1910's and 1920's: Movies I've Seen

Submitted by AJDaGreat on Wed, 10/01/2003 - 05:10
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  • A

  • The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
  • The Crowd (1928)
  • The Gold Rush (1925)
  • Metropolis (1927)
  • The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
  • The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
  • Safety Last (1923)
  • Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
  • Sunrise (1927)

  • A-

  • The Big Parade (1925)
  • The Circus (1928)
  • Napoleon (1927)
  • Sherlock, Jr. (1924)

  • B+

  • Broken Blossoms (1919)
  • The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
  • The General (1926)
  • Girl Shy (1924)
  • Greed (1924)
  • The Freshman (1925)
  • The Last Laugh (1924)
  • Nosferatu (1922)
  • Our Hospitality (1923)

  • B

  • The Cameraman (1928)
  • Häxan (1922)
  • Intolerance (1916)
  • The Kid Brother (1927)

  • B-

  • College (1927)
  • The Jazz Singer (1927)
  • The Kid (1921)
  • The Man With a Movie Camera (1929)
  • The Navigator (1924)
  • Pandora's Box (1929)

  • C+

  • Seven Chances (1925)
  • Show People (1928)

  • C

  • The Cocoanuts (1929)
  • Hot Water (1924)
  • Nanook of the North (1922)

  • C-

  • The Wild Party (1929)

  • D+

  • Birth of a Nation (1915)

  • D

  • D-

  • Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914)

  • F

  • Should See

  • Ben-Hur (1925)
  • Faust (1926)
  • The Man Who Laughs (1928)
  • October (1928)
  • The Sheik (1921)
  • Speedy (1928)
  • Strike (1924)
  • The Thief of Baghdad (1924)
  • The Wind (1928)
Author Comments: 

I haven't seen enough movies in each of these years to be able to break them up individually. Thus, here is a ranking of what I've seen in the first two decades of film.

C+ or higher = all movies I liked to some degree and would probably recommend
C = average
C- or lower = all movies I disliked to some degree and would probably not recommend

directorspen12/25/2003

I'm glad to see you liked the Jazz Singer as well. I've seen it talked about and people say it's only good because it's one of the first films with sound. I really liked it. Anyway, just thought I'd share the enjoyment of the film. (I think the first movie with sound was La Cockarocha)

directorspen05/21/2004

Nevermind, that was the first movie with Technicolor.

lukeprog07/04/2004

Where do you get those? All those aren't on DVD, are they? I've seen most of them, but I'm pretty sure many of those are not on DVD - or, at least, Netflix doesn't carry them :-) I actually downloaded Sherlock, Jr. - those really old ones aren't STILL under copyright, are they?

AJDaGreat07/04/2004

The following films I watched on DVD:
The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Metropolis (1927)
Birth of a Nation (1915)

The following film I watched as a restoration in my art house theater:
Sunrise (1927)

The following films I taped off the wonderful Turner Classic Movies:
The Circus (1928)
College (1927)
Nosferatu (1922)
Safety Last (1923)
The Wild Party (1929)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Hot Water (1924)
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
Show People (1928)

The following films I watched on VHS (remember VHS, that REALLY old format that was used WAY back in the 90's?)
The Freshman (1925)
The General (1927)
Greed (1924)
The Gold Rush (1925)
The Man With a Movie Camera (1929)
Our Hospitality (1923)
Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
The Kid (1921)
The Navigator (1924)
Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914)

I had to fudge a bit for the last two categories, but they are accurate as far as I can remember. I'm sure that not all of them are on DVD; as for Netflix, I don't use it, so I wouldn't know.

Where would one go to download "Sherlock, Jr."? I would have no idea how to do that.

lukeprog09/04/2004

Sorry I didn't reply before! I guess I hadn't checked 'check here to be e-mailed responses to this post.'

Thanks for your very thorough reply!

Yes, TCM is great, though they don't always play the best movies, and not that many from before 1930.

