The Fall of a Nation

Spring Comes from the Ladies

January 1932 •Japanese

A student comes up with various schemes to avoid paying a tailor the money he owes him. Considered to be a lost film.

The Revengeful Spirit of Eros

July 1930 •Japanese

A young couple jump into the sea as part of a suicide pact. The man is rescued and subsequently discovers that his lover is also alive and working in a dance hall. Considered to be a lost film.

Vera, the Medium

January 1917 •English

Vera, a woman of questionable character places a wager that she will be able to destroy a happy marriage and inveigle the husband into becoming her lover. She succeeds to the extent of a midnight tryst in the family's home, witnessed by the couple's 12-year-old daughter. Her resolve weakened by the child's piteous pleas, Vera deliberately loses the wager, freeing the sadder-but-wider husband to return to his forgiving wife.

Siberia

March 1926 •English

Officer in the Imperial Russian Army, Petroff, is in love with Sonia, a schoolteacher who casts her lot with revolutionaries. During a time of suppression, she is exiled with her brother to Siberia. There Petroff is sent in the discharge of his official duties and secretly renews their romance. When the Bolsheviki overthrow the government, Sonia is freed and aids in the escape of Petroff, who incurs the enmity of Egor, the revolutionary leader, because he is a royalist. Together they escape across the frozen wastes in a sledge, pursued by wolves and Egor, who has used patriotism as a cloak to conceal personal ambitions.

Hardboiled

March 1929 •English

Chorus girl Teena Johnson may be "hard-boiled," but she's no golddigger. Thus, when the father of her wealthy sweetheart Kyle Stannard tries to buy her off, Sally refuses the money. She sticks by Kyle even after he is disinherited and forced to go to work. The financial strain on the young couple's marriage eventually takes its toll, and before long they separate, with Sally returning to the chorus line to square her husband's debts.

Battleship Potemkin

December 1925 •Russian

A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre. The film had an incredible impact on the development of cinema and is a masterful example of montage editing.

Nanook of the North

June 1922 •English

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

October (Ten Days that Shook the World)

May 1928 •Russian

Sergei M. Eisenstein's docu-drama about the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Made ten years after the events and edited in Eisenstein's 'Soviet Montage' style, it re-enacts in celebratory terms several key scenes from the revolution.

People on Sunday

February 1930 •German

A semi-documentary experimental 1930 German silent film created by amateurs with a small budget. With authentic scenes of the metropolis city of Berlin, it's the first film from the later famous screenwriters/directors Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann.

The Passion of Joan of Arc

April 1928 •French

A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.

Build Thy House

October 1920 •English

A padre, acting for a dying soldier, poses as the heir to a slum property and becomes a Labour MP.

A Million Bid

May 1927 •English

To satisfy her controlling mother and secure both of their futures, a daughter hesitantly enters a loveless marriage to a wealthy businessman. Years later, after she has uncovered and overcome her mother's deceptions and manipulations, her newfound happiness is threatened with the appearance of a mysterious "man from the sea."

Leah Kleschna

December 1913 •English

Leah Kleschna has been a thief all her life. However, an encounter with a man she intends to rob makes her question her life's course. The film is lost.

Milord l'Arsouille

July 1912 •French

Eyes of the Underworld

April 1929 •English

John Hueston, a wealthy newspaper publisher, plans to publish an exposé of a criminal gang but is silenced by a bullet. Pat Doran, rich sportsman, is consoling Hueston's daughter at her home when members of the gang break into the house in an effort to put their hands on the incriminating evidence accumulated by Florence's father. Pat chases the crooks off and follows them to their hideout; they capture him, and he is imprisoned on a deserted island. Pat escapes, rounds up the gang, and wins Florence's love.

Forever

October 1921 •English

Architect Peter Ibbetson is hired by the Duke of Towers to design a building for him. Ibbetson discovers that the Duchess of Towers, Mary, is his now-grown childhood sweetheart. Their love revives, but Peter is sentenced to life in prison for an accidental killing. Mary comes to him in dreams and they are able to live out their romance in a dream world.

His Official Appointment

November 1912 •English

This touching short film lasts only 10 minutes, 34 seconds, but is rather engaging. Charles Kent is an old man, who has spent all he owns on influencing a government appointment. His faithful black servant, Amber (Hal Wilson), cares for him as he waits to hear from the Capitol. No one there intends to do anything but make fun of him, even sending a false appointment, to his shame.

Fighting Mad

November 1917 •

Doctor Lambert takes his wife west to a mining town, where he can both minister and doctor. His wife is not happy and upon discovering she is pregnant, runs away with a gambler. He soon dumps her, and she comes back and dies giving birth to a baby girl. Lambert, out of his mind with rage, leaves the baby on a doorstep and vows to never have faith again. He returns to the mining town fifteen years later a drunkard. He meets young, kind Lily Sawyer and is greatly impressed by her compassionate nature. Meanwhile, the gambler has returned and decides to abduct Lily, but his partner recognizes Lambert and tells him Lily is his daughter. He kills the gambler before he can harm Lily and soon his faith returns.

A Weaver of Dreams

March 1918 •

Unrequited love rules the day as both wealthy Judith Sylvester and her invalid aunt pine for men who got away, but happiness lays ahead for one while hopeful dreams sustain the other.

Ruling Passions

October 1918 •English

Millionaire John Walton hates the world and although he is suffering a nervous breakdown, he still manages to make the lives of his nurses miserable. They keep leaving, but one, Eveline Roland finds out what is eating away at him from his butler, Lew.