Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

The landmark gangster film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Edward G. Robinson in the role that made him a star. Robinson plays Caesar Enrico Bandello, a small-time hood who rises to become a crime boss in the city's underworld, only to be destroyed by his own ambition and the inevitable betrayal of those around him. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. co-stars as his friend Joe Massara, a dancer torn between loyalty and going straight. Alongside The Public Enemy and Scarface, Little Caesar defined the gangster genre in early sound cinema. The film is in the public domain.

Crime · Drama

A late-silent MGM comedy-drama released with a synchronized musical score but no spoken dialogue, and Joan Crawford's final film without talking. She plays Billie Brown, a flapper who believes herself in love with one man while another pines for her, with Rod La Rocque, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Anita Page rounding out the quartet. Fairbanks and Crawford married during production, and the film's party sequence features his impersonations of contemporary stars. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Comedy · Drama · Romance

Howard Hawks' World War I aviation drama follows a Royal Flying Corps squadron on the Western Front, where pilots are sent on near-suicidal dawn patrols and the survivors drink to forget. Richard Barthelmess plays Dick Courtney, an ace who chafes under the cautious command of Major Brand (Neil Hamilton); when Courtney is promoted to command the squadron himself, he learns the burden of sending men to their deaths. Hawks, a former flight instructor, flew in the film himself as a German pilot. The aerial sequences, shot by Ernest Haller, were considered state of the art and were later re-edited into the 1938 remake. The film won the Academy Award for Best Story. Published in 1930, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.

War · Drama · Action