Classic Movies

An accidental death on a hunting trip results in an innocent young man being accused of murder. Starring Florence La Badie Jean Darnell Production company Thanhouser Company Distributed by Film Supply Company Release date September 3, 1912 Running time 14 minutes Country United States Languages Silent English intertitles

A brother and his two younger sisters inherit a modest amount from their father. When the brother is away, their shady housekeeper decides to take it for herself -- IMDB Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by Edward Acker Starring Lillian Gish Dorothy Gish Harry Carey Elmer Booth Robert Harron Cinematography G. W. Bitzer Music by Robert Israel (new score) Production company Biograph Company Distributed by General Film Company Release date September 9, 1912 Running time 15–16 minutes (1 reel, full) Country United States Language Silent (English intertitles)

Several married couples go on a camp-out together, but the women soon realize that the men expect them to do all the dirty work -- IMDB Produced by Thanhouser Company Starring William Garwood Florence La Badie Distributed by Film Supply Company Release date November 3, 1912 Country United States Languages Silent film English intertitles

A tender young woman and her musician husband attempt to eke out a living in the slums of New York City, but find themselves caught in the crossfires of gang violence -- IMDB Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by D. W. Griffith Anita Loos Starring Elmer Booth Lillian Gish Clara T. Bracy Walter Miller Music by Robert Israel Distributed by General Film Company Release dates October 31, 1912 November 5, 1915 (U.S.) Running time 17 minutes (16 frames per second) Country United States Languages Silent film English intertitles

A brother and his two younger sisters inherit a modest amount from their father. When the brother is away, their shady housekeeper decides to take it for herself -- IMDB Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by Edward Acker Starring Lillian Gish Dorothy Gish Harry Carey Elmer Booth Robert Harron Cinematography G. W. Bitzer Music by Robert Israel (new score) Production company Biograph Company Distributed by General Film Company Release date September 9, 1912 Running time 15–16 minutes (1 reel, full) Country United States Language Silent (English intertitles)

The story of the massacre of an Indian village, and the ensuing retaliation -- IMDB Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by D. W. Griffith (story, scenario) Produced by American Mutoscope and Biograph Company Starring Wilfred Lucas Blanche Sweet Cinematography G. W. Bitzer Distributed by General Film Company Release dates November 7, 1912 (Europe) February 26, 1914 (U.S.) Running time 2 reels (30 minutes) Country United States Languages Silent English intertitles

Randall and Ruth Foster were little tots. The two children lived side by side on one of the fashionable streets in New York City. One day Helen and her parents were starting for the park when the little one suggested that they invite Ruth to go with them. The idea pleased them all, and as for Ruth, she was in an ecstasy of delight. She skipped down the steps into the Randall's automobile, and her father (a widower), watches as the machine whizzed off, realized more than ever the little treasure he possessed. At the park the two children got into a boat unobserved by their elders and drifted into the lake. In total ignorance of their peril they frolicked about the flimsy craft until it suddenly capsized and two little figures were hanging to the gunwale. Randall swam out to the boat. Even his love for his child made him hesitate to take her to the shore first until the little Ruth assured him she was safe, that she would stay on the boat until he returned. But when he returned, and with him her frightened father, the little form that they brought to land was still, the child bad slipped from the boat and drowned while he brought his own child to safety. The loss of his little girl made Foster almost frantic, and he became as vindictive an enemy to Randall as he had been a friend. A power in Wall Street, step by step he smashed the latter back in the merciless warfare of the street, until Randall, innocent of wrong though he was, stood on the brink of ruin. But when all hope was gone, when he had brought himself to looking upon a life of poverty with the resignation born of necessity, his daughter took the matter into her own hands and John Foster, wealthy financier and lonely man, learned the lesson of forgiveness -- Moving Picture World Directed by Lucius J. Henderson Written by Philip Lonergan Produced by Thanhouser Company Starring William Garwood Marguerite Snow Marion Fairbanks Madeline Fairbanks William Russell Distributed by Film Supply Company Release date November 1, 1912 Country United States Language Silent (English intertitles)

