Movie Listings by Genre

Director: Sidney Olcott    More Info
Starring: Robert Henderson-Bland, Percy Dyer, Gene Gauntier, Helen Lindroth, Alice Hollister, Sidney Olcott, Samuel Morgan, James D. Ainsley, Robert G. Vignola, George Kellog

 Significant mostly for the fact that it is the first U.S. feature-length film, this is an adaptation of the Passion Play and was filmed on location in the Holy Land.

Director: Joseph A. Golden    More Info
Starring: James O'Neill, Murdock MacQuarrie, Nance O'Neil, Hobart Bosworth, Eugenie Besserer

 In this first film version of "The Count of Monte Cristo," action does not stray far from the novel. It tells the story of Edmond Dantes who, during imprisonment, learns of the treasure on the island of Monte Cristo. Later, he escapes, finds the treasure, and lives happily ever after with Mercedes. (James O'Neill was Eugene O'Neill's father.)

Director: Colin(1) Campbell    More Info
Starring: William Farnum, Bessie Eyton, Tom Santschi, Kathlyn Williams, Frank Clark, Jack McDonald, Wheeler Oakman, Norval MacGregor, William Ryno, Marshall Farnum

 On his trip to the Yukon, gold prospector Roy Glenister (William Farnum) meets and is attracted to Helen (Bessie Eyton). When he arrives in Alaska, Glenister learns that the gold commissioner, Alex McNamara (Tom Santschi), is plotting to take the mines away from the owners. The situation gets out of hand, and Glenister must physically fight McNamara for his gold rights–and the love of Helen as well.

Director: Edwin S. Porter    More Info
Starring: Mary Pickford, Harold Lockwood, Olive Carey, David Hartford, Louise Dunlap, William Walters, Richard Garrick, Eugene Walter, Jack Henry, H.R. Macy

 When Tess' (Mary Pickford) father (David Hartford) is wrongly convicted of murder and goes to jail, Tess is befriended by Frederick (Harold Lockwood) and his sister Teola (Olive Carey). Tess comes to Teola's aid after Teola becomes pregnant, and her lover Dan (Jack Henry) dies. Tess pretends to be the infant's mother to save Teola from disgrace. Now, Tess goes through trials and tribulations but, by story's end, will live happily ever after with Frederick who is the love of her life.

Director: D.W. Griffith    More Info
Starring: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper, Mary Alden, Ralph Lewis, Donald Crisp, Raoul Walsh, Eugene Pallette, Elmo Lincoln

 With this epic film, Hollywood reached new heights in the production of extravaganzas. However, it is also an example of how filmmaking can be used as propaganda–in this case, glorifying the Ku Klux Klan. The film begins with lifelong friends the Camerons (Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper, and Mae Marsh) being separated from the Stonemans (Lillian Gish, Ralph Lewis, and Robert Harron) by the Civil War and the Mason Dixon line. When the war ends, Ben Cameron (Walthall) organizes a secret group, the Ku Klux Klan, to "restore" order. Music and battle noises were added for a 1930 reissue.

Director: Cecil B. DeMille    More Info
Starring: Geraldine Farrar, Wallace Reid, Pedro de Cordoba, Horace B. Carpenter, William Elmer, Milton Brown, Jeanie Macpherson, Anita King, Raymond Hatton, Tex Driscoll

 Cigarette factory worker Carmen (Geraldine Farrar) is arrested by Don Jose (Wallace Reid), but after he falls in love with beautiful Carmen, Don Jose sets her free. Now, Carmen runs off with a band of Gypsies, and she falls in love with toreador Escamillo (Pedro de Cordoba). Overcome by jealousy, Don Jose follows Carmen, confronts her at a Seville bullfight, and stabs her to death. This is an early Cecil B. DeMille classic.

Director: Cecil B. DeMille    More Info
Starring: Fannie Ward, Jack Dean, Sessue Hayakawa, James Neill, Yutaka Abe, Dana Ong, Hazel Childers, Arthur H. Williams, Lucien Littlefield, Raymond Hatton

 This is a good, early Cecil B. DeMille film that involves Edith Hardy's (Fannie Ward) dilemma when she gambles away money destined for charity without her husband Richard's (Jack Dean) knowledge. Edith makes a deal with Tori (Sessue Hayakawa) to replace the money–all of which leads to a tragic end because Tori wants more than Edith realized for his investment.

Director: Frank Powell    More Info
Starring: Theda Bara, Edward Jose, Mabel Frenyear, Runa Hodges, May Allison, Clifford Bruce, Victor Benoit, Frank Powell, Minna Gale

 This was the first movie for Theda Bara, who became one of the early female stars; this film was a smash hit when released. The story is taken from a Rudyard Kipling poem, "The Vampire," which, in turn, was inspired by a painting. It is the story of John Schuyler (Edward Jose), a diplomat on his way to Europe on a mission, who leaves his family behind. While on the ship, he meets "the Vampire" Theda Bara), who has had many men in her day. He falls under her spell, neglecting everything but her; thus starts his downfall.

