Warning Shadows (Schatten: Eine Nachtliche Halluzination) 1923

A jealous husband, a philandering wife, a group of lustful party guests, and the scene is set. Enter a mischievous shadow player, who illuminates the repressed desires of those present for all to see... and the brighter the light, the darker - and more deadly - the shadow. A 'Nocturnal Hallucination' from the men behind  Nosferatu.

Director: Arthur Robison

Cast and Crew:

Fritz Korner (Man), Ruth Weyher (Woman), Gustav von Wangenheim (Youth), Eugen Rex, Max Gulstorff, Ferdinand von Alten (Three Gentlemen), Alexander Granach (Entertainer), Fritz Rasp (Servant), Carl Platen (2nd Servant), Lilli Herder (Maid).

Concept and design: Albin Grau, Photography: Fritz Arno Wagner, Editing: Rudolf Schneider and Arthur Robison, Original Score: Ernst Reige.

Pan-Film, Germany

Running time 86 mins.

Au Secours! 1923

This post published as part of the Speechless Blogathon at Eternity of Dream. Click on icon at right for more information.

"I would give a lot if there were in our midst a brave man who would not be afraid to spend just one hour in the castle."

1,000 francs just to spend an hour alone in a haunted castle? Oh Max, you're not going to fall for that old one are you? Here's what happens when French master of silent comedy Max Linder and world renowned director of Napoleon get together for a bet. But behind the freeform lunacy of Gance's camerawork, we get a glimpse of impending tragedy...

Director: Abel Gance

Cast and Credits:

Max Linder (Max), Jean Toulout (Count Maulette), Gina Palerme (Edith).

Screenplay: Abel Gance and Max Linder, Photography: Georges Specht.

(Alternate titles: The Haunted House [UK], Help! [USA])

Abel Gance Films, France

Running time 23 mins.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923

This post published as part of the Speechless Blogathon at Eternity of Dream. Click on icon at right for more information.

"To the townspeople he was an inhuman freak, a monstrous joke of Nature -- and for their jeers he gave them scorn and bitter hate."

Two thousand extras, nineteen acres of Universal backlot, one and a quarter million dollars, and three and a half hours a day in make-up for the Man of a Thousand Faces. Big numbers abound in the film that made character actor Lon Chaney into a fully-fledged movie star.

Director: Wallace Worsley

Cast And Credits:

Lon Chaney (Quasimodo), Patsy Ruth Miller (Esmeralda), Norman Kerry (Phoebus de Chateaupers), Brandon Hurst (Jehan), Ernest Torrance (Clopin), Nigel de Brulier (Don Claudio), Raymond Hatton (Gringoire), Kate Lester (Mme de Gondelaurier), Winifred Bryson (Fleur de Lys), Tully Marshall (El Rey Luis XI), Harry van Meter (Mons. Neufchatel), Nick de Ruis (Mons. Le Torteru), Eulalie Jensen (Marie), Roy Laidlaw (Charmolu), W. Ray Meyers (Charmolu's Assistant), William Parke, Sr. (Josephus), Gladys Brockwell (Sister Gudule), John Cossar (Judge of the Court), Edwin Wallock (King's Chamberlain).

Story Adaptation: Perley Poor Sheehan, Scenario: Edward T. Lowe, Jr, from 'Notre Dame de Paris' by Victor Hugo, Photography: Robert Newhard, Editing: Sydney Singerman, Maurice Pivar and Edward Curtis, Art Direction: E.E. Sheeley and Sydney Ullman, Producer: Carl Laemmle.

Universal, USA

Running Time 117 mins

Witchcraft Through The Ages (Häxan) 1922

"Burn me at the stake, pious fathers! Can't you see what the Devil forces me to do??"

Copenhagen tabloid BT demanded, "Get This Film Off Our Screens!". Variety declared: "Wonderful though this picture is, it is absolutely unfit for public exhibition". This Swedish masterpiece of diabolism combines scholarly sobriety with twisted, hallucinatory imagery worthy of Goya or Bosch. "Cultural history lecture" or celebration of blasphemous perversity? You be the judge!

Director: Benjamin Christensen

Cast and Credits:
Benjamin Christensen (The Devil), Maren Pedersen (Maria the Weaver), Kate Fabian (Old Maid), Oscar Stribolt (Friar), Knud Rassow (Anatomist), Wilhelmine Henriksen (Apelone), Astrid Holm (Anna), Karen Winther (Anna's Sister), Johannes Andersen (Father Henrik), Elith Pio (Johannes, Witch Judge), Aage Hertel (Witch Judge), Ib Schonberg (Witch Judge), Clara Pontoppidan (Sister Cecilia), Alice O'Fredericks (Nun), Else Vermehren (Nun), Tora Teje (Modern Hysteric), Albrecht Schnidt (Alienist), Poul Reumert (Jeweller).
Scenario: Benjamin Christensen, Cinematography: Johna Ankerstjerne, Art Direction: Richard Louw, Editing: Edla Hansen.
Svensk Filmindustri, Sweden.
Running time 104 mins.

Nosferatu, A Symphony of Terror (Eine Symfonie des Grauens) 1922

"NOSFERATU! Does this word not sound to you like the midnight cry of the Deathbird? Take care in saying it, lest life's images fade into shadows, and ghostly dreams rise from your heart and nourish themselves on your blood."

We love this film. F.W. Murnau's nightmarish masterpiece sees the loathsome Count Orlock bring fear and pestilence to the town of Wisborg. Here's everything you need to know about the troubled history of this first (unofficial) screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula and several reasons why, even after 90 years, Murnau's mythical vampire refuses to stay dead...

Director: F.W. Murnau

Cast and Credits:

Max Schreck (Graf Orlok), Gustav von Wangenheim (Hutter), Greta Schroeder (Ellen, his wife), G.H. Schnell (Harding, a shipowner), Ruth Landshoff (Ruth, his sister), Gustav Botz (Prof. Sievers, the town doctor), Alexander Granach (Knock, a property agent), John Gottowt (Prof. Bulwer, a Paracelsian), Max Nemetz (Captain), Wolfgang Heinz (1st Sailor), Albert Venohr (2nd Sailor), Heinrich Witte (Asylum Guard - uncredited), Guido Herzfeld (Innkeeper - uncredited), Karl Etlinger (Bulwer's Student - uncredited), Hardy von Francois (Hospital Doctor - uncredited), Fanny Schreck (Hospital Nurse - uncredited).

Screenplay: Henrik Galeen, adapted from 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker, Costumes and Sets: Albin Grau, Photography: Fritz Arno Wagner, Music: Hans Erdmann, Producers: Albin Grau and Enrico Dieckmann.

Prana-Film, Germany

Running time 94 mins.

Danse Macabre, 1922

"Midnight in plague-ridden Spain -- Youth and Love flee from Death who follows their path --"

Time for some high culture, horror lovers! In this little-known short film, Saint-Saens' supernatural opus soundtracks dancer Adolph Bolm's fantasy of the archetypal conflict between Love and a mean-fiddlin' Death...

Director: Dudley Murphy

Cast and Credits:

Adolph Bolm (Youth), Ruth Page (Love), Olin Howland (Death).

Choreography: Adolph Bolm, Lighting: L. Francis Brugiere, Animation: F.A.A. Dahme, Music: 'Danse Macabre' by Camille Saint-Saens, Producer: Claude H. MacGowan.

Visual Symphony Productions, USA

Running time 7 mins.