1921-1930

The story of a nihilistic samurai whose mother is killed, whose sister is used and deceived, and who loses the only love of his life.Read More »

As she works in her tedious office job, Maria Ivanovna dreams about being married, and she has particular hopes that her co-worker Nikodim Mityushin will take an interest in her. Nikodim, though, is in love with Zina, who sells cigarettes on the sidewalk, and he frequently buys cigarettes from her even though he does not smoke. One day, a film crew uses Zina as an extra in an outdoor scene, and the cameraman, Latugin, falls in love with her. Latugin soon arranges an acting job for Zina. To complicate matters further, Zina has yet another admirer in Oliver MacBride, an American businessman who is visiting Moscow.Read More »

A world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. When new hands are grafted on, he doesn’t know they once belonged to a murderer.Read More »

When Jane is abducted by Arab slave traders, Tarzan comes to her rescue, only to see her kidnapped again by Queen La of Opar. To save Jane, Tarzan must battle both the queen’s minions and William Clayton, who seeks Tarzan’s family title.Read More »

“Cinema, Nation, and Empire in Uzbekistan, 1919-1937” by Cloé Drieu
Quote:
The Second Wife (Rus. Vtoraia Zhena, Uzb. Ikichi khanum) by Mikhail Doronin (Uzbekkino, 1927)

Adolat (R. Messerer) lives happily with her mother and father, leading a joyous life alongside her best friend, Qumri, who is later happily married to Umar. But this happiness comes to an end the day she is given in marriage as a second wife to the wealthy merchant Taji Bai (G. Chechelashvili), whose first wife Khadija (M. Grineva) is infertile. After this marriage, Adolat gives birth to a daughter, Saodat (Zh. Voynova).Read More »

Howard Hawks made his first film for Columbia Pictures with this pre-Code prison movie. The great Walter Huston stars as a district attorney-turned-prison warden who gets to witness first-hand the effects of his convictions, especially Phillips Holmes, imprisoned after killing a man in a drunken brawl. Co-starring Boris Karloff, The Criminal Code is tough, no-nonsense, quintessential Hawks.Read More »

At an orphanage, the children are sad because they received broken toys as gifts. Professor Grampy sees the children while passing by in his sled and has an idea on how to give them a merry Christmas.Read More »

PLOT:
Fired from Sovkino studio after A Sixth Part of the World, Vertov (and his brother-cinematographer Mikhail Kaufman and wife-assistant director Elizaveta Svilova) was soon hired by the All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration. The trio’s first assignment was a documentary celebrating the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution – more or less the same kind of ode-in-pictures as Stride, Soviet! and A Sixth Part of the World. But while the political theme of The Eleventh Year may be orthodox and plain, its photography and editing are daring and complex. In the eyes of a left-wing artist of the twenties, ten years of Socialism was a radical social experiment, and as such, deserved, nay, required to be presented in a radically experimental way.Read More »

Synopsis: Spies (Spione) was the first independent production of German “thriller” director Fritz Lang. The years-ahead-of-its-time plotline involves Russian espionage activity in London. The mastermind is Haghi (Rudolph Klein-Rogge), a supposedly respectable carnival sideshow entertainer. Heading the good guys is Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), with the help of defecting Russian spy Sonya (Gerda Maurus). The film moves swiftly to several potential climaxes, each one more exciting than its predecessor. Haghi’s ultimate demise is a superbly staged Pirandellian vignette. Anticipating Citizen Kane by a dozen years, director Lang dispenses with all transitional dissolves and fade-outs, flat-cutting territory from one scene to another. The film was co-scripted by Lang and his then-wife Thea Von Harbou. – Hal Erickson (AMG)Read More »