Yet another 1920s military academy movie, but with some cute moments and great miniature work.

Watched on Friday June 6, 2025.

Watched on Friday June 6, 2025.

Call to action against agricultural colonialism that moves from influencer comedy, to Carpenter inspired home invasion, to a spiritual successor to Clearcut (which I confess I have not seen), held together by a very specific and genuinely funny script.

And Mr Coppola, if you're trying to bring back triptychs to comment on modern society, it turns out that four 9:16 s lets you evoke TikTok while utilising the full frame.

Watched on Thursday June 5, 2025.

Watched on Thursday June 5, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday June 4, 2025.

I'm still perplexed by the love people have for Borzage, when all I've been able to glean from his films is an obsession with Murnau and a suspicious knowledge of age of consent laws. Now we have his version of Pygmalion, in which a disabled engineer who is right about everything gives an underage hillbilly girl a makeover.

Charles Farrell clearly knew he would be compared to Lon Chaney, but he put in enough work that it's a favourable comparison.

Watched on Tuesday June 3, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday June 3, 2025.

Watched on Monday June 2, 2025.

Watched on Monday June 2, 2025.

Watched on Sunday June 1, 2025.

Watched on Sunday June 1, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 31, 2025.

In 1919, escape artist turned actor Harry Houdini made The Grim Game, which climaxed with a stunt involving two biplanes. While Houdini did the bulk of his own stunts, the biplane stunt was performed by Robert E. Kennedy. An unscripted mid-air collision was incorporated into the final film.

youtu.be/jmPvYLZ0NbI?t=4107

In 1922, stunt rider turned actor Tom Mix made Sky High, which climaxed with a stunt involving a biplane flying down the Grand Canyon. While Mix did the bulk of his own stunts, the biplane stunt was performed by Bud Creeth.

youtu.be/QjmtR7dMfv8?t=2952

In 2025, actor turned stunt performer Tom Cruise combined these stunts, and performed it himself.

Other than that, massively diminishing returns on characters returning from Dead Reckoning. when Grace was a new iteration of Ethan at the start of the first film? But like most films, improves immeasurably once Katy O’Brian shows up.

A prison warden sees no possible downside in asg the Sexiest Man Alive to look after his wife. Elegantly shot by Gregg Toland.

Watched on Friday May 30, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 29, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 29, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 28, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 28, 2025.

-More romantic comedies need to let the leads have a duel with whips.
-The scene with Pickford silently toying with her wedding ring is better than anything in Coquette.
-Plays the third act as a battle of wills where both sides are so many layers of irony deep they've lost track, but both are fully convinced that they're the one in charge.

Watched on Tuesday May 27, 2025.

Watched on Monday May 26, 2025.

Watched on Monday May 26, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 25, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 25, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 24, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 24, 2025.

Watched on Friday May 23, 2025.

Watched on Friday May 23, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 22, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 22, 2025.

A self-explanatory romp without the emotional depth or inventive cinematography of Wishman's later work with C Davis Smith.

Strange that a movie so intentionally silly never actually has any jokes - even the rocket isn't played for phallic imagery. Stranger still that a movie that gleefully ignores science also namedrops Nicholson and Pettit.

Great location, great music.

The discussions of ethical application of technology leads to perhaps the first response to Metropolis. The submarine scenes have the stylish designs and dynamism of the earlier films' factory scenes, but avoids the dehumanisation by showing the men shirtless, cracking jokes, and praying together.

Also one of the earliest examples of the best school of creature design: sticking some spikes on a live action animal and treating it as a kaiju.

Watched on Tuesday May 20, 2025.

"I accuse you of holding your tongue too eloquently."

A hagiographical biopic sating the American appetite for British pomp, where the happy ending is the government bailing out the big banks in order to fund imperial expansion.

And yet, a lot of it works due to how much fun George Arliss is having as an aging politician with a twinkle in his eye, outsmarting Russian spies and training an apprentice.

There's probably a creative team that could pull off the combination of sequined backstage musical and Tod Browning-style descent into madness, but it wasn't this one.

Watched on Monday May 19, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 18, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 18, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 17, 2025.

Twenty years after Richet's remake of Assault on Precinct 13 was rejected as sacrilegious, his original concept of "Assault on Precinct 13 but on a plane" got a much warmer reception.