A young boy, opressed by his mother, goes on an outing in the country with a social welfare group where he dares to dream of a land where the cares of his ordinary life fade -- IMDB Directed by Harold M. Shaw Written by Dorothy G. Shore Starring Martin Fuller Mrs. William Bechtel Walter Edwin Bigelow Cooper Distributed by Thomas A. Edison, Inc. Release date October 28, 1912 Running time 1 reel (1000 feet); originally 14-15 minutes[1][2] Country United States Languages Silent film English intertitles

A young woman's peaceful existence is shattered when she is abducted by the crew of a boat of smugglers, who then also turn against their captain -- IMDB Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by George Hennessy Starring Blanche Sweet Edwin August Cinematography G. W. Bitzer Distributed by 20th Century Fox Release date April 29, 1912 Running time 17 minutes Country United States Language Silent with English intertitles

An account of the life of Jesus Christ according to the New Testament, told as a series of tableaus interspersed with Bible verses -- IMDB Directed by Sidney Olcott Written by Gene Gauntier Produced by Frank J. Marion Starring Robert Henderson-Bland Gene Gauntier Alice Hollister Robert G. Vignola Cinematography George K. Hollister Distributed by Kalem Release dates October 3, 1912 (London) October 17, 1912 (New York City) Running time 71 minutes Country United States Language Silent (English intertitles) Budget $35,000 Box office >$1 million

The U.S. Army and the Indians sign a peace treaty. However, a group of surveyors trespass on the Indians' land and violate the treaty. The Army refuses to listen to the Indians' complaints, and the surveyors are killed by the Indians. A vicious Indian war ensues, culminating in an Indian attack on an army fort -- IMDB Directed by Francis Ford Thomas H. Ince Written by C. Gardner Sullivan (scenario) Produced by Thomas H. Ince Starring Art Acord William Eagle Shirt Francis Ford Cinematography Ray C. Smallwood Distributed by Mutual Film Release date November 29, 1912 (United States) Running time 41 mins. (2004 National Film Preservation Foundation print) Country United States Languages Silent English intertitles

Windsor McKay is in his summer home in Jersey with his daughter and they are pestered to death by mosquitoes. It is by accident that the artist happens to meet a professor, who says that he is studying the language of the mosquitoes and knows all about them. He suggests that the artist make a series of drawings to illustrate just how the insect does its deadly work. So McKay sets to work and several months later the two of them go to a moving picture studio to see the finished work on the screen. The picture that McKay has drawn shows the adventures of a lonely mosquito getting its dinner on the neck of a fat member of the species human. But the greedy animal overdoes the good thing and is blown to pieces by the explosion that results from the overtaxation of its capacity -- Moving Picture World Directed by Winsor McCay Release date January 1912 Running time 6 minutes Country United States Language Silent with English intertitles

Some tramps assault the telegraph office trying to rob $2000 delivered by train. The telegraphist girl, trying to help, telegraphs the next station and then the men are captured -- IMDB Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by George Hennessy (writer) Produced by Biograph Company Cinematography G. W. Bitzer Music by Clifton Hyde (co-composer) Lev Zhurbin Release date March 28, 1912 Running time 17 minutes Country United States Language Silent

The orphan Dora is courted by two different gold miners -- IMDB Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by D. W. Griffith Starring Mary Pickford Henry B. Walthall Lionel Barrymore Harry Carey Cinematography G. W. Bitzer Distributed by Biograph Release date September 23, 1912 Running time 13 minutes Country United States Languages Silent film English intertitles

A physician, through his love for his only son, whom he desires to see wealthy, is tempted to sacrifice his honor by concocting a soft drink containing cocaine, knowing how rapid and powerful is the hold obtained by cocaine, even in the most minute quantities, feeling assured that there will be an enormous demand for the drink. As he expected, the drink meets with tremendous success, and his balm to his conscience is the thought that he will be rich. But his son, ignorant of the ingredients of the drink, cultivates a liking for it, unknown to the father. The father discovers his son's weakness too late, for he soon becomes a hopeless victim of the drug. What a powerful lesson the final scene teaches, as we see the stricken father mourning his son's death. He did not care whom he victimized until he found the result of his dishonor at his own door -- Moving Picture World Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by Emmett C. Hall Starring Blanche Sweet Charles West Cinematography G. W. Bitzer Distributed by Biograph Company Release date January 22, 1912 Country United States Language Silent with English intertitles

