All Films

Shall Not Judge

1920 • 43 min • Denmark

Marcus Bloomer, a district attorney, receives a divine revelation the night before he is to sentence a young man to death. The herald of the revelation takes the form of Bloomer’s former sweetheart Reine, who shows him the greatest mistake of his life: twenty years ago, Bloomer chose his career over Reine, who birthed a fatherless child. In a cruel twist of fate, the child that Bloomer abandoned turns out to be the very same young man he must now sentence to death. (Stumfilm.dk)

The Dangers of the Fly

1920 • 36 min • Argentina

The Dangers of the Fly is an educational film made by Ernesto Gunche and Eduardo Martínez de la Pera, also responsible for Gaucho Nobility (1915), the biggest blockbuster of Argentinean silent cinema. De la Pera was a talented photographer, always willing to try new gadgets and techniques. This film experiments with microphotography in the style of Jean Comandon's films for Pathé and it is part of a series which included a film about mosquitoes and paludism and another one about cancer, which are considered lost. Flies were a popular subject of silent films and there are more than a dozen titles featuring them in the teens and early twenties.

The Iron Rider

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

When law and order fade into distant memory in Angel City, the townspeople yearn for the era of the Iron Riders, a band of men who took justice into their own hands and brought order out of chaos. The organizer of the group was John Lannigan, whose son Larry decides to take up the mantle of the Riders once again.

A Prohibition Monkey

1920 • 30 min • United States of America

The town of Beer Bottle Bend is so tough that the babies chew tobacco. It is run in a high, wide, and handsome manner by the owner of Riley's Saloon. There is a little church in the town built in haste many years ago but it has been securely boarded up for years. Mr. Riley intended it to remain so for his Sunday business was booming. A traveling evangelist who learned his profession as a circus performer arrives in the town with Charles Bullephant, a peevish elephant; Joe Martin, a highly-cultured orang-outang; and Buster, a famous trained horse. With help from his friends, he sets out to make Beer Bottle Bend a church-going community.

The Birth of a Soul

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

Mountain families feud.

Edgar's Sunday Courtship

1920 • 20 min • United States of America

On the way to Sunday school, Edgar meets the lady of his heart--and his hated rival. The Sunday-school lesson on David and Goliath so intrigues Edgar that he sees himself as David, saving the entire school, sweetheart and rival included, from Goliath's sword. Edgar's answer to the teacher's question proves his straying thoughts. As a result he is placed on the platform, where he sees himself descending to the "lower regions" as the "worst boy in the school." Edgar's Sunday adventures end with him at peace with the world, after two helpings of pie.

Ball Bearing, But Hard Running

1920 • 8 min • United States of America

A previously lost short also known as His Nimble Twist.

Jes' Call Me Jim

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

Happy-go-lucky Jim Fenton is in love with Miss Butterworth, the town milliner, who is taking care of little Harry Benedict while his father Paul, an inventor, is in the local insane asylum. Miss Butterworth convinces Jim that Belcher, one of the town's prominent citizens, has incarcerated Paul to steal the patents from his inventions. Jim breaks into the asylum and spirits away the enfeebled inventor......

The Gum Riot

1920 • 20 min • United States of America

The action takes place in a gum factory. By a peculiar accident, a bootlegger attempting to avoid the keen eye of an officer of the law, holds a bottle of liquor so that its contents drop into a vat in which the gum is being prepared. It is when the gum is finished and ready to chew that the riot starts.

A Splendid Hazard

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

Karl Breitman, obsessed with the notion that he is a descendant of Napoleon, is driven to restore the monarchy in France. To accomplish this, he courts Hedda Gobert, who, he has learned, possesses Napoleon's papers. Upon winning Hedda, Breitman steals the documents, which lead him to America and the home of Admiral Killigrew where, the papers allege, the emperor's hidden wealth resides.

The Discarded Woman

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

Esther Wells is dumped by her husband, Martin, just as she's boarding a train. She gets off at the next stop, wanders into a cabin owned by Samuel Radburn, who happens to have been swindled out of a mine by Martin.

Jenny Be Good

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

When a young woman's great romance is interrupted by the influence of her lover's parents, she turns to her art as a violinist to console herself. As she is about to achieve her highest triumph, she is suddenly confronted by the return of the man she loves, and she must make a choice.

