend and colleague of Griffith's Billy Bitzer worked as the cinematographer for the film. Bitzer was hired originally as an electrician for the Biograph company, but his love of cameras pushed him to become one of cinema's most inventive pioneers. He experimented with photography, especially lighting and close-up shots. The Griffith and Bitzer duo formed shortly after Griffith directed his first film, The Adventures of Dollie and continued after both men left the Biograph production company in 1913. Bitzer's experimental nature is beautifully showcased in the film's sweeping landscape shots of the California mountains and distinct editing techniques like cross-cutting.

Produced by Edison Studios. It was directed by J. Searle Dawley, who also wrote the one-reeler's screenplay, broadly basing his "scenario" on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus. This short motion picture is generally recognized by film historians as the first screen adaptation of Shelley's work. The small cast, who are not credited in the surviving 1910 print of the film, includes Augustus Phillips as Dr. Frankenstein, Charles Ogle as Frankenstein's monster, and Mary Fuller as the doctor's fiancée. Plot Described as "a liberal adaptation of Mrs. Shelley's famous story", the film shows young Frankenstein (his first name in the book, Victor, is never mentioned) discovering the "mystery of life" after two years at university. He gives life to a creature built by mixing different chemicals, and the monster follows Frankenstein back to his parents' house. The conclusion, completely different from Mary Shelley's book, shows the creature disappearing after seeing its own reflection in the mirror, and without killing Victor's younger brother or his fiancée Elizabeth, as happened in the novel. Cast Mary Fuller as Elizabeth Charles Stanton Ogle as The Monster Augustus Phillips as Frankenstein Production Frankenstein was filmed here, at Edison Studios in the Bronx, N.Y. J. Searle Dawley, working in his third year for Edison Studios, shot the film in three days at the company's Bronx facilities in New York City on January 13, 15 and 17, 1910. Staff writers for the Edison Kinetogram assured theatergoers in 1910 that the company's film adaptation was deliberately designed to de-emphasize the horrific aspects of Shelley's story and to focus instead on the tale's "mystic and psychological" elements. Reception Newspapers and magazines of the time, such as New York newspapers The Film Index and The Moving Picture World, highlighted the monster creation scene as "the most remarkable ever committed to a film".[6] After the film's official premiere, on April 9, The Moving Picture World published a negative review signed by W. Stephen Bush, probably one of the first critics to worry about what could be shown in films: I have the sincerest admiration for the Edison and Vitagraph studios, but it must be said, with all due deference to these distinguished producers, that such films as ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘The Mistery of Temple Court’, while delightful literature to coroners, undertakers, gravediggers, and morgue-keepers, fail to please the general public. ‘Fail to please’ is putting it mildly. (…) Death scenes and executions are interesting historical reading, when well described, but a portrayal of these things on a living screen may well be dispensed with. Rediscovery and preservation For many years, it was believed a lost film. In 1963, a plot description and stills (below) were discovered published from the March 15, 1910, issue of the film catalog The Edison Kinetogram. For many years, these images were the only widely available visual record of the Charles Ogle version of the monster. In the early 1950s, a print of this film was purchased by a Wisconsin film collector, Alois F. Dettlaff, from his mother-in-law, who also collected films. He did not realize its rarity until many years later. Its existence was first revealed in the mid-1970s. Although somewhat deteriorated, the film was in viewable condition, complete with titles and tints as seen in 1910. Dettlaff had a 35 mm preservation copy made in the late 1970s. He also issued a DVD release of 1,000 copies. BearManor Media released the public domain film in a restored edition on March 18, 2010, alongside the novel Edison's Frankenstein, which was written by Frederick C. Wiebel, Jr. In 2016, the film society of the University of Geneva undertook their own restoration of the film, with image restoration by Julien Dumoulin and an original soundtrack by Nicolas Hafner, performed on a Wurlitzer theatre organ located at College Claparède. The restored version of the film was shown on 10 October 2016.

This is another short comedy from Max Linder for Pathé Studios. It has a similar narrative structure to our last Linder film, “Max Learns to Skate,” but takes place in the more familiar bourgeois setting of Paris shops and homes. Max is invited to dine with a young lady by his “future father-in-law.” We see Max in his apartment putting the finishing touches on his preparations, looking dapper as ever and quite excited to be going out. He twirls his cane and heads out the door. Along the way, however, he stops at a butcher’s shop. The butcher is having difficulty with flies, so has set out several pieces of flypaper. Max steps on one as he approaches the counter. The butcher runs off screen briefly to retrieve a parcel for Max, presumably a pastry that he will bring to the luncheon date. As he begins to leave, however, he notices the flypaper on his shoe. Unable to shake it off, he sits in a chair to allow the butcher to pull it off for him, but in the process he sits on another piece. As this is removed, he puts his elbow on yet another piece, which goes with him out the door. At his destination, the young lady is still getting dressed, and is having some difficulty zipping up her dress, even with her mother’s help. Max arrives and hands over the pastry, only now noticing the piece of flypaper on his elbow. In removing it, he gets glue on both his hands and once more on his shoe, and he tries to conceal this, making it impossible for him to be of service to the young lady. He lingers briefly in the living room, fighting it out with the flypaper, before joining the family at the table for the meal. Now everything sticks to Max. His napkin, fork, glass, even the carpet are all snares he falls into. When he offers to pass a plate to his host, his difficulties reach their peak; the plate is finally destroyed and the two come to blows. On his way out the door, he once again collides with the same butcher, and is seen at the end in tears, covered in glue, paper, and baked goods. As with “Max Learns to Skate,” we watch Max descend from happy and confident, through frustrated and discouraged, to desperate and crying. Once again, the effect is good comedy, although in this case he is a bit less sympathetic (we get the feeling he’s not really interested in the girl, but rather in the father’s money). I was surprised by the number of camera set ups and the use of insert shots to show Max’s stickiness, but when I first watched it, the print claimed the movie was made in 1906. However, it appears that this version, at any rate, really comes from 1910, which makes this less surprising (actually it’s a bit simplistic for 1910). Like many films of the time, it may have been a remake of an effort from a few years earlier. Be that as it may, I still enjoyed watching Max go through his routine, which uses subtle physical cues to illustrate his changing mood and heighten the humor of the situation. Director: Lucien Nonguet Camera: Unknown Starring: Max Linder, Gabrielle Lange Run Time: 6 Min, 14 secs

Frankenstein (1910 American Short Silent Horror film)

The Unchanging Sea is a 1910 American drama film that was directed by D. W. Griffith. A print of the film survives in the Library of Congress film archive. Plot The film starts with intertitles that reads “three fishers went sailing to the west, away to the west as the sun went down. Each thought on the woman who loved him best, and the women stood watching them out of the town.” A young married couple are enjoying life by going to the beach. They run into workers on the beach, and they all seem in awe of the happy couple. The young couple goes back to the beach, but the wife watches her husband go out to sea on a boat. She waves her husband and the other sailors' bye and waits for them to return. Days go by and the wife and other wives go back to the beach to see if they’ve returned. Three corpses are laying in the ocean and brought back to land. The wife brings her baby back to the same beach waiting for her husband to return. Years go by and the baby is now a child, and they still go to the beach waiting for his return. The daughter gets married to a young fisherman. The wife now old goes to the beach and just weeps. The couple reunites in the end after years. Cast Arthur V. Johnson as The Husband Linda Arvidson as The Wife Gladys Egan as The Daughter as a young girl Mary Pickford as The Daughter as a young woman Charles West as The Daughter's Sweetheart Dell Henderson as Rescuer Kate Bruce as Villager George Nichols Frank Opperman Alfred Paget as Villager Dorothy West as Villager

As It Is In Life is a 1910 silent short film directed by D. W. Griffith and produced and distributed by the Biograph Company. Mary Pickford appears in the film. The film is preserved from Library of Congress paper prints. Plot The film starts out with an intertitle stating, ‘The Mother is Gone’. The father, named George Forrester, works at a pigeon farm. The daughter is very lonely when her dad leaves for work, so George brings his daughter to his work at the farm. George meets an old sweetheart, and they rekindle. Forrester lets the woman go for his daughter, because he can’t support a wife and child. Years pass and the daughter is all grown up. She tells her dad that she will never leave him. Forrester and his daughter go for a walk along the beach and the farm where he works. A young man catches the eye of the daughter. Forrester tells his daughter that she must choose between him and the young man. She ends up choosing the young man and they get married. George is bitter and doesn’t go to the wedding or visit the couple. The daughter and the young man have a child and she bring it to her father in hopes he will notice. The father is delighted to see the child and he and his daughter reunite. Cast George Nichols - George Forrester Gladys Egan - George Forrester's Daughter as a young girl Mary Pickford - George Forrester's Daughter as a young woman Marion Leonard - George Forrester's Sweetheart Charles West - George Forrester's Son-in-Law other cast Kate Bruce - The Maid William J. Butler - W. Chrystie Miller - Man Anthony O'Sullivan - Farm Worker Frank Opperman - Companion of Daughter's Husband Mack Sennett - Owner of a Pigeon Farm (unconfirmed) Production As It Is in Life production took place on February 22, 1910, and it was filmed at a pigeon farm in Edendale, CA which was the same place another Griffith film, A Rich Revenge was filmed at.

Winsor McCay: The Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics, more commonly known as Little Nemo, is a 1911 silent animated short film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. One of the earliest animated films, it was McCay's first, and featured characters from McCay's comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. Its expressive character animation distinguished the film from the experiments of earlier animators. Inspired by flip books his son brought home, McCay came to see the potential of the animated film medium. He claimed to be the first to make such films, though James Stuart Blackton and Émile Cohl were among those who preceded him. The short's four thousand drawings on rice paper were shot at Vitagraph Studios under Blackton's supervision. Most of the film's running time is made up of a live-action sequence in which McCay bets his colleagues that he can make drawings that move. He wins the bet with four minutes of animation in which the Little Nemo characters perform, interact, and metamorphose to McCay's whim. Little Nemo debuted in movie theaters on April 8, 1911, and four days later McCay began using it as part of his vaudeville act. Its good reception motivated him to hand-color each of the animated frames of the original black-and-white film. The film's success led McCay to devote more time to animation. He followed up Little Nemo with How a Mosquito Operates in 1912 and his best-known film, Gertie the Dinosaur, in 1914. In 2009, Little Nemo was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Background Winsor McCay (c. 1867–71 – 1934) had worked prolifically as a commercial artist and cartoonist by the time he started making newspaper comic strips such as Dream of the Rarebit Fiend (1904–11)[b] and his signature strip Little Nemo in Slumberland (1905–14).[c][8] In 1906, McCay began performing on the vaudeville circuit, doing chalk talk performances in which he drew before live audiences. Inspired by flip books his son Robert brought home,[10] McCay said he "came to see the possibility of making moving pictures" of his cartoons. McCay, then in his early forties, asserted he was "the first man in the world to make animated films", but he was likely familiar with the earlier work of American James Stuart Blackton and the French Émile Cohl. In 1900, Blackton produced The Enchanted Drawing, a trick film in which an artist interacts with a drawing on an easel. Blackton used chalk drawings in 1906 to animate the film Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, and used stop motion techniques to animate a scene in the 1907 film The Haunted Hotel. Cohl's films, such as 1908's Fantasmagorie, were dreamlike nonnarrative pieces in which characters and scenes continually changed shape. Cohl's films were first distributed in the United States in 1909, the year McCay said he first became interested in animation. According to McCay biographer John Canemaker, McCay combined the interactive qualities of Blackton's films with the abstract, shapeshifting qualities of Cohl's into his own films. In the films of all three, the artist interacts with the animation. Little Nemo Main article: Little Nemo Considered McCay's masterpiece, Little Nemo in Slumberland debuted in October 1905 as a full-page Sunday strip in the New York Herald. Its child protagonist, whose appearance was based on McCay's son Robert, had fabulous dreams that would be interrupted with his awakening in the last panel. McCay experimented with timing and pacing, the form of the comics page, the size and shape of panels, perspective, and architectural and other details. Synopsis Following credits proclaiming McCay as "The Famous Cartoonist of the New York Herald" and "the first artist to attempt drawing pictures that will move", McCay sits in a restaurant with a group of colleagues, cartoonist George McManus, actor John Bunny and publisher Eugene V. Brewster among them. McCay bets the group that in one month he can make 4000 drawings move. The group laughs and gestures that he is drunk or crazy. McCay sets to work in a studio where he directs workers to move around bundles of paper and barrels of ink. A month later, McCay gathers his colleagues in front of a film projector. McCay rapidly sketches characters from the cast of his Little Nemo comic strip. Little Nemo (1911) McCay places a drawing of the character Flip in a wooden slot in front of the camera. The words "Watch me move" appear above Flip's head, and he begins to make gestures while smoking his cigar. Blocks fall from the sky and assemble themselves into the character Impie, and the pair's figures distort, disappear, and reappear before a fantastically dressed Little Nemo magically materializes.

One of the first epics on the History of Movies, it tells the story of the Fall of Troy: Paris seduces Helen, queen of Sparta, and takes her to Troy, city state of his father, King Priam. The Greeks declare war against the Trojans, and after ten years of siege finally manage to invade the city with a wooden horse. Directed by Luigi Romano Borgnetto Giovanni Pastrone Cast Luigi Romano Borgnetto Giovanni Casaleggio Madame Davesnes Emilio Gallo Olga Giannini Novelli Giulio Vinà

A young woman forced into servitude by her family gets more than she bargained for when her fairy godmother magically permits her to go to the royal ball. Director: George Nichols Writer: Charles Perrault (story "Cendrillon") Stars: Florence La Badie Harry Benham Anna Rosemond

Four survivors from an abandoned mining town - a married couple, the wife's sister, and a younger woman - are making a desperate trip to safety across the desert. The wife suspects the younger woman of having an affair with her husband, and soon afterwards the husband dies suddenly. The three women must then continue their journey amidst the growing tensions caused by the wife's desire for revenge. Cast Charles H. West - The Miner Claire McDowell - The Miner's Wife Mary Pickford - The Miner's Wife's Sister Dorothy Bernard - The Other Woman

In this less-than-stellar, but still very funny c tries to give her an immense bouquet, he drops it and makes a mess. She tells him that he lacks finesse. When he can juggle three balls in a fountain, then she will consider his suit. It's a simple premise, and Max' scheme to win the lady's affection is amusing, but his pratfalls and general destruction, caused by his clumsiness are the high lights of this one-reel comedy. Linder, called "the Professor" by Chaplin was probably the first international comedy star. His nerves shattered by the First World War, he never recovered his standing, and died at his own hand in 1925.

The Lesser Evil is a 1912 American short silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Blanche Sweet. A print of the film survives. Cast Blanche Sweet as The Young Woman Edwin August as The Young Woman's Sweetheart Mae Marsh as The Young Woman's Companion Alfred Paget as The Leader of the Smugglers Charles Hill Mailes as The Revenue Officer / Policeman Charles West as The Go-Between William A. Carroll as In Smuggler Band Charles Gorman as In Smuggler Band Robert Harron as In Smuggler Band Harry Hyde as Policeman J. Jiquel Lanoe as In Smuggler Band Owen Moore (unconfirmed) Frank Opperman as In Smuggler Band Herbert Prior (unconfirmed) W. C. Robinson as In Smuggler Band

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1912 horror film based on both Robert Louis Stevenson's novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) and on the 1887 play version written by Thomas Russell Sullivan. Directed by Lucius Henderson, the film stars actor (later noted film director) James Cruze in the dual role of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and co-starred his real-life wife Marguerite Snow as well. Plot summary White-haired Dr. Jekyll has secretly locked himself in his laboratory, administering himself with a vial of formula. He slumps into his chair with his head on his chest. As the drug slowly takes effect, a dark-haired, taloned beast with two large fangs now appears in the chair. After repeated use, Jekyll's evil alter ego emerges at will, causing Jekyll to knock a little girl down in the street and even to murder his sweetheart's father (the local minister). The evil personality scuttles back to the laboratory only to discover that the antidote is finished and that he will have to remain as Mr. Hyde forever. A burly policeman breaks down Jekyll's door with an ax to find the kindly doctor dead from drinking poison. Cast James Cruze as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde Florence La Badie as Jekyll's sweetheart Marie Eline as Little girl knocked down by Hyde Jane Gail (Extra) Marguerite Snow (Extra) Harry Benham as Mr. Hyde (in some scenes, uncredited) Production This film was produced by the Thanhouser Company. Rather than adapt the 1886 novel as earlier film adaptations had done, Thanhouser decided to more closely follow the 1887 stage play, telescoping its events down into a 12-minute-long film. Cruze plays Jekyll as a white-haired, middle-aged, well meaning doctor, but "upon his transformation into Hyde, he cuts loose and delivers a memorable bit of pantomime acting....as he morphs into an impish and violent sociopath". Jekyll's girlfriend's father becomes a minister in this version rather than the pompous aristocrat of the novel. Some sources list Harry Benham as the actor who played Mr. Hyde in the film , but in an interview in the October 1963 issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland, Harry Benham revealed that while Cruze played both Jekyll and Hyde, he and Cruze shared the role of Hyde, with Benham doubling for Cruze as Hyde in some scenes (uncredited). Historian Steve Haberman stated that Benham played Mr. Hyde in all of the Hyde scenes, since Hyde was noticeably shorter than Cruze in all of the transformation scenes. He said "in fact, he is not even tall enough to see himself in the good doctor's mirror hanging on the wall..." Critiques Critic Troy Howarth felt the Hyde makeup was crude yet effective, although he felt Jekyll's laboratory set looked like a cheap closet. He said Hyde's "reign of terror" is confined to a couple of brief scenes of violence, and that Hyde acts more "like an unrestrained child who is allowed to run amok by a distracted parent...than a genuine menace".

Ingeborg Holm (Margaret Day) is a 1913 Swedish social drama film directed by Victor Sjöström, based on a 1906 play by Nils Krok. It caused great debate in Sweden about social security, which led to changes in the poorhouse laws. It is said to be based on a true story. Synopsis Sven Holm and his wife Ingeborg are happily married with three children and are about to open a shop in Stockholm. They open the shop, but Sven contracts tuberculosis, and dies. Ingeborg initially tries to run the shop by herself, but when she fails, and develops a debilitating ulcer, she turns to the poorhouse for help. The poorhouse board does not grant her enough assistance to survive outside the workhouse. She has to sell the shop and her house, and board the three children out to foster families. Cast Hilda Borgström as Ingeborg Holm Aron Lindgren as Sven Holm / Erik Holm as an adult Erik Lindholm as Employee in Shop Georg Grönroos as Poorhouse Superintendent William Larsson as Police Officer Richard Lund as Doctor Carl Barcklind as House Doctor Bertil Malmstedt as Erik Holm as a child

"Tannhauser" ("Tannhäuser" in German) is a short fantasy drama made by Thanhouser Company. Because the film title and the company that produced it look almost the same, let's clear a possible confusion. The film is based on "Tannhäuser", an opera by the German composer Richard Wagner; Tannhäuser is the name of the main male character of this opera. Thanhouser Company was created by Edwin Thanhouser in 1910. It produced 1030 silent films (per IMDB). Tannhäuser (James Cruze) and Princess Elisabeth (Marguerite Snow) fall in love, but she is engaged to Wolfram (William Russell). Then Tannhäuser is enchanted by the pagan goddess Venus (Florence La Badie). Most of the film consists of extended religious episodes.

