Movies

1925

The Big Parade, in 1925, came out. It was directed by King Vidor. It was the largest grossing silent film ever at its time. It was set in wartime and was the story of an idealistic young man who enlists to serve in World War I and discovers the horrors of war.

 

Directed by Charles Chaplin, The Gold Rush, was one of his best films. The Tramp is an Alaskan prospector in the Klondike gold rush, who almost starves. Classic Tramp's routines include his Thanksgiving Day Feast of a boiled edible boot, his romance with a dancehall girl, the dancing bread rolls, and the teetering house.

The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Rupert Julian, was one of the earlies horror films. Lon Chaney plays the acid-scarred composer/phantom, who is somewhat crazed and scorned. He hides his deformity under a mask and lives in the catacombs under the Paris Opera House. He becomes infatuated by a young understudy, a beautilful soprano singer Christine, who he hears singing. He abducts her to his underground dwelling when she continues to see her fiance Raoul. In the secret dungeon, he plans to make her a star, training her to sing, in order to vindicate himself to those who have wronged him. She becomes intrigued by his mask and manages to impulsively unmask him.

 

1926

Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ was directed by Fred Niblo. It was first filmed in 1907 and this remake cost $2 million at the time, and is one of the most outstanding examples of silent films. It is set at the time of Christ and is the story of a Palestiniah Jewish nobleman, Ben-Hur, who is exiled to galley slavery by his Roman boyhood friend and centurion Messala, and later returns to seek revenge.

 

Directed by Roland West, The Bat is a 1926 silent film based on the 1920 hit Broadway play. The story takes place in an old mansion, where people look for hidden loot while a caped killer, nicknamed "The Bat," bumps them off. The film was rediscovered after being thought to be a lost film for many years.

 

Son of the Shiek was a 1926 silent film directed by George Fitzmaurice. It was based on a romance novel by Edith Maude Hull, The Sons of the Sheik, a sequel to the bestselling of The Sheik.

 

1927

The General, directed by Buster Keaton, was a silent film. It was a comedy set during the Civil War. Johnnie Gray is a devoted engineer of his Confederate locomotive, The General. His train is hijacked by Union soldiers behind Southern lines, and taken North. He masterfully and single-handedly pursues them to recapture his train and his girl.

The Jazz Singer, directed by Alan Crosland, was the first film to incorporate sound. With only a few spoken lines, most of the sound sequences are musical performances by Al Jolson, including "Toot, Toot Tootsie Goodbye," "Blue Skies" and "Mammy." The film is the story of a Jewish cantor's son Jakie/Jack Robin who breaks his orthodox father's hear by becoming a jazz singer in show business. But on the night of his Broadway opening he returns home to sing the "Kol Nidre" in his dying father's place.

 

Directed by William Wellman, Wings was the first Oscar-winning film for Best Picture, and the only non-speaking film ever to win to Academy Award. The film is the story of two American pilots from the same hometowm who enlist together in the Army Air Corps in World War I. They are sent to France to battle the Germans. They both compete for the love of small-town girl next door.

 

1928

The Circus, directed by Charles Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin is a hit with circus audiences, not as a performer but property man. Without realizing it, he becomes the star of the show. He falls in love with an equestrienne, the daughter of the circus owner.

 

Directed King Vidor, The Crowd is a silent film. The story of two young people, John and Mary who meet, fall in love, and marry. As a city clerk in a dead-end job, he and his wife struggle with life in the big city.

 

Steamboat Bill, Jr. was directed by Buster Keaton and Charles Reisner. It is the story of a college boy who returns home to his tough, burly Mississippi riverboat captain father. He falls in love with the daughter of his father's rival steamboat owner.

 

1929

Applause, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, is the story of Kitty Darling, a fading, 1920s Broadway and nightclub burlesque singing star. As a boozing, aging mother, she attempts to shelter and save her secluded, convent-raised, grown-up daughter April from more experienced and manipulative characters. But April joins the chorus anyway. Despondent, Kitty takes poison and dies in her dressing room, as April goes on Stage in her place.

The Broadway Melody, Harry Beaumont, was MGM's first full-length musical feature, advertised as "all-talking, all-singing, all-dancing." It was the first, widely distributed sound film and first musical to win an Oscar for Best Picture. The film is the story of two sisters, "Hank" Mahoney and Queenie from Midwestern "sticks," and song-and-dance vaudeville team who are searching for stardom on Broadway, and the love triangle that develops with amorous songwriter Eddie Kerns.

 

Directed by Victor Fleming, The Virginian is a western film adaptation of a pulp novel, the story of the conflict between a Wyoming ranch-hand foreman, the Virginian and a group of outlaws who are changing brands and rustling cattle. Walter Huston plays Trampas, the villainous leader of the gang, who meets his end in a dusty street shootout with the Virginian.

 

BACK
HOME!