Synopsis : A film buff's dream, Spiders is comprised of two episodes
from an unfinished silent serial from Fritz Lang. Filled with
excitement and adventure, it tells the story of a brave explorer who is
questing for the fabulous Incan diamond. To get it though, he must keep
ahead of the powerful Spider cult, who want it for their own evil
purposes. The episodes were originally titled "The Golden Lake" and "The
Diamond Ship." Many of the techniques and production designs Lang
experimented with in this aborted series, he later refined in his
classic Dr. Mabuse films. Sandra Brennan Title : The Spiders (1919) Original title : Die Spinnen Directed : Fritz Lang Duration : 137 min. Card titles : English Subtitles : English, Spanish, Portuguese Genres : Adventure Countries : Germany
Synopsis : Tabu is a lyrical documentary of Polynesian life, given
added audience appeal with a fictional plotline. The story concerns a
young island girl (Anna Chevalier, who like everyone in the cast is a
non-professional) who has been consecrated to the gods by her
tribespeople. It is thus "tabu" for her to marry; still, she falls in
love with a handsome young pearl fisherman (Matahi). The island's holy
man takes the girl away in his schooner. Her lover swims after her, but
eventually sinks disconsolately into the ocean. Shot completely on
location, it was supposed to be a collaboration between German director
F. W. Murnau and American documentary producer Robert Flaherty. Flaherty
withdrew from the project when he realized the film was taking a
romanticized approach. Murnau never lived to see the final product; he
was killed in a car accident just before the film's opening. Begun as a
silent film in 1929, Tabu was released in that form in 1931, despite the
fact that talking pictures already had been established for nearly
three years. Hal Erickson Title : Tabu: A Story of the South Seas Ano : 1931 Directed : F.W. Murnau Duration : 81 min. Original card : English Subtitles : Spanish, Portuguese Genres : Drama, Romance, Nature Country : USA - Unknown
Synopsis : How typical of the great German director F. W. Murnau that
he used Moliere's scathing satirical comedy Tartuffe as a launching pad
for an extended exercise in expressionism. Emil Jannings plays the
title character, a religious hypocrite who capitalizes upon the piety of
others to line his own pockets. Lusting after Elmire (Lil Dagover), the
daughter of gullible millionaire Orgon (Werner Krauss), Tartuffe all
but convinces Orgon to hand over Elmire -- and all his land holdings --
on a silver platter in exchange for Divine absolution. On the verge of
triumphantly taking over Orgon's mansion and tossing the old man out,
Tartuffe is foiled by the deux ex machina arrival of an emissary of the
King, who arrests the "hero" for his chicanery (this final scene was
imposed upon Moliere by the French censors; originally, Tartuffe got
away with his crimes). In his efforts to make the property more
cinematic, Murnau adds a framing story concerning an old woman who tries
to cheat an old man out of a fortune while the two of them watch a
theatrical performance of the Moliere play. Chock full of offbeat camera
angles, forced-perspective sets, and spiderlike shadows, Tartuff owes
more to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari than it does to Moliere. Emil
Jannings went on to collaborate with Murnau in the director's next
production, a lavish adaptation of Goethe's Faust. Hal Erickson Title : Tartuffe Original title : Her Tartüff Ano : 1925 Directed : F.W. Murnau Duration : 74 min. Original card : English Subtitles : Spanish, Portuguese Genres : Drama, Comedy Country : United States
Title : Lilliom (1934) Directed : Fritz Lang Duration : 116 min. Audio : French Subtitles : English, Spanish, Portuguese Genres : Drama Countries : France, United States
Liliom is a 1934 French fantasy film directed by Fritz Lang based on the 1909 Hungarian stage play of the same title by Ferenc Molnár. The film stars Charles Boyer as Liliom, a carousel barker who is fired from his job after defending the chambermaid Julie from the jealousy of Mme. Muscat, the carousel owner who is infatuated with Liliom. He moves in with Julie and they begin an affair. When Liliom discovers he's about to become a father, he finds he needs money and participates in a robbery which goes awry. Rather than allow himself to be arrested, Liliom kills himself and his soul is transported to a waiting room of Heaven. A heavenly commissioner determines that Liliom will not be admitted into Heaven, only Purgatory, until he returns to Earth to do one good deed. wiki
Synopsis : Frank Willard's barn-storming stage melodrama Cat and the
Canary was filmed four times over a fifty-year period. This silent 1927
version stars Laura LaPlante as one of several potential heirs to a huge
fortune. Brought to a foreboding mansion on the 20th anniversary of
their eccentric benefactor's death, the heirs must sit in silence as the
lawyer (Tully Marshall) recites the terms of the will. The legacy
hinges upon three sealed letters, each to be opened at a strategic point
in the evening. Also crucial to the inheritance is the insistence that
all the heirs spend the night in the creepy old mansion. Nervous
Creighton Hale appoints himself LaPlante's protector--a far from simple
job, given the many hidden panels and revolving doors which festoon the
house. When the lawyer is murdered, LaPlante is the principle suspect.
Cat and the Canary was remade as The Cat Creeps in 1930, and under its
own title in 1939 (with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard) and 1979. Hal Erickson Title : The Cat and the Canary (1927) Directed : Paul Leni Duration : 1 h 48 min Genre : Mystery, Thriller Country : Germany
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