A Confederate officer is called off to war. He leaves his wife and daughter in the care of George, his faithful Negro servant. After the officer is killed in an exciting battle sequence, George continues in his caring duties, faithful to his trust. Events continue to turn for the worse when invading Yankee soldiers arrive to loot and torch the widow’s home. George saves the officer’s daughter and battle sword by braving the flames.Read More »
Stuart Paton’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916) is an epic retelling of Jules Verne’s classic novel, shot on location in the Bahaman Islands. Allen Holubar stars as the domineering Captain Nemo, who rescues the passengers of an American naval vessel after ramming them with his iron-clad, steampunk submarine, The Nautilus. Incorporating material from Verne’s Mysterious Island, the film also follows the adventures of a group of Civil War soldiers whose hot-air balloon crash lands on an exotic island, where they encounter the untamed “Child of Nature” (Jane Gail). Calling itself “The First Submarine Photoplay Ever Filmed,” the film is highlighted by stunning underwater photography (engineered by Ernest and George Williamson), including an underwater funeral and a deep sea diver’s battle with a giant cephalopod. In honor of the film’s extraordinary technical and artistic achievement, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.Read More »
One of the oldest documentaries filmed in Romania today that is still preserved, Wedding in Arad is a production during the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Transylvania – a period when film production flourished in the region under the influence of Hungarian filmmakers. Born in 1866, Szendrey began his career in acting and theater directing, as did many early film directors, which can be seen in his favorite use of space and theatrical conventions in the productions of the era. A convention visible both at the beginning and at the end of the film: the actors appear behind a curtain, and the last minutes of the film are a recording of a show that seems to be adapted after the life of Napoleon Bonaparte.Read More »
Jacques d’Athys returns from an expedition to Indochina where he picks up a book that contains the whereabouts of secret treasures and sensitive government intelligence. This makes him the target of foreign spies, including a Marquise of Latin origin, a Hindu hypnotist and an evil German doctor.Read More »
A twelve part serial following the adventures of the masked vigilante Judex as he fights against criminals led by the corrupt banker Favrauxom.Read More »
In a role that established him as one of the most dynamically terrifying performers of the silent screen, Lon Chaney stars in THE PENALTY, a grotesque thriller from director Wallace Worsley (The Hunchback of Notre Dame).
When an incompetent doctor amputates the legs of a young boy, he has no idea that the youth will grow up to be the immoral and embittered Blizzard, a criminal mastermind who orchestrates a bizarre and heinous plot to avenge himself upon his malefactor. THE PENALTY teems with irony and sexual menace as Blizzard befriends the surgeon’s daughter and serves as an artist’s model for her sculptural rendition of Satan, waiting for his moment to show the depth of his demonic desires.Read More »
An army pilot is on a visit at the home of another army pilot in the neighboured country. He falls in love with his sister. After the outbreak of a war between the two countries, her brother is killed by her friend in a battle, he is killed by some friends of her brother. She engages her with her brother’s friend who was there, but then she finds out about that battle.Read More »