All Films

The Clue of the Pigtail

1923 • 12 min • United Kingdom

Third release in 'The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu' series, where the police has to investigate the clue of the pigtail wig.

The Noon Whistle

1923 • 11 min • United States of America

Stan is a lazy employee at a lumber company. Much of the first portion of the film has to do with Stan trying to sneak into work late--past the violent and rather insane supervisor. Later, however, Stan walks into a plot to steal the company away and frame the owner for a crime he did not commit.

Oils Well!

1923 • 25 min • United States of America

Set in the oil-soaked country of “Chilitina”—shot on location in San Diego’s Balboa Park—Oils Well! follows the travails of Monty, an everyman office clerk, who thinks only of his boss’s daughter. When Herbert Hester, an oilman “so crooked he cheats when counting his pulse,” schemes to cover up the company’s new gusher so he can claim it himself and get the girl, Monty swings into action. He eludes the hapless Chilitinan army, sidesteps the General’s amorous wife, thwarts Herbert, and saves the day.

Dead Game

1923 • 50 min • United States of America

"Katy" Didd holds up the stage in which his sweetheart, Alice Mason, is traveling to her wedding to Prince Tetlow, to whom her guardian insists that she be married. Katy hides her at his ranch, but Tetlow finds her and abandons Katy in the desert.

Save The Ship

1923 • 11 min • United States of America

'Save the Ship' is a plotless silent short film which has the 33 year old Stan Laurel acting in a run of the mill production to pay his bills and as a token by Hal Roach.

Miss Suwanna of Siam

1923 • 60 min • Thailand, United States of America

The film is a romance about a young woman named Suwanna who is the object of affection for many men. In her search for true love, she has many adventures and mishaps, including overcoming her father's disapproval, before finally finding her soulmate. It was one of first feature films to be made in Thailand, and was the first Hollywood co-production in Thailand. Unfortunately, nothing of the film exists today except for some promotional materials and other ephemera held at the Thailand National Film Archive.

The Vow Made Below the Moon

1923 • 60 min • Japan, South Korea

Yeong-deuk and Jeong-sun and engaged. Yeong-deuk comes back home after completing his studies and meets the wrong kind of friends who revel in liquor and women.

Arrested For Life

1923 • 21 min • United States of America

A woman has difficulty finding a job in a new town.

Desert Rider

1923 • 45 min

Kincade shoots Baird and takes the map to his gold mine. Sutherland finds the dying Baird who tells him the mine's location. Kincade, having lost the map, now goes after the gold Sutherland has taken out of the mine.

The Woman with Four Faces

1923 • 60 min • United States of America

Elizabeth West, a young woman who is both a thief and a con artist and allied with a gang of crooks, is freed when a jury does not convict her on a larceny charge. She determines to aid district attorney Richard Templar to round up a gang of narcotic traffickers. Disguised as an old woman, she secures the privilege of having an old confederate, who is in solitary confinement, temporarily released to aid in the plan. He turns against her, however, and she is forced to work alone with the district attorney. They succeed in their plan and then confess their love for each other. A lost film.

On demande un mannequin

1923 • 32 min • France

Eugenie, a young girl with a delicate temperament, runs away from the sordid cabaret run by her mother. Helped by a providential coincidence, she became a model in a fashion house on the Champs-Élysées.

In Search of a Thrill

1923 • 55 min • United States of America

After she inherits a fortune, Ann Clemance travels to Paris to indulge herself in frivolity. She meets up with an old friend, writer Adrian Torrens, who disparages her lifestyle. Ann sees him befriend an Apache dancer and she believes he finds women in need of salvation more appealing.

No Vacancies

1923 • 20 min

Arrow comedy shot in 1921 but released 2 years later, with an ensemble cast including Jay Belasco, Blanche Payson, Billy Armstrong and Jack Duffy. The plot centers around Jack and his wife who are looking for a place to rent. But what to do when the housing situation is not exactly easy?

Aaron's Rod

1923 • 28 min • United Kingdom

A mysterious murder sets Nayland Smith and Petrie once again on the trail of villainous Fu-Manchu, and seeking a strange old stick with magical powers

Regeneration

1923 • 60 min • United States of America

A ne're-do-well man, a beautiful girl, and her one-legged body-guard/family servant are the sole survivors---they think---of a ship wreck and make it to a uninhabited south-seas island. The influence of the girl brings about a reformation of the man in this version of Eden...until three sailors, also survivors, show up, and have designs on the girl. Then a pirates' treasure chest is discovered buried on the beach, and matters become even more tense...and violent.

The Bolted Door

1923 • 53 min

In order to inherit her uncle's fortune, Natalie Judson enters a marriage of convenience to mechanic Brooke Garriott, who has long loved her. Natalie pursues her gay life while Brooke plunges himself into his work and successfully perfects an engine.

Kill or Cure

1923 • 11 min • United States of America

Laurel portrays a commercial traveller, hawking a patent medicine cried Professor I.O. Dine's Knox-All: that name is the funniest joke in this movie, which ain't sayin' much. I should point out that this movie dates from 1923, the shank of Prohibition. During Prohibition, quite a lot of Americans purchased patent medicine if it had (ahem!) 'medicinal' properties, so -- if Knox-All contains alcohol.

Jim Bougne, boxeur

1923 • 50 min • France

April Showers

1923 • 60 min • United States of America

Danny O'Rourke is the son of a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. Eager to join the police force, Danny fails his exams. The failure causes him to neglect his sweetheart Maggie, whose father is a police lieutenant. His attentions turn instead towards society girl Miriam Welton. When Danny’s sister, Shannon, is arrested for shoplifting, Danny turns to boxing to save her. He works his way towards the championship but discovers the final bought has been rigged. Danny fights anyhow and he is beaten, but it is discovered that a mistake had been made on his exams and he actually was eligible to join the police force after all. Considered a lost film.

The Scarlet Lily

1923 • 60 min • United States of America

Silent feature directed by Victor Schertzinger

The Gown Shop

1923 • 15 min • United States of America

Here we have 'The Gown Shop', very much in Semon's usual style but with fewer laughs than usual. Semon plays his default character, a grotesque hard-working incompetent. (I'm going to be using the word 'grotesque' a lot in this particular review.) This time round, he blunders into a boutique. After causing some damage he can't pay for, Larry is put to work as a general dogsbody. Mayhem ensues.

The Last Moment

1923 • 60 min • United States of America

Hercules Napoleon Cameron, who finds his adventure in books, is searching the waterfront with Alice Winthrop for a friend's father when they are shanghaied and taken aboard "The Finn's" ship, bound for the South Seas. "The Finn" is a brutal captain who reinforces his authority with a caged, ape-like monster. "The Thing" escapes during a storm, destroys the captain and crew, then turns on Alice and Nap. Fearing that their last moment has arrived, they declare their love for each other, and Nap suddenly develops a heroic impulse. He holds off the monster for a time, Alice and Nap swim for shore closely followed by "The Thing," and Nap finally drowns the beast with the aid of a large abalone. A lost film.

Return to Reason

1923 • 3 min • France

Experimental film, white specks and shapes gyrating over a black background, the light-striped torso of Kiki of Montparnasse (Alice Prin), a gyrating eggcrate. One of the first Dadaist films.

Mother's Joy

1923 • 23 min

Mother's Joy is a 1923 silent comedy film starring Stan Laurel.