Be Mine–for Tomorrow

1920 • 22 min • Sweden

When Halfdan’s old flame, Karina, comes to town, the reaction of his jealous wife Märthe begins to concern him. But Halfdan has no clue that they’re in fact childhood friends, and the two women agree to keep Halfdan in the dark for a little while longer. When Märthe is on her way out of town, Halfdan sees an opportunity to replace his jealous wife with an actress in order to impress Karina. Karina tells Märthe about the incident and they decide to teach Halfdan a lesson. (Stumfilm.dk)

Shipwrecked Among Cannibals

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

After opening scenes showing volcanoes of Java, an underground river, waterfalls, cloud effects, a coral island, the Ghost Rocks of Buru, and a tiger hunt in Siam, documentary footage of the cannibal tribes of New Guinea is framed by a fictional narrative in which the scientific expedition is shipwrecked along the southern New Guinea coast in the land of the Kia Kia headhunters, thus affording the crew the opportunity to film the tribal customs of these cannibals.

The Dippy Dentist

1920 • 11 min • United States of America

The film begins with a girl who is supposedly irresistible to all men. Several guys all come to her to pledge their undying love--including Harold Lloyd's brother, Gaylord (who is a dentist). Shortly after this, a new dentist (Snub Pollard) arrives to work in an office across the hall. In a very funny scene, Pollard manages to steal all of Gaylord's patients from his waiting room. However, when it comes to dental work, Snub is highly unlikely to receive the American Dental Association's seal of approval. That's because he's incredibly rough and manages to toss a guy out the window when he pulls his tooth.

West Is West

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

Dick Rainboldt (Carey) signs up to work at a gold mine without realizing that he's being hired as a strikebreaker. He takes the job primarily because of a pretty girl who lives in the town. The superintendent and manager of the mine convince Rainboldt to blow up the mine and make it appear like the strikers did it. But Rainboldt turns the tables on the plotters and reveals their scheme. The mine owner rewards him with a big assignment and the girl promises to marry him.

The Champion Liar

1920 • 20 min • United States of America

A breezy young Westerner loves to talk and tells some "whoppers" for humorous purposes. This get him into trouble with his girl, but he wins her back after she has tried vainly to fall in love with an honest but less entertaining fellow.

Parted Curtains

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

A young man just released from prison can't find work because no employer will hire an ex-convict. Broke and hungry, he steals money off of a painter. The painter, however, takes pity on him and decides to help him get his life back together.

Husbands and Wives

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

While visiting Atlanta, pampered Northern heiress Olive Thurston meets and marries Southerner John Ames, a member of an impoverished but old aristocratic family. John attempts to force his wife to conform to Southern ideals of womanhood, resulting in many conflicts between the newlyweds, but after a brief separation, Olive and John are reunited, resolving to look for each other's virtues and forgive the faults.

Their Silver Wedding

1920 • 17 min • Denmark

Even though the Gommesens have been married for 25 years, they are still in love. They wake up happy on their silver wedding anniversary, but the peaceful atmosphere does not last. The couple ends up in a huge fight causing Mrs. Gommesen to leave the house in fury. Her husband’s anger quickly fades when Lawyer Vinkel makes a surprise visit, delivering a present from Gommesen’s rich uncle in Chicago: A check of 25.000 DKK. Learning that it can only be cashed on the condition, that the Gommesens lead a happy, peaceful life together, Mr. Gommesen rushes out to find his precious wife. Will he make it in time or is he forced to give up the fortune? (stumfilm.dk)

Double Danger

1920 • 20 min • United States of America

Mr. Dawson can't pay the balance of a note owned by the villain, so the villain demands his daughter as payment.

In Walked Mary

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

Dick Allison comes to the aid of Mary Ann Hubbard, a young, dispossessed woman in the South, and the two become close friends. Dick leaves the South to move to New York, and Mary soon finds herself in dire financial straits. She decides to ask her friend Dick in New York for help, and travels there to see him. Unfortunately, she arrives at Dick's place on the evening of his bachelor party, but Dick persuades his fiancée, Betsy Caldwell, to put up Mary for the night. Mary soon finds out something about Betsy that Dick does not know.

The Famous Actress Cicala Formica

1920 • 25 min

The film tells in a humorous way of the artistic aspirations of a young and bourgeoisie fraulein who wants to become a famous actress, the most important diva of all times, although her family , especially her father, are unhappy with her artistic dreams. But thanks to her tenacity, as well as the collaboration of some servants and members of her family (they help her rehearse her roles which are taken from Roman Empire times), the young fraulein finally gets to star in a film. But the premiere will be a disaster because due to the inexperience of the projectionist, the actors in the picture are all rapidly moving backwards, causing general laughter in the audience and spelling the end of the glorious but brief cinematic career of our heroine.

45 Minutes from Broadway

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

Kid Burns vicariously enjoys life with his wealthy playboy pal. But complications ensue when Kid falls in love with a girl who just happens to be his friend's housemaid.