Director: Cecil B. DeMille    More Info
Starring: Cleo Ridgeley, Wallace Reid, Horace B. Carpenter, Ernest Joy, Edythe Chapman, Raymond Hatton

 Mary (Cleo Ridgely) takes a job as a seamstress to help make ends meet due to her husband Steve (Horace B. Carpenter) spending all their money on booze. When Mary's employer asks her to stand in for a prospective bride at a high society party, wealthy Roger Manning (Wallace Reid) falls for Mary. Steve comes up with a blackmailing scheme, but tragedy follows when he is killed. Now, Mary is free to wed Roger.

Director: Christy Cabanne    More Info
Starring: Walter Long, Alfred Paget, Tom Wilson, John T. Dillon, Allan Sears, Augustus Carney, Juanita Hansen, Ora Carew, Douglas Fairbanks, Fred Burns

 D.W. Griffith supervised the direction of this action-filled recreation of the siege of the Alamo when 185 gallant men fought Santa Anna's Mexican army of 5,000.

Director: Raoul Walsh    More Info
Starring: Rockliffe Fellowes, John McCann, Anna Q. Nilsson, James A. Marcus, Maggie Weston, Harry McCoy, Carl Harbaugh, William Sheer

 Filmed in the Bowery section of New York City, this is the story of Owen (Rockliffe Fellowes) who was orphaned at 10, grew up on the streets, and became a gangster. After he meets Marie (Anna Q. Nilsson), a social worker in the slums, he decides to try to make something of himself. But–it won't be easy. Raoul Walsh's first feature film is a good one as he captures the atmosphere of the area and uses inventive photography (for the time).

Director: Cecil B. DeMille    More Info
Starring: Blanche Sweet, House Peters, James Neill, Page Peters, Mabel Van Buren, Raymond Hatton, DeWitt Jennings, Lucien Littlefield, Milton Brown, Sydney Deane

 Set during the Civil War, this is the story of the love affair of Southerner Agatha Warren (Blanche Sweet) and Yankee spy Ned Burton (House Peters) who relies on Agatha's attempts to save him from certain execution.

Director: D.W. Griffith    More Info
Starring: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Howard Gaye, Elmo Lincoln, Walter Long, Bessie Love, Tully Marshall, Erich von Stroheim, Monte Blue, Donald Crisp

 This great film presents four stories, each in a different era from ancient Babylon to the present. All of the stories involve man's intolerance to man. The stories include a mountain girl in Babylonia and religious rivalry at the time, Pharisees' condemnation of Jesus Christ, the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in Paris and how it coincides with two Huguenots preparing for marriage, and social reformers in modern America destroying the lives of a young couple.

Director: Cecil B. DeMille    More Info
Starring: Geraldine Farrar, Raymond Hatton, Hobart Bosworth, Theodore Roberts, Wallace Reid, James Neill, Tully Marshall

 Flashbacks are utilized to tell the personal story of the French heroine, Joan of Arc (Geraldine Farrar).

Director: James Young    More Info
Starring: Marie Doro, Hobart Bosworth, Raymond Hatton, James Neill, Tully Marshall, W.S. Van Dyke, Edythe Chapman, Elsie Jane Wilson, Harry L. Rattenberry, Carl Stockdale

 This is the earliest film of Charles Dickens' novel about the orphan Oliver (Marie Doro) who, with the evil Fagin (Tully Marshall) as his tutor, becomes a pickpocket–until he is rescued and restored to decency through his father's inheritance.

Director: Cecil B. MeMille    More Info
Starring: Mary Pickford, Jack Holt, Raymond Hatton, Wallace Beery, Hobart Bosworth, DeWitt Jennings, Ben Alexander, Carl Gerard, Walter Long, James Neill

 The year is 1914, and American Angela Moore (Mary Pickford) has two suitors–Karl is from Germany, and Jules is French. Then war breaks out, and Karl and Jules return to their countries to fight. Angela sails for France to visit her aunt, but her ship is sunk by a U-boat. Angela survives and goes to her aunt's chateau where she learns that her aunt has died. Angela has inherited her aunt's chateau. The Germans attack, and Angela begins to send messages to the Allies but is caught and sentenced to be executed. Karl comes to her aid, denounces the Kaiser, and is also sentenced. Now, the French, along with Jules, arrive in time to free Mary and Karl who then sail back to the United States.