Dreary indeed is the aspect of the little mining camp, deserted by all but four survivors of the terrors of this desert land. The graves in the background vividly tell a story of privation and suffering. The little party comprises a miner, his wife and her sister, and a young woman, who is the sole survivor of another family nearby. Death is inevitable should they stay longer, and so the four start their race with death to the desert's rim. At their first resting place, the wife and her sister go in search of water to replenish their supply. Left alone with the girl, the husband, in a vagary of weakness, makes advances to her. This is seen by the wife from a distance, and in the struggle which ensues, the man, who is a physical wreck, pays the penalty with his life. As the wife and sister stand over the lonely grave, they, wrongly suspecting the girl, are seized with a desire for vengeance, the perpetration of which is only averted by a singular intervention of fate -- Moving Picture World Directed by D. W. Griffith Produced by Biograph Company Starring Claire McDowell Mary Pickford Cinematography G. W. Bitzer Distributed by General Film Company Release date April 15, 1912 Running time 17 minutes Country USA Language Silent..English

Directed by Lucius Henderson Written by Robert Louis Stevenson (novel) Thomas Sullivan (screenplay)[1] Based on The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Produced by Edwin Thanhouser[1] Starring James Cruze Florence La Badie Release date January 16, 1912 Running time 12 minutes (One-Reel film) Country United States Languages Silent film English

Side-showman Jim Burke is attracted by the pretty face of Mary, a country girl who has come to the county fair, and he sends her a note proposing a meeting. The inexperienced country girl, flattered by the showman's attention, joins him and they arrange to elope. Burke's sweetheart Lazelle overhears the conversation and tells Mary's suitor John of the proposed elopement. John goes to warn Mary's parents but finds they have gone to the fair. Running down the road, John meets Mary's father and mother on the way back from the fair. He tells them of Mary's proposed elopement and states that a strange buggy has just driven down the road toward the depot. A wild ride toward the railroad station takes place and Mary's parents arrive just as the young girl is about to board the train. The error she is about to make is impressed upon Mary and she agrees to return home. Just as the train is pulling out, Burke arrives, sees that his plans have been frustrated, and boards the last car. Realizing her fortunate escape, Mary concludes that John is a safer companion than a traveling showman -- Moving Picture World Directed by Edmund Lawrence Starring Earle Foxe Alice Joyce Production company Kalem Company Distributed by General Film Company Release date 1912 Country United States Languages Silent English intertitles

