Top 40 Films Made Before 1920
Top 40 of the early silent era in no order
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- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsFernande AlbanyJehanne d'AlcyUsing every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsVictor AndréBleuette BernonA group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.
- DirectorSegundo de ChomónFerdinand ZeccaA sorcerer tosses an iridescent little beetle into a flaming ceremonial cauldron, and much to his amazement, a six-winged fairy in the body of a beautiful young woman emerges. Is his sorcery potent enough to tame her?
- DirectorEdwin S. PorterStarsGilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' AndersonA.C. AbadieGeorge BarnesA group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.
- DirectorFerdinand ZeccaAn early adaptation of the Ali Baba tale.
- DirectorJean DurandStarsErnest BourbonRaymond AimosBerthe DagmarThe only way Onésime could think of to get his inheritance quicker was to set the clocks forward. Surprise: the whole world starts speeding up wildly.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonWilliam HeiseStarsAnnabelle MooreAnnabelle (Whitford) Moore performs one of her popular dance routines. She uses her dance steps and her long, flowing skirts to create a variety of visual patterns.
- DirectorLouis Aimé Augustin Le PrinceStarsAnnie HartleyAdolphe Le PrinceJoseph WhitleyIn the garden, a man asks his friends to do something silly for him to record on film.First film ever.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronMae MarshThe story of a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsHilda BorgströmGeorg GrönroosAron LindgrenFinancial struggles separate a single mother from her children.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsCarl de VogtLil DagoverRessel OrlaKay Hoog finds a message that indicates that some Incas are still alive, but the secret organisation "Die Spinnen" wants the Incas' gold....
- DirectorChester M. FranklinSidney FranklinStarsDorothy GishRalph LewisEugene PalletteA kind Dutch immigrant and her bumbling father are blackmailed by a gang of counterfeiters.
- DirectorCharles TaitStarsElizabeth TaitJohn TaitNicholas BrierleyOriginally 70 minutes in running time, only 17 minutes of the world's first full-length narrative feature film survived in stills and other fragments and tell the story of Ned Kelly, an infamous 19th-century Australian outlaw.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRichard BarthelmessDonald CrispA frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.
- DirectorLouis Aimé Augustin Le PrinceA shot of people walking on The Leeds Bridge.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsMlle. BodsonManuelGeorges MélièsAs the clock strikes twelve, a weary astronomer attempts to answer the impertinent enquiries of his young students by scrutinising an impending lunar eclipse, as an effeminate and delicate moon caresses the mighty sun's hungry cosmic rays.
- DirectorAlbert CapellaniStarsGeorges VinterPaul CapellaniLiane de PougyThe legend of Aladdin and his magic lamp: Aladdin finds a magic lamp which brings him wealth, luxury, and marriage to a princess. But his rival, an evil magician, steals the lamp for himself. Aladdin must regain the lamp or lose everything.
- DirectorJames WilliamsonStarsSam DaltonA man, objecting to being filmed, comes closer and closer to the camera lens until his mouth is all we see. Then he opens wide and swallows camera and cinematographer. He steps back, chews, and grins.
- DirectorRobert K. BonineFootage shot not long after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco is edited together so that more than one scene and more than one vantage are included. We see fire raging. We see burned-out buildings, piles of rubble, and buildings with only one wall standing. People stand and watch; others walk purposely through the debris. A carriage passes; the camera pans the desolation. A horse-drawn cart is laden with a family's remaining possessions. A sign hangs outside one building: "A little disfigured but still in business. Men Wanted."
- DirectorLewin FitzhamonStarsThurston HarrisGertie PotterAs an older man and a youth are eating at the table, the older man decides to amuse himself by using pepper to make the boy sneeze. Later, the boy retaliates by sneaking into the older man's room and putting pepper in his handkerchief, hairbrush, and clothing. But things quickly get out of hand when the sneezing that results begins to disrupt the whole town.
- DirectorAlexandre PromioA stationary camera looks west across Niagara Falls from the United States' side (the Niagara River rushes toward the falls from right to left). Virtually overlooking the falls and surrounded by the swift current not far from the camera is a small island where six or eight tourists watch the water, talk, and move about.
- DirectorBirt AcresRobert W. PaulThe sea is quite rough, and at Dover a series of heavy waves pounds against a pier and along the adjacent shoreline. The scene then shifts to a different view of flowing water, and shows a heavy current from a point along a riverbank.
