June Collyer

Directed by Allan Dwan and based on Felix Riesenberg's 1927 novel, this silent drama was shot extensively on location in New York City, from the Bowery to Fifth Avenue to Harlem. George O'Brien stars as a man who rises from the Lower East Side slums to the world of high society, with Virginia Valli as the woman he loves and June Collyer as the socialite who comes between them. The film culminates in a spectacular maritime disaster sequence loosely inspired by the sinking of the RMS Titanic. O'Brien, fresh from his lead in Murnau's *Sunrise* earlier that same year, anchors the production with his naturalistic presence. As a work published before 1930, the film is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Romance · Silent

John Ford's silent drama set against the Irish War of Independence. Victor McLaglen plays a man who returns to Ireland disguised as a hangman to avenge himself on the brutal commandant who drove his family out, while a young woman is forced into a marriage she does not want. Ford, who was born in Maine to Irish immigrant parents, made several films about Ireland across his career, and this is one of the earliest: the sympathy for the rebel cause and the suspicion of the colonial authorities are already in place here, decades before The Quiet Man. The film was made in the transitional sound period and uses a synchronized score and effects rather than spoken dialogue. A young John Wayne appears briefly as an uncredited spectator at a horse race. The 1928 film entered the United States public domain on January 1, 2024.

Drama · Romance · Silent

A Monogram aviation melodrama built around the era's fascination with record-breaking balloon ascents. Army pilots Tom "Soapy" Cooper (William Cagney, James's brother) and Richard "Woody" Wood (Edward J. Nugent) are inseparable in the air but rivals on the ground, both courting Evelyn Worthington (June Collyer), daughter of their commanding officer. When a high-altitude balloon mission goes wrong, the feud must give way to survival miles above the earth. Typical of Monogram's brisk B-pictures, it pads its stock footage with pre-Code barracks banter and a genuinely tense stratospheric climax. The film's copyright was not renewed; it is in the public domain in the United States.

Adventure · Drama · Romance

A professor perfects a working television system and invites investors to a demonstration, only to die on camera when a mysterious ray intercuts the broadcast. Bela Lugosi plays a dual role — the professor's loyal assistant and a sinister European interloper — in a whodunit where the murder weapon is the new technology itself. Shot in 1935, when television was still laboratory speculation, the film treats live broadcast as exotic enough to carry a thriller. June Collyer plays the professor's daughter caught between suspects. Made by poverty-row outfit Cameo Pictures, it entered the public domain after its copyright was never renewed.

Mystery · Thriller · Sci-Fi

An early sound Paramount comedy-adventure based on Booth Tarkington's play Magnolia. Raised by Northern Quakers, a young Mississippi gentleman (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) refuses a duel and is disgraced, then returns years later disguised as a notorious riverboat rogue to win back his honor and his sweetheart (Mary Brian). Richard Wallace directed a cast that also includes Henry B. Walthall and Wallace Beery. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Romance · Drama