All Films

A Village Sleuth

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

A bumbling would-be detective always seems to reach the wrong conclusion, but one day accidentally stumbles across a real crook, guilty of a real crime.

The Price of Redemption

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

Returning to England a hero after saving a British garrison in India, Leigh Dering marries Jean Desmond, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Humiliated by the patronage of his wealthy father-in-law, Leigh turns to drink, estranging him from Jean. Returning home one night he finds the body of his wife's father. When Jean accuses her husband of the crime, Leigh disappears, making it seem as if he has been killed in a railway accident.

Li Ting Lang

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

In a day and age when interracial marriages were considered taboo, film star Sessue Hayakawa rarely got the girl in his pictures. The issue of prejudice is broached here -- and Hayakawa still doesn't get the girl, who in this case is society girl Marion Halstead (Doris Pawn).

The Little 'Fraid Lady

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

Cecelia Carne, dubbed "the little 'fraid lady" because she shuns society, seeks the solitude of the forest in order to perfect her talents as a painter. By chance one day, Cecelia wanders into the estate of Judge Peter Carteret where she meets Saxton Graves, who is assisting the judge in decorating his house. Recognizing her talent, Saxton hires Cecelia and soon falls in love with the artist.

Dollars and Sense

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

Destitute, Hazel Farron is offered employment and comfort from bakery owner David Rogers. When Rogers' bakery slips into debt, he collapses from exhaustion and anxiety, forcing Hazel to turn to former admirer Geoffrey Stanhope for financial aid. Stanhope consents in return for a night alone with Hazel, but when she arrives at his hotel room for the appointed tryst, she discovers Stanhope waiting with Rogers and a minister so that Hazel can marry her employer.

The Girl in the Rain

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

A man and two women, suspected of stealing bonds, are traced to a country hotel. While Judith, one of the women, is out horseback riding, the other two, Walter and Vera, are arrested. When, during a storm, Judith is injured in a fall from her horse, Boone Pendleton comes to her rescue. Soon the river becomes impassable, and they are trapped in Boone's cabin, where the two fall in love.

The Gilded Dream

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

Leona Williard works in a millinery shop in a small town while dreaming of going to New York and marrying a wealthy man. An inheritance of five thousand dollars turns her dream into a reality, and Leona goes to the city where she meets Mrs. Geraldine De Forest, an old friend of her mother's who introduces Leona to a wealthy widower named Frazer Boynton. Boynton proposes to the girl, but Leona refuses because she is in love with Jasper Halroyd. Mrs. De Forest, who is secretly in love with Jasper, lies to Leona that he is her lover. Horrified, Leona accepts Boynton's proposal, but later, after Jasper saves Leona from drowning, she realizes that she still loves him.

All Lit Up

1920 • 10 min • United States of America

Snub goes butterfly hunting in Grffith Park and catches Marie Mosquini by accident. They go to a café where all the men have a lot of hair on their faces and the usual mischief ensues.

Daughter of the Night

1920 • 56 min • Germany

French aristocrat falls for Russian nightclub singer, gets involved in underground Russian revolutionary movement. Parts 1 and 2 were re-edited in the only surviving copy named Daughter of the Night.

Twin Beds

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

A young husband just wants to spend a quiet evening at home with his wife, but her collection of zany friends make hash of his hopes.

Girl in the Web

1920 • 55 min • United States of America

A woman decides to take money from her wealthy mother to pay her gambling debts, but discovers that the contents of her mother's safe has already been stolen.

What Would You Do

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

Released in January 1920, this silent romantic love triangle crime melodrama, about a man who sells fake stock and fakes his suicide. His wife remarries, but her new husband suffers a crippling accident, and wants to die, so she gives him a gun. The day he succeeds, her first husband returns, having made a fortune, and they are united.

Build Thy House

1920 • 50 min • United Kingdom

A padre, acting for a dying soldier, poses as the heir to a slum property and becomes a Labour MP.

