Creighton Hale

A stage-struck country girl arrives in New York chasing Broadway stardom and lands in a chorus line, a Chinese cabaret, and finally a murder charge she did not commit. Colleen Moore stars as the aspiring actress, with Johnnie Walker as the songwriter who loves her and Alice Lake as a fellow hoofer. Irving Cummings produced and directed this independent feature, based on James Kyrle McCurdy's 1917 play, for release through Select Pictures. The film is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

A silent fairy-tale feature directed by J. Searle Dawley for Famous Players, starring Marguerite Clark, who reprises her Broadway stage role as Snow White. The film follows the Brothers Grimm tale of a princess menaced by her jealous stepmother, sheltered by dwarfs in the forest, and restored to her prince. Long believed lost in a vault fire, a substantially complete print with Dutch intertitles was rediscovered in Amsterdam in 1992 and restored by the George Eastman Museum. Walt Disney reportedly cited this film as the inspiration for his 1937 animated feature. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Fantasy · Silent

The relatives of the eccentric Cyrus West gather at his brooding mansion twenty years after his death to hear the reading of his will. The heir is Annabelle West, but only if she is deemed sane; otherwise the fortune passes to a successor whose name is sealed in an envelope. Before the lawyer can reveal it, he disappears, and the night brings secret passages, a escaped lunatic known as the Cat, and a growing sense that someone in the house is not what they seem. Paul Leni, a German Expressionist director who came to Hollywood late in his career, blended stylized shadows with broad comedy in a way that defined the "old dark house" genre for decades. The film was a cornerstone of Universal's early horror line and a direct influence on the 1939 Bob Hope remake. Pre-1930 films are in the public domain in the United States.

Horror · Comedy · Silent

Betty Hutton plays silent-serial queen Pearl White in this energetic Paramount musical biopic — from sweatshop seamstress to vaudeville fill-in to the daredevil star of cliffhanger chapter plays, with John Lund as the leading man who can't keep up with her stardom. Directed by George Marshall with songs by Frank Loesser, it's a fond, funny love letter to the chaotic early days of moviemaking. It is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Comedy · Music