The young daughter of an army captain missing in action runs away from school and is kidnapped by Parisian lowlifes. When the kidnapper flees to Nice with the child, the kind-hearted employee of one of his accomplices sets off in pursuit. Director: Léonce Perret Writer: Léonce Perret Cast (in credits order) Léonce Perret ... Léonce Louis Leubas ... Edmond Le Bachelier Maurice Lagrenée ... Le Bosco Émile Keppens ... Pierre de Valen Marc Gérard ... Le savetier Tiron Henri Duval ... Jacques de Valen (as Henry Duval) Marie Dorly ... La gouvernante Rest of cast listed alphabetically: Suzanne Le Bret Suzanne Le Bret Jeanne Marie-Laurent Jeanne Marie-Laurent ... Marie de Valen Adrien Petit Adrien Petit ... la dame de Nice Suzanne Privat Suzanne Privat ... Marie-Laure

Ethel, whose financially distressed parents depend on her marrying into wealth, may be forced to abandon the man she loves for her father's rich friend. Although their means are limited, the Marshams put on a great show of wealth, but skimp themselves in real necessaries in order to keep up appearances. Mrs. Marsham is rather a cold, hard woman, and looks to her daughter Ethel to make a rich marriage and so help out the family. Neither she nor her husband look with favor on the suit of Cyril Blythe, a young man without prospects, but with whom Ethel is very much in love. Directed by W.A. Tremayne ... (story)Cast (in credits order) James Lackaye ... Mark Marsham Florence Radinoff ... Mrs. Marsham Norma Talmadge ... Ethel Marsham Van Dyke Brooke ... James Greythorne Frank O'Neil Frank O'Neil ... Cyril Moffat

His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz is a 1914 American silent fantasy adventure film directed by J. Farrell MacDonald and written and produced by L. Frank Baum. It stars Violet MacMillan, Frank Moore, Vivian Reed, Todd Wright, Pierre Couderc, Raymond Russell, and Fred Woodward. The film had a troubled distribution history; it opened on September 28, 1914, to little success, though it was received as well above average fare by critics of the time. Early in 1915, it was reissued under the title The New Wizard of Oz and was slightly more successful. The film is loosely based on Baum's 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but in the screenplay, Baum introduced many new characters and a large new story that later became the basis for the 1915 book The Scarecrow of Oz. Similar to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow's origin is revealed, although his life is now attributed to "the Spirit of the Corn", who appears as a conventional Hollywood depiction of a Native American.[citation needed] Plot King Krewl (Raymond Russell) is a cruel dictator in the Emerald City in the Land of Oz. He wishes to marry his daughter, Princess Gloria (Vivian Reed), to an old courtier named Googly-Goo (Arthur Smollett), but she is in love with Pon, the Gardener's boy (Todd Wright). Krewl employs the Wicked Witch named Mombi (Mai Wells), to freeze the heart of Gloria so she will not love Pon any longer. This she does by pulling out her heart (which looks somewhere between a valentine and a bland representation of a heart without any vessels) and coating it with ice. Meanwhile, a lost little girl from Kansas named Dorothy Gale (Violet MacMillan), is captured by Mombi and imprisoned in her castle. However, Dorothy runs away with the now heartless Gloria, accompanied by Pon and eventually meet the Scarecrow (Frank Moore). Mombi catches up with the travelers and removes the Scarecrow's stuffing, but Dorothy and Pon are able to re-stuff him; Gloria abandons them and wanders off. Cast Violet MacMillan as Dorothy Gale Frank Moore as The Scarecrow Pierre Couderc as The Tin Woodman Fred Woodward as The Cowardly Lion / The Kangaroo / The Crow / The Cow / The Mule Raymond Russell as King Krewl Arthur Smollet as Googly-Goo J. Charles Haydon as The Wizard of Oz (credited as J. Charles Hayden) Todd Wright as Pon Vivian Reed as Princess Gloria Mai Wells as Old Mombi (credited as Mae Wells) Mildred Harris as Button-Bright Louise Emmons Damage history The opening reel was lost for many years. While it was eventually recovered in the 1990s for the American Home Entertainment VHS release, it did not contain the opening titles; Dick Martin's titles, designed in the 1960s, continued to be used, which falsely stated that Baum was the director of the film, misspelled Mai Wells' name, and left out Smollett's credit entirely. The film is currently in need of restoration, including framing. Film prints are notoriously bright, particularly for Mombi's decapitation sequence. The framing may no longer be correctable, because the area used for the soundtrack in contemporary films was part of the picture area at the time, though it is a noticeable defect in contemporary presentations of the film. Prints that have not been re-struck in this cropping manner may no longer exist.

Judith of Bethulia (1914) is an American film starring Blanche Sweet and Henry B. Walthall, and produced and directed by D. W. Griffith, based on the play "Judith and the Holofernes" (1896) by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, which itself was an adaptation of the Book of Judith. The film was the first feature-length film made by pioneering film company Biograph, although the second that Biograph released. Shortly after its completion and a disagreement Griffith had with Biograph executives on making more future feature-length films, Griffith left Biograph, and took the entire stock company with him. Biograph delayed the picture's release until 1914, after Griffith's departure, so that it would not have to pay him in a profit-sharing agreement they had. Synopsis The film is based on the deuterocanonical Book of Judith. During the siege of the Jewish city of Bethulia by the Assyrians, a widow named Judith (Blanche Sweet) has a plan to stop the war as her people suffer starvation and are ready to surrender. The widow disguises herself as a harem girl and goes to the enemy camp, where she beguiles a general of King Nebuchadnezzar, whose army is besieging the city. Judith seduces Holofernes (Henry Walthall), then while he is drunk cuts off his head with a sabre. She returns to her city, a heroine. Cast • Blanche Sweet - Judith • Henry B. Walthall - Holofernes • Mae Marsh - Naomi • Robert Harron - Nathan • Lillian Gish - The young mother • Dorothy Gish - The crippled beggar • Kate Bruce - Judith's maid • J. Jiquel Lanoe - Eunuch Attendant • Harry Carey - Assyrian Traitor • W. Chrystie Miller - Bethulian • Gertrude Robinson • Charles Hill Mailes - Bethulian Soldier • Edward Dillon • Gertrude Bambrick - Lead Assyrian Dancer • Lionel Barrymore - Extra • Clara T. Bracy - Bethulian • Kathleen Butler - Bethulian • William J. Butler - Bethulian • Christy Cabanne • William A. Carroll - Assyrian Soldier (as William Carroll) • Frank Evans - Bethulian Soldier • Mary Gish • Harry Hyde - Bethulian Soldier/Assyrian Soldier • Thomas Jefferson (actor) • Jennie Lee - Bethulian • Adolph Lestina - Bethulian • Elmo Lincoln • Antonio Moreno - Extra • Marshall Neilan • Frank Opperman - Bethulian • Alfred Paget - Bethulian/Assyrian Soldier • W. C. Robinson - Bethulian Soldier • Kate Toncray - One of Judith's Servants Reviews The reviews were favorable: Variety, March 27, 1914, wrote: "It is not easy to confess one's self unequal to a given task, but to pen an adequate description of the Biograph's production of Judith of Bethulia is, to say the least, a full grown man's job." The Moving Picture World, March 7, 1914, described it as: "A fascinating work of high artistry, Judith of Bethulia will not only rank as an achievement in this country, but will make foreign producers sit up and take notice."

Gertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 animated short film by American cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay. It is the earliest animated film to feature a dinosaur. McCay first used the film before live audiences as an interactive part of his vaudeville act; the frisky, childlike Gertie did tricks at the command of her master. McCay's employer William Randolph Hearst curtailed McCay's vaudeville activities, so McCay added a live-action introductory sequence to the film for its theatrical release renamed Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist, and Gertie. McCay abandoned a sequel, Gertie on Tour (c. 1921), after producing about a minute of footage. Although Gertie is popularly thought to be the earliest animated film, McCay had earlier made Little Nemo (1911) and How a Mosquito Operates (1912). The American J. Stuart Blackton and the French Émile Cohl had experimented with animation even earlier; Gertie being a character with an appealing personality distinguished McCay's film from these earlier "trick films". Gertie was the first film to use animation techniques such as keyframes, registration marks, tracing paper, the Mutoscope action viewer, and animation loops. It influenced the next generation of animators such as the Fleischer brothers, Otto Messmer, Paul Terry, Walter Lantz, and Walt Disney. John Randolph Bray unsuccessfully tried to patent many of McCay's animation techniques and is said to have been behind a plagiarized version of Gertie that appeared a year or two after the original. Gertie is the best preserved of McCay's films—some of which have been lost or survive only in fragments—and has been preserved in the U.S. Library of Congress' National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 1991. In 1994, Gertie the Dinosaur was voted #6 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. Background A black-and-white photograph of a seated middle-aged, balding man in a suit and tie, head leaning lightly on his right hand. Winsor McCay was a pioneer in comic strips and animation (1906 photo). Winsor McCay (c. 1867–71 – 1934)[a] had worked prolifically as a commercial artist and cartoonist by the time he started making newspaper comic strips such as Dream of the Rarebit Fiend (1904–11) and his signature strip Little Nemo (1905–14). In 1906, McCay began performing on the vaudeville circuit, doing chalk talks—performances in which he drew before live audiences. Inspired by the flip books his son brought home,[10] McCay "came to see the possibility of making moving pictures" of his cartoons. He claimed that he "was the first man in the world to make animated cartoons",[11] though he was preceded by the American James Stuart Blackton and the French Émile Cohl. McCay's first film starred his Little Nemo characters and debuted in movie theatres in 1911; he soon incorporated it into his vaudeville act. He followed it in 1912 with How a Mosquito Operates, in which a giant, naturalistically animated mosquito sucks the blood of a sleeping man. McCay gave the mosquito a personality and balanced humor with the horror of the nightmare situation. His animation was criticized as being so lifelike that he must have traced the characters from photographs or resorted to tricks using wires; to show that he had not, McCay chose for his next film a creature that could not have been photographed. Content Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) Gertie the Dinosaur is the earliest animated film to feature a dinosaur. Its star Gertie does tricks much like a trained elephant. She is animated in a naturalistic style unprecedented for the time; she breathes rhythmically, she shifts her weight as she moves, and her abdominal muscles undulate as she draws water. McCay imbued her with a personality—while friendly, she could be capricious, ignoring or rebelling against her master's commands. Synopsis When her master McCay calls her, the frisky, childlike Gertie appears from a cave. Her whip-wielding master has her do tricks such as raising her foot or bowing on command. When she feels she has been pushed too far, she nips back at her master. She cries when he scolds her, and he placates her with a pumpkin. Throughout the act, prehistoric denizens such as a flying lizard continually distract Gertie. She tosses a mammoth in the lake; when it teases her by spraying her with water, she hurls a boulder at it as it swims away. After she quenches her thirst by draining the lake, McCay has her carry him offstage while he bows to the audience.

Tillie's Punctured Romance is a 1914 American silent comedy film directed by Mack Sennett and starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, Charlie Chaplin, and the Keystone Kops. The picture was the only feature-length comedy made by the Keystone Film Company. At the time of production Marie Dressler was a major stage star, and in this film Chaplin and Normand support her as leads within Keystone's stock company of actors. The film is based on Dressler's stage play Tillie's Nightmare by A. Baldwin Sloane and Edgar Smith. Tillie's Punctured Romance is notable for being the last Chaplin film which he neither wrote nor directed, as well as the first feature-length slapstick comedy in all of cinema. In it, Chaplin plays a slightly different role from his Tramp character, which was relatively new at the time. However, he retains a moustache (here a pencil-thin "dude" type rather than his usual "toothbrush"), thin cane and distinctive walk. Given the combination of factors it seems likely that it is also the first feature to contain a "film within the film" where the couple go to the cinema to watch "A Thief's Fate" large sections of which are seen. Whilst this occupies less than one reel of the total six reels it is still significant. Plot Charles Chaplin portrays a womanizing city man who meets Tillie (Marie Dressler) in the country after a fight with his girlfriend (Mabel Normand). When he sees that Tillie's father (Mack Swain) has a very large bankroll for his workers, he persuades her to elope with him. In the city, he meets the woman he was seeing already, and tries to work around the complication to steal Tillie's money. He gets Tillie drunk in a restaurant and asks her to let him hold the pocketbook. Since she is drunk, she agrees, and he escapes with his old girlfriend and the money. Cast Scene with Normand, Chaplin and Dressler Marie Dressler ... Tillie Banks, Country Girl Mabel Normand .. Mabel, Charlie's Girl Friend Charles Chaplin ... Charlie, City Slicker Mack Swain ... John Banks, Tillie's Father Charles Bennett ... Uncle Banks, Tillie's millionaire uncle Uncredited Dan Albert ... Party Guest/Cop Phyllis Allen ... Prison Matron/Restaurant patron Billie Bennett ... Maid/Party Guest Joe Bordeaux ... Policeman (appearance is not verified) Glen Cavender ... First Pianist in Restaurant Charley Chase ... Detective in Movie Theater Dixie Chene ... Guest Nick Cogley ... Keystone Cop Desk Sergeant Chester Conklin ... Mr. Whoozis/Singing Waitor Alice Davenport ... Guest Hampton Del Ruth ... Bank's tall Secretary searching for Tillie Frankie Dolan ... Movie Spectator/Party Guest Minta Durfee ... Maid Ted Edwards ... Waiter Edwin Frazee ...Movie Spectator/Guest/Cop Billy Gilbert ... Policeman Gordon Griffith ... Newsboy William Hauber ... Servant/Cop Fred Fishback ... Servant Alice Howell ...Guest Edgar Kennedy ... Restaurant Owner/Butler Grover Ligon ... Keystone Cop Wallace MacDonald ... Keystone Cop Hank Mann ... Keystone Cop Harry McCoy ... Second Pianist in Restaurant/Pianist in Theater/Servant Rube Miller ... Tillie's Visitor Charles Murray ... Detective in "A Thief's Fate" Eva Nelson ... Disgusted Guest in 2nd Restaurant Edward Nolan ... Restaurant Dancer/Policeman/Mountain Innkeeper/Party Guest Frank Opperman ... Rev. D. Simpson Hugh Saxon ...Bank's shorter Secretary searching for Tillie Fritz Schade ... Waiter/Diner Al St. John ... Keystone Cop Slim Summerville ... Keystone Cop Josef Swickard ... Movie Spectator Morgan Wallace ... Thief in "A Thief's Fate" Production Mack Sennett, whilst working with a degree of autonomy, was working for the larger company of Kessel and Baumann. When slapstick impresario Mack Sennett proposed to adapt the 1910 Broadway comedy Tillie's Nightmare to the screen in 1914, he enlisted the immensely successful star of the stage production, the then 45-year-old Marie Dressler, to play the guileless ingenue, Tillie Banks.[6] Dressler was paid a huge fee of £2500 per week and was also meant to have a share of the profits of Kessler and Baumann but they passed the distribution contract to Alco, voiding Dressler's contract with K & B and forcing Dressler to sue them. The situation was further complicated by Alco going bust, mainly due to overpaying for the distribution rights: £100,000. Chaplin's salary was far less than Dressler, certainly under $1000 a week, as he demanded an increase to $1000 a week early in 1915.[7]

Kid Auto Races at Venice (also known as The Pest) is a 1914 American film starring Charles Chaplin. It is the first film in which his "Little Tramp" character makes an appearance before the public. The first film to be produced that featured the character was actually Mabel's Strange Predicament; it was shot a few days before Kid Auto Races but released two days after it; this film, meanwhile, was released only five days after the first film in which Chaplin appeared, Making a Living. Kid Auto Races was inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress on December 14, 2020. Plot Made by Keystone Studios and directed by Henry Lehrman, the movie portrays Chaplin as a spectator at a "baby-cart race" in Venice, Los Angeles. The film was shot during the Junior Vanderbilt Cup, an actual race with Chaplin and Lehrman improvising gags in front of real-life spectators. The film is presented at first like a genuine newsreel, with Chaplin's attention-seeking spectator getting in the way of the camera, causing great frustration to the cameraman. Lehrman begins by roughly pushing an obnoxiously persistent Chaplin away, but eventually he starts knocking Chaplin to the ground.[3] Unusually, the camera breaks the fourth wall to show a second camera filming (as though it were the first) in order to better explain the joke. At this stage, Chaplin gets in the way only of the visible camera on screen, not the actual filming camera. In this way, the filming camera takes on a spectator's viewpoint, and Kid Auto Races becomes one of the first public films to show a movie camera and cameraman in operation. Reviews In the year that the film was released, a reviewer from the silent movie periodical Bioscope wrote, "Some sensational happenings are witnessed during the contests between the baby cars, while the funny man persistently obstructs the eager cameramen in their operations." A reviewer from the silent movie periodical The Cinema noted, "Kid Auto Races struck us as about the funniest film we have ever seen. When we subsequently saw Chaplin in more ambitious efforts, our opinion that the Keystone Company had made the capture of their career was strengthened. Chaplin is a born screen comedian; he does things we have never seen done on the screen before." Cast Charlie Chaplin – The Tramp Henry Lehrman – Film Director Frank D. Williams – Cameraman Gordon Griffith – Boy Billy Jacobs – Boy Charlotte Fitzpatrick – Girl Thelma Salter – Girl Junior Vanderbilt Cup By 1914, the Vanderbilt Cup had become an important automobile racing event in the United States, and the 1914 event was to be held in Santa Monica, California. The city decided to sponsor a junior version of the event, apparently with several classes of engines and with age limits for the drivers. Some classes had no engines and used a ramp to accelerate the cars in a manner similar to soap box derby races. Other classes used small engines. Chaplin's movie includes one scene shot at the bottom of the ramp used for the engineless races. There is no evidence that Junior Vanderbilt Cups were held either before or after the 1914 event. Actual silver cups were awarded.

The Avenging Conscience: or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is a 1914 silent horror film directed by D. W. Griffith. The film is based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" and his 1849 poem "Annabel Lee". Plot A young man (Henry B. Walthall) interested in the works of Edgar Allen Poe, falls in love with a beautiful woman (Blanche Sweet), but he is prevented by the uncle (Spottiswoode Aitken) that raised him since childhood from pursuing her. Tormented by visions of death and suffering and deciding that murder is the way of things, the young man kills his uncle and builds a wall to hide the body. The young man's torment continues, this time caused by guilt over murdering his uncle that was overheard by an Italian witness, and he becomes sensitive to slight noises, like the tapping of a shoe or the crying of a bird. The ghost of his uncle begins appearing to him and, as he gradually loses his grip on reality, the police figure out what he has done and chase him down. In the ending sequence, we learn that the experience was all a dream and that his uncle is really alive. They make up and the nephew gets to marry the sweetheart. Cast Henry B. Walthall as the nephew Blanche Sweet as his sweetheart Spottiswoode Aitken as the uncle George Siegmann as the Italian Ralph Lewis as the detective Mae Marsh as the maid Robert Harron as the grocery boy George Beranger Wallace Reid - the doctor Reception Dennis Schwartz, labeling the film with a grade of B-, labeled it as a film with important historical value as "the first great American horror film."