Most effective moments are a single take grappling match that is the first of many silent beats making it clear that Butler's character has never killed anyone before, and a section of the finale where they treat a .50 cal as the hammer of God.

Watched on Friday May 16, 2025.

“Whatever you do now that you think is new was already done in 1913.” - Martin Scorsese

• The Child of Paris
• Fantômas
• Ingeborg Holm
• Suspense.
• Traffic in Souls
• The Student of Prague
• Protéa
• Death's Marathon
• Atlantis
• Twilight of a Woman's Soul

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Girl and Her Trust
• The Cameraman's Revenge
• The Pride of the Circus
• The Invaders
• The Beautiful Leukanida
• How a Mosquito Operates
• Andalusian Superstition
• The Musketeers of Pig Alley
• The Mystery of the Rocks of Kador
• Falling Leaves

...plus 32 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Note: adding "1911" to your search will actually make these harder to find.

• Dante's Inferno
• Little Nemo
• The Lonedale Operator
• Bread for the Birds
• Max Is Convalescent
• The Four Devils
• The Life and Deeds of the Immortal Vožd Karađorđe
• The Trust, or The Battles for Money
• The Miser's Heart
• The Strange Bird

...plus 19 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

To be clear, III is the only one I actually dislike.

1. Mission: Impossible
2. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
3. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
4. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
5. Mission: Impossible II
6. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
7. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
8. Mission: Impossible III

• The Abyss
• Frankenstein
• Slippery Jim
• Over Silent Paths
• Max Takes a Bath
• The Oval Portrait
• The Persistent Salesman
• All on of the Milk
• Thunderbolt
• Wilful Peggy

...plus 25 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

There's a strong case to be made for 1928 as one of the best years for movies ever. Obviously it ended up being the apex of silent film before the transition to talkies.

And with that, I am up to date for the public domain, at least for the next few hours.

• The ion of Joan of Arc
• The Crowd
• Shooting Stars
• The Docks of New York
• Lonesome
• Four Sons
• Spies
• The Circus
• The Cameraman
• Beggars of Life

...plus 89 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Napoleon
• Metropolis
• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
• Barbed Wire
• Wings
• The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
• Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
• The Kid Brother
• The End of St. Petersburg
• Underworld

...plus 81 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• A Page of Madness
• The General
• The Adventures of Prince Achmed
• Faust
• Ménilmontant
• The Black Pirate
• Flesh and the Devil
• By the Law
• Emak-Bakia
• Mother

...plus 83 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Time to start using the whole rating scale.

• Battleship Potemkin
• The Gold Rush
• Strike
• The Big Parade
• Master of the House
• Faces of Children
• Seven Chances
• The Freshman
• Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
• Variety

...plus 65 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

-, Greed is a Christmas movie.
-I was halfway through 1922 when Letterboxd decided The Great White Silence was a 1922 release, and halfway through 1924 when they decided it was a 1924 release. I'm leaving it in the 1922 ranking for now.
-I've now gotten through everything that was public domain when I started this project. In a year's time, I'll be caught up.

• The Last Laugh
• Sherlock Jr.
• Die Nibelungen: Siegfried
• Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge
• The Thief of Bagdad
• He Who Gets Slapped
• Greed
• Entr'acte
• L'Inhumaine
• Girl Shy

...plus 51 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Cabiria gets the first 4.5 of this project, making it the best film made up to this point.

• Cabiria
• The Avenging Conscience
• The Mysterious X
• Blue Blood
• Damn the War
• The Curse of Greed
• Gertie the Dinosaur
• The Knockout
• Home, Sweet Home
• The New Janitor

...plus 24 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The breakout year for feature-length comedies and French Impressionism.

• Safety Last!
• La Roue
• The Smiling Madame Beudet
• Our Hospitality
• Cœur fidèle
• The House of Mystery
• Why Worry?
• The Puzzle
• The Ten Commandments
• Three Ages

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat
• The Haunted Castle
• A Nightmare
• The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
• Demolition of a Wall
• The Vanishing Lady
• A Terrible Night
• Carmaux: Drawing Out the Coke
• Game of Cards
• Playing Cards

...plus 7 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Häxan
• Nosferatu
• Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
• Foolish Wives
• The Great White Silence
• Crainquebille
• The Blacksmith
• Jumping Beans
• Salomé
• Sodom and Gomorrah

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• J'accuse
• The Oyster Princess
• Different from the Others
• Sir Arne's Treasure
• Behind the Door
• The False Faces
• Ask Father
• Sons of Ingmar
• When the Clouds Roll By
• Broken Blossoms

...plus 38 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

To be honest, I don't get the appeal of Rudolph Valentino.