I downloaded Sherlock, Jr via edonkey, where I also download as many old, public domain silents as I possibly can (mostly shorts).

I suppose they might be available on other networks as well, but edonkey is probably the largest for that sort of thing.

I REALLY wish there were bittorents for classic films, but almost all movie bittorents are newly released films or 1970-present films.

I have 'email reply' checkbox ticked this time :-)

lukeprog09/04/2004

BTW, there is a simple WEB download available for The Great Train Robbery (1903) here. Highly recommended if you haven't seen it yet!

lukeprog07/04/2004

BTW, the Jazz Singer (1927) WAS the first feature-length 'talkie', but it was not the first film with sound and not the first talkie.

lukeprog07/29/2004

I thought the Birth of a Nation was pretty great. What didn't you like about it?

AJDaGreat07/30/2004

I thought it was overlong, incredibly boring, and racist. It's not lower because it was extremely influential and revolutionized cinema.

lukeprog08/19/2004

You gotta see The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It's totally kickass, an impressionistic thriller/psychodrama that rivals anything made before it.

How did Metropolis make your Masterpieces list AND your 'haven't seen' list?

AJDaGreat08/19/2004

I agree, I want to see "Caligari."

Damnation. I always forget to remove films from that Haven't Seen list. Thanks for the catch!

lukeprog09/04/2004

The Big Parade, BTW, absolutely rules and is quite accesible (compared to, say, Broken Blossoms or even Greed).

lukeprog09/04/2004

The IMDB trivia page for The Jazz Singer (1927) includes this tidbit:

Because mainly of the "blackface" scenes, this film has never been released onto DVD and has never been restored. However, copies are available on VHS.

What are the 'blackface' scenes to which this refers? It'd be a shame if this film was NEVER released on DVD!!!!

AJDaGreat09/11/2004

Blackface is a term for the vaudeville-esque makeup that comedians used to impersonate a black person. There's a scene where Al Jolson does just this in the movie. In fact, it's pictured on the front cover of the video box (see the IMDB page).

Of course, they released Birth of a Nation on DVD, and that's 100 times more offensive. Both films are very influential and historically significant.

lukeprog09/11/2004

Ah, thanks.

indycarpnter12/22/2004

where can i purchase The Freshman (1925) on vhs or any format??

AJDaGreat01/31/2005

Beats me. Harold Lloyd never got the respect he deserved. When I was watching the AFI's 100 greatest comedies, The Freshman was tough to attain. Do you get TCM? They show the film sometimes.

JohnnyW03/02/2005

The Passion of Joan of Arc is one of my all time favorite films. The faces of the judges are so grotesque they make me feel like I'm being questioned and tortured!

Have you ever heard of a Danish film called Haxan (Witchcraft through the Ages)? It's from the early twenties and is a sort of fictionalized documentary. Some of it is chilling, some of it is hysterically funny (on purpose, I might add). Criterion has an edition of it.

Johnny Waco

AJDaGreat03/02/2005

Nope, never heard of it, though it sounds really interesting. Believe it or not, I've just discovered that my college library carries the DVD! Maybe I'll check it out sometime.

patriciachur07/20/2005

Hi to all, I am new to this list. Am looking for any references/sources to two films filmed here locally around 1923--"Mile a Minute Morgan" and "Big Timber". The first was produced by Sanford Production Company in fall of 1923 in the town, mill and logging camps of Westwood, CA, and the second could have been made as early as 1917. We are an old logging mill town, so the subject of these two movies would have been rural, mill, forest, etc. Any help or further leads greatly appreciated!

AJDaGreat07/21/2005

Have you heard of the Internet Movie Database? If not, they can't be beat for references/sources about movies. The search page is here, just type in the movies you're looking for.

If you've already seen the IMDB pages, I don't know what else to tell you because these films seem pretty obscure.

kenji06/25/2006

Do see some Feuillade (Vampires, Fantomas) and The Chess Players (Bernard), also Keaton's short The Goat.