Thursday 20 December 2012

Unheimliche Geschichten


Director: Richard Oswald
Year: 1919
Country: Germany
Runtime: 112 minutes

Also known as Eerie Tales or Tales of the Uncanny. May just be the first horror anthology movie ever made!

Full film on YouTube (split into 9 parts).

Monday 10 December 2012

Broken Blossoms


Director: D.W. Griffith
Year: 1919
Country: USA
Runtime: 90 minutes

Also known as The Yellow Man and the Girl. Check out the clip - now we know where Kubrick got "Here's Johnny"!!

Full film on YouTube - definitely recommended, this one.

Tuesday 27 November 2012

Die Augen der Mumie Ma


Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Year: 1918
Country: Germany
Runtime: 63 minutes

Also known as Eyes of the Mummy Ma. Often classified as a horror film but actually a melodramatic tragedy - and a pretty hammy one at that.

Full film on YouTube.

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Der Golem


Director: Paul Wegener / Henrik Galeen
Year: 1915
Country: Germany
Runtime: 60 minutes (4 minutes)

Also known as The Golem. The original runtime was 60 minutes, but the film is lost. The extant fragments, shown in the video above, total just under 4 minutes.

Monday 19 November 2012

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde


Director: Herbert Brenon
Year: 1913
Country: USA
Runtime: 27 minutes

Another version of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, starring the improbably named King Baggot in both roles.

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Der Student von Prag


Director: Paul Wegener / Stellan Rye
Year: 1913
Country: Germany
Runtime: 41 minutes

Also known as The Student of Prague. Often considered to be the first ever feature-length horror film and a forerunner of German Expressionist cinema.

Fan-made trailer by DutchWestIndianCo. The full movie is available on YouTube here.

Monday 29 October 2012

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde


Director: Lucius Henderson
Year: 1912
Country: USA
Runtime: 12 minutes

First film version of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel. Produced by Thanhouser Film Corporation.

Saturday 27 October 2012

Frankenstein


Director: J. Searle Dawley
Year: 1910
Country: USA
Runtime: 13 minutes

The earliest surviving adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel. Presumed lost until its rediscovery in the mid-70s.

Thursday 25 October 2012

Le Papillon Fantastique


Director: Georges Méliès
Year: 1909
Country: France
Runtime: 2 minutes

Hand-coloured film. Also known as The Spider and the Butterfly.

Monday 22 October 2012

La Maison Ensorcelée


Director: Segundo de Chomón
Year: 1908
Country: France
Runtime: 6 minutes

Also known as The Haunted House.