• The Goat
• The Kid
• The Idle Class
• The Boat
• Hamlet
• The Phantom Carriage
• Miss Lulu Bett
• The Wildcat
• Never Weaken
• The Three Musketeers

...plus 33 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

When a movie people should only be hatewatching has twice as many views as the next most popular, then people need some good recommendations.

This will be roughly chronological, given how the possibilities of the medium were still opening up over the decade.

If you think a movie is missing, it's probably in the notes. I couldn't find Capellani's Germinal, later Feuillade serials, and a lot of Lois Weber and Alice Guy.

• Slippery Jim

  The "trick film" was dying out as the decade started. Melies retired in 1912. There's debate about whether this is from Ferdinand Zecca or Segundo de Chomon, the two most notable directors to follow on from Melies, but it's a quick, funny way to start the decade.

• All on of the Milk

  I'm declaring this the first romantic comedy on film. Stars Mary Pickford and Arthur V Johnson, so I hope you like height difference.

• Frankenstein

  Diverges from the source material in interesting ways, and the effects on the creation of the monster are fantastic.

• The Abyss

  My favourite film of 1910 kicked off the Danish Golden Age and launched the career of Asta Nielsen. More varied cinematography and naturalistic acting makes the films of this movement seem much more modern, and European films being more open about sexuality starts here. This particular entry is mainly notable for a dance setpiece at the midpoint.

• Dante's Inferno

  The Most Movie of 1911. Set design, costumes, effects and hand-colouring pushed to the limits of the time.

• Max Is Convalescent

  Max Linder, the first comedy star, takes a break in the country, only to get into a feud with a pony.

• The Four Devils

  Alfred Lind only made erotic thrillers about circus performers, and I salute him for that.

• The Life and Deeds of the Immortal Vožd Karađorđe

  The first Serbian film, telling the life story of a freedom fighter. Not as technically advanced as what some other countries were doing, but made with real ion.

• Andalusian Superstition

  Segundo de Chomon had one of the more interesting careers of the silent era. Some people dismiss him as a poor substitute for Melies, which is like saying a poor substitute for the Beatles. But after the trick film died out, he switched to doing cinematography and special effects in Italian epics.

  This film features camera movement treated as a big special effects set piece, making it a key point in the development of tracking shots.

• The Cameraman's Revenge

  Russian stop-motion comedy with insects.

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
• One Week
• The Penalty
• Way Down East
• The Golem: How He Came Into the World
• Below the Surface
• The Scarecrow
• High and Dizzy
• Convict 13
• Neighbors

...plus 31 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

For some reason I really want to buy war bonds...

• The Outlaw and His Wife
• The Sinking of the Lusitania
• A Dog's Life
• Tih Minh
• The Tenth Symphony
• Sanz and the Secret of His Art
• The Lady of the Dugout
• The Bell Boy
• Shoulder Arms
• Hearts of the World

...plus 27 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• One A.M.
• Blind Justice
• Judex
• The Matrimaniac
• The Good Bad-Man
• Shoes
• The Floorwalker
• The Waiters' Ball
• Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
• Behind the Screen

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• A Corner in Wheat
• Tom Thumb
• The Country Doctor
• The Airship Destroyer
• A Trip to Jupiter
• The Lonely Villa
• Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy
• The Sealed Room
• An Awful Symphony
• Le Voleur invisible

...plus 25 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Poor Little Rich Girl
• A Modern Musketeer
• The Adventurer
• The War and the Dream of Momi
• The Faun
• Bucking Broadway
• The Immigrant
• A Man There Was
• '49–'17
• The Big Idea

...plus 28 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Casino Royale
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. From Russia with Love
4. Skyfall
5. The Living Daylights
6. The Spy Who Loved Me
7. GoldenEye
8. You Only Live Twice
9. Dr. No
10. No Time to Die

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Bewitched House
• The Red Spectre
• The Haunted Hotel
• First Prize in Cello
• Madame's Cravings
• The 'Teddy' Bears
• That Fatal Sneeze
• The Talisman
• The Irresistible Piano
• The Colonel's