The Cheyenne and Sioux nations, both bitterly opposed to the advance of white civilization, join forces in attempting to stem the flow of westward-moving immigrants in Wyoming and Montana by attacking immigrants and forts on the Bozeman wagon trail in Montana. In 1868, Congress orders several forts closed and grants the Sioux exclusive use of a vast territory, filling the Indians with pride and insolence. Soon, however, the Northern Pacific Railroad sends a survey team to the area in 1873. When two of the surveyors wander away from the main group, a warrior named Rain-in-the-Face kills them both. During the following year, agent James McLaughlin overhears the warrior boasting of his kill at a government Indian post and wires Fort Abraham Lincoln for help. Capt. Tom Custer, the brother of Gen. George Armstrong Custer, arrests Rain-in-the-Face, but the Indian later escapes. Lured by gold discovered in the Black Hills, white settlers and adventurers ignore the government ban and flood into Sioux territory. In 1875, the Sioux are notified that by the following year, they must reside only on designated reservations, but Sitting Bull, the medicine man of the Sioux, defies the order. In early 1876, Gen. Terry, Col. Gibbon, and Gen. Crook join Custer in attempting to force the Indians onto the reservations. Terry's force of twelve-hundred men moves into Montana to join Gibbon's column. They set up camp near the Big Horn Mountains, in whose valleys the Indians are preparing to fight. Meanwhile, Custer and his Seventh Cavalry are sent into the area. Their scouts, Crow Indians who are enemies of the Sioux, report a large encampment of the enemy on the Little Big Horn River. Custer orders Maj. Reno to storm the Indian village, planning to join the attack from higher ground. The Indians at the camp, who comprise a far larger group than Custer expects, are celebrating a Sun Dance, but when Reno attacks, they force him to retreat. As Custer approaches the village, Reno finds himself engaged in battle on the opposite side of the river and decides that it is too dangerous to leave this position. Greatly outnumbered, Custer and the Seventh Cavalry fight bravely, while Tom fights Rain-in-the-Face, who cuts out his heart. As Sitting Bull "makes medicine" for victory at a safe distance, Rain-in-the-Face and his brother Gall then charge their enemies, and Custer, along with every soldier in his detachment, is killed. Following the battle, Indian squaws and youths swarm onto the field to strip and mutilate the bodies. The body of Custer is left untouched, however, as he is recognized as a "great chief." The Indians sing in celebration all through the night, but when Terry and Gibbon approach with the infantry, they flee. Terry weeps over Custer's body, and the 212 men who died in the battle are buried on the field. Upon hearing this news, Mrs. Custer and the other women of Fort Abraham Lincoln are stricken with grief. The pursuit of Sitting Bull lasts for several years. Deserted by Rain-in-the-Face, Sitting Bull and the starving remnants of his band surrender at Fort Buford in 1881. At an Indian agency in 1890, Sitting Bull initiates the Ghost Dance, a religious ceremony intended to hasten the day when the ghosts of dead Indians will return and drive great herds of ponies and buffalo. On this day, the belief goes, the "paleface" will be smothered in the earth, and the Indian will again reign supreme. During the Ghost Dance, many Indians go into a trance, and Sitting Bull states that one of the celebrants is in communication with spirits. So powerful is the Ghost Dance that Sitting Bull is arrested, but because he resists, he is killed by an Indian policeman. At Custer's funeral, a large monument is erected and the U.S. flag flies -- AFI Directed by Francis Ford Written by Richard V. Spencer Produced by Thomas H. Ince Starring Francis Ford Grace Cunard Cinematography Ray Smallwood Distributed by Mutual Film Release date October 4, 1912 (United States) Running time 2 reels (approximately 30 minutes) Country United States Languages Silent English intertitles

Aboard the futuristic flying machine of his own invention, Professor Mabouloff and his team of intercultural explorers set off on yet another impossible expedition to North Pole's vast landscapes. What wonders await the bold adventurers -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Written by Georges Méliès Based on The Voyages Extraordinaires series by Jules Verne Produced by Charles Pathé Starring Georges Méliès Production company Star Film Company Distributed by Pathé Frères Release date 3 May 1912 Running time 650 meters 44 minutes Country France Language Silent

The fabled queen of Egypt's affair with Roman general Marc Antony is ultimately disastrous for both of them -- IMDB Directed by Charles L. Gaskill Screenplay by Charles L. Gaskill (uncredited) Based on Cléopâtre<nr>1890 play by Victorien Sardou Produced by Helen Gardner Starring Helen Gardner Cinematography Lucien Tainguy Edited by Helen Gardner (uncredited) Production company The Helen Gardner Picture Players Distributed by United States Film Co. Release date November 13, 1912 Running time 87 minutes Country United States Budget $45,000 ($1,411,636 today)

Episodes from the life of Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603), focusing on her ill-fated love affair with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex -- IMDB Directed by Louis Mercanton Henri Desfontaines Written by Émile Moreau (original play and script) Produced by Louis Mercanton Starring Sarah Bernhardt Lou Tellegen Music by Joseph Carl Breil Distributed by L'Histrionic Film (France) Famous Players Film Company (USA) Release dates July 12, 1912 (United States premiere) August 1912 (France) Running time 53 minutes (France) 44 minutes (Video version) (USA) Country France

An epic Italian film, "Quo Vadis" influenced many of the later movies -- IMDB Directed by Enrico Guazzoni Written by Enrico Guazzoni Based on Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz Starring Amleto Novelli Gustavo Serena Carlo Cattaneo Amelia Cattaneo Lea Giunchi Bruto Castellani Augusto Mastripietri Cesare Moltini Olga Brandini Ignazio Lupi Giovanni Gizzi Lia Orlandini Matilde Guillaume Ida Carloni Talli Cinematography Eugenio Bava Alessandro Bona Production company Cines Distributed by George Kleine (U.S.) Release date March 1913 [1][2] Running time 120 minutes Country Italy Language Silent

