Catalog Search Results
1) Safety last!
Series
Criterion collection volume 662
Language
None
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Description
The comic genius of silent star Harold Lloyd is eternal. He plays a small-town bumpkin trying to make it in the big city, who finds employment as a lowly department-store clerk. He comes up with a wild publicity stunt to draw attention to the store, resulting in an incredible feat of derring-do on his part that gets him started on the climb to success.
2) The kid
Series
Criterion collection volume 799
Language
None
Description
The Tramp and his rescued orphan sidekick triumph over life's hard knocks in the landmark film that changed the notion of what a screen comedy could be.
Series
Criterion collection volume 680
Language
None
Appears on list
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Description
The most cherished film by Charlie Chaplin is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle. The writer-director-star achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers on the street and mistakes him for a millionaire. Though this Depression-era smash was made after the advent of sound, Chaplin remained steadfast in his love for the expressive...
4) L'inhumaine
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Description
Claire Lescot draws important men to her like moths to a flame. At her luxurious parties, she basks in the amorous attentions of her many admirers while always remaining aloof. When it appears she is the reason for a young devotee's suicide, however, her fans desert her.
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A ballet based on Shakespeare's tragicomedy that focuses on King Leontes, who accuses his boyhood friend of betrayal, condemns his wife for adultery, and banishes his newborn daughter. The story is taken up fifteen years later when the wronged and innocent parties are re-united with the king who has since come to his senses and now lives in a state of perpetual grief and regret.
8) Easy virtue
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Description
Larita Filton poses for a portrait in an artist's studio. Her husband's bad behavior drives her into the artst's arms where her husband discovers her. The artist shoots the husband, but doesn't kill him, and the husband files for divorce. After being disgraced Larita flees to France where she meets an upstanding British man.
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Chronicling the trial of Joan of Arc in the days leading up to her execution, Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer depicts her torment with startling immediacy, employing an array of techniques, including expressionistic lighting, interconnected sets, and painfully intimate close-ups, to immerse viewers in her subjective experience.
10) Spione
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Having defined the espionage genre with Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler, Fritz Lang returned to the genre with this surprisingly fast-paced and remarkably grim thriller. Rudolf Klein-Rogge starts as Haghi, the head of an elaborate criminal empire, and Willy Fritsch is the undercover agent assigned to topple the diabolical king from his throne. Filled with the sexual intrigue and high-tech gadgetry that continue to define the genre, SPIES (Spione) remains...
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Description
This haunting silent thriller tells the tale of a mysterious young man who takes up residence at a London boardinghouse, just as a killer who preys on blonde women, known as the Avenger, descends upon the city. The film is animated by the palpable energy of a young stylist at play, decisively establishing the director's formal and thematic obsessions.
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The quintessential silent vampire film, crafted by legendary German director F. W. Murnau. Rather than depicting Dracula as a shape-shifting monster or debonair gentleman, Murnau's Graf Orlok is a nightmarish, spidery creature of bulbous head and taloned claws, perhaps the most genuinely disturbing incarnation of vampirism yet envisioned.
15) Piccadilly
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Description
Tired of playing supporting roles in Hollywood, Anna May Wong traveled to Europe in search of better parts. And did she find one? Her electric, sexually charged performance in Piccadilly is a revelation. Wong is mesmerizing as Shosho, the Chinese dishwasher who overnight becomes the toast of the town and the object of every man's desire. The camera adores Wong her beauty glows in every frame. Piccadilly was the brilliant apex of director E. A. Dupont's...
Series
Criterion collection volume 266
Language
None
Description
Cecil B DeMille made movies for and of the masses, highlighting myths, mystery, and oversized stories. He excelled in the telling of the ultimate legends carved out of the Bible. The simple, straightforward saga of the last days of Christ's life is told in "The King of Kings." Told with DeMille's trademark opulent sets, incredible effects, and a cast of thousands, it is carefully crafted, flawless film making filled with as much meaning and message...
19) Behind the door
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Description
Oscar Krug is a working-class American who is persecuted for his German ancestry after war is declared. Driven by patriotism, Krug enlists and goes to sea. However, tragedy strikes when his wife sneaks aboard his ship and is captured following a German U-boat attack. Krug's single-minded quest for vengeance against the sadistic German submarine commander leads to the film's shocking and brutal climax.
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Description
Expect to find exploding cars, innocent bystanders smacked in the head with hammers, half-naked underwear models chased by cross-dressing villains, auctioneers crawling across airplane wings to retrieve false teeth, memory-impaired lovers, somnambulists, drunken reprobates, deranged acrobats, and the Keystone Kops.