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Nosferatu (1922)
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Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife. Silent classic based on the story "Dracula."
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Battleship Potemkin (1925)
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| One of the real milestones in film history Battleship Potemkin is one of Sergei Eisensteins masterpieces. Despite being Soviet propaganda at its time the film is really fascinating considering the time of production. Many of the films revolutionary features became standard, specially when Hollywood discovered the techniques used a decade later. The Odessa steps scene still serves as an example of excellent cinematography. Based on the historical events the movie tells the story of a riot at the battleship Potemkin. What started as a protest strike when the crew was given rotten meat for dinner ended in a riot. The sailors raised the red flag and tried to ignite the revolution in their home port Odessa.
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Sunrise - A Song of Two Humans (1927)
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| Beginning in summer, we meet a 'woman from the city' on vacation in the country, who we then discover is having an affair with a 'farmer'. The 'woman from the city' then proposes that he drowns his wife so they can run away together. Overwhelmed by the woman from the city, he decides to take his neglected wife for a row in a boat. She gets excited for the date, leaving her child at home, ready for a romantic day with her husband, hoping to rekindle their lost love. Whilst our rowing in the little boat, she senses something is not right. He attempts to push her overboard, but backs out last minute. She then escapes into the city, leaving him to chase after her. Eventually, he proves to her how much he loves her and she comes to forgive him as they share the day together, rekindling their love. On their journey back, a storm begins and his wife falls overboard in a terrible accident. The 'Farmer' returns home, thinking he has lost his wife. The woman from the city hears of her disappearance and runs to the farmer's side thinking he has followed through with their plan. Suffering severe grief and anger, he turns against the woman from the city, but soon hears the news that his wife has been found after an extensive search. Written by georgew.
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Wings (1927)
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| Jack works on his sports car and dreams of flying. His neighbor Mary is in love with him but he seems not to notice, having been smitten by the fair Sylvia, but he can't see that Sylvia has eyes only for David. The distant drums of war beckon, and Jack and David train to be pilots in the American Expeditionary Corp. Their rivalry soon evolves into camaraderie as they do aerial battle with the Germans in the skies over France. Meanwhile Mary has joined the Women's Motor Corp and despairs that Jack doesn't notice her. Written by Ed Sutton {esutton@mindspring.com}
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Blackmail (1929)
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| Anny Ondra gives an excellent performance as Alice, who, rebelling against the possessiveness of her police boyfriend, flirts with an artist and agrees to pose for him with disastrous consequences. Resisting his advances, she ends up murdering him in self-defense. Her boyfriend, Frank, a Scotland Yard detective, is assigned to the case and discovers Alice's glove at the murder scene. Unbeknownst to Frank, the other glove was picked up by a blackmailer who's been watching the artist. Based on a play by Charles Bennett. Blackmail was the first sound picture directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
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All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)
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| This is an English language film (made in America) adapted from a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque. The film follows a group of German schoolboys, talked into enlisting at the beginning of World War 1 by their jingoistic teacher. The story is told entirely through the experiences of the young German recruits and highlights the tragedy of war through the eyes of individuals. As the boys witness death and mutilation all around them, any preconceptions about "the enemy" and the "rights and wrongs" of the conflict disappear, leaving them angry and bewildered. This is highlighted in the scene where Paul mortally wounds a French soldier and then weeps bitterly as he fights to save his life while trapped in a shell crater with the body. The film is not about heroism but about drudgery and futility and the gulf between the concept of war and the actuality.
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Broadway Melody, The (1929)
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| The plot involves the romances of musical comedy stars, set against the backstage hubbub of a Broadway revue. Anita Page and Bessie Love play a vaudeville sister act who've come to New York for their big break on Broadway. Charles King plays the song-and-dance man whose affection for one sister (Hank) is supplanted by his growing love for the younger, more beautiful sister (Queenie). Queenie tries to protect her sister and derail the love triangle by dating a wealthy but unscrupulous "stage door Johnny."
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