The Toll

A Poet From The Sea

1927

Hou Yao wrote, directed and starred in A Poet from the Sea (1927). It was shot in Stanley, Hong Kong. The surviving copy was only 23-minute long, but Hou Yao's romantic side was obvious through the scenic location and beautiful set-up. The love story between Poet (Hou Yao) and his lover (Lee Dan-dan) was pure and lyrical, a gem from China Sun Motion Picture Company (Shanghai) in the 1920s.

Smarrita!

1921

One Stolen Night

1929

When his ne'er-do-well brother embezzles the commissary funds of their cavalry unit stationed in the Sudan, a British soldier takes the blame for him. He winds up deserting his post and joining up with a traveling vaudeville troupe. He falls in love with a pretty young woman in one of the show's acts but finds that a local Arab sheik has his own plans for the young girl.

A Star Is Born

1954

A movie star helps a young singer-actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

Should We Be Silent?

1926

A melodrama about a painter who is infected with syphilis, refuses treatment, turns to the use instead of narcotics, and withers away.

Adoration

1928

Billie Dove, as Elena, pulls out all stops as a Russian princess and a woman-of-the-streets in Paris in an exotic romance and hand-wringing drama set in two countries and the way-stations in between.

The Eternal City

1923

War drama - Fitzmaurice was able to film King Victor Emmanuel III and Benito Mussolini reviewing Italian troops.

Jaws of Steel

1927

Our doggy hero is abandoned in the desert while in pup-hood. Upon reaching maturity, Tin Tin has undeservedly earned the reputation as a killer canine. Thus, the human characters spend most of their time hunting down the dog in hopes of collecting a huge bounty.

Manhattan Cocktail

1928

Nancy Carroll stars in Manhattan Cocktail as Babs, a college coed who dreams of becoming a famous actress. Joining up with her campus chums Fred (Richard Arlen) and Bob (Danny O'Shea), likewise aspiring thespians, Babes heads to Broadway with stars in her eyes. The winsome threesome are quickly disillusioned by the heartless machinations of nasty producer Renov (Paul Lukas) and his harridan wife (Lilyan Tashman). Before the plot proper gets under way, the audience is regaled with a cute "mythological" prologue, featuring the same three leading actors. Manhattan Cocktail was a silent picture, except for two brief musical numbers showcasing Nancy Carroll.

Too Much Wife

1922

Myra Coningsby, a newlywed who is determined not to be a submissive wife but ultimately learns to find a balance in her marriage after a dramatic incident involving a faked drowning.

The Story of the Kelly Gang

1906

Just as Galeen and Wegener's Der Golem (1915) can be seen as a testament to early German film artistry, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) symbolizes both the birth of the Australian film industry and the emergence of an Australian cinema identity. Even more significantly, it heralds the emergence of the feature film format. However, only fragments of the original production of more than one hour are known to exist, preserved at the National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra; Efforts at reconstruction have made the film available to modern audiences.

Suzanna

1923

Hoping to consolidate their adjoining ranches, Don Fernando and Don Diego betroth their children, Ramón and Dolores, although Ramón is in love with Suzanna, the daughter of a peon on his father's ranch, and Dolores is interested in Pancho, a toreador. When Suzanna learns that she was kidnapped in infancy and is really Don Diego's daughter, she keeps silent; but Ramón finally rebels and steals Suzanna from the altar as she is about to marry Pancho. There are explanations, Ramón marries Suzanna, and Dolores marries Pancho. Suzanna (1923) has been mastered from a good quality but incomplete 35mm print.

Metropolis

1927

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

Sanshiro Sugata

1943

A hotheaded youth in 1880s Meiji Japan apprentices to judo master Shōgorō Yano, trading brute jujutsu bravado for discipline and humility. As Sanshirō matures, he proves judo’s spirit against old-guard challengers—including a deadly duel—while falling for his vanquished opponent’s daughter. Based on the novel by Tsuneo Tomita, son of Tomita Tsunejirō, the earliest disciple of judo.

Behind Masks

1921

Jeanne, an orphaned young heiress, is about to be married off to an elderly man by her scheming aunt, who stands to make money on the marriage, a fact of which Jeanne is unaware. Jeanne is also unaware that her aunt heads a ring that runs crooked card games, and one night Jeanne attends a fixed bridge game at which her aunt hopes to cheat a wealthy young man out of his money...