All Films

Romance Land

1923 • 50 min • United States of America

This silent action comedy features Tom Mix donning a suit of armor to battle an unscrupulous ranch foreman in a style that would appear familiar to King Arthur and his knights.

Hansel and Gretel

1923 • 18 min • United States of America

This is the story of the heartless mother whose burdens are such that she would be rid of her two children. The henpecked father is compelled to take them to the woods and there lose them. Gretel drops bread-crumbs to find her way home, but wild-fowl eat the crumbs and they are truly lost. The babes wander to the home of a witch, who would fatten them up to make ginger-bread of them. As they are about to be thrown into the blazing furnace Peggy outwits the witch, and, in turn, the witch is thrust into the roaring flames, as the mother, repentant, heads the neighbors in the work of rescue.

Kino-Pravda No. 15

1923 • 22 min • Soviet Union

Dziga Vertov-directed Soviet newsreel covering: Against war / Against Gods / Education / Agitation / Sports and gymnastics / Danger of war.

The Broken Violin

1923 • 60 min • United States of America

Elderly Jeremy Ellsworth decides to settle his fortune on John and Beatrice, the children of his disinherited son. He sends a message for them to come live with him. Beatrice arrives safely, but James Gault, Ellsworth's secretary, intercepts the letter to John and engages Phil Carter to pose as the heir. Lumber camp foreman John hears of the plot and heads to the Ellsworth home to squash it but is overpowered by thugs who also kidnap Beatrice. Escaping his captors, John rescues his sister from a speedboat with the aid of a hydroplane and finds love with Beatrice's governess.

The Taming of the Shrew

1923 • 22 min

This version concentrates on the contest between Petruchio and Katerina, as it should. The Biance subplot is used only to set up the Shrew story. When the subplot is resolved, its intrusion comes almost as a surprise, but I suppose the director felt he had to tie up lose ends.

The Fortune Teller

1923 • 8 min • United States of America

Max and Koko get mixed up with a live action gypsy fortune teller and then caught up with ghosts and monsters in this, as usual, delightful OUT OF THE INKWELL offering.

Daddy

1923 • 60 min • United States of America

Believing her husband to be unfaithful, Helene Savelli takes her son, Jackie, to the Holdens' farm and dies shortly afterward. The Holdens keep Jackie, but he eventually goes to the city when the elderly couple lose their farm and retire to the poorhouse. Jackie next is befriended by Cesare Gallo, a sidewalk musician who was also the teacher of Paul Savelli--now a famous violinist. A chance meeting with Savelli by Jackie reunites him with Gallo just before the old man dies. Savelli takes Jackie home with him, happily discovers the boy to be his son, and restores the farm to the Holdens.

Pathé’s Animated Gazette: Arrival of Ismet Pasha at Istanbul

1923 • 2 min • United Kingdom

A newsreel shows General Harrington receives Ismet Pasha at Istanbul.

The Prisoner

1923 • 50 min • United States of America

While traveling in Europe Philip Quentin encounters his former sweetheart, Dorothy Garrison, and finds that she is now engaged to Prince Ugo Ravorelli, whom Philip recognizes as the man wanted for a murder in Brazil.

Summer Frolics and Shenanigans

1923 • 29 min • Denmark

A summery love triangle unfolds on the Egelund estate. The landowner Sprange’s daughter Else and the painter Bolt are secretly engaged and enjoying their romance when the idyllic state of affairs is suddenly disrupted by the arrival of Arthur v. Pollnitz. It transpires that Sprange has promised v. Pollnitz his daughter’s hand in marriage, and when Else and Bolt hear about it, they come up with all kinds of shenanigans to foil her father’s plans. (Stumfilm.dk)

The Miracle Baby

1923 • 60 min • United States of America

Neil Allison is tricked into assaying some false samples from a young crook's mine. When Neil sees that he has been duped, a quarrel ensues, and Jim Starke, the youth, is stabbed by an unknown assassin. Neil runs away thinking he has committed murder and becomes the unwitting partner of the victim's father.

Double Dealing

1923 • 50 min • United States of America

The servant girl of a wealthy young man helps him fend off criminals who are trying to steal his property.

Railroaded

1923 • 50 min

Richard Garbin, willful son of Judge Garbin, one of England's most prominent jurists, is railroaded into prison. He escapes, vowing vengeance against Corton, the man who framed him and caused the death of one of his friends.

Pathé Review: Monsters of the Past

1923 • 5 min • United States of America

Sculptress Virginia May is seen making a clay model of a tyrannosaurus rex, which is animated using stop motion, and then fights a stop-motion triceratops. Although Miss May's only known relationship with the movies is this particular short, her contemporary, Willis O'Brien and his student Ray Harryhausen certainly made the field a lively one until computer animation caught up in the 1990s -- and arguably their artistry is still unsurpassed.

The Sunshine Trail

1923 • 50 min • United States of America

When good-natured James Henry MacTavish comes into an inheritance, he travels East to claim it with the determination that he will "scatter sunshine" along the way. But MacTavish almost immediately lands himself in hot water.

Is Money Everything?

1923 • 58 min • United States of America

A farmer, unhappy with his life, decides to go the city to try and make his fortune. He takes a friend along with him. The two of them become successful, but that success brings other, unforeseen problems into their lives.

Felix the Ghost Breaker

1923 • 6 min • United States of America

Felix is trying to get some sleep in a graveyard, but keeps getting bothered by a ghost. He follows the ghost to the house of an old farmer, and the ghost proceeds to terrorize the old man, and when the farmer calls for help from the police, the ghost terrorizes them, too. Felix, however, suspects something fishy is going on, and with the help of the farmer's donkey, gets to the bottom of things.

The Silver Buddha

1923 • 26 min • United Kingdom

Our hero Dr Petrie is caught by evil Fu-Manchu and imprisoned near the British Museum, where he risks a daring escape, high above the London streets.

The Pill Pounder

1923 • 20 min

Charlie is a small town druggist trying to wait on trade and play a social game of poker in the back room.

A Wife's Romance

1923 • 60 min

Joyce Addison, wife of an American attache in Madrid, looks to her painting as sole entertainment, as her husband neglects her for business. One night late, while driving, she meets and is robbed by a bandit who proves sufficiently chivalrous to see her home.

La Traversée du Grépon

1923 • 8 min • France

In 1923, André Sauvage produced his first film La Traversée du Grépon. Dedicated to mountaineering in the Mont Blanc massif, this documentary is a performance that earned him the recognition of his peers. André Sauvage and his companions decide to climb the Grépon, the best known of the Aiguilles de Chamonix, in the Mont Blanc Massif. Early in the morning, they cross the Mer de Glace, climb rocky peaks, abseil summits, cross crevasses, snowfields and long seracs. After sixteen hours of effort, the climbers return to the refuge. With his camera, Sauvage documents the difficult undertaking, also showing his strong passion for the mountains. "The deepest perception of mountains begins where intelligence ends." (A. Sauvage). Two long versions of the film have disappeared, one of 90 and the other of 51 minutes and only eight minutes are preserved.

His Last Race

1923 • 60 min • United States of America

Horseshoes

1923 • 21 min

A boxer offers $50 to anyone who can stay in the ring with him for an entire minute. Larry, through a series of mix-ups--including hitting the boxer in the face with a tomato--winds up in the ring with him but, with the aid of some strategically placed horseshoes, manages to knock the boxer out. When he comes to and finds out what happened, the outraged boxer sets out after Larry.

Victims of Hatred

1923 • 47 min • Austria

The family of a Jewish Russian manufacturer suffer ruin and murder as victims of a pogrom during the Russian Revolution.