The Return of Peter Grimm (1926)

Oz University

This two-strip Technicolor record of the 1936 freshman pageant, acted out entirely by women, begins with Dorothy escorting the Wizard to the throne, assisted by Ojo, whereupon he looks in the Magic Picture on the University of Michigan, and the typed students complaining about school. The Wizard decides to bring them all to Oz, transforming them into Oz celebrities: Tippetarius, the Scarecrow, Nick Chopper, Tik-Tok, Old Mombi, Jinjur, Scraps, The Shaggy Man, Betsy Bobbin, and Jack Pumpkinhead. After a party and registration, it's on to class with Professor Wogglebug. When Tip and Jack carry him out of the classroom, he subjects them to a blue book exam, after which they wish to return to the U of M. The equivalent characters are not played by the same people, so there transformation, their "true self" appears behind them in the early scenes.

The Golem

This mostly lost film is often confused with director Paul Wegener third and readily available interpretation of the legend; Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920). In this version of the golem legend, the golem, a clay statue brought to life by Rabbi Loew in 16th century Prague to save the Jews from the ongoing brutal persecution by the city's rulers, is found in the rubble of an old synagogue in the 20th century. Brought to life by an antique dealer, the golem is used as a menial servant. Eventually falling in love with the dealer's wife, it goes on a murderous rampage when its love for her goes unanswered.

Faust

God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist.

Die Nibelungen: Siegfried

Siegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, travels to Worms, capital of the Burgundian kingdom, to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Kriemhild.

The Student of Prague

Prague, Bohemia, 1820. Balduin, a penniless student, falls in love with Countess Margit, a wealthy noblewoman whom he has saved from drowning.

Eerie Tales

A demon, a reaper, and the ghost of a prostitute read gothic short stories and act them out.

Destiny

As a young couple stops and rests in a small village inn, the man is abducted by Death and is sequestered behind a huge doorless, windowless wall. The woman finds a mystic entrance and is met by Death, who tells her three separate stories set in exotic locales, all involving circumstances similar to hers.

The Thief of Bagdad

A recalcitrant thief vies with a duplicitous Mongol ruler for the hand of a beautiful princess.

The Magician

A young woman, Margaret Dauncey, is caught between the forces of a charlatan magician, Oliver Haddo, whom she is unable to resist, and the love of a handsome surgeon, Arthur Burdon, who has saved her from being a helpless cripple by performing a delicate operation on her spine.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

Taken from The Arabian Nights, a wicked sorcerer and the beautiful prince Achmed battle one against the other during a series of wondrous adventures.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein, a young medical student, trying to create the perfect human being, instead creates a misshapen monster. Made ill by what he has done, Frankenstein is comforted by his fiancée; but on his wedding night he is visited by the monster.

The Impossible Voyage

Using every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.

A Trip to Mars

The navy captain Avanti Planetaros is inspired by his astronomer-father to travel through outer space to reach other worlds. He becomes an aviator and, along with the young scientist Dr. Krafft, the driving force behind the construction of a space-ship. Despite oppostion from the mocking Professor Dubius, Planetaros gathers a crew of fearless men and takes off. During the long voyage, the crew becomes restless; a mutiny is narrowly avoided. Finally, they reach Mars and discover that the planet is inhabited by people who have reached a higher stage of development, free of diseases, sorrow, violence, sexual urges, and the fear of death. Avanti falls in love with Marya, daughter of the Prince of Wisdom, the head of the Martians. Marya shares his feelings and decides to return with him in order to bring the wisdom of the Martians to the backward Earthlings. (stumfilm.dk)

A Daughter Of Destiny

Hanns Heinz Ewers' grim science-fiction novel Alraune has already been filmed twice when this version was assembled in 1928. In another of his "mad doctor" roles, Paul Wegener plays Professor Brinken, sociopathic scientist who combines the genes of an executed murderer with those of a prostitute. The result is a beautiful young woman named Alraune (Brigitte Helm), who is incapable of feeling any real emotions -- least of all guilt or regret. Upon attaining adulthood, Alraune sets about to seduce and destroy every male who crosses her path. Ultimately, Professor Brinken is hoist on his own petard when he falls hopelessly in love with Alraune himself. Alraune was remade in 1930, with Brigitte Helm repeating her role, and again in 1951, with Hildegarde Knef as the "heroine" and Erich von Stroheim as her misguided mentor.

