Goldwyn Company

A silent melodrama directed by Frank Lloyd for Goldwyn Pictures, based on an original screen story by Gouverneur Morris. During the Boxer Rebellion in China, a white orphan girl is adopted and raised by a Chinese man who brings her to San Francisco's Chinatown. As she grows up, played by Leatrice Joy, no one suspects she is not Chinese, and the film follows the collision between the two cultures of its title as the truth of her identity surfaces. Wallace Beery plays the villain Li Fang. The production built an elaborate Chinese street set at the Goldwyn studio in Culver City, and Lloyd took advantage of a real fire in Venice, California, filming it with his camera crew to use as a burning temple scene. As a work published before 1930, the film is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

Erich von Stroheim's adaptation of Frank Norris's novel McTeague follows a gentle San Francisco dentist who marries the woman his best friend courted, and watches their life curdle over a lottery jackpot she hoards while he drinks. Von Stroheim shot a film that reportedly ran over nine hours; MGM cut it to roughly two, and the excised footage is believed lost. What survives is still one of the most celebrated silent films ever made, famous for its naturalistic location shooting in San Francisco and Death Valley and for ZaSu Pitts's harrowing portrait of avarice. The final crawl across the baking desert, with the two survivors handcuffed to a corpse, is one of the great endings in cinema. The film was a financial failure on release and is now regarded as a high-water mark of American silent drama. The film entered the public domain in the United States in 2020.

Drama · Silent

The 1922 Sherlock Holmes stars John Barrymore as Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective in one of the earliest surviving feature-length adaptations of the character. Roland Young, later famous for the Topper films, plays Dr. Watson, while Gustav von Seyffertitz portrays Moriarty. A young William Powell appears in a supporting role, years before his own stardom. Produced by Goldwyn Pictures and directed by Albert Parker, the film was long considered lost until a print was recovered in the 1970s. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Mystery · Silent

A secret society holds a meeting to determine what to do about a powerful and dangerous man whom they have been studying closely for the past three months. They all agree that he deserves to die. Two of the members, Farallone and Forrest, are both in love with Lilith, the group's only female member. But Lilith accepts neither of them, preferring to devote herself to the group's cause. When the group meets again and deals cards to all the members, Forrest draws the ace of hearts, meaning that he will be the one to carry out the assassination. Lilith then suddenly agrees to marry him, in order to give him courage. But after their first night together, both of them begin to feel differently about what they have planned. Lon Chaney stars in this silent crime drama directed by Wallace Worsley, distributed by Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. The film is in the public domain.

Crime · Drama · Silent

A powerful psychological thriller crime film starring Lon Chaney and directed by Wallace Worsley. Chaney delivers one of his most memorable performances as Blizzard, the legless crime boss of the San Francisco Barbary Coast underworld. As a child, Blizzard's legs were unnecessarily amputated by Dr. Ferris (Charles Clary) during a botched operation. Now an adult, Blizzard is driven by two ambitions: revenge against Dr. Ferris and the looting of San Francisco. To get close to the doctor, Blizzard poses for a bust of Satan created by Ferris's daughter Barbara (Claire Adams). Chaney's remarkable performance includes wearing leather stumps and using crutches, demonstrating his legendary commitment to physical transformation. The film is in the public domain.

Crime · Drama · Silent · Thriller

A silent melodrama directed by Frank Lloyd for Goldwyn Pictures, based on an original screen story by Gouverneur Morris. During the Boxer Rebellion in China, a white orphan girl is adopted and raised by a Chinese man who brings her to San Francisco's Chinatown. As she grows up, played by Leatrice Joy, no one suspects she is not Chinese, and the film follows the collision between the two cultures of its title as the truth of her identity surfaces. Wallace Beery plays the villain Li Fang. The production built an elaborate Chinese street set at the Goldwyn studio in Culver City, and Lloyd took advantage of a real fire in Venice, California, filming it with his camera crew to use as a burning temple scene. As a work published before 1930, the film is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

The 1922 Sherlock Holmes stars John Barrymore as Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective in one of the earliest surviving feature-length adaptations of the character. Roland Young, later famous for the Topper films, plays Dr. Watson, while Gustav von Seyffertitz portrays Moriarty. A young William Powell appears in a supporting role, years before his own stardom. Produced by Goldwyn Pictures and directed by Albert Parker, the film was long considered lost until a print was recovered in the 1970s. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Mystery · Silent

A young woman flees her marriage on the train to a small town and ends up in a desert film camp, where she stumbles into the movie business and becomes an extra, then a star. novelist and filmmaker Rupert Hughes wrote, produced, and directed the picture from his own novel, and the result is one of the great inside-Hollywood silents, full of real behind-the-scenes footage of a working studio. The film-within-a-film sequences show cameras cranking, sets being built, and stunts being rigged, and a string of famous directors of the day, including Erich von Stroheim and Fred Niblo, appear as themselves. Eleanor Boardman, in one of her first leads, carries the picture as Remember Steddon, a runaway who learns that fame costs something. Barbara La Marr, the "girl who was too beautiful," plays her rival. The film was a Goldwyn release and is one of the quieter rediscoveries of the 1923 public domain class. It entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2019.

Drama · Romance · Silent

A secret society holds a meeting to determine what to do about a powerful and dangerous man whom they have been studying closely for the past three months. They all agree that he deserves to die. Two of the members, Farallone and Forrest, are both in love with Lilith, the group's only female member. But Lilith accepts neither of them, preferring to devote herself to the group's cause. When the group meets again and deals cards to all the members, Forrest draws the ace of hearts, meaning that he will be the one to carry out the assassination. Lilith then suddenly agrees to marry him, in order to give him courage. But after their first night together, both of them begin to feel differently about what they have planned. Lon Chaney stars in this silent crime drama directed by Wallace Worsley, distributed by Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. The film is in the public domain.

Crime · Drama · Silent

A powerful psychological thriller crime film starring Lon Chaney and directed by Wallace Worsley. Chaney delivers one of his most memorable performances as Blizzard, the legless crime boss of the San Francisco Barbary Coast underworld. As a child, Blizzard's legs were unnecessarily amputated by Dr. Ferris (Charles Clary) during a botched operation. Now an adult, Blizzard is driven by two ambitions: revenge against Dr. Ferris and the looting of San Francisco. To get close to the doctor, Blizzard poses for a bust of Satan created by Ferris's daughter Barbara (Claire Adams). Chaney's remarkable performance includes wearing leather stumps and using crutches, demonstrating his legendary commitment to physical transformation. The film is in the public domain.

Crime · Drama · Silent · Thriller