Hypocrites, also known as The Hypocrites and The Naked Truth, is a 1915 silent drama film written and directed by Lois Weber (1879–1939). The film contains several full nude scenes and is said to include the first appearance of full-frontal nudity in a non-pornographic film by an American actress (Margaret Edwards). The film is regarded as anticlerical, and the nudity was justified by its religious context. Cast Margaret Edwards (right) as "Naked Truth" in Hypocrites Courtenay Foote as Gabriel, the Ascetic / Gabriel, a minister Herbert Standing as The Abbot / A pillar of the church Margaret Edwards as Truth Myrtle Stedman as a nun / A choir singer Adele Farrington as The Queen / An aristocrat Dixie Carr as a Magdalen Nigel De Brulier as a member of the choir / monk Matty Roubert as Boy kneeling beside cradle Charles Villiers as the Minister Vera Lewis as Parishioner (uncredited) Cast notes: Margaret Edwards was 17 years old when she was discovered by Lois Weber. Production Writer-director Lois Weber attributed Adolphe Faugeron's painting La Vérité, or The Truth as the inspiration for the film. During shooting, production had to be moved three times, due to the lack of a permanent studio. Edwards' scenes, in which she appeared nude, were shot on a closed set, with only Weber, who directed the scenes, Edwards and a cameraman. Dal Clawson devised special photographic techniques for the film, which was shot by George W. Hill. Sometimes six exposures were involved. The use in the film of traveling double exposure sequences of the woman is considered impressive for 1915. It is thought that Weber may have re-edited the film after early review were published, before its official opening on January 20, 1915, at the Longacre Theater in New York City. Reception The film was passed by the British Board of Film Censors. However, because of the full and recurring nudity through the film, it caused riots in New York City, was banned in Ohio, and was subject to censorship in Boston when the mayor demanded that the film negatives be painted over to clothe the woman. The film was re-issued in 1916. Most of the film has survived, though some scenes have suffered from some serious nitrate decomposition in places especially at the beginning and cannot be restored. A print of the film is kept in the Library of Congress.

A Burlesque on Carmen is Charlie Chaplin's thirteenth film for Essanay Studios, originally released as Carmen on December 18, 1915. Chaplin played the leading man and Edna Purviance played Carmen. The film is a parody of Cecil B. DeMille's Carmen 1915, which was itself an interpretation of the popular novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. Chaplin's original version was a tightly paced two-reeler, but in 1916 after he had moved to Mutual, Essanay reworked the film into a four-reel version called A Burlesque on Carmen, or Charlie Chaplin's Burlesque on Carmen, adding discarded footage and new scenes involving a subplot about a gypsy character played by Ben Turpin. This longer version was deeply flawed in pacing and continuity, and not representative of Chaplin's initial conception. Chaplin sued Essanay but failed to stop the distribution of the longer version; Essanay's tampering with this and other of his films contributed significantly to Chaplin's bitterness about his time there. The presence of Essanay's badly redone version is likely the reason that A Burlesque on Carmen is among the least known of Chaplin's early works. Historian Ted Okuda calls the two-reel original version the best film of Chaplin's Essanay period but derides the longer version as the worst. Further reissues followed, for instance a synchronized sound version in 1928 by Quality Amusement Corporation. It was re-edited from the 1916 Essanay reissue, with a newly shot introduction written by newspaper columnist Duke Bakrak. This version, with rewritten title cards, poor sequencing, and "fuzzy" in appearance from generation loss, can be found today on some budget home video releases. Film preservationist David Shepard studied Chaplin's court transcripts and other evidence to more closely reproduce the original Chaplin cut. This version was released on DVD by Image Entertainment in 1999[3] and has since been restored a second time in HD. Background The story of Carmen was very popular in the 1910s, and two films under this title were released earlier in 1915. One was directed by Raoul Walsh, in which stage actress Theda Bara played Carmen, and the other by Cecil B. DeMille, in which the part was played by opera star Geraldine Farrar. DeMille's film received positive reviews, but Chaplin thought it was ripe for parody. Synopsis 1916 advertisement Carmen, a gypsy seductress is sent to convince Darn Hosiery, the goofy officer in charge of guarding one of the entrances to the city of Sevilla, to allow a smuggling run. She first tries to bribe him, but he takes the money and refused to let the smuggled goods in. She then invites him to Lillas Pastia's inn where she seduces him. After a fight at the tobacco factory where Carmen works, he has to arrest her but later lets her escape. At Lillas Pastia's inn, he kills an officer who is also in love with her and has to go into hiding and he joins the gang of smugglers. Carmen meets the famous toreador Escamillo and falls in love with him. She accompanies him to a bullfight, but Darn Hosiery waits for her and when she tells him that she no longer loves him, he stabs her to death. But it is not for real, Chaplin shows that the knife was fake, and both smile at the camera. Review In reviewing the four-reel version of this film that Essanay released in April 1916, four months after Chaplin's contract had expired with the studio, Julian Johnson of Photoplay panned the lengthy re-release of this comedy. Johnson declared, "In two reels this would be a characteristic Chaplin uproar. Four reels is watering the cream." Cast Purviance and Chaplin Charles Chaplin - Darn Hosiery Edna Purviance - Carmen Jack Henderson - Lillas Pastia Leo White - Morales, Officer of the Guard John Rand - Escamillo the Toreador May White - Frasquita Bud Jamison - Soldier of the Guard Lawrence A. Bowes - Gypsy Frank J. Coleman - Soldier Production In his sequencing, Chaplin followed closely the structure of the DeMille production, using very similar sets and costumes, and he used Riesenfeld's music. At the end, Chaplin indulges in an early example of breaking the fourth wall, turning to the camera to show laughingly that his character had not really killed Carmen. The film was released as a two-reeler at the end of 1915, when Chaplin's contract with Essanay Studios was up. After he had left, the studio added two reels' worth of non-Chaplin material and re-released the film in 1916.

In the Park is Charlie Chaplin's fourth film released in 1915 by Essanay Films. It was his third film while at the Niles Essanay Studio. It was one of several films Charlie Chaplin created in a park setting. The film co-starred Edna Purviance, Leo White, Lloyd Bacon, and Bud Jamison. Synopsis In one of Charlie Chaplin's "park comedies," another tramp is causing havoc. He attempts to pickpocket Charlie but finds nothing in his pockets. Meanwhile, Charlie stealthily goes through the pickpocket's jacket and steals a cigarette and his matches. Meanwhile, two couples are having romantic interludes on separate benches. The crooked tramp steals one girl's handbag, but swiftly loses it to Charlie when he tries to pickpocket him a second time. Review A reviewer from Bioscope wrote, "The one and only Charlie is seen to the best advantage in this riotous farce which is as wildly funny as it is absurd. Unlike many comedians, Chaplin is always amusing. There seem to be no grey patches in his work. It is all one large scarlet scream." Cast Charles Chaplin - Charlie Edna Purviance - Nursemaid Leo White - The Count, Elegant Masher Leona Anderson - The Count's Fancy Bud Jamison - Edna's Beau Billy Armstrong - Sausage Thief Ernest Van Pelt - Sausage Seller

A Woman was Charlie Chaplin's ninth film for Essanay Films. It was made in Los Angeles at the Majestic Studio and released in 1915. Plot A well-to-do family of three is asleep on a park bench. The father (Charles Insley) is awakened when a pretty girl (Margie Reiger) trips over his outstretched feet. The father is an incorrigible womanizer and immediately follows the girl to another park bench while his wife (Marta Golden) and adult daughter (Edna Purviance) remain asleep. He briefly departs to buy himself and the girl drinks from a refreshment stand. As soon as he leaves, Charlie arrives at the park bench where the pretty girl is seated. Notes Censors initially refused permission for A Woman to be shown in Great Britain. The reason is not entirely clear, but it could have been because a married man is trying to seduce a much younger woman or because of the transvestitism hinted at by Charlie disguising himself as a female. The ban on the film was lifted in 1916. Margie Reiger, the youthful actress who played the pretty girl in the park, is a bit of a mystery. Her acting credits show 13 appearances in silent films—all in 1915. Why her career suddenly ended and what became of her is unknown. Furthermore, no researcher has been able to find a date of birth or death for her. A Woman is the third and final time that Chaplin played the role of a female on film. He played a woman in two Keystone films: The Masquerader and A Busy Day. Cast Charles Chaplin - Gentleman/'Nora Nettlerash' Edna Purviance - Daughter of the House Charles Inslee - Her Father Marta Golden - Her Mother Margie Reiger - Father's Lady Friend Billy Armstrong - Father's Friend Leo White - Idler in the Park

By the Sea is a 1915 American silent comedy film Charlie Chaplin made while waiting for a studio to work in Los Angeles. He had just left Niles Essanay Studio after doing five films at that location. By the Sea was filmed all on location at Crystal Pier in April 1915. The story centers on Charlie's Little Tramp character and how he gets into trouble trying to grab the attention of women on the beach. Edna Purviance plays one of the wives in whom he shows interest. It is said to be the first film to incorporate the classic gag of a man slipping on a banana skin. Synopsis The film starts with a drunk being told to stay where he is his wife. Charlie enters about thirty seconds into the film, eating a banana while wandering along the seashore on the Crystal Pier. He nonchalantly throws the banana peel away and quickly slips on it. Location The movie was the first of Chaplin's Essanay films to be shot in southern California. At Chaplin's insistence, all his remaining Essanay films were made there in the rented Majestic Studios. Chaplin had found the facilities at the Essanay Studios in Niles, California to be unsatisfactory. Review A reviewer from the British film periodical Bioscope wrote, "More irresistible absurdities by the inimitable Charles, with the broad Pacific Ocean as a background. Chaplin's humor needs neither description nor recommendation." Cast Charles Chaplin as the tramp Billy Armstrong as the man in straw hat Margie Reiger as Man in straw hat's wife Bud Jamison as Man in top hat Edna Purviance as Man in top hat's sweetheart Paddy McGuire as First cop Ernest Van Pelt as Second cop

A Night in the Show was Charlie Chaplin's 12th film for Essanay. It was made at Majestic Studio in Los Angeles in the fall of 1915. Chaplin played two roles: one as Mr. Pest and one as Mr. Rowdy. The film was created from Chaplin's stage work from a play called Mumming Birds (a.k.a. A Night at an English Music Hall in the United States) with the Karno Company from London. Chaplin performed this play during his U.S. tours with Fred Karno company and decided to bring some of this play to his film work. Edna Purviance played a minor role as a lady in the audience. Plot Mr. Pest tries several theatre seats before winding up in front in a fight with the conductor and, eventually, the entire cast of an evening variety show. The film concludes when a fire eater takes the stage and Chaplin "heroically" drenches the performer and the audience with a fire hose. The difference between "Mr. Pest" and "Mr. Rowdy" appears to be that one is pleasantly drunk, and the other is obnoxious and sober. Cast Charles Chaplin - Mr. Pest and Mr. Rowdy Edna Purviance - Lady in the Stalls with Beads Charlotte Mineau - Lady in the Stalls Dee Lampton - Fat Boy Leo White - Frenchman/Negro in Balcony Wesley Ruggles - Second Man in Balcony Front Row John Rand - Orchestra Conductor James T. Kelley - Trombone Player and Singer Paddy McGuire - Feather Duster/Clarinet Player May White - Fat Lady and Dancer Phyllis Allen - Lady in Audience Fred Goodwins - Gentleman in Audience Charles Inslee - Tuba Player Circus Waltz - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100291 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Iron Horse - Silent Film Dark by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100735 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Merry Go - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100731 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Work is a 1915 American silent film starring Charlie Chaplin (his eighth film for Essanay Films), and co-starring Edna Purviance, Marta Golden and Charles Inslee. It was filmed at the Majestic Studio in Los Angeles. It is one of the first movies to appreciate the slapstick potential of a painting and decorating scenario. Plot Charlie is an assistant to Izzy A. Wake, a painter and wallpaper hanger. The two men are on their way to a job carrying their ladders and materials on a cart. The boss rides in the cart, leisurely sitting in front of all their paraphernalia, while Charlie is hitched to the cart like a mule. The boss also treats Charlie like a mule, beating him with a stick to get him to move faster. When the boss opts to take a shortcut up a steep hill, the out-of-control cart descends and is nearly hit by an oncoming streetcar. A second attempt to scale the enormous hill is successful. A further delay is caused by Charlie falling down a manhole. At the destination house, Charlie carries all the material on the cart into the house in one move. They have been commissioned to hang wallpaper, but Charlie becomes distracted by the pretty maid. The boss has a misadventure and falls, his head ending up in a bucket of paste. Meanwhile, the short-tempered homeowner is contending with the threat of an exploding stove and an amorous French visitor who is making passes at his wife. Shots are fired—and the target turns out to be Charlie who has been enjoying the maid's company. An enraged Charlie gives the Frenchman, his boss, and the homeowner each a face full of paste. As the fight moves into the kitchen, the troublesome stove finally explodes. When the dust dies down, Charlie is nowhere to be seen. Slowly the oven door opens. Charlie looks out and retreats back into the stove. Cast Charles Chaplin ... Izzy A. Wake's Assistant Billy Armstrong ... The Husband (uncredited) Marta Golden ... The Wife (uncredited) Charles Inslee ... Izzy A. Wake - Paperhanger (uncredited) Paddy McGuire ... The Plasterbearer (uncredited) Edna Purviance ... Maid (uncredited) Leo White ... The Secret Lover (uncredited) Review A reviewer from Bioscope praised Work, noting, "The humor is designed to rise in a long crescendo of screams to a climax of roars. Positively, the thing is irresistible."

The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy is a 1915 American comedy silent film animated with stop motion by Willis O'Brien. The film was distributed by Thomas Edison's film company Conquest Pictures in 1917. The film is also known as The Dinosaur and the Baboon (American reissue title). Plot It starts with a caveman going to give some flowers to a cavegirl. He fails when he hits a tree. However, he keeps going. However, the "Self-Appointed Hero" of the story steals the girl's heart. Meanwhile, an evil gorilla-like ape called "Wild Willie" the Missing Link is watching them. When the Missing Link goes to hunt for snakes at the lake, where the dinosaur is, the dinosaur kills the Missing Link after a fight and goes away. Then the "Hero" finds the Missing Link and takes the credit for killing Wild Willie. Reception Smithsonian Magazine called the film "a strange bit of cinema. Cavemen, the ape-like "missing link" and an ornery sauropod dinosaur act as the players in this early precursor to films like 1981's Caveman. Crude though they were, these stop-motion creatures created by O'Brien would help launch his film career. Better known as the special effects wizard behind The Lost World and King Kong, O'Brien was among the first filmmakers to resurrect dinosaurs on film, leaving an impressive legacy still carried on by special effects experts today.

The Tramp is Charlie Chaplin's sixth film for Essanay Studios and was released in 1915. Directed by Chaplin, it was the fifth and last film made at Essanay's Niles, California studio. The Tramp marked the beginning of The Tramp character most known today, even though Chaplin played the character in earlier films. This film marked the first departure from his more slapstick character in the earlier films, with a sad ending and showing he cared for others, rather than just himself. The film co-stars Edna Purviance as the farmer's daughter and Ernest Van Pelt as Edna's father. The outdoor scenes were filmed on location near Niles. Plot The film starts with Charlie Chaplin walking down the road. He doesn't see a car come by and he barely manages to escape. A few seconds later, another car floors Charlie. Not being able to fathom what just happened, he dusts himself off and decides to seek refuge in a nearby farm. There, he does the classic gag of doffing his hat to a tree. He sits underneath it and decides to eat his sandwich. However, a hobo exchanges Charlie's sandwich for a brick, so Charlie must eat grass. Charlie sees this, and knows he cannot do anything, so he just sits there. The same hobo, however, molests a farmer's daughter (Edna Purviance), and she runs up to Charlie, who comes to her aid with the help of the brick. The hobo tries getting Charlie out of the way, but Charlie kicks him off. Two more hobos show up when the angry hobo tells them about how Charlie humiliated him, but these are no bother for Charlie, who throws all three into the lake. However, they have their fifteen seconds of fame when they throw stones at Charlie, and he sits down on a bunch of logs and sets his posterior on fire. He sits down in a sewage pipe to cool his posterior off, where Edna finds him. Cast Charlie Chaplin as The Tramp Edna Purviance as Farmer's daughter Lloyd Bacon as Edna's fiancé/Second thief Leo White as First thief Bud Jamison as Third thief Ernest Van Pelt as Farmer, Edna's father Paddy McGuire as Farmhand Billy Armstrong as Minister Reception Like many American films of the time, The Tramp was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors cut, in Reel 1, the scene of Chaplin sitting in a sewage drainage pipe after burning his posterior.

The Bank is a silent slapstick comedy. It was Charlie Chaplin's tenth film for Essanay Films. Released in 1915, it is a slight departure from the Tramp character, as Charlie Chaplin plays a janitor in a bank. Edna Purviance plays the secretary on whom Charlie has a crush and dreams that she has fallen in love with him. Filmed at the Majestic Studio in Los Angeles. There doesn't appear to be any evidence that this film was received any differently from the bulk of Chaplin's early work, but today this film is often considered one of his best efforts during his Essanay period.[citation needed] Synopsis Charlie, feeling very important, enters the bank where he works. He descends to the vault and works its combination with great panache and opens the door. Charlie hangs his coat inside the vault and brings out his mop and bucket, signifying he is the bank's janitor. He causes typical havoc with his mop and then with his broom. Charlie sweeps one room and the other janitor sweeps the adjacent room. Instead of cleaning, they just sweep the rubbish to and fro from room to room, so it becomes the other's task. Cast Charlie Chaplin — Charlie, a Janitor Edna Purviance — Edna, a Secretary Carl Stockdale — Charles, a Cashier Charles Inslee — President of the bank Leo White — Clerk Billy Armstrong — Another Janitor Fred Goodwins — Bald Cashier/Bank Robber with Derby John Rand — Bank Robber and salesman Lloyd Bacon — Bank Robber Frank Coleman — Bank Robber Paddy McGuire — Cashier in White Coat Wesley Ruggles — Bank Customer Carrie Clark Ward — Bank Customer Lawrence A. Bowes — Bond Salesman

The Pawnshop was Charlie Chaplin's sixth film for Mutual Film Corporation. Released on October 2, 1916, it stars Chaplin in the role of assistant to the pawnshop owner, played by Henry Bergman. Edna Purviance plays the owner's daughter, while Albert Austin appears as an alarm clock owner who watches Chaplin in dismay as he dismantles the clock; the massive Eric Campbell's character attempts to rob the shop. This was one of Chaplin's more popular movies for Mutual, mainly for the slapstick comedy he was famous for at the time. Synopsis Chaplin plays an assistant in a pawnshop run by Henry Bergman. He goes about his job in the usual comic Chaplin manner: insulting various eccentric customers and dusting an electric fan while it is running. Quarreling over a ladder, Chaplin engages in a slapstick battle with his fellow pawnshop assistant and is fired. The pawnbroker gives Charlie a second chance because of his "eleven children"—a fiction which Charlie has hastily invented for the occasion. In the kitchen Charlie flirts with the pawnbroker's attractive daughter, helping her dry dishes by passing them through a clothes wringer. When a customer brings in an alarm clock to be pawned, Chaplin engages in one of his most famous solo sustained comedy bits: He thoroughly examines the clock as if he were a physician and a jeweler. He disassembles the clock piece by piece, damaging it beyond repair, and carefully puts the pieces into the man's hat. He then sorrowfully informs him that the clock cannot be accepted. Primary cast Charles Chaplin: Pawnbroker's assistant Henry Bergman: Pawnbroker Edna Purviance: His daughter John Rand: Pawnbroker's assistant Albert Austin: Client with clock Wesley Ruggles: Client with ring Eric Campbell: Thief James T. Kelley: Old bum Charlotte Mineau: Client with aquarium Frank J. Coleman: Policeman Sound version In 1932, Amedee J. Van Beuren of Van Beuren Studios, purchased Chaplin's Mutual comedies for $10,000 each, added music by Gene Rodemich and Winston Sharples and sound effects, and re-released them through RKO Radio Pictures. Chaplin had no legal recourse to stop the RKO release.