...plus 17 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Vampires or, The Arch Criminals of Paris
• The Regeneration
• After Death
• The Italian
• Carmen
• Filibus
• Alias Jimmy Valentine
• Work
• The Tramp
• Maciste

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• History of a Crime
• Bluebeard
• The Big Swallow
• Hat of Many Surprises
• The Seven Castles of the Devil
• Fire!
• The Man with the Rubber Head
• Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost
• The Artist's Dilemma
• Demolishing and Building Up the Star Theatre

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The One-Man Band
• Attack on a China Mission
• Joan of Arc
• Grandma's Reading Glass
• How It Feels to Be Run Over
• Explosion of a Motor Car
• As Seen Through a Telescope
• Pierrette's Escapades
• Let Me Dream Again
• Going to Bed Under Difficulties

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Impossible Voyage
• The Mermaid
• The Untamable Whiskers
• An Interesting Story
• The Wonderful Living Fan
• Panorama View, Street Car Motor Room
• The Christmas Angel
• Grand Display of Brock's Fireworks at the Crystal Palace
• A Moonlight Serenade
• Panorama of Machine Co. Aisle

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Story of the Kelly Gang
• The Merry Frolics of Satan
• The '">View the full list on Letterboxd. ]]>

• Rescued by Rover
• An Adventurous Automobile Trip
• Alice Guy Films a 'Phonoscène' in the Studio at Buttes-Chaumont, Paris
• Coney Island at Night
• The Black Imp
• New York Subway
• The Living Playing Cards
• The Hairdresser
• The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship
• The Night Before Christmas

...plus 11 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Kingdom of the Fairies
• The Life and ion of Jesus Christ
• The Great Train Robbery
• A Daring Daylight Burglary
• A Desperate Poaching Affray
• Life of an American Fireman
• Alice in Wonderland
• The Infernal Cakewalk
• The Gay Shoe Clerk
• The Monster

...plus 11 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Dog Outwits the Kidnapper
• The Puppet's Nightmare
• Fantasmagorie
• Money Mad
• The Electric Hotel
• The Man with White Gloves
• The Thieving Hand
• L'Assommoir
• His First Cigar
• The Gold Spider

...plus 19 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Cinderella
• The Devil in a Convent
• The Kiss in the Tunnel
• The Little Girl and Her Cat
• The Dreyfus Affair
• The Mysterious Portrait
• Summoning the Spirits
• Upside Down; or, The Human Flies
• Lancement du 'Varèse' à Livourne
• Indochina: Children Gathering Coins Scattered by Western Women

• A Trip to the Moon
• The Little Match Seller
• Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show
• The Flying Train
• Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants
• The Treasures of Satan
• Jack and the Beanstalk
• The Human Fly
• Robinson Crusoe
• The Boys Think They Have One on Foxy Grandpa, But He Fools Them

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Astronomer's Dream
• The Four Troublesome Heads
• Something Good — Negro Kiss
• The Merry Skeleton
• Santa Claus
• The Temptation of St. Anthony
• Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine"
• Panorama from Top of a Moving Train
• Adventures of William Tell
• The Famous Box Trick

...plus 13 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Haunted Castle
• Snowball Fight
• The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight
• The X-Ray Fiend
• After the Ball
• The Bewitched Inn
• Washerwomen on the River
• The Surrender of Tournavos
• The Miller and the Sweep
• The Last Cartridges

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

How was Udo Kier not in the one about trashy European parties.

• The Great Beauty
• American Animals

• The Focus Group
• Crazy World

It's a cliche, but it's fun. A lot of these were determined by how strongly I walking out of the theatre.

• GoodFellas
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• Malcolm X
• The Wrong Tros
• Pulp Fiction
• Before Sunrise
• Muppet Treasure Island
• Gattaca
• The Big Lebowski
• The Iron Giant

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Some caveats:

-The Castle, George Miller and Jennifer Kent are all properly rated.

-I don't particularly care for Michod.

-Fuck Jedda.

• The Story of the Kelly Gang
• Walkabout
• The Cars That Ate Paris
• The Man from Hong Kong
• Don's Party
• Storm Boy
• Backroads
• The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
• The Plumber
• Gallipoli

...plus 25 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Looper
• Logan
• Fast Color
• Midnight Special