The Golem: How He Came Into the World

In 16th-century Prague, a rabbi creates the Golem - a giant creature made of clay. Using sorcery, he brings the creature to life in order to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution.

Aelita: Queen of Mars

A young man travels to Mars in a rocket ship, where he leads a popular uprising against the ruling group with the support of Queen Aelita, who has fallen in love with him after watching him through a telescope.

Voyager 1

Under the supervision of the tyrannous ruler Supremo, a fleet of aliens responsible for the creation of the universe conduct their daily work around the Milky Way. Among them is a curious alien called Melius, who dreams of leaving their weary job as a star polisher to explore distant planets. When the space probe ‘Voyager 1’ crashes into their ship, Melius sees their chance of escaping using the probe’s coordinates for planet Earth. What follows is an adventure full of extraordinary surprises and new friends, where our hero will be forced to choose between duty and love, their teachings and beliefs.

The Doll

The misadventures of an effete young man who must get married in order to inherit a fortune. He opts to purchase a remarkably lifelike doll and marry it instead, not realizing that the doll is actually the dollmaker’s flesh-and-blood daughter in disguise.

Alice in Wonderland

This is the first movie version of the famous story. Alice dozes in a garden, awakened by a dithering white rabbit in waistcoat with pocket watch. She follows him down a hole and finds herself in a hall of many doors.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

The legend of Ali Baba and the forty thieves: Ali Baba discovers a hidden cave where a band of thieves have stored their enormous treasure. Cassim also learns about the cave, but he is caught by the thieves and put to death. Knowing that their secret has been found out, the thieves devise a trick in an attempt to kill Ali Baba and anyone else who might know about their hiding place.

Jiraiya the Hero

Jiraiya is some sort of super-ninja with superpowers. He can fly, he can avoid detection by turning himself into a toad, and he has some sort of ability to vanish.

Glumov's Diary

Filmic insert to Eisenstein's modernized, free adaptation of Ostrovskiy's 19th-century Russian stage play, "The Wise Man" ("Na vsyakogo mudretsa dovolno prostoty"). The anti-hero Glumov tries to escape exposure in the midst of acrobatics, derring-do, and farcical clowning. Several members of Eisenstein's troupe at the legendary "Proletkult" stage theatre in Moscow briefly appear in this little film.

Witch's Cradle

The surrealist film shows repetitive imagery involving a string fashioned in a bizarre, almost spiderweb-like pattern over the hands of several individuals, most notably an unnamed young woman and an elderly gentleman. The film also shows a shadowy darkness and people filmed at odd angles, an exposed human heart, and other occult symbols and ritualistic imagery which evokes an unsettling and dream-like aura. Considered an unfinished film.

The Wizard of Oz

A farm girl learns she is a princess and is swept away by a tornado to the land of Oz.

The Diabolic Tenant

A man rents an apartment and furnishes it in remarkable fashion.

Bluebeard

A young woman becomes the eighth wife of the wealthy Bluebeard, whose first seven wives have died under mysterious circumstances.

The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon

In this film, Méliès concocts a combination fairy- and morality tale about the foolishness of trying to look too deeply into the workings of an unstable and inscrutable universe. At a medieval school, an old astronomer begins to teach a class of young men, all armed with telescopes, about the art of scrutinising an imminent eclipse. When a mechanical clock strikes twelve, all the young men rush to the windows and fix their telescopes on the heavens.

The Man with the Rubber Head

A chemist carries out a bizarre experiment with his own head.

The One-Man Band

A band-leader has arranged seven chairs for the members of his band. When he sits down in the first chair, a cymbal player appears in the same chair, then rises and sits in the next chair. As the cymbal player sits down, a drummer appears in the second chair, and then likewise moves on to the third chair. In this way, an entire band is soon formed, and is then ready to perform.

The Four Troublesome Heads

One of the greatest of black art pictures. The conjurer appears before the audience, with his head in its proper place. He then removes his head, and throwing it in the air, it appears on the table opposite another head, and both detached heads sing in unison. The conjurer then removes it a third time. You then see all three of his heads, which are exact duplicates, upon the table at one time, while the conjurer again stands before the audience with his head perfectly intact, singing in unison with the three heads upon the table. He closes the picture by bowing himself from the stage.

Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge

When Kriemhild, thirsty for revenge, marries to Etzel, king of the Huns, she invites King Gunther and his court to visit them, intending to finally take the life of the man responsible of her disgrace.