A World of Folly

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

Helene Blair is the wife of a prominent businessman who neglects to give her much attention. He is thoroughly engrossed in business affairs. A day comes when she meets Duke Tremaine, clubman, man-about-town, and social parasite. And taking advantage of her husband's absence he attempts to assert his personality upon her impressionable heart. The result is society starts to gossip with the husband the last to learn of the affair. He loses faith in his wife for a time, but she shows herself eventually as completely misunderstood. After a brief separation Blair learns that Helene is above reproach. So a reconciliation takes place, but not until the trespasser is punished.

The Deadlier Sex

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

The Deadlier Sex features Blanche Sweet playing the daughter of a railroad magnate (Winter Hall) who has to take charge when her father unexpectedly dies. She uses her outdoor survival skills to kidnap a business rival to save the company from a stock market struggle. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.

The Poor Simp

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

Melville Carruthers finally decides to propose to his girlfriend Grace and sets out for her house, but gets a sudden attack of shyness and stops in at a café to calm himself. A fight erupts and Melville is knocked out. He wakes up in his room the following day with a young "cabaret girl" taking care of him. Just at that time Grace and her father stop by, and Melville is unable to explain who the girl is and why she's there. Complications ensue.

The Chinaman

1920 • 7 min • United States of America

Max Fleischer considers hiring a new cartoonist. While the new guy draws Max's portrait, Koko gets into a fight with a cartoon Chinese man.

Chains of Evidence

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

Edith Sturgis, the daughter of a judge, returns from studies abroad to find her widowed father remarried. The new Mrs. Sturgis does not reveal that she has a son Dick, once unjustly jailed by Judge Sturgis, but now working as a reporter while still maintaining an association with the Brownlow gang. Quarrelling with her stepmother, Edith leaves home, meets Dick and falls in love.

The Great Redeemer

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

A murderer and a thief, imprisoned together, find their lives changed forever when the thief's drawing of Christ's crucifixion on the cell wall comes to life.

Evening – Night – Morning

1920 • 50 min • Germany

Cheston, a millionaire, is looking after Maud, a beautiful woman from the 'demimonde'. Her brother, Brilburn, forces her to ask her rich admirer for an expensive piece of jewelry. Cheston buys a precious pearl necklace. Lost film.

A Home Spun Hero

1920 • 20 min • United States of America

Bobby is in love with a stage actress and hangs around backstage during the performance. He makes a mess of things from time to time.

On Strike

1920 • 7 min • United States of America

On Strike is one of more than 300 animated ‘half-reelers’ produced between 1913 and 1926 starring the popular American comic-strip characters Mutt and Jeff—and is unusual in featuring live-action shots of its creator, Bud Fisher.

The Texan

1920 • 60 min • United States of America

Tex Benton, riding across the country, sees a turtle, catches a jack rabbit and tests out the old fable of the tortoise and the hare; when the rabbit wins, Tex vows to model his behavior on that style. In a border town, he rescues an Indian, "Bat," and the two become friends. In Wolfville, Tex enters a rodeo. Meanwhile, a stalled Eastern train carries Alice Marcum, the girl Tex decides he wants. Tex competes with an Easterner for the girl's attentions, but Tex, the "hare," loses to the Eastern tenderfoot, the "tortoise." Tex then concludes that he is not the marrying kind.

Footlights and Shadows

1920 • 50 min • United States of America

A fortune-hunting follies star Gloria Dawn ( Olive Thomas ), begins to question her engagement to wealthy Peter Shaw after meeting an amnesiac young man who stumbles into her apartment one night. The doctor instructs that he not be moved, so Gloria nurses the stranger back to health, although his memory fails to return. Gloria falls in love with her patient and, upon discovering that he is millionaire sportsman Jerry O'Farrell, rushes home to restore his identity, only to find that he has gone. Amnesia continues to plague Jerry, and he soon forgets both Gloria's name and address. While he is attending a show at the follies, a fire breaks out, and Gloria, recognizing her lover in the audience, rushes to save him. Meanwhile, Shaw, who has discovered Gloria's feelings for Jerry, accosts her. Jerry, who has finally regained his memory, intercedes and rescues Gloria, and the two fall in love.