A Drama of the Air

The Beilis Case

April 1917 •Russian

Ukrainian silent courtroom drama about the trial on charges of Menachem Mendel Beilis in the ritual murder of 12-year-old Andrey Yushchinsky. Menahem Mendel Beilis was a Ukrainian Jew accused of ritual murder in Kyiv, in the then Russian Empire, in a notorious 1913 trial, known as the Beilis trial or Beilis affair.

The Magic Purse

February 1909 •Danish

A young sailor dozes off in the grass in Frederiksberg Have and wakes up surrounded by supernatural fairylike creatures. They take him to the mermaid Capriciosa, who gives him a magic, inexhaustible wallet. The only rule he must abide is never to share his fortune with his family. (stumfilm.dk)

Woman's World

January 1932 •Russian

A young peasant woman decides to become a tractor driver.

The Triplets of Belleville

June 2003 •French

When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters—an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire—to rescue him.

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.

At The Beauty's Altar

September 1917 •Russian

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.

Araki Mataemon: Master Swordsman

May 1935 •Japanese

Araki Mataemon was a very strong warrior, and his feud against the samurai Kawai Matagorō is one of the most famous in Japan. Matagoro killed Gendayu, the little brother of Mataemon's brother in law, Watanabe Kazuma. Becoming a murderer out of jealousy for a childhood friend, Matagoro fled in another domain, using friends of his father and his lineage linked to Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was somehow a complicated matter, as it seems at that time, a law from Toyotomi Hideyoshi allowed a little brother taking revenge for his elder brother, but not the reverse. After some years, the lord of Kazuma and Mataemon found a way, and they were allowed to take revenge for the murder. They fought and killed Matagoro and just one other samurai who was helping the culprit. It seems at that time, Kazuma was Mataemon's only assistant.

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.

The Shadow on the Wall

January 1925 •English

George Walters is a youth who is dominated by Bleary, a heartless bully, who forces him to pose as the son of millionaire George Warring, kidnapped as a baby. The missing son had a twin brother who had recently died, but a painting of the shadow of the late son is on one wall. Walters' shadow matches this painting perfectly, establishing him as the missing son to the Warring family. Walters falls in love with Warring's daughter Lucia and finds that the family attorney Glaxton is slowly poisoning the old man.

Turner Alekseev

December 1931 •Russian

Limite

May 1931 •Portuguese

Adrift in the vast expanse of the ocean, a solitary boat carries three castaways—a man and two women. Stranded and devoid of any glimmer of rescue, they find solace in recounting the tales of their lives to one another. As they delve into their personal narratives, reminiscing about the circumstances that led them to this desolate predicament, they navigate through the depths of three distinct destinies. Bound by the confines of their shared space, every aspect of their existence becomes a boundary, underscoring their plight.

Underground

July 1928 •English

A working-class love story set in and around the London Underground of the 1920s. Two men – gentle Bill and brash Bert – meet and are attracted to the same woman on the same day at the same Underground station. But the lady chooses Bill, and Bert isn't the type to take rejection lightly...

The Victory of Love

September 1916 •Swedish

Farm girl Olga Ström is seduced by the Hans Brandt, who soon abandons her, even though she carries their child.

Cabiria

June 1914 •Italian

Young Cabiria is kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave in Carthage. Just as she's to be sacrificed to Moloch, Cabiria is rescued by Fulvius Axilla, a good-hearted Roman spy, and his powerful slave, Maciste. The trio are broken up as Cabiria is entrusted to a woman of noble birth. With Cabiria's fate unknown, Maciste punished for his heroism, and Fulvius sent away to fight for Rome, is there any hope of our heroes reuniting?

The Last Laugh

December 1924 •German

An aging doorman, after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbours and society.

The Joyless Street

March 1925 •German

In 1921, we follow two women - Marie and Grete - from the same poor Viennese neighborhood, as they try to better the lives of themselves and their families during the period of Austrian postwar hyperinflation.

Silent Shakespeare

June 2000 •English

A BFI collection of 7 short films from the USA, England and Italy scored for Piano, Guitar and String Quartet.

The Enemy

December 1927 •English

Carl Behrend, son of a wealthy businessman, marries Pauli Arndt, daughter of a pacifist professor. When World War I breaks out, Carl is drafted. Pauli and her family and friends are left behind to experience the suffering which befell civilians during the war. Her luck worsens when her father is dismissed from his professorship for teaching that war is evil. Her father argues violently with Carl's father, and degradation and despair descend on Pauli and her family as they await Carl's return from the front.

Modern Times

February 1936 •English

A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time..