The Visionaries, Madmen, and Tinkerers Who Created the Future That Never Was
SILENT F&SF MOVIES ON YOUTUBE 1920 - 1929
Part four of a comprehensive listing of all silent movies that are considered fantasy or science fiction and available in some form on YouTube. For details, see the Introduction on Silent F&SF Movies on YouTube 1895-1906. Click here for 1895-1906. Click here for 1907-1913. Click here for 1914-1919.
Abbreviations
d director
p producer
s screenwriter
c cinematographer
se special effects
lp leading players
co- in collaboration
1920
Algol - Tragödie der Macht (Algol: The Tragedy of Fate), also Power
1:51:43
p Richard Oswald
d Hans Werckmeister
s Hans Brenert
c Axel Graatkjær, Hermann Kircheldorff
lp Emil Jannings, John Gottowt, Hanna Ralph, Erna Morena, Ernst Hofmann, Gertrude Welcker, Hans Adalbert von Schlettow, Käthe Haack
Note: English intertitles
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1:19:33
p Aldoph Zucker
d John S. Robinson
s Clara S. Beranger
c Karl Strauss, Roy Overbough
lp John Barrymore, Martha Mansfield, Brandon Hurst, Charles Lane, J. Malcolm Dunn, Cecil Clovelly, Nita Naldi, George Stevens, Louis Wolheim
Note: Adapted from Richard Manfield's stage version of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel
Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (The Golem: How He Came Into the World)
1:41:22
co-d Paul Wegener and Carl Boese
s Paul Wegener
c Karl Freund
se Carl Boese
lp Paul Wegener, Albert Steinrück, Ernst Deutsch, Friedrich Keuhne, Lyda Salmonova, Otto Gebühr, Hans Stürm, Loni Nest, Greta Schröder, Max Kronert
Note: English intertitles
The Master Mystery
20 parts 8:23; 8:41; 8:33; 8:44; 8:39; 8:42; 8:35; 8:35; 8:34; 8:35; 8:35; 8:38; 8:38; 8:36; 8:35; 8:34; 8:39; 8:34; 8:42; 8:38
p Benjamin A. Rolfe
d Burton King
co-s Arthur B. Reeve and Charles A. Logue
c David Calcagini
lp Harry Houdini, Marguerite Marsh, William Pike, Ruth Stonehouse, Charles Graham, Floyd Buckley, Jack Burns, Edna Britton
Note: Originally produced in fifteen chapters, the YouTube version takes the available fragments and arbitrarily cuts them into 20 pieces; Hardy says 1918, Strickland and Ackerman say 1919, but is definitely 1920; Arthur B. Reeve released a novelized version in 1919
Terror Island
54:18
p Famous-Lasky Players
d James Cruze
s John W. Grew, Arthur B. Reeve, and Walter Woods
c William Marshall
lp Harry Houdini, Jack Brammall, Lila Lee, Rosemary Theby, Wilton Taylor, Guy Mordaunt, Eugene Pallette, Edward Brady, Captain Ted E. Duncan, Fred Turner
Note: originally seven reels; reels three and four have been lost
1921
L'Atlantide (Atlantis)
2:42:44
d/s Jacques Feyder
c Georges Specht, Victor Morin, Amédée Morrin
lp Jean Angelo, Georges Melchior, Stacia Napierkowska
Note: No longer available
L'Uomo Meccanico (The Mechanical Man)
26:13
d André Deed
lp Giulia Costa, André Deed, Carl Lauritzen, Valentina Frascaroli, Mathilde Lambert, Gabriel Moreau, Ferdinando Vivas-May
Note: fragment; colored through gels
1922
A Blind Bargain
27:43
p Wallace Worsley
d Samuel Goldwyn
s J. G. Hawks
c Norbert Brodin
lp Lon Chaney, Raymond McKee, Jacqueline Logan, Fontaine LaRue, Virginia True Boardman, Aggie Herring, Virginia Madison
Note: Partial reconstruction, with clips and stills
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler) parts 1 and 2
part 1: 2:37:32
part 2: 1:55:32
p Erich Pommer
co-s Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou
c Carl Hoffman
lp Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede-Nissen, Gertrude Welcker, Alfred Abel, Bernhard Goetzke, Robert Forster-Larrinaga, Hans Adalbert Schlettow, Georg John, Charles Puffy, Grete Berger, Julius Falkenstein, Lydia Potechina, Julius E. Herrmann
1923
Hoffmanns Erzählungen (Tales of Hoffmann)
4:04
d/p Max Neufeld
s Josef Molina
lp Dagny Servaes, Friedrich Feher, Eugen Neufeld, Max Neufeld, Karl Ehmann, Viktor Franz, Karl Forest, Paul Askonas, Lola Urban-Kneidlinger
Note: fragment; Based on Jacques Offenbach's opera interpeting three stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann
Evolution, also Darwin's Theory of Evolution
41:15
p Max Fleishcher
se Willis O'Brien
Note: Stop-motion animation
1924
Аэли́та (Aelita: Queen of Mars), also Aelita: Queen of the Robots
1:51:36
c Emil Schünemann, Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky
lp Yuliya Solntseva, Nikolai Batalov, Igor Ilyinsky, Vera Orlova, Nikolai Tsereteli, Pavel Pol, Konstantin Eggert, Yuri Zavadsky, Valentina Kuindzhi, N. Tretyakova, Aleksandra Peregonets, Iosif Tolchanov
Note: Based on Alexei Tolstoy's novel; English intertitles
Black Oxen
58:27
d/p Frank Lloyd
s Mary O'Hara
c Norbert F. Brodine
lp Corinne Griffith, Conway Tearle, Alan Hale, Otto Nelson, Otto Lederer, Clara Bow, Kate Lester, Thomas Ricketts, Tomas Guide, Harry Mestayer
Note: Based on the novel by Gertrude Atherton
Orlac’s Hände (The Hands of Orlac)
1:52:43
d/p Robert Wiene
s Louis Nerz
c Hans Androschin , Günther Krampf
lp Conrad Veidt, Fritz Kortner, Carmen Cartellieri, Alexandra Sorina, Paul Askonas, Fritz Strassny
Note: Based on Maurice Renard's novel Les Mains d'Orlac; English intertitles; Hardy lists it under 1925
Paris Qui Dort (Paris Alseep), also The Crazy Ray, At 3:25
44:21
p Henri Diamant Burger
d/s René Clair
c Maurice Desfassiaux, Paul Guichard
lp Henri Rollan, Charles Martinelli, Louis Pré Fils, Albert Préjean, Madeleine Rodrigue, Bull Montana, Myla Seller, Antoine Stacquet, Marcel Vallée
Note: Sources disagree about the date, probably made in 1923 but not released until late 1924; partial reconstruction
1925
Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride
21:32
d Scott Pembroke, Joe Rock
lp Stan Laurel, Julie Leonard
Note: parody of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Lost World
1:44:13
co-p Earl Hudson and Watterson R. Rothacker
se Willis O'Brien
c Arthur Rodeson, Fred Jackman
lp Wallace Beery, Bessie Love, Lewis S. Stone, Arthur Hoyt, Alma Bennett, Virginia Brown Faire, Bull Montana, Frank Finch Smiles, Jules Cowles, Margaret McWade, Charles Wellesley, George Bunny
Note: Based on Arthur Conan Doyle's novel; part stop-motion animation
Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies
1:32:39
p Mack Bennett
d Del Lord
co-s Jefferson Moffitt and Frank Capra; Felix Adler and Al Gieber (intertitles)
se Willis O'Brien
lp Billy Bevan, Andy Clyde, Lillian Knight, J. J. Richardson
Note: The title is a pun on the superheterodyne circuit, newly installed on the latest radios
1926
Officer "444"
3:30:38
co-d Francis Ford and Ben F. Wilson
lp Ben F. Wilson, Neva Gerber, Ruth Royce, Al Ferguson, Phil Ford, August Vollmer, Jack Mower
Note: 10-part serial
1927
Metropolis
2:28:55
p Mack Bennett
d Fritz Lang
se Willis O'Brien
c Karl Freund, Günther Rittau, Walter Ruttmann
lp Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Fritz Rasp, Theodor Loos, Erwin Biswanger, Heinrich George, Brigitte Helm
Note: Based on Thea von Harbou's novel; English intertitles
Sur un Air de Charleston (Charleston Parade), also Charleston, Parade sur un Air de Charleston
5:56
d Jean Renoir
lp Catherine Hessling, Johnny Huggins, Ruth Royce, Pierre Braunberger, André Cerf, Pierre Lestringuez, Jean Renoir
Note: Shot in 1926, but not released until 1927, fragment only
Warning: contains blackface
1928
Альрауне, also Alraune, Unholy Love, Mandrake, A Daughter of Destiny
1:38:16
d/s Henrik Galeen
lp Brigitte Helm, Paul Wgener, Ivan petrovich, Mia Pankau, Georg John, Valeska Gert, John Loder, Wolfgang Lilzer, Louis Ralph, Alexander Sascha
Note: Based on Hanns Heinz Ewers' novel
Spione (Spies)
2:30:28
d/p Fritz Lang
co-s Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou
c Fritz Arno Wagner
lp Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Gerda Maurus, Willy Fritsch, Lien Deyers, Lulu Pick, Fritz Rasp, Craighall Sherry, Julius Falkenstein, Georg John, Paul Hörbiger
Note: Based on Thea von Harbou's novel; English intertitles
1929
Frau im Mond (Woman in the Moon)
2:49:48
d/p Fritz Lang
co-s Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou
se Oskar Fischinger, Konstantin Irmen-Tschet ...(as Konstantin Tschetwerikoff)
lp Gerda Maurus, Willy Fritsch, Lien Deyers, Fritz Rasp, Craighall Sherry, Julius Falkenstein, Georg John, Paul Hörbiger
Note: Based on Thea von Harbou's novel Die Frau im Mond (The Girl in the Moon); English intertitles
Mysterious Island
1:33:30
p/se J. Ernest Williamson
co-d Maurice Tourneau, Benjamin Christensen, and Lucien Hubbard
lp Lionel Barrymore, Jane Daly, Lloyd Hughes, Montagu Love, Harry Gribbon, Delores Brinkman
Note: Based on the play by Jules Vernes; b&w with subtitles and added sound