The Fireman is the second film Charlie Chaplin distributed by the Mutual Film Corporation in 1916. Released on June 12, it starred Chaplin as the fireman and Edna Purviance as the daughter to Lloyd Bacon. Plot A group of firemen, led by their foreman (Eric Campbell), practice in the fire station, but one is missing ... Charlie. He is still sleeping. The bell eventually wakes him and he slides down the pole to join the others. He reverses the pair of horses onto the fire engine and drives off, but without the others. He reverses the horses back again. Their first task is to polish the engine, but a lot of butt-kicking ensues. During their meal break Charlie uses the engine as a giant water urn and serves an unappetizing soup to the others. A young woman comes to the station with her aristocratic father, and the foreman sends Charlie away so he can talk with the father. Charlie and the girl flirt on one side of the station while the girl's father (Bacon) arranges with the local fire chief to have his house burn down so he can collect the insurance money. In exchange for the chief's complicity in the arson, the father will permit the fire chief to marry his daughter. Production background The film shows some early morning street scenes in the surrounding Los Angeles area. The film makes use of reversing the film several times for comic effect: sliding up the fireman's pole, reversing the horses, hurrying back to station (in reverse) when he forgets the crew etc. The huge water tank in the station also comically has a second function as the coffee machine. A lot of the kicking in the film is clearly unfaked and fairly violent. Cast Charles Chaplin as Fireman Edna Purviance as Girl Lloyd Bacon as Her Father Eric Campbell as Foreman of the Brigade Leo White as Owner of Burning House Albert Austin as Fireman John Rand as Fireman James T. Kelley as Fireman Frank J. Coleman as Fireman Sound version In 1932, Amedee Van Beuren of Van Beuren Studios, purchased Chaplin's Mutual comedies for $10,000 each, added music by Gene Rodemich and Winston Sharples and sound effects, and re-released them through RKO Radio Pictures. Chaplin had no legal recourse to stop the RKO release.

The End of the World (Danish: Verdens Undergang) is a 1916 Danish science fiction drama film directed by August Blom and written by Otto Rung, starring Olaf Fønss and Ebba Thomsen. The film depicts a worldwide catastrophe when an errant comet passes by Earth and causes natural disasters and social unrest. Blom and his crew created special effects for the comet disaster using showers of fiery sparks and shrouds of smoke. The film attracted a huge audience because of fears generated during the passing of Halley's comet six years earlier, as well as the ongoing turbulence and unrest of World War I. The film is also known as The Flaming Sword. It was restored by the Danish Film Institute and released on DVD in 2006. Cast Olaf Fønss as Frank Stoll - Mine Owner Carl Lauritzen as Mineformand / Mine Forman West Ebba Thomsen as Dina West Johanne Fritz-Petersen as Edith West Thorleif Lund as Minearbejder / Worker Flint Alf Blütecher as Styrmand / Ship's Mate Reymers Frederik Jacobsen as Den vandrende Prædikant / The Wandering Preacher K. Zimmerman as Professor Wissmann Moritz Beilawski Erik Holberg

Intolerance is a 1916 epic silent film directed by D. W. Griffith. Subtitles include Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages and A Sun-Play of the Ages. Regarded as one of the most influential films of the silent era (though it received mixed reviews at the time), the three-and-a-half-hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines, each separated by several centuries: first, a contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; second, a Judean story: Christ's mission and death; third, a French story: the events surrounding the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572; and fourth, a Babylonian story: the fall of the Babylonian Empire to Persia in 539 BC. Each story had its own distinctive color tint in the original print. The scenes are linked by shots of a figure representing Eternal Motherhood, rocking a cradle. Storylines The film consists of four distinct, but parallel, stories—intercut with increasing frequency as the film builds to a climax—that demonstrate humankind's persistent intolerance throughout the ages. The timeline covers approximately 2,500 years. The ancient "Babylonian" story (539 BC) depicts the conflict between Prince Belshazzar of Babylon and Cyrus the Great of Persia. The Biblical "Judean" story (c. AD 27) recounts how—after the Wedding at Cana and the Woman Taken in Adultery—intolerance led to the Crucifixion of Jesus. This sequence is the shortest of the four. The Renaissance "French" story (1572) tells of the religious intolerance that led to the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of Protestant Huguenots fomented by the Catholic Royal House of Valois. The American "Modern" story (c. 1914) demonstrates how crime, moral puritanism, and conflicts between ruthless capitalists and striking workers help ruin the lives of marginalized Americans. Cast Lillian Gish as The Eternal Motherhood Mae Marsh as The Dear One Robert Harron as The Boy, a worker at Jenkins Mill Fred Turner as The Dear One's father, a worker at the Jenkins Mill Miriam Cooper as The Friendless One, former neighbor of the Boy and Dear One Walter Long as Musketeer of the Slums Tom Wilson as The Kindly Officer/Heart Vera Lewis as Miss Mary T. Jenkins Sam De Grasse as Mr. Arthur Jenkins, mill boss Lloyd Ingraham as The Judge Ralph Lewis as The Governor A. W. McClure as Prison Father Fathley Max Davidson as tenement neighbor of Dear One Renaissance "French" story (1572) The Mercenary Soldier (Allan Sears) kills Brown Eyes (Margery Wilson) Margery Wilson as Brown Eyes Eugene Pallette as Prosper Latour Spottiswoode Aitken as Brown Eyes' father Ruth Handforth as Brown Eyes' mother Allan Sears as The Mercenary Soldier Josephine Crowell as Catherine de Medici, the Queen-mother Frank Bennett as Charles IX of France Maxfield Stanley as Prince Henry of France Joseph Henabery as Admiral Coligny Constance Talmadge as Princess Marguerite of Valois (first role in film) W. E. Lawrence as Henry of Navarre Ancient "Babylonian" story Alfred Paget as Prince Belshazzar Constance Talmadge as The Mountain Girl (second role in film) Elmer Clifton as The Rhapsode, a warrior-singer Alfred Paget as Prince Belshazzar Seena Owen as The Princess Beloved, favorite of Belshazzar Tully Marshall as High Priest of Bel-Marduk George Siegmann as Cyrus the Great Carl Stockdale as King Nabonidus, father of Belshazzar Elmo Lincoln as The Mighty Man of Valor, guard to Belshazzar Frank Brownlee as The Mountain Girl's brother The Ruth St. Denis Dancers as Dancing girls The Biblical "Judean" story Howard Gaye as the Nazarene: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Howard Gaye as The Nazarene Lillian Langdon as Mary, the Mother Bessie Love as The Bride George Walsh as The Bridegroom Production Intolerance was a colossal undertaking featuring monumental sets, lavish period costumes, and more than 3,000 extras. The lot on Sunset Boulevard featured a Babylon set with 300-foot (91 m) tall walls as well as streets of Judea and medieval France. The total payroll for extras was reported to have reached $12,000 daily. Griffith began shooting the film with the Modern Story (originally titled "The Mother and the Law"), whose planning predated the great commercial success of The Birth of a Nation. He then greatly expanded it to include the other three parallel stories under the theme of intolerance. Three hundred thousand feet of film were shot. The total cost of producing Intolerance was reported to be close to $2 million including $250,000 for the Belshazzar feast scene alone, an astronomical sum in 1916, but accounts for the film show the exact cost to be $385,906.77. A third of the budget went into making the Babylonian segments of the film. Reception Intolerance was met with an enthusiastic reception from film critics upon its premiere.

The Floorwalker is a 1916 American silent comedy film, Charlie Chaplin's first Mutual Film Corporation film. The film stars Chaplin, in his traditional Tramp persona, as a customer who creates chaos in a department store and becomes inadvertently entangled in the nefarious scheme of the store manager, played by Eric Campbell, and the store's floorwalker, played by Lloyd Bacon, to embezzle money from the establishment. The film is noted for the first "running staircase" used in films which is used for a series of slapstick that climaxes with a frantic chase down an upward escalator and finding they are remaining in the same position on the steps no matter how fast they move. Edna Purviance plays a minor role as a secretary to the store manager. Synopsis The store manager and the floorwalker are conspiring to rob the store's safe. Charlie enters the department store and annoys the staff with his antics, primarily taking a shave on the shaving product table. He has a fight with the floor manager. The store detective keeps a close eye on him. When the store manager and floorwalker finish putting the safe's contents into a bag, the floorwalker knocks out the manager and flees with the money. Just as the floorwalker is about to exit, he encounters Charlie who looks very much like him. He persuades Charlie to act as his substitute. Nevertheless, the floorwalker is arrested, but Charlie ends up holding the bag. The manager thinks Charlie is the floorwalker who stole the money and throttles him. Charlie does not understand why he attacks him. Charlie waters the hats with flowers on then goes to the shoe department to help a girl. Production The Floorwalker was the first film Chaplin made for the Mutual Company. It also marked the first Chaplin comedy in which Eric Campbell played the huge, menacing villain. This film also marked Henry Bergman's first of numerous appearances in Chaplin films. Bergman would typically play an authority figure or an upper-crust society gentleman—the perfect comic foil for Charlie's Tramp character. Bergman would work closely with Chaplin until his death from a heart attack in 1946. Mirror sequence Roughly seven minutes from the start of the film, Chaplin and the store's floorwalker, Lloyd Bacon, stumble into opposite doors of an office and are intrigued by their likeness to each other. They mirror each other's movements to deft comic effect in a way that is believed to have inspired the "mirror scene" in Max Linder's Seven Years Bad Luck (1921). In that comedy film, Max's servants accidentally break a mirror and try to hide their mistake by having one of them dress just like their employer. Then, when Max looks into the non-existent glass, the disguised servant mimics his every action. Another possibility is that Chaplin was inspired by Linder, since Linder performed a similar mirror routine in his 1913 short Le duel de Max. Max Linder's movie in turn inspired many similar scenes, most famously in the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup. Later renditions can be found in the Bugs Bunny cartoon Hare Tonic, the Mickey Mouse cartoon Lonesome Ghosts, the Tom and Jerry cartoon Cat and Dupli-cat and in the TV series Family Guy and The X-Files. A scene in The Pink Panther, with David Niven and Robert Wagner wearing identical gorilla costumes, mimics the mirror scene. Harpo Marx did a reprise of this scene, dressed in his usual costume, with Lucille Ball also donning the fright wig and trench coat, in an episode of I Love Lucy. Additionally, an early episode of The Patty Duke Show contains a mirror scene in which the characters Patty and Cathy Lane (both played by Patty Duke) act out a version similar to the one found in the film Duck Soup. Review Maxson F. Judell glowingly wrote of The Floorwalker in the Madison (WI) State Journal, "Performing in inimitable style on an escalator, or in common parlance, a moving stairway, injecting new 'business' such as he has not given the public in previous comedies, producing the film carefully with adequate settings and excellent photography, supported by a well-chosen cast, Charles Chaplin proves conclusively that he is without question of doubt the world's greatest comedian. Chaplin possesses that indefinable something which makes you laugh heartily and without restraint at what in others would be called commonplace actions." Sound version In 1932, Amedee Van Beuren of Van Beuren Studios, purchased Chaplin's Mutual comedies for $10,000 each, added music by Gene Rodemich and Winston Sharples and sound effects, and re-released them through RKO Radio Pictures.

The Count is Charlie Chaplin's fifth film for Mutual Film Corporation in 1916. Released on September 4, it co-starred Eric Campbell and Edna Purviance. Synopsis The tailor's handyman (played by Chaplin) burns a count's trousers while ironing them and is fired. His superior (Campbell) discovers a note explaining the count can't attend a party, and dresses up like one to take his place. Chaplin also goes to the residence hosting the party but runs into the tailor. They both then struggle to win the fair maiden, Miss Moneybags (Purviance). Soon, Charlie is distracted by a gypsy girl and the tailor must fend off other suitors. The real Count finally arrives, learns of the imposters and calls the police. Chaplin makes a mad dash through the party and scampers away to safety. Review The Count received this positive review from the Chicago Tribune: "It has story, speed, and spontaneity. The fun is not forced--it just bubbles out. A good deal of the originality prevails and utter respectability. Some squeamish folks may take exception to Mr. Chaplin holding his nose while eating strong cheese, scratching his head with a fork, and washing his ears with watermelon juice at the table. But these vulgarities pass quickly and can be forgotten in the stress of the high comedy of the soup and the dance. Mr. Chaplin has his capacity for serious playing, but he is foremost as a clown and here he clowns superbly." Cast Charles Chaplin - Tailor's apprentice Edna Purviance - Miss Moneybags Eric Campbell - Tailor Leo White - Count Broko Charlotte Mineau - Mrs. Moneybags Albert Austin - Tall Guest John Rand - Guest Leota Bryan - Young Girl Frank J. Coleman - Policeman James T. Kelley - Butler Eva Thatcher - Cook Tiny Sandford - Guest Loyal Underwood - Small Guest May White - Large Lady Sound version In 1932, Amedee Van Beuren of Van Beuren Studios, purchased Chaplin's Mutual comedies for $10,000 each, added music by Gene Rodemich and Winston Sharples and sound effects, and re-released them through RKO Radio Pictures. Chaplin had no legal recourse to stop the RKO release.

The Vagabond is a 1916 American silent romantic comedy film by Charlie Chaplin and his third film with Mutual Films. Released to theaters on July 10, 1916, it co-starred Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Leo White and Lloyd Bacon. This film echoed Chaplin's work on The Tramp, with more drama and pathos mixed in with the comedy. Synopsis The story begins with Charlie, the Tramp, arriving at a bar, playing on a violin to raise money and exciting a rivalry with competing musicians. This results in a barroom brawl and comic mayhem. Wandering off into the vicinity of a gypsy caravan in the country, he encounters the beautiful, though bedraggled, Edna. He entertains her with his violin. She has been abducted and abused by the gypsies, chief among them Eric Campbell, who whips her mercilessly. Charlie comes to her rescue and knocks her tormentors over the head with a stick before riding off with her in a commandeered cart. Reception Louis Reeves Harrison wrote in The Moving Picture World, "The latter part of this story shows Chaplin in a new role, and he handles it well in spite of the necessity of being as funny as possible. He would make an interesting lead in almost any story if it were possible for him to divest himself of the little tricks which have made him famous. Those little tricks still go, and they pay, but it would be a novelty to see Chaplin free to do without them in some opportunity of a reverse, or much different, character." The film was briefly discussed in Motion Picture Magazine, where it was described as "Almost a comedy-drama, in which heart interest mixes well with broad farce. Edna Purviance, as the 'stolen child,' is an excellent support." Cast Charles Chaplin as Saloon Violinist Edna Purviance as Gypsy Drudge Eric Campbell as Gypsy Chieftain Leo White as Old Jew/Gypsy Woman Lloyd Bacon as Artist and Gypsy Charlotte Mineau as Girl's Mother Albert Austin as Trombonist John Rand as Trumpeter, Band Leader James T. Kelley as Gypsy and Musician Frank J. Coleman as Gypsy and Musician Phyllis Allen (uncredited) Henry Bergman (uncredited) Fred Goodwins Percussionist / Gypsy (uncredited) Sound version In 1932, Amedee Van Beuren of Van Beuren Studios, purchased Chaplin's Mutual comedies for $10,000 each, added music by Gene Rodemich and Winston Sharples and sound effects, and re-released them through RKO Radio Pictures. Chaplin had no legal recourse to stop the RKO release.

written by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin, and also starring Eric Campbell and Edna Purviance. Plot The film takes place in a silent movie studio. Charlie Chaplin plays stagehand named David who has an enormous supervisor named Goliath (Eric Campbell). David is overworked but is still labelled as a loafer by the lazy Goliath and his supervisor. A country girl (Edna Purviance) arrives at the studio in hopes of becoming an actress, but is quickly turned away by Goliath. Most of the other stagehands go on wildcat strike to protest their sleep being interrupted during their lunch break. Only David and Goliath remain on the job. The girl returns and stealthily dresses in one of the striking stagehand's work clothes. Disguised as a man, she gets a job as a stagehand too. David discovers that the new stagehand is actually a female. When he gives her a series of quick kisses, the action is seen by Goliath who makes effeminate gestures at David. Edna overhears the strikers' plans to blow up the studio with dynamite and helps thwart their villainous plot. Much of the film is slapstick comedy involving Chaplin manhandling large props, mishandling the control to a trap door, and engaging in a raucous pie-throwing fight which spills over into another studio where a period drama is being shot. In one scene Chaplin deftly carries 11 chairs over his back in his left hand and lifts a piano in his right hand. Cast Chaplin and Purviance in the final scene of the film Charlie Chaplin as David (Goliath's assistant) Edna Purviance as The Girl Eric Campbell as Goliath (a stagehand) Albert Austin as Stagehand (uncredited) Production Behind the Screen was the last of Chaplin's comedies to use a movie studio as a backdrop. Earlier Chaplin films, such as A Film Johnnie, His New Job, and The Masquerader had also been set, at least partly, in a silent movie studio. In Behind the Screen, Chaplin pokes gentle fun at Keystone Studios where he broke into the movies in 1914 and worked under contract for Mack Sennett for a year. The pie-throwing sequence is an obvious allusion to the Keystone style of slapstick comedies where such skirmishes were overly common. One intertitle humorously refers to the pie-throwing gimmick as "a new idea."