The Kingdom of the Fairies

At the royal court, a prince is presenting the princess whom he is pledged to marry when a witch suddenly appears. Though driven off, the witch soon returns, summons some of her servants, and carries off the princess. A rescue party is quickly organized, but the unfortunate captive has been taken to a strange, forbidding realm, from where it will be impossible to rescue her without some special help.

Dante's Inferno

The classic tale of Dante's journey through hell, loosely adapted from the Divine Comedy and inspired by the illustrations of Gustav Doré. This historically important film stands as the first feature from Italy and the oldest fully-surviving feature in the world, and boasts beautiful sets and special effects that stand above other cinema of the era.

The Applecalypse

After Eve causes a cataclysmic event that sucks all apples into a dark void, the two surviving apples must recruit the help of Steve Jobs and Isaac Newton to save the Garden of Eden.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

An early version of the classic, based more on the 1902 stage musical than on the original novel.

The Living Playing Cards

Plot unavailable

The Play House

Upon waking from the dream of a theater peopled entirely by numerous Buster Keatons, a lowly stage hand causes havoc everywhere he works.

The Phantom Carriage

An alcoholic, abusive ne'er-do-well is shown the error of his ways through a legend that dooms the last person to die on New Year's Eve before the clock strikes twelve to take the reins of Death's chariot and work tirelessly collecting fresh souls for the next year.

The Bewitched Inn

A weary traveler stops at an inn along the way to get a good night's sleep, but his rest is interrupted by odd happenings when he gets to his room--beds vanishing and re-appearing, candles exploding, pants flying through the air and his shoes walking away by themselves.

The Poor Little Rich Girl

Gwen's family is rich, but her parents ignore her and most of the servants push her around, so she is lonely and unhappy. Her father is concerned only with making money, and her mother cares only about her social position. But one day a servant's irresponsibility creates a crisis that causes everyone to rethink what is important to them.

Santa Claus

Santa arrives at a house on Christmas Eve to deliver his presents for the children.

The Astronomer's Dream

An astronomer has a terrifying dream.

The Temptation of St. Anthony

St. Anthony is tempted by visions of women, including one that is transformed from the image of Jesus Christ Himself!

The Devil in a Convent

A priest is officiating at a convent, when suddenly he is transformed into the devil, who frightens away the nuns and turns the place into pandemonium.

The Pillar of Fire

A devil wearing bat-like wings and brandishing a trident dances around a giant pot, conjuring forth flame from his trident to lit a fire beneath the pot. After the devil works the fire with bellows, an angelic woman emerges from the pot. The devil and the pot vanish as the woman performs a dance, waving about her diaphanous sleeves until she conjures forth another fire, then she rises amongst the smoke into the air.

Feet of Clay

Kerry Harlan (La Rocque) is unable to work because he was injured in a battle with a shark, so his youthful wife Amy (Reynolds) becomes a fashion model. While she is away from home, Bertha, the wife of his surgeon, is trying to force her attentions on Kerry and is accidentally killed in an attempt to evade her husband. After the scandal Amy is courted by Tony Channing, but she returns to her husband and finds him near death from gas fumes. Because they both attempted to make suicide, their spirits are rejected by "the other side," and learning the truth from Bertha's spirit they fight their way back to life. This film is presumed lost.

Earthbound

When Jim Rittenshaw learns that his friend Richard Desborough is having an affair with Jim's wife Daisy, Jim kills Richard. The murdered man's ghost then takes up residence and attempts to positively influence the lives of those he had wronged.

The Evil Eye

This serial, starring boxer Leslie King, is presumed lost.

Blancanieves

A black and white silent movie, based on the Snow White fairy tale, that is set in a romantic version of 1920s Seville and centered on a female bullfighter.

The Golden Beetle

A magician is surprised when he attempts to transform a beetle.

Cinderella

A fairy godmother magically turns Cinderella's rags to a beautiful dress, and a pumpkin into a coach. Cinderella goes to the ball, where she meets the Prince - but will she remember to leave before the magic runs out? Méliès based the art direction on engravings by Gustave Doré. First known example of a fairy-tale adapted to film, and the first film to use dissolves to go from one scene to another.

Egged On

Charley invents a machine that turns ordinary, breakable eggs into rubbery, unbreakable ones for transport. He builds a Rube Goldberg contraption of parts stolen from his neighbors. Rival egg companies want his invention, one of them stooping to sabotage to get it.

Le manoir du diable

In a medieval castle, a dark magician thought to be Mephistopheles conjures up a series of bizarre creatures and events in order to torment a pair of interloping cavaliers.