... The Forgettable ... Of The 1920s
First of all, most movies on this list are not really bad. But they are not good either. In order not to bore you with every average movie I have seen I will restrain myself only to those of interest. That means you will find movies here that were successful at the box office but did not deserve that undue success or movies that did not stand the test of time. Other entries concern movies that are acclaimed by critics but to me are nothing short of being pretentious. Other titles could include films that were much talked about for whatever reason upon their initial release and therefore hold some kind of reputation that, however, do not qualify them for quality movies. You may also find movies here to which famous actors or directors contributed to but which are a let-down in the end nevertheless.
So, have fun browsing through my selection of the odds and sods of the movie world and let me know what you think.
PS: This list is by no means complete as I will add new worthwhile films as I stumble across them.
So, have fun browsing through my selection of the odds and sods of the movie world and let me know what you think.
PS: This list is by no means complete as I will add new worthwhile films as I stumble across them.
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- DirectorJohn FordStarsBuck JonesHelen FergusonGeorgie StoneSmall-town tramp befriends runaway boy.
- DirectorDavid HartfordStarsLon ChaneyLewis StoneMelbourne MacDowellA Canadian Mountie allows an innocent fugitive to escape with the women he loves.
- DirectorJ. Charles HaydonStarsSheldon LewisAlex ShannonDora Mills AdamsDr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsPriscilla DeanWheeler OakmanWallace BeeryAchmet Bey, a Turkish chieftain, catches one of his many wives in adultery and murders her lover. Throwing aside the cuckolding wife, he abducts his harem an innocent girl. However, a brave American who loves her comes to her rescue.
- DirectorMauritz StillerStarsAnders de WahlTora TejeKarin MolanderEROTIKON surely pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on the screen in 1920: Irene, the bored wife of a distracted entomologist, pursues a womanizing aviator, but she may actually be in love with Preben, her husband's best friend. Meanwhile, her husband seems to be getting unusually close with his own niece. Stiller obviously delights in teasing his audience with each scandalous plot twist and every salacious leer, and the result is a deliciously subversive comedy that was very much ahead of its time.
- DirectorJohn Francis DillonStarsMary PickfordAlbert AustinHarold GoodwinA London laundress attempts to rise above her station in order to capture the love of a wealthy young man, thus missing out on the truer love of one of her own class.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsHelge NissenHalvard HoffJacob TexiereIn 4 episodic tales of human suffering: the temptation of Jesus, the Spanish Inquisition, the French Revolution and the Russo-Finnish war of 1918, Satan attempts to win God's favor.
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsFern AndraHans Heinrich von TwardowskiErnst GronauGenuine is an ancient and cruel divinity, who seduces men and induce them to kill as a proof of love.
- DirectorJames CruzeStarsHarry HoudiniJack BrammallLila LeeAn inventor travels to the South Seas, where there is buried treasure belonging to a girl. The girl's father is being held captive by cannibals until she returns a pearl that belongs to one of their idols.
- DirectorHans WerckmeisterStarsEmil JanningsJohn GottowtHans Adalbert SchlettowAn alien from the planet Algol gives a man a device that gives him superpowers.
- DirectorLambert HillyerStarsWilliam S. HartAnna Q. NilssonJoseph SingletonAfter being betrayed to the law by one of his henchmen, a bandit leader seeks to avenge himself.
- DirectorClarence BrownMaurice TourneurStarsWallace BeeryBarbara BedfordAlan RoscoeIn the midst of the French and Indian War, the eldest daughter of a British officer develops an attraction towards an Indian ally who is the last living warrior of his tribe, the Mohicans.
- DirectorArthur WellinStarsEmil MamelokHerta HedenBela LugosiChingachgook, son of the chief of the Delaware Indian tribe and faithful friend of Hawkeye the Deerslayer is raised by his tribe after being orphaned
- DirectorArthur WellinStarsEmil MamelokHerta HedenBela LugosiCora and Alice Munro, daughters of Lieutenant Colonel Munro, are traveling with Major Duncan Heyward from Fort Edward to Fort William Henry, where Munro is in command, and acquire another companion in David Gamut, a naiive singing teacher. They are guided through the forest by a native named Magua, who leads them through a shortcut unaccompanied by the British militia. Heyward is dissatisfied with Magua's shortcut, and the party roam unguided and finally join Natty Bumppo (known as Hawk-eye), a British scout, and his two Mohican friends, Chingachgook and his son Uncas. Heyward becomes suspicious of Magua, and Hawk-eye and the Mohicans agree with his suspicion, that Magua is a Huron scout secretly allied with the French. Upon discovery as such, Magua escapes; and in the (correct) belief that Magua will return with Huron reinforcements, Hawk-eye and the Mohicans lead their new companions to a hidden cave on an island in a river. They are attacked there by the Hurons; and when ammunition is exhausted, Hawk-eye and the Mohicans escape, with a promise to return for their companions. At length, Magua and Hurons capture Heyward, Gamut, and the Munro sisters, and Magua offers to spare the party if Cora becomes his wife; but she refuses. Upon a second refusal, he sentences the prisoners to death; but Hawk-eye and the Mohicans rescue all four, and lead them to a dilapidated building. They are nearly attacked again; but the Hurons leave them