One Too Many is a 1916 American silent film starring Oliver Hardy. Plot Plump wakes with a hangover. He finds a note under the door from his uncle saying he will visit him "and his wife and baby" at 2 o'clock. It is 11am and he has no wife and baby. He is staying in a hotel. The bellboy is trying to take a heavy trunk upstairs. He gives the bellboy $50 to find him a baby. He finds a toddler in another room and is then asked to find a wife. Plump's friend Roy enters the room with the child and moves the child. The bellboy bribes the janitor's wife to play Plump's wife. He goes outside and hires a baby from a woman. Meanwhile Plump finds the first baby and takes it back. The bellboy is collecting children including a little black girl. The first child's mother returns and finds her child with Plump. She takes him away, but Roy steals it again. He hides in a cupboard. The bellboy brings a cot up and Plump pays him to "be the baby". Uncle John arrives as Plump is shaving, he stubble off his baby. The child starts crying from the cupboard... then the wives begin to appear. Cast Oliver Hardy as Plump (as Babe Hardy) Billy Ruge as Runt Billy Bletcher as Unhappy Boarder Joe Cohen Edna Reynolds as Newlywed Madelyn Hardy as Woman on street Circus Waltz - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100291 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Iron Horse - Silent Film Dark by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100735 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Merry Go - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100731 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

A Natural Born Gambler is a 1916 silent film short, the first of only two films starring Broadway comic and singer Bert Williams. The film was Williams' first two-reel comedy and was a film that was expected not to disappoint audiences and was highly anticipated. It was produced by the Biograph Company and released by The General Film Company. Williams directed and G. W. Bitzer, also known as Billy Bitzer, who was usually D. W. Griffith's cameraman, was the cinematographer. This is a still-surviving film, featuring Williams in his famous blackface routine. It is an authentic comedic film for its time (1916) in which Williams is still humorous without heavily relying on the popular physical style of slapstick comedy. Special and strategic advertising along with the name Williams had created for himself made it possible for the film to get exposure throughout the country. Most of this exposure came from newspaper prints. Bert Williams Film exhibitors were excited to have pre-release sales of the film, as Williams was very popular through film and as a comedian. Much of Williams' reputation stemmed from his background of being a great comedian; he began entertaining as a member of the theatrical group the Ziegfeld Follies, where he thrived as a star and brought much of this comedic influence as well as his experience on Broadway with him in through film. It was said that Williams was one of the few comedians at this time who had the ability to be as successful and humorous within his films as he was on stage. Much of this experience he took with him throughout his film career seen through the comedic success of A Natural Born Gambler. All of this called for great success when the film was released on July 24, 1916. With the achievement of the film post-release, exhibitors remained happy about the film as they were able to profit from it throughout the rest of that summer. Summary The film's opening scene takes place in a saloon. There are several men in the saloon, both white and black. They are preparing for the meeting of The Independent Order of Calcimine Artists of America, which is hosted by Hostetter Johnson (who is also the Bookkeeper in the film). Bert Williams (who is played by Bert Williams himself) attends and actively participates in the meeting and heavy gambling. Characters Limpy Jones Bert Williams played by Bert Williams Brother Scott Hostetter Johnson Cicero Sampson

This is a 4-part movie with only the first 3 parts available. I do have another version, nearly the same ploy, but it has Prof Moriarty in it. (The Villian) It's titles Sherlock Holmes 1922. It's a full version and well worth the watch. I enjoyed it. Sherlock Holmes is a 1916 American silent film starring William Gillette as Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Directed by Arthur Berthelet, it was produced by Essanay Studios in Chicago. The screenplay was adapted from the 1899 stage play of the same name, which in turn was based on the stories, "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Final Problem," and A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle. All surviving prints of the 1916 film Sherlock Holmes were once thought to be lost. However, on October 1, 2014, it was announced that a copy had been discovered in a film archive in France. Plot A prince, the heir apparent to a large empire, was once the lover of Alice Faulkner's sister. During their love affair, he had written some incriminating letters to her. Alice was given these letters for safe keeping on the deathbed of her sister. Count von Stalburg, the prince's assistant, and Sir Edward Palmer, a high British official, have been given the task of negotiating the restitution of the letters to the prince prior to his upcoming marriage. However, Alice Faulkner is being held captive by the Larrabee's, a husband-and-wife team of crooks who realize the value of the letters and are trying to get them from Alice in order to blackmail the prince. Failing to secure the letters for themselves, they decide to involve Professor Moriarty in the affair. The film unfolds as a battle of wits ensues between Moriarty and Holmes. Dr. Watson is only marginally involved until the final third. Holmes receives more assistance from an associate named Forman and a young bellboy named Billy. Cast William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes Marjorie Kay as Alice Faulkner Ernest Maupain as Professor Moriarty Edward Fielding as Dr. Watson Stewart Robbins as Benjamin Forman Hugh Thompson as Sir Edward Leighton Ludwig Kreiss as Baron von Stalburg Mario Majeroni as James Larrabee William Postance as Sidney Prince Chester Beery as Craigin Frank Hamilton as Tim Leary Fred Malatesta as "Lightfoot" McTague Grace Reals as Madge Larrabee Miss Ball as Therese Burford Hampden as Billy Marian Skinner as A Suffragette (billed as Marion Skinner) Edward Arnold as Crippled Henchman In Striped Cap (uncredited) Release The film was released in the US as a seven-reel feature. In 1920, after World War I was over and US films were returning to Western European screens, it was released in France in an expanded nine reels format. This was so it could be shown as a four-part serial, a popular format at the time. The first episode had three reels while the other three had two reels each. Production The film is based on the 1899 stage play Sherlock Holmes. Gillette had played the role of Holmes 1,300 times on stage before it was made into a "moving picture". It was he who was responsible for much of the costume still associated with the character, notably the deerstalker hat and the calabash pipe.[5][6] Sherlock Holmes is believed to be the only filmed record of his iconic portrayal. Preservation The 1916 print of Sherlock Holmes had long been considered a lost film. However, on October 1, 2014, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) and the Cinémathèque Française announced that a print of the film had been found in the Cinémathèque's collection in Paris.[8] The restoration of the film was overseen by SFSFF board president Robert Byrne in collaboration with the Cinémathèque Française. The French premiere of the restored film took place in January 2015; the U.S. premiere followed in May 2015. The print that was found is a nitrate negative of the nine-reel serial with French-language intertitles which were translated from French back into English by Daniel Gallagher in consultation with William Gillette's original 19th century manuscripts, which are preserved at the Chicago History Museum. The film had been mixed up with other Holmes-related media at the Cinémathèque and had been incorrectly labeled.

Police is Charlie Chaplin's 14th film with Essanay Studios and was released in 1916. It was made at the Majestic Studio in Los Angeles. Charlie plays an ex-convict who finds life on the outside not to his liking and leads him to breaking into a home with another thief (Wesley Ruggles). Edna Purviance plays the girl living in the home who tries to change him. Cast Charles Chaplin as Charlie, Convict 999 Edna Purviance as Daughter of the Houseowners Wesley Ruggles as Jailbird and Thief James T. Kelley as Drunk with Pockets Picked/Second Flophouse Customer Leo White as Fruitseller/Flop House Manager/Policeman John Rand as Nosy Policeman Fred Goodwins as Honest Preacher/Policeman with Monocle Billy Armstrong as Crooked Preacher/Second Cop Snub Pollard as Cop Bud Jamison as Third Flophouse Customer Paddy McGuire as Fifth Flophouse Customer George Cleethorpe as Policeman at Station with Mustache Review Reviewer Oscar Cooper wrote in Motion Picture News, "Those who believe that Chaplin's abilities are limited to the mallet, the kick and the spinal curvature walk, should see this picture. They will be disillusioned. They will see a touch of heart interest just at the end of the subject, and they will see that Charlie's stock pantomime includes pathos as well as fooling. But of course, the picture is mainly clever horseplay, beginning with Charlie's exit from prison, and ending with his flight from a policeman."

Down to Earth, also known as The Optimist, is a 1917 American comedy romance film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Eileen Percy and directed by John Emerson. Most of the principal photography was filmed in Yosemite National Park. Synopsis Bill Gaynor (Fairbanks) follows Ethel (Percy), the girl he loves, to a sanitarium she is staying to recuperate from a nervous breakdown. Ethel had previously refused his proposal in favor of a socialite, Charles Riddles (Charles K. Gerrard). Bill hatches up a plan to save Ethel and the other hypochondriacs from the sanitarium, taking them on his yacht through the ruse of a smallpox scare. The yacht crashes onto an island, where Bill makes the invalids work for their own food and where they all overcome their illnesses. Cast Douglas Fairbanks as Billy Gaynor Eileen Percy as Ethel Forsythe Gustav von Seyffertitz as Dr. Jollyem Charles McHugh as Dr. Samm Charles K. Gerrard as Charles Riddles William H. Keith as Mr. Carter Ruth Allen as Mrs. Fuller Jermes Fred Goodwins as Jordan Jinny Florence Mayon as Mrs. Phattison Oiles Herbert Standing as Mr. SD Dyspeptic David Porter as Mr. Coffin Bull Montana as Wild Man

The Rough House is a 1917 American two-reel silent comedy film written by, directed by, and starring both Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. The Rough House was Keaton's first film as a director. Plot Mr. Rough (Arbuckle) falls asleep while smoking and wakes up to find his bed on fire. He calmly walks out of his bedroom, through the dining room, and into the kitchen. He gets a single cup of water, returns to the bedroom, and throws it on the fire. He repeats this several times; meanwhile, he drinks some of the water, flirts with the maid in the kitchen, and stops to eat an apple in the dining room. Mrs. Rough and her mother discover the fire and insist on more effective methods, so Rough obtains a garden hose from a gardener (Keaton). After initially squirting everything but the fire, Rough finally succeeds in putting it out. Cast Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle as Mr. Rough Buster Keaton as Gardener / Delivery Boy / Cop Al St. John as Cook Alice Lake as Mrs. Rough Agnes Neilson as Mother-in-Law Glen Cavender Josephine Stevens as maid Reception Like many American films of the time, The Rough House was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors cut the scene showing the theft of beads from the film.

The Immigrant is a 1917 American silent romantic comedy short. The film stars Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character as an immigrant coming to the United States who is accused of theft on the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and falls in love with a beautiful young woman along the way. It also stars Edna Purviance and Eric Campbell. The movie was written and directed by Chaplin. According to Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's documentary series Unknown Chaplin, the first scenes to be written and filmed take place in what became the movie's second half, in which the penniless Tramp finds a coin and goes for a meal in a restaurant, not realizing that the coin has fallen out of his pocket. It was not until later that Chaplin's Tramp was penniless because he had just arrived on a boat from Europe and used this notion as the basis for the first half. Purviance reportedly was required to eat so many plates of beans during the many takes to complete the restaurant sequence (in character as another immigrant who falls in love with Charlie) that she became physically ill. The scene in which Chaplin's character kicks an immigration officer was cited later as evidence of his anti-Americanism when he was forced to leave the United States in 1952. In 1998, The Immigrant was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Plot The film begins aboard a steamship crossing the Atlantic Ocean and initially showcases an unnamed immigrant's misadventures, the Little Tramp (Chaplin), who finds himself in assorted mischief. The scene opens with Charlie bent double over the side of the ship, appearing to be seasick. Then it is revealed he is only fishing. Much humor is derived from the heavy sway of the boat, with much sliding around the deck. Charlie, among other things, plays cards, eats in the mess hall and avoids seasick passengers. Along the way, he befriends another unnamed immigrant (Purviance) who is traveling to America with her ailing mother. The two have been robbed by a pickpocket who loses the money to the Tramp in a card game. The Tramp, feeling sorry for the two penniless women, attempts to secretly place his winnings from his card game in the woman's pocket but ends up being mistakenly accused of being a pickpocket. The woman manages to clear the Tramp's name. Upon arrival in America, the passengers stare at the Statue of Liberty but once landed, the Tramp and the woman part company. Cast Charles Chaplin - Immigrant Edna Purviance - Immigrant Eric Campbell - The head waiter Albert Austin - Seasick immigrant / A diner Henry Bergman - The artist Kitty Bradbury - The Mother Frank J. Coleman - The cheater on the boat / Restaurant Owner Tom Harrington - Marriage Registrar James T. Kelley - Shabby Man in Restaurant John Rand - Tipsy Diner Who Cannot Pay This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Episode 1 of the 1983 documentary series Unknown Chaplin reveals that Chaplin developed the storyline for The Immigrant as filming progressed. Initially, the movie began as a comedy set in an artists' cafe, with Purviance as a brightly dressed patron. This plot was abandoned almost immediately, before Chaplin's character was introduced, the documentary states, and Chaplin began again, with a story, still set in a cafe, about a man who has never been in a restaurant before displaying terrible table manners before meeting a lovely girl (Purviance) and shaping up. Initially, Henry Bergman played the bully-ish head waiter, but Chaplin eventually replaced him with Eric Campbell. According to Unknown Chaplin, Chaplin developed the idea of the tramp and Purviance's character being immigrants when he realized he needed more plot to justify the restaurant scenes. After filming the film's opening sequences of the arrival in America, he reshot parts of the restaurant scene to be consistent with the new plot (bringing Bergman back in a new role as an artist who resolves the subplot of Charlie being unable to pay for dinner), and added the epilogue in which the Tramp and Purviance are married. Sound version In 1932, Amedee Van Beuren of Van Beuren Studios, purchased Chaplin's Mutual comedies for $10,000 each, added music by Gene Rodemich and Winston Sharples and sound effects, and re-released them through RKO Radio Pictures. Chaplin had no legal recourse to stop the RKO release. Reception Like many American films of the time, The Immigrant was subjected to some cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors required two cuts to the film, the first being the closeup showing the stealing of a moneybag, and the second involving nose thumbing as an insult.

The Dying Swan (Russian: Умирающий лебедь) is a 1917 drama film directed by Yevgeni Bauer and starring Vera Karalli, Aleksandr Kheruvimov, Vitold Polonsky, Andrej Gromov, and Ivane Perestiani. Plot Gizella, who is a dancer and mute, falls in love with Victor, whom she met at the lake. She believes that love is mutual, but then sees Victor with another girl after he cancels a date with her. She becomes an object of sympathy for the artist Glinsky, who sees Gizella dancing The Dying Swan and uses her as a model for a picture on the theme of death. Starring Vera Karalli as Gizella – Gizella – mute dancer Aleksandr Kheruvimov as Gizella's Father Vitold Polonsky as Viktor Krasovsky Andrej Gromov as Valeriy Glinskiy – the artist Ivane Perestiani as Glinskiy's friend

Plot Arbuckle plays a drug store clerk, soda jerk, and gas station attendant, who can be both lazy and dishonest. Cast Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle as Drugstore soda clerk Al St. John as Rival Suitor Buster Keaton as Delivery Boy Alice Mann as Alice Arthur Earle Jimmy Bryant Josephine Stevens as Lady Customer Alice Lake Natalie Talmadge as Pretty lady in the car (uncredited)

Are Crooks Dishonest? is a 1918 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. Prints of the film survive in the film archives of The Museum of Modern Art and Filmoteca Española. Plot Con artists Harold (Harold Lloyd) and Snub (Snub Pollard) try to con the "not easily outwitted" Miss Goulash (Bebe Daniels) and her father. Cast Harold Lloyd as Harold Bebe Daniels as Miss Goulash Snub Pollard as Snub (credited as Harry Pollard) William Blaisdell Sammy Brooks Lige Conley William Gillespie Helen Gilmore as Old lady in park Lew Harvey Gus Leonard as Old man in park Charles Stevenson (credited as C.E. Stevenson)

Back to God's Country is a 1919 Canadian drama film directed by David Hartford. It is one of the earliest Canadian feature films. The film starred and was co-written by Canadian actress Nell Shipman. With an estimated budget of over $67,000, it was the most successful silent film in Canadian history. The film is noteworthy as it starred Shipman and was produced by her husband, Ernest. Shipman was one of the first women to do a nude scene on screen in the movie. In 1918, they created a production company, Shipman-Curwood Producing Company, to produce Back to God's Country. The film was the only film the company would produce, and was based on a short story, "Whapi, the Walrus", by James Oliver Curwood. Curwood's story was adapted to the screen by Nell herself. She changed the protagonist of the film from a great dane to the female lead, Dolores. Shipman also shaped her character into a heroine, who saves her husband. Curwood was infuriated with Shipman, but commercially the film was extremely successful, posting a 300 percent profit and grossing a million-and-a-half dollars. Cast Nell Shipman as Dolores LeBeau Charles Arling as 'Sealskin' Blake Wheeler Oakman as Peter Burke Wellington A. Playter as Captain Rydal (credited as Wellington Plater) Ronald Byram as Peter Burke (original casting) (uncredited) William Colvin as Mountie Shot by Rydal (uncredited) Roy Laidlaw as Baptiste LeBeau, Dolores' Father (uncredited) Kewpie Morgan as Bully in Bar Who Shoots Chinaman (uncredited) Charles B. Murphy as The Half-Breed (uncredited) Preservation Back to God's Country was later screened at the 1984 Festival of Festivals as part of Front & Centre, a special retrospective program of artistically and culturally significant films from throughout the history of Canadian cinema. The film has been re-made twice by Hollywood, but the original version was believed to have been lost. However, a print of the original film was found in Europe, restored in 1985, and re-released. A copy of the film is in the Library of Congress film archive, and it has been released on DVD by Milestone Films.

Male and Female is a 1919 American silent adventure/drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan. Its main themes are gender relations and social class. The film is based on the 1902 J. M. Barrie play The Admirable Crichton. A previous version was filmed the year before in England as The Admirable Crichton. Plot The film centers on the relationship between Lady Mary Loam (Swanson), a British aristocrat, and her butler, Crichton (Meighan). Crichton fancies a romance with Mary, but she disdains him because of his lower social class. When the two and some others are shipwrecked on a deserted island, they are left to fend for themselves in a state of nature. The aristocrats' abilities to survive are far worse than those of Crichton, and a role reversal ensues, with the butler becoming a king among the stranded group. Crichton and Mary are about to wed on the island when the group is rescued. Upon returning to Britain, Crichton chooses not to marry Mary; instead, he asks a maid, Tweeny (who was attracted to Crichton throughout the film), to marry him, and the two move to the United States. Production The film contains two famous scenes, indicative of de Mille's predilections as a filmmaker. An early scene depicts Gloria Swanson bathing in an elaborate setting, attended by two maids, lavishing her with rosewater and bath salts, silk dressing gown, and luxurious towels. Toward the end of the film, a fantasy sequence about ancient Babylon shows Swanson posed as Gabriel von Max's famous painting The Lion's Bride, which involved her being photographed with an actual lion. Cast Lila Lee as Tweeny, the scullery maid Theodore Roberts as Lord Loam Raymond Hatton as Honorable Ernest 'Ernie' Wolley Mildred Reardon as Lady Agatha 'Aggie' Lasenby Gloria Swanson as Lady Mary Lasenby Thomas Meighan as Crichton, the butler Robert Cain as Lord Brockelhurst Bebe Daniels as King's Favorite Julia Faye as Susan, 2nd Maid Rhy Darby as Lady Eileen Duncraigie Edmund Burns as Treherne Henry Woodward as McGuire, Lady Eileen's Chauffeur Sydney Deane as Thomas Wesley Barry as Buttons, the Boy Slats the Lion Accolades The film was nominated for the American Film Institute's 2002 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions.

A Day's Pleasure (1919) is Charlie Chaplin's fourth film for First National Films. It was created at the Chaplin Studio. It was a quickly made two-reeler to help fill a gap while working on his first feature The Kid. It is about a day outing with his wife and the kids and things do not go smoothly. Edna Purviance plays Chaplin's wife and Jackie Coogan one of the kids. The first scene shows the Chaplin Studio corner office in the background while Chaplin tries to get his car started. Plot summary After an initial scene featuring a Ford which is extremely reluctant to start, most of the action takes place on an excursion ferry. Gags revolve around seasickness, which Charlie, a fat couple, and even the boat's all-black ragtime band succumb to, deckchairs, and Charlie's comic pugnacity. This is followed by a scene of the family returning home, and encountering trouble at an intersection, which involves a traffic cop, and hot tar. Cast Charlie Chaplin as Father Edna Purviance as Mother Marion Feducha as Small Boy (uncredited) Bob Kelly as Small Boy (uncredited) Jackie Coogan as Smallest Boy (uncredited) Tom Wilson as Large Husband (uncredited) Babe London as His Seasick Wife (uncredited) Henry Bergman as Captain, Man in Car and Heavy Policeman (uncredited) Loyal Underwood as Angry Little Man in Street (uncredited) Reception A Day's Pleasure is almost universally regarded as Chaplin's least impressive First National film. Even contemporary critics were muted in their enthusiasm, as evidenced by this mixed review from The New York Times of December 8, 1919 : "Charlie Chaplin is screamingly funny in his latest picture, A Day's Pleasure, at the Strand, when he tries in vain to solve the mysteries of a collapsible deck chair. He is also funny in many little bits of pantomime and burlesque, in which he is inimitable. But most of the time he depends for comedy upon seasickness, a Ford car, and biff-bang slap-stick, with which he is little, if any, funnier than many other screen comedians."

