No Entry to the City

La défense du drapeau

August 1897 •French

As the only survivor of a battle, a cavalryman heroically defends his flag.

The Assassination of the Duke de Guise

September 1897 •French

This one is modelled on the painting by Paul Delaroche and is an extension of the stage act known as “tableau vivant”.

Une scène d'hypnotisme II

October 1898 •French

A hypnotism scene from the Lumière Brothers.

Cafe Electric

November 1927 •German

The daughter of a wealthy industrialist falls for a pickpocket.

Finis Terræ

April 1929 •French

On the islet Bannec, off the coast of Brittany, four fishermen have set up camp for three months to harvest seaweed. If processed correctly, the ash of the seaweed can be sold for high prices. It is therefore burnt in several large piles on the island. Problems arise when one of them gets an infected thumb.

Sons of Ingmar

January 1919 •Swedish

Part one of an ambitious screen adaptation of Selma Lagerlöf's book Jerusalem.

The Prisoner of Zenda

September 1922 •English

A kingdom's ascending heir, marked for assassination, switches identities with a lookalike, who takes his place at the coronation. When the real king is kidnapped, his followers try to find him, while the stand-in falls in love with the king's intended bride, the beautiful Princess Flavia.

The Dance of the Paroxysms

January 1929 •Portuguese

This film tells the story of Gonthramm, a young knight who sought in vain for the Holy Grail and, on the way back to join his bride, Galeswithe, is met by Queen Banschi in the nightmarish realm of the Sylphs. Brum do Canto based the story on Charles-Marie Leconte de Lisle's Les Elfes.

Little Toys

January 1933 •Chinese

Sister Ye lives in a rural village, where everyone makes traditional toys. When Sister Ye's husband dies of an unknown illness, and while Ye is attending to him, her son is kidnapped and sold to a wealthy lady in the city of Shanghai. Shortly after, the village is destroyed during an attack between rival warlords, forcing the villagers move to the city, where they continue to make toys. Ten years pass, and Ye's daughter Zhu'er has become a toy designer. While helping the Nationalist army at the rear, Zhu'er is killed in an attack by the Japanese. On New Year's Eve, Sister Ye is dressed in rags, sitting on the curb, selling toys. A young boy buys toys from her, and it is none other than her son, whom she does not recognize.

Stella Dallas

November 1925 •English

An eccentric lower class woman struggles to gain respect in high society after marrying a wealthy man, and the problem gets worse when their daughter starts growing up.

Shoes

June 1916 •English

A young working girl, struggling to support her family on her meager salary, desperately wishes for a new pair of shoes.

Twilight of a Woman's Soul

November 1913 •Russian

Despite living in luxury, Vera is lonely and discontented. When she accompanies her mother, the Countess, on a charity visit to the poor, she is troubled by what she sees, and she resolves to do whatever she can to help them…

A Romance of Happy Valley

January 1919 •English

John Logan leaves his parents and sweetheart in bucolic Happy Valley to make his fortune in the city. Those he left behind become miserable and beleaguered in his absence, but after several years he returns, a wealthy man. But his embittered father, not recognizing him for who he is, plans to murder the newly-arrived "stranger" for his money.

Pälsen

December 1966 •Swedish

Doctor Henck is having bad day, and borrows a fur from a friend. It gives him new confidence, and his day immediately gets better. Hjalmar Söderberg's rejected 1911 movie script, filmed in 1966 for TV as a silent film with a piano soundtrack, to match the time in which it was written for.

Blue Jeans

December 1917 •English

June, a young orphan, is befriended by Perry Bascom when he shares his lunch with her on the road to Rising Sun. They soon fall in love and marry, only to find out that a woman in Perry's past has come to town to make trouble. Teaming up with the local political bully, the schemers set out to make Perry's life miserable, but June sticks by her husband to the end.

The Black Hand

March 1906 •English

Two gang members send a threatening letter to a butcher, demanding money if he did not want his shop to be destroyed and his daughter Maria kidnapped. When he is unable to meet their request, they take Maria away. The Black Hand is the earliest surviving gangster film.

London After Midnight

November 2002 •English

A reconstruction, made from still photographs, of the lost 1927 Tod Browning film London After Midnight (1927) starring Lon Chaney.

Isabelle aux Dombes

January 1951 •French

Pialat's first film was the short Isabelle aux Dombes, shot in 1951 when the director was 26 years old. The film is an entirely silent montage of documentary footage, ragged experimental techniques — mainly some negative-image inserts — and symbolic psychodrama that's surprisingly not too different from the work that Stan Brakhage would begin making just a year or two later. Images of death proliferate throughout the film, and what started as a loose documentary soon becomes an eerie psuedo-horror piece that's obsessed with death and decay.

Vanyushin's Children

April 1915 •Russian

Love 'Em and Leave 'Em

March 1926 •English

Mame Walsh promised their mother on her deathbed to look after little sister Janie. But Janie helps herself to everything of her sister's, be it her clothes or her men - even the money entrusted to her by fellow employees at the store they work at. Regardless, Mame can't break her promise. So when it comes to getting Janie out of trouble, big sister comes to the rescue.