unharmed, rather than disturb the graves of their own fellow-countrymen. The next day, Hawk-eye leads the party to Fort Henry, past a siege by the French army. Munro sends Hawk-eye to Fort Edward for reinforcements; but he is captured by the French, who deliver him to Fort William Henry without the letter. Heyward returns to Colonel Munro and announces his love for Alice, and Munro gives his permission for Heyward's courtship. The French general, Montcalm, invites Munro to a parley, and shows him General Webb's letter, in which the British general has refused reinforcements. At this, Munro agrees to Montcalm's terms that the British soldiers, together with their wounded, women, and children, must leave the fort and withdraw from the war for eighteen months. Outside the fort, the column of British prisoners is attacked by 2000 Huron warriors; in which massacre, Magua finds Cora and Alice, and he leads them toward the Huron village. David Gamut follows. After the massacre, Hawk-eye, the Mohicans, Heyward, and Colonel Munro follow Magua, and cross a lake to intercept his trail. A canoe chase ensues, in which the rescuers reach land before the Hurons can kill them, and eventually follow Magua to the Huron village. Here, they find Gamut (earlier spared by the Hurons as a harmless madman), who says that Alice is held in this village, and Cora in one belonging to the Lenape (Delaware). Disguised as a French medicine man, Heyward enters the Huron village with Gamut, to rescue Alice; Hawk-eye and Uncas set out to rescue Cora; and Munro and Chingachgook remain in safety. Uncas is taken prisoner by the Hurons, and left to starve when he withstands torture, and Heyward fails to find Alice. A Huron warrior asks Heyward to heal his lunatic wife, and both are stalked by Hawk-eye in the guise of a bear. Soon after revelation of his identity to Heyward, Hawk-eye accompanies him, and they find Alice. They are discovered by Magua; but Hawk-eye overpowers him, and they leave him tied to a wall. Thereafter Heyward escapes with Alice, while Hawk-eye remains to save Uncas. Gamut convinces a Huron to allow him and his magical bear (Hawk-eye in disguise) to approach Uncas, and they untie him. Uncas enters the bear disguise, Hawk-eye wears Gamut's clothes, and Gamut stays in a corner mimicking Uncas. Uncas and Hawk-eye escape and the Hurons vow revenge. Uncas, Heyward, Alice, and Hawk-eye travel to the Delaware village where Cora is held, and where Magua demands the return of his prisoners. Tamenund, the sage of the Delawares, frees the prisoners, except for Cora, whom he awards to Magua. To satisfy laws of hospitality, Tamenund gives Magua a three-hour head start before pursuit. The Delawares vanquish the Hurons, but Magua escapes with Cora and two other Hurons; Uncas, Hawk-eye, and Heyward pursue them. In a fight at the edge of a cliff, Cora, Uncas, and Magua are killed. The novel concludes with a lengthy account of the funerals of Uncas and Cora, and Hawk-eye renews his friendship with Chingachgook. Tamenund prophesies: "The pale-faces are masters of the earth, and the time of the red-men has not yet come again....".
- DirectorFritz LangStarsMia MayHans MarrRudolf Klein-RoggeMia May has surrendered herself to a disciple of free love, and, having given birth to a child, marries the twin brother and Doppelgänger of her chosen lover.
- DirectorRobert ThornbyStarsBlanche SweetWinter HallRoy LaidlawMary Willard takes over her father's railroad after his death. Her major competitor is a ruthless crook named Harvey Judson. She arranges for Judson to be kidnapped and taken to an isolated spot deep in the forest and turned loose to fend for himself. She accompanies the kidnappers to the wild and Judson, not knowing who she is, begins to fall in love with her. Complications ensue.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsElliott DexterGloria SwansonMonte BlueWealthy cripple Markley finances the education of blacksmith's daughter Ruth. When she returns to their small town he asks to marry her, but she runs off with city worker Jim Dirk who is then killed in a subway accident. Markley offers to marry her in name only to protect her new son.
- DirectorOscar MicheauxStarsEvelyn PreerFlo ClementsJames D. RuffinAbandoned by her fiancé, an educated black woman with a shocking past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished black youths.
- DirectorRichard EichbergStarsLee ParryVioletta NapierskaRobert ScholzFrench aristocrat falls for Russian nightclub singer, gets involved in underground Russian revolutionary movement.
- DirectorRichard EichbergStarsLee ParryVioletta NapierskaRobert ScholzRejected by his lover, Bela Lugosi, in the role of Maelzer, he commits treason and attempts sabotage. He is electrocuted before the authorities can capture him.
- DirectorHerbert BlachéWinchell SmithStarsEdward JobsonBeulah BookerEdward ConnellyThe simple-minded son of a rich financier must find his own way in the world.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsCarol DempsterRalph GravesCharles Emmett MackThree men in London compete for the love of a dance-hall girl.
- DirectorRex IngramStarsAlice TerryRudolph ValentinoEric MayneAfter losing his father, a playboy moves in with his miserly uncle, who seeks to cheat him out of his inheritance.
- DirectorFrances MarionStarsMary PickfordEvelyn DumoFred ThomsonAngela maintains a coastal lighthouse in Italy, where she awaits the return of her brothers from the war. She learns they are casualties and takes solace in the arms of an American sailor washed ashore
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsWallace ReidGloria SwansonElliott DexterSocialite Anatol Spencer seeks a better relation than he has with his wife. He sets up the friend of his youth Emilie in an apartment and she two-times him; he comforts near-suicidal Annie and she robs him.