The Marathon is a 1919 American short comedy film starring Harold Lloyd. A print of the film survives in the film archive at George Eastman House. Plot Bebe is besieged by suitors who want to take her to watch a local marathon. Bebe's father, a former heavyweight boxer, scares off all the suitors but Snub who wins him over by offering him a cigar. Not long afterward, Harold arrives to woo Bebe too. He gets into a scuffle with both Snub and Bebe's father. The police are summoned. Harold flees Bebe's house in a hurry and becomes entangled among the marathon runners who also angrily pursue him. Cast Harold Lloyd Snub Pollard Bebe Daniels Sammy Brooks Lew Harvey Wallace Howe Gus Leonard Gaylord Lloyd Marie Mosquini Fred C. Newmeyer William Petterson Dorothea Wolbert Noah Young

Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl, often referred to simply as Broken Blossoms, is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. It was distributed by United Artists and premiered on May 13, 1919. It stars Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, and Donald Crisp, and tells the story of young girl, Lucy Burrows, who is abused by her alcoholic prizefighting father, Battling Burrows, and meets Cheng Huan, a kind-hearted Chinese man who falls in love with her. It was the first film distributed by United Artists. It is based on Thomas Burke's short story "The Chink and the Child" from the 1916 collection Limehouse Nights. In 1996, Broken Blossoms was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Plot Cheng Huan leaves his native China because he "dreams to spread the gentle message of Buddha to the Anglo-Saxon lands." His idealism fades as he is faced with the brutal reality of London's gritty inner-city. However, his mission is finally realized in his devotion to the "broken blossom" Lucy Burrows, the beautiful but unwanted and abused daughter of boxer Battling Burrows. Cast Lillian Gish as Lucy Burrows Richard Barthelmess as Cheng Huan Donald Crisp as Battling Burrows Arthur Howard as Burrows' manager Edward Peil Sr. as Evil Eye George Beranger as The Spying One Norman Selby (aka Kid McCoy) as A prizefighter Production and style Newspaper ad for the film Unlike Griffith's more extravagant earlier works like The Birth of a Nation or Intolerance, Broken Blossoms is a small-scale film that uses controlled studio environments to create a more intimate effect. Griffith was known for his willingness to collaborate with his actors and on many occasions join them in research outings. The visual style of Broken Blossoms emphasizes the seedy Limehouse streets with their dark shadows, drug addicts and drunkards, contrasting them with the beauty of Cheng and Lucy's innocent attachment as expressed by Cheng's decorative apartment. Conversely, the Burrows' bare cell reeks of oppression and hostility. Film critic and historian Richard Schickel goes so far as to credit this gritty realism with inspiring "the likes of Pabst, Stiller, von Sternberg, and others, [and then] re-emerging in the United States in the sound era, in the genre identified as Film Noir". Griffith was unsure of his final product and took several months to complete the editing, saying: "I can't look at the damn thing; it depresses me so." Box office The film was originally made for Famous Players Lasky. The company sold it to the newly founded United Artists for $250,000. The film turned out to be a hit at the box office and earned a profit of $700,000. Reception Broken Blossoms premiered in May 1919, at George M. Cohan's Theatre in New York City as part of the D. W. Griffith Repertory Season.[7] According to Lillian Gish's autobiography, theaters were decorated with flowers, moon lanterns and beautiful Chinese brocaded draperies for the premiere. Critics and audiences were pleased with Griffith's follow-up film to his 1916 epic Intolerance.[8] Contrasting with Intolerance's grand story, set and length, Griffith charmed audiences by the delicacy with which Broken Blossoms handled such a complex subject.

PLOT Two prospectors, one the father of Skye "Lightning" Bryce and the other the father of Kate Arnold, find a large gold deposit belonging to an Indian tribe. They head for home, but each sends a note to their respective off-springs advising them of their good fortune. One of the fathers conceives a plan of taking a dagger and wrapping a piece of string around the blade, after which he prints on the string with a lead pencil, the exact location of their find. If something happens to them, the string goes to the son and the knife to the daughter. Lightning Bryce is a 1919-1920 American Western film serial directed by Paul Hurst and starring Ann Little and Jack Hoxie (his first starring role). 15 episodes were produced. Cast Ann Little as Kate Arnold Jack Hoxie as Sky "Lightning" Bryce Paul Hurst as Powder Solvang Jill Woodward as the Mystery Woman Steve Clemente as Zambleau Scout as Lightning's horse Uncredited Yakima Canutt as the Deputy (episode 15) George Champion as a henchman Ben Corbett as a henchman Edna Holland as Daisy Bliss George Hunter as a henchman Noble Johnson as Dopey Sam's henchman / Arnold's butler Slim Lucas as a henchman Augustina López as Mother Lopez Walter Patterson as a henchman Reception A reviewer for Motion Picture News noted the outdoor shots, writing that "a wide variety of scenery is used as a background, much of it being really beautiful." They continued, "Suspense is nicely maintained at the close of each episode and there are plenty of stunts pulled which are noteworthy. In these Hoxie is not alone, being ably assisted by Miss Little." A critic for Exhibitors Herald wrote, "This serial has received more favorable comments than any serial that has been run for some time. Children will like it.

The Mark of Zorro is a 1920 American silent Western romance film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Noah Beery. This genre-defining swashbuckler adventure was the first movie version of The Mark of Zorro. Based on the 1919 story The Curse of Capistrano by Johnston McCulley, which introduced the masked hero, Zorro, the screenplay was adapted by Fairbanks (as "Elton Thomas") and Eugene Miller. The film was produced by Fairbanks for his own production company, Douglas Fairbanks Pictures Corporation, and was the first film released through United Artists, the company formed by Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith. Noah Beery Jr. makes his first of many dozens of screen appearance spanning six decades. He portrayed a young child; his father began sporadically billing himself as Noah Beery Sr. as a result. The film has been remade twice, once in 1940 (starring Tyrone Power) and again in 1974 (starring Frank Langella). In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot A colorized lobby card showing a scene from the film, 1920 The Mark of Zorro tells the story of Don Diego Vega, the outwardly foppish son of a wealthy ranchero Don Alejandro in the old Spanish California of the early 19th century. Seeing the mistreatment of the peons by rich landowners and the oppressive colonial government, Don Diego, who is not as effete as he pretends, has taken the identity of the masked Robin Hood-like rogue Señor Zorro ("Mr. Fox"), champion of the people, who appears out of nowhere to protect them from the corrupt administration of Governor Alvarado. His henchman the villainous Captain Juan Ramon and the brutish Sergeant Pedro Gonzales (Noah Beery, Wallace Beery's older half-brother). With his sword flashing and an athletic sense of humor, Zorro scars the faces of evildoers with his mark, "Z". Primary cast Douglas Fairbanks as Don Diego Vega/Señor Zorro Marguerite De La Motte as Lolita Pulido Noah Beery Sr. as Sergeant Pedro Gonzales Charles Hill Mailes as Don Carlos Pulido Claire McDowell as Doña Catalina Pulido Robert McKim as Captain Juan Ramon George Periolat as Governor Alvarado Walt Whitman as Father Felipe Sidney De Gray as Don Alejandro Vega Tote Du Crow as Bernardo, Don Diego's mute servant Noah Beery Jr. as Boy Charles Stevens as Peon beaten by Sergeant Gonzales Milton Berle (uncredited child) Reception and impact Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance, assessing the film's legacy in 2008, writes: "The Mark of Zorro is a landmark, not only in the career of Douglas Fairbanks, but also in the development of the action-adventure film. With this, his thirtieth motion picture, Fairbanks was transitioning from comedies to the costume films for which he is best remembered. Instead of reflecting the times, The Mark of Zorro offers an infusion of the romantic past with a contemporary flair ... Beyond reenergizing his career and redefining a genre, Fairbanks's The Mark of Zorro helped popularize one of the enduring creations of twentieth-century American fiction, a character who was the prototype for comic book heroes such as Batman." Batman connection Lobby card with Douglas Fairbanks and Noah Beery In the DC Comics continuity, it is established that The Mark of Zorro was the film that the young Bruce Wayne had seen with his parents at a movie theater, moments before they were killed in front of his eyes by an armed thug. Zorro is often portrayed as Bruce's childhood hero and an influence on his Batman persona. There are discrepancies regarding which version Bruce saw: The Dark Knight Returns claims it was the Tyrone Power version, whereas a story by Alan Grant claimed it to be the silent 1920 original. Bill Finger was himself inspired by Fairbanks' Zorro, including similarities in costumes, the "Bat Cave" and Zorro's cave, and unexpected secret identities, especially since the Batman character predates the Tyrone Power remake by a year. The posters for 1940's The Mark of Zorro and the 1981 film Excalibur were used for a scene in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

A young woman visiting Mexico is kidnapped by a gang of bandits who drag her through the rugged wilderness to their hideout. She manages to leave word for her friend Bill, who knows the country well. But when Bill cannot find a horse, his only available form of transportation is his roadster. Nevertheless, he is determined to come to her rescue, even if it means trying to drive the car across miles of rocky, broken terrain. Directors: Nell Shipman, Bert Van Tuyle Writers: Nell Shipman, Bert Van Tuyle Stars: Nell Shipman, Bert Van Tuyle, L.M. Wells

The Last of the Mohicans is a 1920 American silent adventure drama film written by Robert A. Dillon, adapted from James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 novel of the same name. Clarence Brown and Maurice Tourneur co-directed the film. (Brown took over the direction of the film after Tourneur injured himself in a fall.) It is a story of two English sisters meeting danger on the frontier of the American colonies, in and around the fort commanded by their father. The adventure film stars Wallace Beery, Barbara Bedford, Lillian Hall, Alan Roscoe and Boris Karloff in one of his earliest silent film roles (playing an Indian brave). Barbara Bedford later married her co-star in the film, Alan Roscoe in real life. The production was shot near Big Bear Lake and in Yosemite Valley. The film was well received at the time of its release. Film historian William K. Everson considers The Last of the Mohicans to be a masterpiece. In 1995, the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Plot Duration: 1 hour, 11 minutes and 7 seconds.1:11:07 The Last of the Mohicans complete film In 1757, in the midst of the French and Indian War, three French divisions and their Huron Indian allies are advancing on Fort William Henry, a British stronghold south of Lake George in the colony of New York. Chingachgook sends his son Uncas, the last living warrior of the Mohican tribe, to warn the fort's commander, Colonel Munro, of the imminent danger. Uncas is admired by Munro's daughter Cora, much to the displeasure of her suitor, Captain Randolph. Cast Wallace Beery as Magua Barbara Bedford as Cora Munro Lillian Hall as Alice Munro Alan Roscoe as Uncas Theodore Lorch as Chingachgook Harry Lorraine as Hawkeye (aka Natty Bumppo) Henry Woodward as Major Heyward James Gordon as Colonel Munro George Hackathorne as Captain Randolph Nelson McDowell as David Gamut Jack McDonald as Tamenund Sydney Deane as General Webb Boris Karloff as an Indian brave (uncredited) Joseph Singleton Chief Tahachee as an Indian brave (uncredited) Critical assessment The Maurice Tourneur and Clarence Brown adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 historical novel retains its high stature among film historians and "still considered to be the best film adaption of Cooper’s novel.”[5][6] Film historian and biographer Charles Higham offered high praise for the directorial “sophistication” and “daring” in the development of the Cora Munro (Barbara Bedford) character: “The Last of the Mohicans mood is darker, stranger than anything suggested by James Fenimore Cooper’s robust boy’s book. The darkness wells from the character of the older girl, Cora Munro, played by Barbara Bedford. Prim and proper in her demeanor, she is actually seized by virginal longings, consumed with sexual desire for her Indian guide-protector Uncas (Alan Roscoe). At a time when women in movies were supposed to be mere wilting violets, this explicit sexual frankness must have been an astonishment, and was in truth quite revolutionary. Looking into Miss Bedford’s sly animal eyes, looking at the movement of her mouth, we are already aware of the director’s sophisticated understanding of the medium’s potential for sexual expression. In 1920, this understanding, and the equivalent daring of the actress, whose performance is a triumph of subtle technique, were nothing short of miraculous.” Acknowledging the “strengths and weaknesses” evident in every cinematic treatment of the famous novel—adaptations of the novel appeared as early as 1911— including the George B. Seitz version in 1936 and the 1992 production by Michael Mann—film critic David Sterritt reports “that for pure visual storytelling and a memorably filmed climax, the silent movie by Tourneur and Brown has proven hard to beat.”

The Penalty is an American psychological thriller crime film starring Lon Chaney and originally released in 1920 by Goldwyn Pictures. The movie was directed by Wallace Worsley, and written by Philip Lonergan and Charles Kenyon, based upon the pulp novel by Gouverneur Morris. The supporting cast includes Charles Clary, Doris Pawn, Jim Mason, and Claire Adams. The copyright for the film was owned by Gouverneur Morris, who wrote the novel on which the film was based. The budget for the film was $88,868.00. Portions of the film were shot in San Francisco. The Penalty was re-released to theaters in 1926 by MGM. This was the first of five films Chaney would make with director Wallace Worsley, the others being Ace of Hearts, Voices of the City, A Blind Bargain and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The film exists in its complete form and is available on DVD. Chaney's leather stumps, crutches and costume from this film were donated to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, along with his famous make-up case. As described in a film magazine, Blizzard (Chaney), a legless cripple whose cunning and criminal mind make him the master of the Barbary Coast underworld, is possessed of two ambitions. One is to get revenge upon Dr. Ferris (Clary), whose blunder during a childhood operation resulted in Blizzard's legs being hastily and unnecessarily amputated; the other is to rally the Reds in his organization and loot the city of San Francisco. To accomplish one Blizzard poses for the bust of Satan which is expected to be the masterpiece of Barbara Ferris (Adams), daughter of the doctor, gaining her sympathy and eventually threatening to force her marriage to him. Cast Billed Charles Clary as Dr. Ferris Doris Pawn as Barbary Nell James Mason as Frisco Pete Lon Chaney as Blizzard Milton Ross as Lichtenstein Ethel Grey Terry as Rose Kenneth Harlan as Dr. Wilmot Claire Adams as Barbara Ferris Unbilled Montgomery Carlyle as A Crook Cesare Gravina as Art Teacher Lee Phelps as Policeman Madlaine Traverse as Woman Edouard Trebaol as Bubbles Clarence Wilson as A Crook Wilson Hummel Production To play the role of the legless cripple, Chaney wore an apparatus to simulate amputated legs, which consisted primarily of two wooden buckets and multiple leather straps, was complex and incredibly painful. Chaney's knees sat in the buckets, while his lower legs were tied back.[4] Studio doctors asked that Chaney not wear the device, but he insisted on doing so, so that his costume would be authentic. To assure audiences that Chaney was not an amputee, the original release of the film reportedly included a short epilogue clip showing Chaney out of character. This clip does not survive in the existing prints but in the movie itself, in the scene where Blizzard (Chaney) imagines his gang of anarchists carrying the loot from the Mint Building, Chaney is seen directing the heist unamputated. Preservation Prints of The Penalty are in the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Turner Film Library. Reception "Hats off to Lon Chaney! As "Blizzard" ... he gives one of the screen's greatest performances. However, up to almost the very conclusion the gripping melodramatic incidents hold securely and Chaney's work is so unusually fine, it will probably hold the production for all that is necessary."—The Wid's Film Daily "Lon Chaney, whose work in The Miracle Man won so much praise, portrays a role that might have been written for him. He is wicked and cunning, but in the end, he wins sympathy and applause. Chaney makes splendid use of every opportunity."—The Moving Picture World "It is needless to say that the picture is Chaney more than anyone else...The continuity is not always smooth, the action not always sustained. Episodes are often too racy to suit the intelligence of the picture patron. But there is no denying that the feature is interesting."—Variety. "Here is a picture that is about as cheerful as a hanging---and as interesting. You can't, being an average human and normal as to your emotional reactions, really like The Penalty, any more than you could enjoy a hanging. But for all its gruesome detail you are quite certain to be interested in it... It is a remarkably good performance this actor (Chaney) gives."—Photoplay. Legacy The Penalty was one of Chaney's breakout roles, showcasing his taste for the macabre and talent for contortion and disguise. He had previously demonstrated similar qualities in the previous year's The Miracle Man, but The Penalty and Treasure Island, both of 1920, secured Chaney's place as one of America's most famous character actors, before moving on to his more famous roles in 1923's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and 1925's The Phantom of the Opera.[citation needed] In 2009 Empire Magazine named it #17 in a poll of the 20 Greatest Gangster Movies You've Never Seen *Probably.

The Flapper is a 1920 American silent comedy film starring Olive Thomas. Directed by Alan Crosland, the film was the first in the United States to portray the "flapper" lifestyle, which became a cultural craze or fad in the 1920s. Plot Sixteen-year-old Genevieve 'Ginger' King (Thomas) is living in a very wealthy family in the boring town of Orange Springs, Florida with her younger siblings, where her unchaperoned decision to drink a soda with a young male is considered scandalous. Because of her questionable behavior and yearning for a more excitable life, Ginger's father decides to send her to a boarding school in Lake Placid, New York. Mrs. Paddles' School for Young Ladies is administered by the strict disciplinarian, Mrs. Paddles (Marcia Harris). Despite the strictness there, the girls have fun getting into flapper-lifestyle trouble including flirting. Richard Channing (William P. Carleton), an older man, rides past the seminary every day, prompting romantic fantasies among the schoolgirls. Cast Olive Thomas as Ginger King Warren Cook as Senator King Theodore Westman, Jr. as Bill Forbes Katherine Johnston as Hortense Arthur Housman as Tom Morran Louise Lindroth as Elmina Buttons Charles Craig as Reverend Cushil William P. Carleton as Richard Channing Marcia Harris as Mrs. Paddles Bobby Connelly as King, Jr. Athole Shearer as Extra (uncredited) Norma Shearer as Schoolgirl (uncredited) Production notes Frances Marion wrote the screenplay, which is credited with popularizing the slang term “flapper” throughout the United States in the 1920s. Olive Thomas appeared in only two films after The Flapper. She died in Paris in September 1920. Reception The Film Daily gave it an overall positive review on May 23, 1920, praising the acting of Olive Thomas. Its main criticism was regarding the editing and the conclusion of the film, writing that the story was "cleverly written with many amusing situations, but latter reels should be compressed".

The Golem: How He Came into the World (German: Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam, also referred to as Der Golem) is a 1920 German silent horror film and a leading example of early German Expressionism. Director Paul Wegener, who co-directed the film with Carl Boese and co-wrote the script with Henrik Galeen based on Gustav Meyrink's 1915 novel, stars as the titular creature, a being in Jewish folklore created from clay. Photographer Karl Freund went on to work on the 1930s classic Universal horror films years later in Hollywood. The Golem: How He Came into the World is the third of three films that Wegener made featuring the golem, the other two being The Golem (1915) and the short comedy The Golem and the Dancing Girl (1917), in which Wegener dons the golem make-up in order to frighten a young lady with whom he is infatuated. The Golem: How He Came into the World is a prequel to The Golem from 1915 and, as the only one of the three films that has not been lost, is the best known of the series. Plot Set in the Jewish ghetto of medieval Prague, the film begins with Rabbi Loew, the head of the city's Jewish community, reading the stars. Loew predicts disaster for his people and informs the elders of the community. The next day the Holy Roman Emperor signs a decree declaring that the Jews must leave the city before the new moon and sends the squire Florian to deliver the decree. Loew, meanwhile, begins to devise a way of defending the Jews. Upon arriving at the ghetto, the arrogant Florian is attracted to Miriam, Loew's daughter, for whom his assistant also feels affection. Loew talks Florian into reminding the Emperor that he has predicted disasters and told the Emperor's horoscopes, and requests an audience with him. Having flirted with Miriam, Florian leaves. Loew begins to create the Golem, a huge being made of clay which he will bring to life to defend his people. Cast • Albert Steinrück as Rabbi Loew • Paul Wegener as The Golem • Lyda Salmonova as Miriam • Ernst Deutsch as Loew's assistant • Lothar Müthel as Squire Florian • Otto Gebühr as Emperor • Hans Stürm as Rabbi Jehuda • Max Kronert as The Gatekeeper • Greta Schröder as A Lady of the Court • Loni Nest as Little Girl • Fritz Feld as A Jester Production Wegener had been unhappy with his 1915 attempt at telling the story, due to compromises he had to make during its production. His 1920 attempt was meant to more directly convey the legend as he heard it told in Prague while he was filming The Student of Prague (1913). In 1919, Wegener announced plans for Alraune und der Golem, uniting the two folklore characters in one film. Though posters and other publicity material survive, it was almost certainly never made. Instead, Wegener produced his 1920 film, but later starred as Professor Jakob ten Brinken in the 1928 version of Alraune. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. Architect and designer Hans Poelzig created the film's scenery as a highly stylized interpretation of the medieval Jewish ghetto of Prague. Release and reception In Germany, the film received a stellar reception. According to Spiro, the film "sold out the Berlin Premiere at Ufa-Palast am Zoo on October 29, 1920, and played to full theaters for two months straight." The film first released in the United States to packed houses in New York City in 1921 at the Criterion Theater. It was the longest-running movie in the same theatre that year, having run for 16 consecutive weeks in the theatre. Despite the hot summer, the film screened to full theaters daily, multiple times a day. Its release started a so-called "golem cult" of golem-related media and adaptations.