Director: Ernest C. Warde    More Info
Starring: Holmes Herbert, J.H. Gilmour, Florence La Badie, Carey L. Hastings, Ernest Howard, Charles Dundan, Wilbert Shields, George Marlo

 Edward Everett Hale's 1863 short story is brought to the screen featuring Holmes Herbert as Philip Nolan who was sentenced to living out his life aboard an American warship after he declared, "Damn the United States! I wish I could never hear of her again." The sailors aboard the ship are ordered to never use the words "United States" nor to give Nolan any information about what was happening in the United States. Nolan's punishment changes his life forever.

Director: Maurice Tourneur    More Info
Starring: Mary Pickford, Madelaine Traverse, Charles Wellesley, Herbert Prior, Gladys Fairbanks, Frank McGlynn Sr., Emile La Croix, Marcia Harris, Charles Craig, Frank Andrews

 Mary Pickford stars in this comedy/drama as 11-year-old (much younger than Pickford's true age) Gwen whose parents (Madelaine Traverse and Charles Wellesley) ignore her. Her father is obsessed with making money, and her mother is busy on the social scene. When Gwen's nurse Jane (Gladys Fairbanks) gives Gwen an overdose of sleeping potion, her parents finally realize how important Gwen is to them. When Gwen regains consciousness, a new and better life awaits her.

Director: Marshall Neilan    More Info
Starring: Mary Pickford, Eugene O'Brien, Jane Wolff, Josephine Crowell, Helen Jerome Eddy, Mayme Kelso

 Innocent and sweet Rebecca (Mary Pickford) lives with her two aunts. She forms a childhood friendship with Adam (Eugene O'Brien), and the two friends marry when she returns from boarding school.

Director: Frank Lloyd    More Info
Starring: William Farnum, Jewel Carmen, Willard Louis, Harry De Vere, Josef Swickard, Herschel Mayall, Charles Clary, Rosita Marstini, Ralph Lewis, William Clifford

 In this early film version of Charles Dickens' story of love and death during the era around the French Revolution, William Farnum takes on the roles of aristocrat Charles Darnay and his savior Sydney Carton. Sydney has fallen in love with Lucie Manette (Jewel Carmen), but she marries Charles. Later, after Charles is captured and sentenced to the guillotine, Sydney selflessly plots to take Charles' place and allow him to return to Lucie.

Director: Cecil B. DeMille    More Info
Starring: Geraldine Farrar, Wallace Reid, Raymond Hatton, Theodore Kosloff, Hobart Bosworth, Julia Faye

 Set in the last moments of the Aztec Empire, Geraldine Farrar plays Teca–Montezuma's (Raymond Hatton) daughter. To save her mother, Alvarado (Wallace Reid), from certain death, Teca leads Cortez (Hobart Bosworth) and his invasion forces into the center of the Aztec world.

Director: E. Mason Hopper    More Info
Starring: Bert Lytell, Rhea Mitchell, Rosemary Theby, Joey Jacobs, Howard Davies, John Burton, Frank Whitson

 Bart Lytell plays the title role in this early "Boston Blackie" episode starring as the gentleman crook, Boston Blackie. With help from Mary (Rhea Mitchell)–who has been hired as a nurse to tend little Martin Wilmerding, Jr. (Joey Jacobs)–Blackie plots to rob the Wilmerding mansion. Plans progress, but while opening the safe, little Martin wakes up and comes into the room. Blackie and Martin play and become such good friends that Blackie even helps Martin's mother (Rosemary Theby) solve a problem. But, Blackie does manage to steal the jewels, and now he must decide whether or not to return the jewels to the family.

Director: Cecil B. DeMille    More Info
Starring: Elliott Dexter, Sylvia Ashton, Florence Vidor, Helen Jerome Eddy, Wanda Hawley, Theodore Roberts, Marcia Manon, Julia Faye, J. Parks Jones, Gustav von Seyffertitz

 Charles (Elliott Dexter) grows tired of his overweight, lazy wife Sophy (Sylvia Ashton) and looks for a new woman. He falls for Juliet (Florence Vidor), but when Juliet becomes involved in a murder case, Charles dumps her and eventually marries Viola (Marcia Manon), who leaves him for his personal secretary. Eventually, Charles returns to Sophy who takes him in.

Director: Marshall Neilan    More Info
Starring: Mary Pickford, Conway Tearle, Camille Ankewich, Herbert Standing, Marcia Manon, Ida Waterman, Josephine Crowell, Lou Conley, Gustav von Seyffertitz

 Mary Pickford takes on dual roles in one of her best performances. Both of her characters are in love with the same man (Conway Tearle), and only one will win his love.

Director: Cecil B. DeMille    More Info
Starring: Raymond Hatton, Kathlyn Williams, Edythe Chapman, Elliott Dexter, Noah Beery, Tully Marshall, James Neill

 "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" is the theme for this early Cecil B. DeMille film about how the folly of John Tremble's (Raymond Hatton) temptations lead to a tangled end.