- DirectorGeorge Albert SmithStarsLaura BayleySmith casts his wife as a sluttish housewife who is mutilated by lighting her oven with paraffin.
- DirectorCecil M. HepworthStarsCecil M. HepworthHenry LawleyAs two couples enjoy their evening promenade in a nice but rickety open motor car, without notice, an explosion blows the vehicle to smithereens.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsDespite all methods of instantaneously masking a clandestine gambling den's shady activities, the risk of getting caught is high, especially when the police thirsts for success. But, sometimes, indulging in pure fun is just too tempting.
- DirectorWalter R. BoothRobert W. PaulA man and a woman talk beside a street near a corner where a cop stands. Just as a horse-drawn cart rounds the corner, the man backs off the sidewalk saying good-by to his companion. The horse and cart flatten him and continue on, out of the camera's stationary range. The cop runs after the cab, the woman dashes to the body. The cop brings back the driver; is the victim dead?
- DirectorWalter R. BoothA British trick film in which a motorist ends up driving around the rings of Saturn.
- DirectorSegundo de ChomónExperimental color film that shows a magician and his assistant making objects and people appear and disappear. Then they stack up some blocks and a moving picture of a little girl appears on them.
- DirectorLucien NonguetA dramatization of the uprising in Odessa, Russia in 1905: A ship's crew, tired of being mistreated, mutinies and takes over their ship. When they reach land, a sailor who died during the mutiny is made a martyr, inspiring an uprising in the city. Then the authorities decide to repress the revolt with a brutal show of force.
- DirectorGeorge Albert SmithStarsLaura BayleyTom GreenA man dreams he is flirting with an attractive young lady, then he wakes up in bed next to his wife.
- DirectorCecil M. HepworthStarsMay ClarkCecil M. HepworthIn one glorious point-of-view shot, a vehicle dashes full-speed into an ill-starred passer-by.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonTwo gamecocks fight in the Edison Company film studio. This feature was remade later in the same year, with additional detail added.
- DirectorLouis LumièreFin de siécle elegance. A parade of sorts passes in front of a stationary camera. An ostrich pulls a cart in which two well-dressed girls sit, two mules pull a large cart full of children, two horses pass with children astride, a camel follows with two children atop; last comes a large elephant with children on top and a small elephant alongside. Each animal, except the baby elephant, is decked out and each is attended by at least one man. The children are all in hats and frills. After the animals pass, we see adults out for a walk, the women with parasols and the men with silk hats.
- DirectorRobert W. PaulA satire on the way that audiences unaccustomed to the cinema didn't know how to react to the moving images on a screen - in this film, an unsophisticated (and stereotypical) country yokel is alternately baffled and terrified, in the latter case by the apparent approach of a steam train
- A very large woman, wearing a shift, stands beside a bed and tries to put on a corset. After failing to get it around her, she calls her husband in. He stands behind her holding the corset and reaches around her so she can grasp and begin to tie it in front. He tightens the laces in back. She's done, and he's done in, collapsing onto the bed as she laughs and laughs at him.
- With a crowded arena in the background, a stationary camera records a bull charging a picador astride his horse. An attendant on foot throws stones at the rump of the horse to get it to move. Various men with capes run past the bull to try to get him to charge or at least run about.
- DirectorWilliam HeiseStarsMay IrwinJohn C. RiceIn a medium close-up shot of the first kiss ever recorded on screen, two fervent lovers cuddle and talk passionately at hair's breadth, just before the love-smitten gentleman decides to give his chosen one an innocent peck.
- DirectorLouis LumièreStarsFrançois ClercBenoît DuvalAn impudent child plays a prank on a gardener innocently watering his plants.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsWilliam K.L. DicksonThe earliest extant sound film. William K.L. Dickson stands in the background next to a huge sound pickup horn connected to a Thomas Edison phonograph recorder. As he plays a violin, two men dance in the foreground. This film was made to demonstrate a new Thomas Edison machine, the Kinetophone. These machines were Kinetoscope peepshow viewers mated with Thomas Edison wax cylinder phonographs. But the Kinetophone never caught on and this film was never released. The film still exists, but the phonograph soundtrack has been lost.
- DirectorGeorge S. FlemingEdwin S. PorterStarsEdwin S. PorterVivian VaughanArthur WhiteA fireman rushes into a carriage to rescue a woman from a house fire. He breaks the windowpanes and carries the woman to safety; after dangerous and uncertain moments he also saves the woman's son.