The Nut is a 1921 American silent film comedy directed by Theodore Reed. Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance writes, "Admittedly a minor work, The Nut is frequently dismissed in critical assessments of Fairbanks's career. This is unfortunate, for it contains some fascinating sequences and reveals much about the actor-producer's state of mind at the time it was made." Vance also notes, "The picture is like a chaotic funhouse, filled with magical masquerades, illusions, and gimmicks of great momentary amusement." Plot Based upon a summary in a film publication, Charlie (Fairbanks) has a girlfriend Estrell (De La Motte) who has a theory that if rich people would take a number of poor children into their homes each day, the environment would cause the children to grow up properly. Since Estrell does not know any of these rich people, Charlie offers to arrange a meeting. However, Charlie thinks impostors will do as well as the real rich people, so first he hires some men who turn out to be burglars and gamblers. Then he tries using dummies, but Estell is not fooled and becomes indignant. A wealthy man working as a reporter goes to investigate a report of a man dragging a body which turns out to be Charlie moving a dummy, allowing Charlie to finally meet someone rich. Estell is satisfied and agrees to marry him. Cast Douglas Fairbanks as Charlie Jackson Marguerite De La Motte as Estrell Wynn William Lowery as Philip Feeney Gerald Pring as Gentleman George Morris Hughes as Pernelius Vanderbrook Jr Barbara La Marr as Claudine Dupree Sidney De Gray (credited as Sydney dé Grey) Frank Campeau, Jeanne Carpenter, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Charles Stevens appear uncredited. Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance disputes the claims of many film historians that Charlie Chaplin appears in the film. "It is clearly as Chaplin imitator, not Chaplin himself, who appears briefly in the party sequence wearing the Tramp costume."

A Tale of Two Worlds is a 1921 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Goldwyn Pictures and directed by Frank Lloyd. The film stars several well-known actors including Leatrice Joy, Wallace Beery, Edythe Chapman, and J. Frank Glendon. The film has been preserved at the Library of Congress. Plot Based upon a summary in a film publication, Ah Wing (Warren) saves a white child during the Boxer Rebellion and raises her as Chinese in America as Sui Sen (Joy). Ling Jo (Beery), a tong leader and slave trader, desires Sui Sen and enters a marriage contract with Ah Wing where he will search and give the Scepter of the Mings to Ah Wing in return for the girl. Ah Wing agrees because he does not believe that the scepter can be recovered, but when it is produced, he, while heartbroken, must keep his word. The wedding day is set, and Ling Jo wants Sui Sen even after being told that she is white. Robert Newcomb (Glendon), a curio collector who has fallen in love with Sui Sen, and with the help of a young Chinese man called "The Worm" (Abbe), who also loves her, rescues her from the tong chief. Cast Leatrice Joy as Sui Sen Wallace Beery as Ling Jo E.A. Warren as Ah Wing Jack Abbe as The Worm J. Frank Glendon as Robert Newcomb Edythe Chapman as Mrs. Newcomb, mother of Robert Togo Yamamoto as One Eye, the Highbinder Arthur Soames as Doctor Newcombe Dwight Crittendon as Mr. Carmichael Irene Rich as Mrs. Carmichael Etta Lee as Ah Fah Goro King as The Windlass Man Margaret McWade as The Attendant Ah Wing as Servant Spy Louie Cheung Chow Young

Forbidden Fruit is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Agnes Ayres, Forrest Stanley, Clarence Burton, and Kathlyn Williams. It is a remake of the 1915 film The Golden Chance, which was also directed by DeMille. The film survives in prints at George Eastman House and the Library of Congress. Plot Mrs. Mallory (Williams) persuades Mary Maddock (Ayres), her unhappily married seamstress, to take the place of an absent guest at her dinner party so that her husband can complete a business deal with Nelson Rogers (Stanley) rather than make his trip out West. Gorgeously gowned and very beautiful, Mary wins the heart of Nelson at the party, who asks her to marry him. Mary realizes what she is missing and remains faithful to her abusive and idle husband Steve Maddock (Burton), whom she supports. After a final insult from him (throwing a shoe at her bird that knocks the cage out a window to its death), she remains with the Mallorys, who need her for a weekend with Nelson. Cast Agnes Ayres as Mary Maddock Clarence Burton as Steve Maddock Theodore Roberts as James Harrington Mallory Kathlyn Williams as Mrs. Mallory Forrest Stanley as Nelson Rogers Theodore Kosloff as Pietro Giuseppe Shannon Day as Nadia Craig Bertram Johns as John Craig Julia Faye as Maid William Boyd (uncredited)

Sherlock Holmes (released as Moriarty in the UK) is a 1922 American silent mystery drama film starring John Barrymore as Sherlock Holmes, Roland Young as Dr. John Watson and Gustav von Seyffertitz as Moriarty. The movie, which features the screen debuts of both William Powell (credited as William H. Powell) and Roland Young, was directed by Albert Parker. It was written by Earle Browne and Marion Fairfax from the 1899 play by William Gillette and Arthur Conan Doyle based upon Doyle's characters and was produced by Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. The film was considered lost for decades but was rediscovered in the mid-1970s and restored by George Eastman House. Plot Cambridge student Prince Alexis (Reginald Denny) is accused of stealing the athletic funds. Friend and fellow student Watson recommends he seek the assistance of classmate Sherlock Holmes. Meanwhile, while honing his observational skills out in the countryside, Holmes falls and is knocked unconscious. A young woman passerby, Alice Faulkner (Carol Dempster), comes to his aid, much to his delight. Holmes accepts the case, and soon has a suspect, Forman Wells (William H. Powell). Wells eventually confesses he took the money to try to get away from Moriarty (Gustav von Seyffertitz); Wells is actually the son of a crook being groomed by the criminal mastermind for some later scheme. Fascinated, Holmes meets Moriarty face to face, impudently asking to study him, but of course Moriarty refuses to cooperate. Holmes informs Watson he has found his mission in life: to stop Moriarty. Cast John Barrymore as Sherlock Holmes Roland Young as Dr. John Watson Carol Dempster as Alice Faulkner Gustav von Seyffertitz as Professor Moriarty Louis Wolheim as Craigin Percy Knight as Sid Jones William H. Powell as Forman Wells Hedda Hopper as Madge Larrabee Peggy Bayfield as Rose Faulkner Margaret Kemp as Therese Anders Randolf as James Larrabee Robert Schable as Alf Bassick Reginald Denny as Prince Alexis David Torrence as Count von Stalburg Robert Fischer as Otto, the Prince's valet and Moriarty's secret underling Lumsden Hare as Dr. Leighton Jerry Devine as Billy John Willard[6] as Inspector Gregson Walter Kingsford as Gunman in apartment (uncredited) Restoration John Barrymore and Roland Young Material held by Eastman House was the basis for a reconstruction produced by Kevin Brownlow and William K. Everson (aided in the early stages by director Albert Parker himself, then in his late 80s), with a second reconstruction (incorporating newly found elements) undertaken by Eastman House itself in 2001. Describing the first reconstruction attempt in 1975, Everson made it clear that reassembling the available material into a viewable form was a far from trivial task: "A few years ago all that existed of this film were rolls and rolls of negative sections, in which every take--not every sequence, but every take--were [sic] jumbled out of order, with only a few flash titles[9] for guidance [...] and a script that in many ways differed from the play, adding to the herculean task of putting it all together." The 2001 reconstruction was released on DVD by Kino International in 2009, with about 26 minutes of footage still missing. A Kino Blu-ray release followed in December 2011.

Monte Cristo is a 1922 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation and directed by Emmett J. Flynn. It is based on the 1844 novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, which was adapted by 19th century thespian Charles Fechter and written for this screen version by Bernard McConville. John Gilbert plays the hero with Estelle Taylor as the leading lady. This film was long thought lost until a print surfaced in the Czech Republic. The film has been released on DVD, packaged with Gilbert's 1926 MGM film Bardelys the Magnificent. Cast John Gilbert as Edmond Dantes, the Count of Monte Cristo Estelle Taylor as Mercedes, Countess de Morcerf Robert McKim as De Villefort, the king's public prosecutor William V. Mong as Caderousse, the innkeeper Virginia Brown Faire as Haidee, an Arabian princess George Siegmann as Luigi Vampa, ex-pirate Spottiswoode Aitken as Abbe Faria Ralph Cloninger as Fernand, Count de Morcerf Albert Prisco as Baron Danglars Al. W. Filson as Morrel, shipowner (as Al Filson) Harry Lonsdale as Dantes, father of Edmond Francis McDonald as Benedetto Jack Cosgrave as Governor of Chateau d'If (as Jack Cosgrove) Maude George as Baroness Danglars Renée Adorée as Eugenie Danglars, her daughter

One Exciting Night is a 1922 American Gothic silent mystery film directed by D. W. Griffith. The plot revolves around a series of murders on a wealthy estate and the attempts of the cast to uncover the murderer's identity. The success of both the Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood play The Bat (1920), as well as the 1922 stage play The Cat and the Canary, led Griffith to write and produce his own variation on the theme. At the time of this film, Henry Hull was starring on Broadway in the stage version of John Willard's The Cat and the Canary. Plot Agnes Harrington's uncle separates her from her family in Africa when her wealthy father passes away, so that he won't have to share his brother's fortune with the child. Years later on his deathbed, he sees to it that Agnes is restored to her rightful place in society, cutting his own son John Fairfax out of the chain of inheritance in the process. John, Agnes and a number of other people gather at a social event at the famous Fairfax Estate, unaware that it is being used by a gang of bootleggers, and that a hidden treasure is concealed somewhere on the grounds. To make matters worse, a creepy madman is stalking the grounds, and one by one people start turning up dead. Cast Carol Dempster as Agnes Harrington Henry Hull as John Fairfax Morgan Wallace as J. Wilson Rockmaine Margaret Dale as Mrs. Harrington Charles Emmett Mack as A Guest Charles Croker-King as The Neighbor Porter Strong as Romeo Washington Frank Sheridan as Detective Frank Wunderlee as Samuel Jones Grace Griswold as Auntie Fairfax Irma Harrison as The Maid Herbert Sutch as Clary Johnson Percy Carr as The Butler Production One Exciting Night saw an underwhelming response at test screenings. Director D. W. Griffith decided that the problem was that the film lacked the spectacular climax audiences had come to expect from his films, so he reassembled the cast and shot a new ending involving a terrifying storm, using a combination of real hurricane footage which he had shot earlier, and studio footage filmed with special effects. Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by D. W. Griffith (as Irene Sinclair) Produced by D. W. Griffith Starring Carol Dempster Henry Hull Morgan Wallace Margaret Dale Porter Strong Cinematography Irving B. Ruby Hendrik Sartov [fr] Production company: D.W. Griffith Productions Distributed by: United Artists Release date: October 2, 1922 Running time 128 minutes Country United States Language Silent (English intertitles) Budget $362,000 Box office $1,150,000[1]

Robin Hood is a 1922 silent adventure film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Wallace Beery. It was the first motion picture ever to have a Hollywood premiere, held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on October 18, 1922. The movie's full title, under which it was copyrighted, is Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood. It was one of the most expensive films of the 1920s, with a budget estimated at about one million dollars. The film was a smash hit and generally received favorable reviews. Plot The opening has the dashing Earl of Huntingdon besting his bitter enemy, Sir Guy of Gisbourne, in a joust. Huntingdon then joins King Richard the Lion-Hearted, who is going off to fight in the Crusades and has left his brother, Prince John, as regent. The prince soon emerges as a cruel, treacherous tyrant. Goaded on by Sir Guy, he usurps Richard's throne. When Huntingdon receives a message from Lady Marian Fitzwalter, his love interest, telling him of all that has transpired, he requests permission to return to England. King Richard assumes that the Earl has turned coward and denies him permission. The Earl seeks to leave in spite of this but is ambushed by Sir Guy and imprisoned as a deserter. Upon escaping from his confines, he returns to England, endangering his life and honor, to oppose Prince John and restore King Richard's throne. He finds his friends and himself outlawed and Marian apparently dead. Cast Douglas Fairbanks as Earl of Huntingdon/Robin Hood (Fairbanks's custom was to place his name last.) Wallace Beery as King Richard the Lion-Hearted Sam De Grasse as Prince John Enid Bennett as Lady Marian Fitzwalter Paul Dickey as Sir Guy of Gisbourne William Lowery as The High Sheriff of Nottingham Willard Louis as Friar Tuck Alan Hale as The Squire/Little John Bud Geary as Will Scarlet Lloyd Talman as Allan-a-Dale Billie Bennett as Servant to Lady Marian Wallace Beery played King Richard the Lion-Hearted again the following year in a sequel called Richard the Lion-Hearted. Alan Hale, Sr., made such an impression as Little John in this film that he reprised the role 16 years later in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) opposite Errol Flynn, then played the character again in Rogues of Sherwood Forest in 1950, 28 years after his initial performance in the original Fairbanks film. Production Robin and Marian A huge castle set, and an entire 12th-century village of Nottingham were constructed at the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio in Hollywood. Some sets were designed by architect Lloyd Wright. Director Allan Dwan later recalled that Fairbanks was so overwhelmed by the scale of the sets that he considered cancelling production at one point. The castle was largely built of wood, wire, and plaster. The exceptions were the concrete floor and the (wood-covered) steel drawbridge. Score At its premiere, Robin Hood was accompanied by an orchestral score especially commissioned by Fairbanks and composed by Victor Schertzinger. That score has also been adapted and conducted live by U.S. composer Gillian Anderson. Though the film has received many live and recorded scores since its first release, perhaps the two most significant are further orchestral scores written in 2007 by American composer and conductor John Scott, and in 2016 by eminent British silent film musician Neil Brand. Reception Wallace Beery, Enid Bennett, and Douglas Fairbanks listen to a recent invention only widely broadcasting for the previous three years: a radio. Fairbanks as Robin Hood on the cover of Photoplay, illustrated by J. Knowles Hare Robin Hood generally received favorable reviews. It received an aggregate score of 100% and an average rating of 8.6/10 from Rotten Tomatoes based on seven reviews. Combustible Celluloid's Jeffrey M. Anderson rated the movie 4 stars out of 4, concluding "Director Allan Dwan had worked with Fairbanks on several two-reelers, and would go on to direct his last silent film, The Iron Mask (1929). Dwan would continue working, making "B" pictures up until the 1960s, and finishing up with something like 500 films on his resume before he died. But Robin Hood is his masterpiece.". Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance evaluated the film in 2008 as follows: "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood is the most important legacy of the rich life and career of Douglas Fairbanks. The towering sets are long gone, and the characters have been reimagined and reinterpreted, but the foundation the film was built upon—and the culture it created—exists to this day.... The creation of Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood consumed nearly a year of his life, and the experience established the matrix for all of his subsequent silent film productions. Indeed, it was the first of his productions to be fully realized in every respect."

Phantom is a 1922 German romantic fantasy film directed by F. W. Murnau. It is an example of German Expressionist film and has a surreal, dreamlike quality. Plot The film is told in an extended flashback. Lorenz Lubota (Alfred Abel), is a clerk in a minor government office, an aspiring poet, and a member of a family headed by a worrisome mother who has a tense relationship with a daughter, Melanie, whom the mother believes works as a prostitute. One day, while Lorenz is walking to work, a woman (Lya De Putti) driving two white horses hits him in the road, knocking him to the ground. Physically, he is unharmed, but from that point forward, the woman in the carriage (named Veronika) consumes his every thought. His obsession with Veronika costs him his job when he fails to show up for work and threatens his boss for accusing him of stalking her. Believing his poems will be published and anticipating a meeting with a publisher, Lorenz asks his Aunt Schwabe (Grete Berger)—a cutthroat pawnbroker—for money to buy a new suit. Schwabe's assistant, Wigottschinski (Anton Edthofer), encourages Lorenz to celebrate and they reunite with Lorenz's sister, who becomes Wigottschinski's girlfriend. Cast Alfred Abel as Lorenz Lubota Grete Berger as Pfandleiherin Schwabe/Pawnbroker Schwabe Lil Dagover as Marie Starke Lya De Putti as Veronika Harlan/Mellitta Anton Edthofer as Wigottschinski Aud Egede-Nissen as Melanie Lubota Olga Engl as Harlans Frau/Harlan's Wife Karl Etlinger as Buchbinder Starke/Bookbinder Starke Ilka Grüning as Baronin/Baroness Adolf Klein as Harlan Frida Richard as Lubotas Mutter/Lubota's Mother Hans Heinrich von Twardowski as Hugo Lubot Reception Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film three out of a possible four stars, calling the film "[a] poetic psychodrama". Preservation status The film was thought to be a lost film for many years, but was restored by German film archivists and re-released in the USA on 12 September 2006.

The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1922 American silent adventure film directed by Rex Ingram, one of the many adaptations of Anthony Hope's popular 1894 novel The Prisoner of Zenda and the subsequent 1896 play by Hope and Edward Rose. Plot Englishman Rudolf Rassendyll (Lewis Stone) decides to pass the time by attending the coronation of his distant relation, King Rudolf V of Ruritania (also played by Stone). He encounters an acquaintance on the train there, Antoinette de Mauban (Barbara La Marr), the mistress of the king's treacherous brother, Grand Duke 'Black' Michael (Stuart Holmes). The day before the coronation, Rassendyll is seen by Colonel Sapt (Robert Edeson) and Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim (Malcolm McGregor). Astounded by the uncanny resemblance between Rassendyll and their liege, they take him to meet Rudolf at a hunting lodge. The king is delighted with his double and invites him to dinner. During the meal, a servant brings in a fine bottle of wine, a present from Michael delivered by his henchman, Rupert of Hentzau (Ramon Novarro). After Rudolf tastes it, he finds it so irresistible that he drinks the entire bottle by himself. Cast Lewis Stone as Rudolf Rassendyll/King Rudolf V Alice Terry as Princess Flavia Robert Edeson as Colonel Sapt Stuart Holmes as Grand Duke Michael Ramon Novarro as Rupert of Hentzau Barbara La Marr as Antoinette de Mauban Malcolm McGregor as Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim Edward Connelly as Marshal von Strakencz Lois Lee as Countess Helga, Flavia's lady-in-waiting Snitz Edwards as Josef Johnny George as Dwarf assassin Fairfax Burger as Bersonin S.E. Jennings as De Gautet Ted Billings as Train Passenger (uncredited) Production Director Rex Ingram and star Alice Terry had known each other since they worked together on the film Shore Acres in 1920. The pair slipped off together during filming one Saturday and were married. They spent Sunday watching movies together and were back at work on Monday. It was not revealed that they had married until after the film had been completed and the couple were on their honeymoon. Reception The film was received positively by critics. The New York Times called it "well worth seeing" though "needlessly talky" and wrote that "much of the acting is excellent", if occasionally "overdone". "It couldn't miss", wrote Variety of the film's content. "It probably would have been proof against bad direction but done with perfect stage management and exquisite literary taste it is faultless." The New York World called it "dignified elegance from start to finish." "One of the best productions given to the public by Mr. Ingram", reported the New York Telegram. "It has all the thrills and chills of the melodrama, without leaving an unpleasant memory." "Perhaps after mature deliberation I may want to retract the statement, but in this moment of enthusiasm I want to say that I think The Prisoner of Zenda is the best picture I have ever seen", raved the Chicago Tribune critic.

