Ilse/Elza (Alice Hechy) is into a local painter but her father wants her to marry Count van Trutwitz or some American.
Two of her friends pretend to be these would-be suitors with intentionally disastrous consequences.Read More »
Silent
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Gustav Trautschold – Ilse und ihre drei Freier AKA Ilse and Her Three Suitors (1913)
1911-1920ComedyGermanyGustav TrautscholdSilent -
Mauritz Stiller – Gränsfolken AKA Brother Against Brother (1913)
Mauritz Stiller1911-1920DramaScandinavian Silent CinemaSwedenWar

Two brothers compete for the love of a woman while the impending war threatens to separate them from both sides of the border. Based on the novel “La Débâcle” by Émile Zola.Read More »
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Mikio Naruse – Yogoto no yume AKA Every-Night Dreams (1933)
Drama1931-1940JapanMikio NaruseSilentIn the formally ravishing Every-Night Dreams, set in the dockside neighborhoods of Tokyo, a single mother works tirelessly as a Ginza bar hostess to ensure a better life for her young son—until her long-lost husband returns.Read More »
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Mikio Naruse – Kagirinaki hodô AKA Street Without End (1934)
1931-1940DramaJapanMikio NaruseSilent

Mikio Naruse’s final silent film is a gloriously rich portrait of a waitress, Sugiko, whose life, despite a host of male admirers and even some intrigued movie talent scouts, ends up taking a suffocatingly domestic turn after a wealthy businessman accidentally hits her with his car. Featuring vividly drawn characters and bold political commentary, Street Without End is the grandly entertaining silent melodrama with which Naruse arrived at the brink of the sound era.Read More »
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Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky – Papirosnitsa ot Mosselproma AKA The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom (1924)
1921-1930ComedySilentUSSRYuri ZhelyabuzhskyAs 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 »
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Robert Wiene – Orlacs Hände AKA The Hands of Orlac [Murnau Foundation Cut] (1924)
1921-1930AustriaHorrorMysteryRobert Wiene

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 »
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Scott Sidney – Tarzan of the Apes (1918)
1911-1920AdventureScott SidneySilentUSA

Reared by a childless ape, the orphaned heir of the Greystokes becomes one of the apes. Then Dr. Porter organizes a rescue expedition, and his beautiful daughter Jane catches his attention. Has Tarzan of the Apes found the perfect mate?Read More »
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Robert F. Hill & Scott Sidney – The Adventures of Tarzan (1921)
1921-1930AdventureRobert F. HillScott SidneySilentUSAWhen 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 »
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Giovanni Pastrone – Il fuoco (la favilla – la vampa – la cenere) AKA The Fire (1916)
1911-1920ArthouseGiovanni PastroneItalySilentQuote:
A poor painter, never artistically recognized, meets on the riverside a wealthy young lady. They are both attracted to each other and she invites him to come over to her castle. There they begin an illegal affair (the woman is married to an old grand duke who is absent at that moment). Even when she warns him that their love will be as a big fire, that will be extinguished too quickly, the painter, blinded by passion, accepts. He paints a daring and somewhat manneristic portrait of the woman and sends it to town. At the moment when they read in the newspaper that due to the portrait the painter is finally recognized and praised, the duchess receives a message her husband is returning. Secretly she puts a sleeping powder in the painter’s wine. When he awakes, she is gone and has left him only the money for the painting, that she clearly has bought. Desperately he leaves the castle and wanders around, in search for his beloved. But when he finally encounters her, in company of her husband, she pretends not to know him.Read More »