The film opens with a Ravi Varma like tableau showing King Harishchandra, his wife Taramati and his young son. The king is teaching his son archery. They go on a hunt. The king enters an area controlled by the Sage Vishwamitra. Three furies appear before the king caught in flames. The king tries to rescue them. These fairies try to seduce the king into renouncing his kingdom for his love of truth. The king endures much hardship including being banished from his kingdom before a god appears to reassure everyone that the whole narrative was merely a test of the king's integrity -- IMDB Directed by Dadasaheb Phalke Screenplay by Dadasaheb Phalke Produced by Dadasaheb Phalke Starring Dattatraya Dabke Anna Salunke Bhalchandra Phalke Gajanan Sane Cinematography Trymbak B. Telang Edited by Dadasaheb Phalke Production company Phalke Films Company Release date 3 May 1913 Running time 40 minutes Country India Language Silent

Balduin, a student of Prague, leaves his roystering companions in the beer garden, when he finds he has reached the end of his resources. He is scarcely seated in a quiet corner when a hideous, shriveled-up old man taps him upon the shoulder and whispers vaguely of a big inheritance for Prague's finest swordsman and wildest student if he will enter into a certain agreement. Balduin rebuffs him, satirically asking his weird companion to procure him "the luckiest ticket in a lottery or a doweried wife." The old man goes off chuckling and thence onward persistently shadows Balduin, exerting a sinister influence over him, while Balduin is still disconsolate under the frowns of fortune. The Countess Margit Schwarzenberg, hunting with her cousin, to whom her father has betrothed her, meets with an accident. She is thrown over her horse's head into a river, but Balduin, who has been directed to the spot by his evil genius, plunges in and rescues her. Subsequently Balduin calls to inquire as to her condition at the castle of her father, the count, but be makes a hurried departure when Baron Waldis arrives, the contrast in their appearance discrediting him. His desire to win the countess and to humiliate the baron becomes so pronounced that he readily accedes to the compact suggested by Scapinelli, the old man, who has so pertinaciously dogged his footsteps, particularly when he learns that untold wealth and power will be his when he assigns to the other the right to take from his room whatever he chooses for his own use as he desires. The agreement is signed. Balduin receives a shower of gold and notes as his portion; Scapinelli takes Balduin's soul exposed in concrete form by his shadow. Balduin prosecutes his love affair assiduously and with apparent success, till the baron is informed of it by a jealous gypsy girl. He challenges Balduin to a duel, and the latter, assured of his superiority as a fencer, readily agrees. Count Schwarzenberg learns of the impending duel and appeals to Balduin not to kill "my sister's child, my daughter's future husband, and my heir." Balduin gives his promise, but when he goes to the venue of the duel he meets, his own counterpart stalking away derisively wiping his gory sword on his cloak. Balduin turns and in the far distance sees the dying victim of the deed he swore he would not do. He rushes from the spot horror-stricken. When he regains sufficient composure he makes his way to the castle of the count, but is refused admission. Determined to explain that he had no complicity in the death of the baron, Balduin climbs into a room in which the countess is seated. She receives him coldly, but soon succumbs to his ardent wooing. Just as he seeks to leave her she notices he has no shadow and that the mirror gives no reflection of him; and she drops back affrighted, the ghastly apparition of himself which takes shape in the corner of the room sends Balduin scuttling away from the castle in a paroxysm of terror. He makes a frenzied flight through a woodland estate and the streets of Prague, but wherever he stops to recover his breath he is haunted by the counterpart of himself. He reaches his rooms and draws a murderous looking fire-arm from its case. As the phantasmagorical figure strides towards him with a sinister grin, he fires, and in a few minutes the blood gushes from his own side from a fatal wound -- Moving Picture World Synopsis Directed by Stellan Rye Written by Hanns Heinz Ewers Produced by Paul Wegener Starring Paul Wegener John Gottowt Grete Berger Cinematography Guido Seeber Music by Josef Weiss Production company Deutsche Bioscop Distributed by Deutsche Bioscop Release date 22 August 1913 Running time 85 minutes Country German Empire Languages Silent film German intertitles