Tess of the Storm Country is a 1922 silent film starring Mary Pickford, directed by John S. Robertson, and based upon a Grace Miller White novel. It is a remake of Pickford's film from eight years prior and was subsequently remade a decade later as a sound version starring Janet Gaynor. Plot 17-year-old Tess Skinner is the daughter of a squatter, and wealthy man Elias Graves, who owns the land, is trying to get rid of them and the other squatter families. Tess is just as determined to make sure they all stay. Elias, however, grows more stubborn with failure. His determination to disperse the squatters has become an obsession. He is determined to kick them out of his land, not caring they don't have another place to go to. Graves' son, Frederick, is on her side and doesn't think about squatters the way his father does. Frederick's sister Teola fears her father, who thinks obedience is more important than love. She has fallen in love with law student Dan Jordan and one night lets Dan understand that they cannot wait any longer to marry as she is pregnant with his child. Dan promises that they will run away together if Elias won't agree to them marrying. Cast Mary Pickford - Tessibel 'Tess' Skinner Lloyd Hughes - Frederick Graves Gloria Hope - Teola Graves David Torrence - Elias Graves Forrest Robinson - Orn 'Daddy' Skinner Jean Hersholt - Ben Letts Danny Hoy - Ezra Longman Robert Russell - Mr. Daniel 'Dan' Jordan Gus Saville - Old Man Longman Madame De Bodamere - Mrs. Longman Milton Berle - Bit Role (uncredited) Jeanne Carpenter - (uncredited) Production Leading actress Pickford's previous film Little Lord Fauntleroy flopped critically. Pickford realized she had to make a movie the audience loved to see her in. She wanted to play the role again, because she loved the character and stated the crew had more abilities with a bigger budget and better technology.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1923 American drama film starring Lon Chaney, directed by Wallace Worsley, and produced by Carl Laemmle and Irving Thalberg. The supporting cast includes Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Nigel de Brulier, and Brandon Hurst. The film was Universal's "Super Jewel" of 1923 and was their most successful silent film, grossing $3.5 million. The film premiered on September 2, 1923, at the Astor Theatre in New York, New York, then went into release on September 6. The screenplay was written by Perley Poore Sheehan and Edward T. Lowe Jr., based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, and is notable for the grand sets that recall 15th century Paris as well as for Chaney's performance and make-up as the tortured hunchback bellringer Quasimodo. This was the seventh film adaptation of the novel. The film elevated Chaney, who was already a well-known character actor, to full star status in Hollywood, and also helped set a standard for many later horror films, including Chaney's The Phantom of the Opera in 1925. Two classic stills showing Chaney as Quasimodo can be seen on the internet, highlighting the makeup job, as well as the film's program book. Plot Quasimodo being offered water by Esmeralda. The story is set in Paris in 1482. Quasimodo is a deaf, half-blind, hunchbacked bell-ringer of the famous Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. His master is a man named Jehan, the evil brother of Notre Dame's saintly archdeacon Dom Claude. One night, Jehan prevails upon Quasimodo to kidnap the fair Esmeralda, a dancing Roma girl (and the adopted daughter of Clopin, the king of the oppressed beggars of Paris' underworld). The dashing Captain Phoebus rescues Esmeralda from Quasimodo, while Jehan abandons him and flees (later in the film, Quasimodo hates Jehan for abandoning him and is no longer loyal to him). At first seeking a casual romance, Phoebus becomes entranced by Esmeralda, and takes her under his wing. Quasimodo is sentenced to be lashed in the public square before Esmeralda and Dom Claude come to his aid. Directed by Wallace Worsley Screenplay by Edward T. Lowe, Jr., Perley Poore Sheehan Based on The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo Produced by Carl Laemmle Starring Lon Chaney Patsy Ruth Miller Norman Kerry Brandon Hurst Raymond Hatton Ernest Torrence Nigel de Brulier Cinematography Robert Newhard Uncredited Effects Assistants: Tony Kornman Virgil Miller Stephen S. Norton Charles J. Stumar Edited by Edward Curtiss Maurice Pivar Sydney Singerman Music by Cecil Copping Carl Edouarde Hugo Riesenfeld Heinz Eric Roemheld Production company: Universal Pictures Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date : September 6, 1923 Running time: 102 minutes 117 min (Director's cut) 98 min (cut edition) Country United States Language Silent (English intertitles) Budget $1,250,000 (estimated) Box office $3.5 million (worldwide rentals)

Aelita (Russian: Аэли́та, pronounced [ɐɛˈlʲitə]), also known as Aelita: Queen of Mars, is a 1924 Soviet silent science fiction film directed by Yakov Protazanov and produced at the Mezhrabpom-Rus film studio. It was based on Alexei Tolstoy's 1923 novel of the same name. Nikolai Tseretelli and Valentina Kuindzhi were cast in leading roles. Though the main focus of the story are the daily lives of a small group of people during the post-war Soviet Union, the film's enduring importance comes from its early sci-fi elements. It primarily tells of an engineer Mstislav Sergeyevich Los (Russian: Лось) traveling to Mars in a rocket ship, where he leads a popular uprising against the ruling group of Elders, with the support of Queen Aelita who has fallen in love with him after watching him through a telescope. In its performances in the cinemas in Leningrad, Dmitri Shostakovich played on the piano the music he provided for the film. In the United States, Aelita was edited and titled by Benjamin De Casseres for release in 1929 as Aelita: Revolt of the Robots. Plot Moscow, 1921. A mysterious wireless message is received by various stations: its text is 'Anta Odeli Uta'. Someone facetiously suggests it has come from Mars, in order to tease Los (Nikolai Tseretelli), an engineer who is obsessed with the idea of going to Mars. This inspires him to daydream about Mars and a strange civilization there. We see Aelita (Yuliya Solntseva), the queen; Tuskub (Konstantin Eggert), the actual ruler; and Ikhoshka (Aleksandra Peregonets), Aelita's mischievous maid. They live in a society where aristocrats rule over slaves who are confined underground and put into cold storage when not required. Los's wife Natasha (Valentina Kuindzhi) is pestered by Erlikh (Pavel Pol), a bourgeois playboy before the revolution who is now a dishonest minor official. He uses his connections to steal a large amount of sugar with the intention of selling it on the black market. Los, who has seen Erlikh making up to Natasha but has not seen her rejecting him, becomes jealous. Los continues to daydream, he imagines that Aelita has access to a telescope by which she can see people on Earth and has become attracted to him. Spiridonov (Nikolai Tseretelli again), an intellectual engineer and friend of Los's, is being quietly swindled by Erlikh. He disappears; a would-be detective, Kratsov (Igor Ilyinsky) (who has been rejected by the police) suspects Spiridonov to be guilty of the theft of the sugar, because of his disappearance. Cast Yuliya Solntseva as Aelita, Queen of Mars Igor Ilyinsky as Kravtsov – amateur sleuth Nikolai Tseretelli as Engineer Los / Evgeni Spiridonov Nikolay Batalov as Gusev, Red Army Soldier Vera Orlova as Nurse Masha, Gusev's Wife Valentina Kuindzhi as Natasha, Los' Wife (as Vera Kuindzhi) Pavel Pol as Viktor Erlich, Sugar Profiteer Konstantin Eggert as Tuskub, Ruler of Mars Yuri Zavadsky as Gol, Radiant Energy Tower Guardian Aleksandra Peregonets as Ikhoshka, Aelita's Maidservant Sofya Levitina as President House Committee Influences One of the earliest full-length films about space travel, the most notable segment remains its remarkable constructivist Martian sets by Isaac Rabinovich and Victor Simov and costumes designed by Aleksandra Ekster. Their influence can be seen in a number of later films, including the Flash Gordon serials and probably Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Woman in the Moon and the more recent Liquid Sky. Parts of the plot were loosely adapted for the 1951 film Flight to Mars. J. Hoberman of The Village Voice wrote that the 1960 American film Beyond the Time Barrier "suggests an impoverished remake" of Aelita. While initially very popular, it later fell out of favor with the Soviet government and was thus very difficult to see until after the Cold War. Reception In a retrospective on Soviet science fiction film, British filmmaker Alex Cox remarking on BFI Southbank's celebration of "Eastern Bloc science fiction" called Aelita "Strangest of these [...] in which the human pastime of kissing creates turmoil on the red planet."

The Big Parade is a 1925 American silent war drama film directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Hobart Bosworth, Tom O'Brien, and Karl Dane. Written by World War I veteran Laurence Stallings, the film is about an idle rich boy who joins the U.S. Army's Rainbow Division, is sent to France to fight in World War I, becomes a friend of two working-class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl. A sound version of the film was released in 1930. While the sound version of the film has no audible dialog, it featured a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film has been praised for its realistic depiction of warfare, and it heavily influenced a great many subsequent war films, especially All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). The Big Parade is regarded as one of the greatest films made about World War I, and, in 1992, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Plot Duration: 2 hours, 29 minutes and 58 seconds In the United States in 1917, James "Jim" Apperson's idleness, in contrast to his hardworking brother, incurs the great displeasure of his wealthy businessman father. Then America enters World War I. Jim informs his worried mother that he has no intention of enlisting, and his father threatens to kick him out of the house if he does not join. However, when he runs into his patriotic friends at a send-off parade, he is persuaded to enlist, making his father very proud. During training, Jim makes friendships with Southern construction worker Slim and Bronx bartender Bull. Their unit ships out to France, where they are billeted at a farm in the village of Champillon in the Marne.

A Woman of the World is a 1925 American silent comedy-drama film starring Pola Negri, directed by Mal St. Clair, produced by Famous Players-Lasky, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Plot As described in a review in a film magazine, Countess Natatorini (Negri) seeks to forget a faithless lover by visiting her distant American cousin Sam Poore (Conklin) and his wife Lou (Ward) in their Midwestern home. Richard Granger (Herbert), newly elected district attorney and crusading reformer, shocked when he sees her violating the town social norms, he is enforcing by smoking a cigarette in public, finds that he is strongly attracted to her. At a community meeting, the countess finds that the townspeople are selling the right to talk to a real Countess at a quarter a head, and her annoyance builds when one curious old man offers to donate another quarter if she will show the tattoo mark that is the ineradicable reminder of the faithless foreign lover she wants to forget. Later, Sam seeks to console her and brings her laughter by showing that he has a railroad train tattoo running from his right wrist to his left hand, clear across his chest. After a series of innocent events between the Countess and his assistant Gareth Johns (Mack) arouses his jealousy, Richard denounces her alleged immorality and demands that she be ordered out of town. She avenges the insult with a horsewhip she gets from Lou, but when she draws blood from Richard she forgets all but her love, and we last see the pair in a hack on the way to the train station and the honeymoon, and he offers her the cigarettes he once denounced so strongly. Cast Pola Negri as Countess Elenora Natatorini Holmes Herbert as Richard Granger Charles Emmett Mack as Gareth Johns Chester Conklin as Sam Poore Blanche Mehaffey as Lennie Porter Guy Oliver as Judge Porter Lucille Ward as Lou Poore Dot Farley as Mrs. Fox May Foster as Mrs. Bierbauer Dorothea Wolbert as Annie Robert Dudley as French-Speaking Party Guest (uncredited) Fred Gamble as Townsman (uncredited) Anthony Jowitt as Unfaithful Lover (uncredited)

The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 American silent horror film adaptation of Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, directed by Rupert Julian and starring Lon Chaney in the title role of the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star. The film remains most famous for Chaney's ghastly, self-devised make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film's premiere. The picture also features Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, John St. Polis and Snitz Edwards. The last surviving cast member was Carla Laemmle (died 2014), niece of producer Carl Laemmle, who played a small role as a "prima ballerina" in the film when she was about 15 years old. The film was released on September 6, 1925, premiering at the Astor Theatre in New York. The film's final budget was $632,357. Cast Lon Chaney as The Phantom Mary Philbin as Christine Daaé Norman Kerry as Vicomte Raoul de Chagny Arthur Edmund Carewe as Ledoux Gibson Gowland as Simon Buquet John St. Polis (credited as John Sainpolis) as Comte Philippe de Chagny Snitz Edwards as Florine Papillon Virginia Pearson as Carlotta Pearson played Carlotta's mother in the reshoot segments of the 1929 partial talkie reissue Mary Fabian played a talking Carlotta in the reshoot segments of the 1929 partial talkie reissue Uncredited Bernard Siegel as Joseph Buquet Edward Martindel as Comte Phillipe de Chagny for the reshoot segments of the 1929 partial talkie reissue Joseph Belmont as a stage manager Alexander Bevani as Méphistophélès Edward Cecil as Faust Ruth Clifford as ballerina Roy Coulson as the Jester George Davis as The guard outside Christine's door Madame Fiorenza as Madame Giry, keeper of the box Cesare Gravina as a retiring manager Bruce Covington as Monsieur Moncharmin William Humphrey as Monsieur Debienne George B Williams as Monsieur Ricard Carla Laemmle as Meg Giry Grace Marvin as Martha John Miljan as Valéntin Rolfe Sedan as an undetermined role William Tracy as the Ratcatcher, the messenger from the shadows Anton Vaverka as Prompter Julius Harris as Gaffer Deleted scenes Olive Ann Alcorn as La Sorelli Chester Conklin as Orderly Ward Crane as Count Ruboff Vola Vale as Christine's maid Edith Yorke as Mama Valerius

Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde is a 1925 American silent, black-and-white comedy film, directed by Scott Pembroke and Joe Rock (also the producer). The film itself is both a spoof of the previous Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde films (e.g., Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)) and the well-famed 1886 novella by Robert Louis Stevenson Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The film stars Stan Laurel as the title characters. Plot and Characters Dr. Stanislaus Pyckle, (a play of the actor's name, Stan Laurel), successfully separates the good and evil of man's nature with the use of a powerful drug -- "Dr. Pyckle's 58th Variety", a spoof of "Heinz's 57". Transforming into the personality of Mr. Pryde (again Laurel), he terrorizes the town with unspeakable acts including stealing a boy's ice cream, cheating at marbles, and popping a bag behind a lady pedestrian. The townspeople track him down where Mr. Pride locks himself in the laboratory and transforms back as Dr. Pyckle. Cast Stan Laurel as Dr. Pyckle / Mr. Pryde (sometimes as Mr. Pride) Julie Leonard as Dr. Pyckle's assistant Pete the Dog (as Pete the Pup) Syd Crossley (uncredited bit role) Dot Farley (uncredited bit role) Information The following year (1926), Stan Laurel began his years-long collaboration with Oliver Hardy, and together they would make over 100 films. Pete the dog later starred in a series of Buster Brown films as Buster's dog Tige. The familiar circle around his eye was painted on by a makeup man. Production Directed by: Scott Pembroke and Joe Rock Produced by: Joe Rock Cinematography by: Edgar Lyons Assistant Director: Murray Rock Titles by: Tay Garnett Company: Joe Rock Comedies

The Lucky Devil is a 1925 American silent comedy-drama film, also known as Lucky Devil, directed by Frank Tuttle, and released by Paramount Pictures. Plot Randy Farman, who demonstrates camping outfits in a department store, wins a racing car in a raffle and sets out for the West. He runs out of gas, loses all his money, and falls in love with a girl called Doris, who, accompanied by her aunt, is on her way to Nampa City to claim an inheritance. Arriving at their destination, Doris and her aunt discover that the uncle, who sent for them, is locked up in an asylum, having invented the entire story of the bequest. Randy enters an exhibition fight with the champion boxer and stays long enough to win the entrance fee for an automobile race at the county fair. The sheriff has attached Randy's car for nonpayment of a hotel bill, and Randy must drive the entire race with the sheriff in the seat beside him. Randy wins the race, a substantial prize, and Doris' love. Cast Richard Dix as Bill Phelps Esther Ralston as Doris Kent Edna May Oliver as Aunt Abbie Kent Tom Findley as Franklyne Sr. Anthony Jowitt as Rudolph Franklyne Joseph Burke as the Bicycle Man Mary Foy as Mrs. Hunt Edward "Gunboat" Smith as Sailor Sheldon Charles Sellon as the Constable Charles Hammond as Tobias Sedgmore Charles McDonald as Tom Barrity George Webb as "Frenchy" Roget Jack La Rue as a Prizefight Attendant (uncredited) Preservation status This film is preserved at the Library of Congress,[3] George Eastman House, the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and the Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, Berkeley.

Cast Stan Laurel as A Tramp Max Asher as A Tramp Julie Leonard as The Farmer's Daughter Charles King as A Suitor Pete the Dog (as Pete the Pup)

Metropolis is a 1925 science fiction novel by the German writer Thea von Harbou. The novel was the basis for and written in tandem with Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis. Premise The story is set in a technologically advanced city, which is sustained by the existence of an exploited class of laborers who live underground, far away from the gleaming surface world. Freder, the son of Joh Fredersen, one of the city's founders, falls in love with Maria, a girl from the underground. The two classes begin to clash for lack of a unifying force. Publication The novel was serialized in the magazine Illustrates Blatt in 1925, accompanied by screenshots from the upcoming film adaptation. It was published in book form in 1926 by August Scherl. An English translation was published in 1927. Reception Michael Joseph of The Bookman wrote about the novel: "It is a remarkable piece of work, skillfully reproducing the atmosphere one has come to associate with the most ambitious German film productions. Suggestive in many respects of the dramatic work of Karel Capek and of the earlier fantastic romances of H. G. Wells, in treatment it is an interesting example of expressionist literature. [...] Metropolis is one of the most powerful novels I have read and one which may capture a large public both in America and England if it does not prove too bewildering to the plain reader."

Directed by Howard Higgin. At the 2nd Academy Awards in 1930, Elliott J. Clawson was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay). Prints of the film exist in the archives of the Library of Congress and at George Eastman House. Plot In the 1920s three U.S. Marines who have deserted return to their base in Tientsin, China; one is dead, one is insane, and one is court martialed. On the witness stand he relates their story from the end of World War I. Following the Armistice with Germany Pvt Calhoun temporarily frees a German prisoner of war named Schmidt to go drinking with him. In the bar another Marine, Pvt Hanlon, refuses to drink with a German; their brawl escalates into a fight with the military police where the three become friends. The German eventually migrates to the United States where he enlists in the Marines. The three Marines reunite in Vladivostok during the Siberian Intervention. The three meet a family of White Russians who have been impoverished by the Russian Revolution and whose only source of wealth is a potash mine the family owns in Manchuria. The three Marines also meet an American mercenary named Captain Heckla who attempts to recruit the Marines in a scheme to trick the Russian father out of his mine and share the wealth. The Marines beat Heckla up, with Tex marrying the White Russian's daughter Tanya. Cast William Boyd as Pvt William "Tex" Calhoun Alan Hale as Pvt Otto "Fuzzy" Schmidt Robert Armstrong as Pvt Joseph "Buddy" Hanlon Fred Kohler as Captain Heckla Diane Ellis as Tanya Jimmy Aldine as Tanya's brother (as James Aldine) Paul Weigel as Petrovitch Jules Cowles as Cook Wade Boteler as Gunnery Sergeant Jack Richardson as Captain Brand Joseph W. Girard as the Colonel