1920s

  • Josef von Sternberg & Arthur Rosson – Underworld (1927)

    Josef von Sternberg1921-1930Arthur RossonCrimeSilentUSA
    Underworld (1927)
    Underworld (1927)

    Boisterous gangster kingpin ‘Bull’ Weed rehabilitates the down-and-out ‘Rolls Royce’ Wensel, a former lawyer who has fallen into alcoholism. The two become confidants, with Rolls Royce’s intelligence aiding Weed’s schemes, but complications arise when Rolls Royce falls for Weed’s girlfriend ‘Feathers’ McCoy.

    Adding to Weed’s troubles are attempts by a rival gangster, ‘Buck’ Mulligan, to muscle in on his territory. Their antagonism climaxes with Weed killing Mulligan and he is imprisoned, awaiting a death sentence. Rolls Royce devises an escape plan, but he and Feathers face a dilemma, wondering if they should elope together and leave Bull Weed to his fate.Read More »

  • Josef von Sternberg – The Last Command (1928)

    Josef von Sternberg1921-1930DramaSilentUSA
    The Last Command (1928)
    The Last Command (1928)

    A former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.Read More »

  • Josef von Sternberg – The Docks of New York (1928)

    Josef von Sternberg1921-1930CrimeSilentUSA
    The Docks of New York (1928)
    The Docks of New York (1928)

    The ship on which Bill Roberts is a stoker has just put into port, giving the crew one night ashore. The ship’s bad-tempered third engineer orders the stokers to clean up, while the engineer heads for a dockside bar, where he has a confrontation with the wife he had abandoned. Then, as Bill himself goes ashore, he sees a young woman attempt to drown herself. Bill dives in, saves her, and then, assisted by the engineer’s wife, sees that she is cared for. Bill and the rescued woman begin to enjoy one another’s company, but they must contend with the malice of the engineer, as well as a number of other complications.Read More »

  • John Ford – 3 Bad Men (1926)

    John Ford1921-1930SilentUSAWestern
    3 Bad Men (1926)
    3 Bad Men (1926)

    Three outlaws come to the aid of a young girl after her father is killed.

    Quote:
    Bob Mastrangelo has called it “One of John Ford’s greatest silent epics.” The film possibly inspired the title for Akira Kurosawa’s 1958 film Three Bad Men in a Hidden Fortress, simply known as The Hidden Fortress in the rest of the world.Read More »

  • Jacques de Baroncelli – Pêcheur d’Islande AKA Iceland Fishermen (1924)

    Jacques de Baroncelli1921-1930DramaFranceSilent
    Pêcheur d'Islande (1924)
    Pêcheur d’Islande (1924)

    Faithfully reproduced observations of Breton fisherfolk in story of the man a local woman really loves who will not at first give himself to her because of his fondness for the sea that takes him away.Read More »

  • Jean Epstein – La glace à trois faces AKA The Three-Sided Mirror (1927)

    Jean Epstein1921-1930ExperimentalFranceSilent
    La glace à trois faces (1927)
    La glace à trois faces (1927)

    Psychological narrative avantgarde film about a wealthy young businessman who consecutively falls in love with a classy English woman (Pearl), a Russian sculptress (Athalia), and a naive working-class girl (Lucie). Overpowered by weakness, the coward sidesteps the obligations that love affairs impose: rather than living up to his dates he takes his sports-car from an ultra-modern garage and speeds to the fashionable beaches of Deauville. On his way, he is fatally hit by a descending swallow. The film is divided into three segments each of which consists of events the woman experienced. These sequences are embedded in scenes in which each of the three women is telling and casting her mind back to her own love affair. Thus, present, future and past merge and cannot be distinguished clearly. The intertwinement of several layers of time experience, recollection, telling and showing have been regarded as a source of inspiration of Alain Resnais and this film prefigures his “L’Année dernière à Mariënbad” to a certain extent.Read More »

  • Jean Epstein – Le lion des Mogols AKA The Lion of the Moguls (1924)

    Jean Epstein1921-1930DramaFranceSilent
    Le lion des Mogols (1924)
    Le lion des Mogols (1924)

    In the kingdom of the Moguls, Prince Roudghito-Sing, a young officer of the palace, falls in love with Zemgali, a captive princess held prisoner and coveted by the Grand Khan. Fleeing the country, he takes refuge in Paris and his presentability allows him to be hired as an actor by a French film company. The trouble is that Anna, the star of the movie, is attracted to him. Which displeases banker Morel, the producer and Anna’s lover…Read More »

  • Jean Epstein – Le double amour AKA Double Love (1925)

    Jean Epstein1921-1930DramaFranceSilent
    Le double amour (1925)
    Le double amour (1925)

    Quote:
    Countess Laure Maresco falls in love with a player, Jacques Prémont-Solène. He loses a large sum and dreams of suicide. Laure prevents her, before learning that her lover has squandered the recipe for a charity party that she attended. His family sends the young man to America to put an end to the scandal. Twenty years later, after a fortune, he returns.Read More »

  • Jean Epstein – Mauprat (1926)

    Jean Epstein1921-1930DramaFranceSilent
    Mauprat (1926)
    Mauprat (1926)

    Set before the French Revolution, the film tells the story of Bernard De Mauprat, a noble orphan, raised by despicable aristocrats, who is saved from the gallows by his cousin Edmée and his father, the knight Hubert De Mauprat. The return of Bernard causes tensions within Mauprat’s family since him tries to win the heart of his cousin Edmée (Knight of La Marche’s fiancée) after obtaining her pledge of loyalty under a certain threat of rape.Read More »

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