Betty Compson

A pre-Code spy drama set at Gibraltar during the First World War, where a pair of German agents posing as a British officer and a family friend plot to seize the key to the harbor's mine field, each unaware of the other's true loyalty. Betty Compson and Ralph Forbes star, with Montagu Love as the governor and Mischa Auer as the Hindu servant who unmasks them. Directed by effects pioneer Roy Pomeroy for RKO from Earl Derr Biggers' 1915 play, the film entered the public domain in the United States when its copyright was not renewed after 28 years.

Drama · War

Bela Lugosi plays Dr. Charles Kessler, a grief-stricken widower whose wife is believed dead — but is actually alive, hidden away in the cellar by the gardener, driven mad by a car accident. When she wanders the grounds at night, the sight of her through the window sends Kessler into a trance that turns him into an unwitting killer, and his daughter Virginia's fiance takes the fall for the murders. The first of Lugosi's nine Monogram pictures, directed with unusual atmosphere by Joseph H. Lewis, who stages the trances with slow, eerie poise. Clarence Muse gives a dignified turn as the Kesslers' butler Evans. The film entered the public domain because its copyright was not renewed.

Horror · Crime · Thriller

A low-budget comedy directed by William Beaudine for Crescent Pictures. A department store owner's wife suspects her husband of infidelity when a series of misunderstandings make him appear guilty. The plot involves mistaken identities, a jealous wife, and a series of comic complications as the husband tries to prove his innocence. Betty Compson, a former silent star who had transitioned to B-pictures, plays the wife. The film is a typical product of the "Poverty Row" studios of the 1940s—fast, cheap, and unpretentious. The film is in the public domain.

Comedy

A pre-Code musical film directed by Wesley Ruggles, and the first film produced by RKO Radio Pictures. Betty Compson plays Frederika, a homeless young woman taken in by a four-piece band led by Mike Fall (John Harron). She becomes their manager and guides them to success, but romantic complications ensue when a prince takes an interest in her. Jack Oakie co-stars as band member Joe Spring. The film was a box office hit, accounting for nearly half of RKO's profits for the year. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain.

Musical · Drama · Romance

A roughneck stoker on a coal-fired ship comes ashore for a single night in New York and falls for a dance-hall girl who is trying to kill herself. Josef von Sternberg's fog-shrouded portrait of the waterfront is one of the most exquisitely photographed films of the silent era, with Harold Rosson's cinematography and Hans Dreier's expressionist sets creating a world of smoke, steam, and shadow. George Bancroft is the brawling stoker and Betty Compson the weary dance-hall girl, and the film follows their brief, doomed romance through a single shore leave. The Docks of New York was selected for the National Film Registry in 1999. The film entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.

Drama · Romance · Silent

A pre-Code early sound musical drama directed by James Cruze, based on Ben Hecht's short story "The Rival Dummy." Erich von Stroheim stars as Gabbo, a ventriloquist who becomes increasingly unhinged as he relies more and more on his dummy Otto as his only means of emotional expression. Betty Compson co- stars as Mary, his former assistant and lover. The film was originally released with Multicolor sequences, now surviving only in black and white. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain.

Music · Drama · Horror

A destitute young woman on the verge of prostitution is hired by a wealthy man to lure his wayward son away from a gold-digger, only for the scheme to entangle all of them. Betty Compson stars in this pre-Code melodrama. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Drama · Romance

James Cruze, who had scored a hit with The Covered Wagon (1923), returned to the frontier epic with this story of the Pony Express and the riders who carried mail across the West. The plot follows a rider framed for murder and the woman who believes him, set against the backdrop of the short-lived but legendary mail service. Wallace Beery plays a villain, Ricardo Cortez the accused rider, and Betty Compson the woman who helps clear him. Cruze stages the riding sequences with the same eye for scale that made his westerns spectacles. Published in 1925, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Western · Adventure · Silent