All Films

Satires

1929 • 8 min • United States of America

Mr. Young introduces the sketch in an appropriately melodramatic fashion, wearing an opera cape and a glowering expression. He recites a bit of doggerel about the current popularity of mystery plays ("full of thrills and sighing moans, slamming doors and ringing phones") and then slinks away. Eerie music, thunder, and sinister lighting set the scene. Vivien enters, frightened, and then John, ditto. They tiptoe about, and exchange ridiculous quips about how terrible it all is. Young staggers in, groaning, and slumps into a chair. Vivien screams, and dashes away. When John bumps into the corpse and excuses himself, the corpse comes to life long enough to say "That's all right" before falling dead again.

Always Faithful

1929 • 11 min

The wife and secretary of a mine operator attempt to conceal their romantic affair.

Shadow Games

1929 • 5 min • France

Shadow Games presents objects whose recognition is made difficult by fragmentation, which gives them a kaleidoscopic appearance. We see rosette windows, mounted with close-ups of flowers, passages taken in negative, but the originality of the film is to show the richness of the mobile forms.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

1929 • 10 min • United States of America

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the famous sleuth Sherlock Holmes, talks about his fictional detective, the real-life professor who inspired him, and his own belief in the supernatural.

The Lump

1929 • 11 min • Japan

An old man with a huge lump on his face encounters a band of Tengu in the mountains.

The Pearl

1929 • 34 min • Belgium

A silent, surreal short involving a man buying a pearl necklace. He meets a woman who also desires the necklace.

I've Got Rings on My Fingers

1929 • 5 min • United States of America

In this one, a traffic cop is up in the sky on a platform guiding various planes and birds on their way.

For Your Beautiful Eyes

1929 • 8 min • Belgium

"Pour vos beaux yeux" (For Your Beautiful Eyes) is an eight-minute surrealist short by Henri Storck, conceived from an idea by Félix Labisse. In just 75 shots, it follows a young man who discovers a glass eye in a park, becomes consumed by its strange allure, and tries in vain to rid himself of it by mailing it away. Featuring Henry Van Vyve in the lead role, with cameo appearances by Labisse and his sister Ninette, the film stands as a playful yet unsettling exploration of obsession and absurdity—released only a year after "Un Chien Andalou."

Bring 'Em Back Nude

1929 • 15 min • United States of America

A young woman crashes in her brother's apartment while he's away on African safari. She daydreams that she's with him as his wife and they are menaced by a tribe that worships two white goddesses.

The Glass Eye

1929 • 48 min • Soviet Union

Archive footage from the 1920s juxtaposed against a film-within-a-film parodying the melodramatic excesses of popular cinema of the day.

For Your Health

1929 • 48 min • Soviet Union

About the fight against alcoholism in the workplace.

Trail of the Horse Thieves

1929 • 50 min • United States of America

Vic Stanley, a wandering cowboy, is found by Clint Taggart and his daughter, Amy, after he has escaped from a band of rustlers. Upon recovering his sight from a desert sandstorm, he sees and falls in love with Amy and becomes resolute in his decision to uncover the identity of the rustlers and particularly their leader, "The Eagle." Though blind during his capture, he nevertheless recognizes the voice of The Eagle in McElroy, a leading banker. After another escape from the gang, Vic manages to save Taggart and Amy from The Eagle's sticky clutches, exposes their operation, and proceeds on course with Amy.

Metro Movietone Revue #2

1929 • 13 min • United States of America

Early MGM sound short featuring vaudeville acts George Dewey Washington, Johnny Marvin, Rosemarie Sinnott, The Locust Sisters, and Harry Rose.

The Dance of the Paroxysms

1929 • 45 min • Portugal

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.

The Long, Long Trail

1929 • 58 min • United States of America

Its time for the big race and its the Rambling Kid riding Dynamite versus Wilson's horse Thunderbolt. When Gyp informs Wilson that Lightning is faster, Wilson has Gyp drug the Kid's coffee just before the race.

No Eyes Today

1929 • 6 min

Fleischer "Out of the Inkwell" cartoon featuring Koko

Baby Rose Marie: The Child Wonder

1929 • 8 min • United States of America

Rose Marie, aged five or six, sings three numbers, "Heigh Ho, Everybody, Heigh Ho", "Who Wouldn't Be Jealous of You", and "Don't Be Like That". She's animated throughout, acting as well as singing.

My Bag o' Tricks

1929 • 10 min

A vaudeville act. Trixie Friganza performs first a story and then a song. For the story, she wears a wide-brimmed had and a matching diaphanous shawl. She tells of a visit to a friend who has a five-year old son. The mother tells Trixie a tale of stepping out on her husband, and to conceal the story from the boy, spells out key words. By the story's end, mom is in for a surprise and Trixie has a moral for us. Then, the hat and shawl come off, a base fiddle comes out, and Trixie sings us a comic song about her first two husbands.

No Defense

1929 • 60 min • United States of America

No Defense is a 1929 romantic drama directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Monte Blue. It was a silent film with part talking and sound-effects by the Vitaphone Company. It was distributed by Warner Brothers.

Oh, You Beautiful Doll

1929 • 8 min • United States of America

In this one, a cat is cleaning a store carpet when he gets interrupted by a mouse. After they do a brief tap dance, a lady cat comes in which has the male cat already smitten.

Frank Whitman: That Surprising Fiddler

1929 • 7 min • United States of America

Frank Whitman demonstrates that he can replace a standard violin bow with a variety of objects.

Catedral y Plaza Grande

1929 • 1 min • Ecuador

Cathedral and Plaza Grande

Just Off Broadway

1929 • 60 min • United States of America

Tom Fowler watches in horror as his brother Ed is gunned down in cold blood. With his dying breath, Ed asks his brother to bring the killer to justice. Discovering that the hit was ordered by the city's top mobster, Marty Kirkland, Tom takes an undercover job at the racketeer's Broadway nightclub. Avenging his brother is momentarily forgotten when he falls in love with a gorgeous chorus girl, Nan Morgan. But Tom is shocked to learn that Kirkland is the flapper's boyfriend. Now with the life of the woman he loves at stake, Tom vows to take down the mob boss once and for all...even if he has to punch out every crook from Brooklyn to the Bowery.

Mosaico criollo

1929 • 9 min • Argentina

“Mosaico criollo” is not exactly a spoken film: it is a series of filmed musical sketches of several popular genres in four scenes, each one with a description. Joaquina Carreras sings folk song “Triste está mi rancho”, then Giménez and Suárez (“genuine northern dancers”) dive into an enthusiastic folk tap dance. After them, Julio Perceval (“delight of Buenos Aires citizens’ ears”) executes a piano solo, and “graceful interpreter” Anita Palmero sings the tango “Botarate”, by Acuña and De Cicco.