Feature Productions

A masked criminal known as the Bat terrorizes the guests of an old dark house rented by a mystery writer, while a stolen bank fortune is hidden somewhere inside. The Bat announces his crimes in advance and dares the police to stop him, and the household spends the night hunting for the money, the Bat, and a killer who may or may not be the same person. Roland West directed this adaptation of the 1920 Broadway hit by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, and his use of a bat signal and a caped figure inspired Bob Kane's later creation of Batman. The film was considered lost for decades before a print surfaced in the 1980s. Pre-1930 films are in the public domain in the United States.

Horror · Comedy · Silent

A loose, swashbuckling portrait of the 15th-century French poet Francois Villon, played by John Barrymore at the height of his stage and screen fame. Villon is a tavern brawler and versifier who runs afoul of King Louis XI, played by the German actor Conrad Veidt in a Hollywood sojourn between Caligari and his later work in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari's shadow. The production was lavish, with sets by William Cameron Menzies and an estimated million-dollar budget. The only surviving domestic print was found years later in Barrymore's own former mansion by its next occupant, Edgar Bergen, and donated to the American Film Institute. It entered the public domain in the United States in 2023.

Adventure · Drama · Silent

Valentino's final film, released two weeks after his death from peritonitis at thirty-one. He plays a double role: the aging Sheik Ahmed and his hot-blooded son, who falls for Yasmin, a dancing girl, and is tricked by a band of outlaws into believing she betrayed him. The younger Ahmed abducts her in revenge, and the story plays out as a compressed echo of the first film, sharper and a little harder. Vilma Banky is a strong match for Valentino, and the desert photography has a clean, harsh beauty. The film was selected for the National Film Registry in 2003. Long held under copyright by the Copyright Term Extension Act, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2022, and is now freely watchable.

Romance · Adventure · Silent