Cinematic Era: 1921 Vintage

Billy West wanders into town and is made sheriff because the older ones got killed or ran away.

Everybody wishes for the happiness just outside their reach, without regard to the cost. One day, a pair of magical galoshes appear in the big city, which have the power to grant the wishes of anyone who wears them. The galoshes find their way to many wearers from all walks of life, who all learn an important lesson about being content with what they have.(stumfilm.dk)

Report about the voyage from Amsterdam to Belawan (in Sumatra, in the Dutch East Indies) aboard the ship "Jan Pieterszoon Coen". Portrayed here are both life on board for the passengers, and well as the ship as a business. At several points, the camera goes ashore, for example in Port Said and Colombo.

Unidentified prank film. Restored and released by Undercrank Productions.

Lost Dora Film based on the 1902 text by Libero Bovio

An Aesop’s Film Fables cartoon.

Nelson Holmes, a black man posing as a white man, had advanced from office boy to general manager.

Japanese horror movie from 1921.

A Mutt and Jeff short.

Silent cartoon.

The Nokkesens have got themselves into a huge predicament. They’ve forgotten that the Spidsmejers are coming to dinner and expect roast hare. The Nokkesens have no hare to cook, and the game butcher is closed, so the man of the house goes out to find a solution. After a bit of an odyssey, which includes coming across a bunch of mermaids, a fat little dog, and a pretty housekeeper with mischievous eyes, the Spidsmejers luckily get their promised roast hare. (stumfilm.dk)

A hungry cat tries to eat parrot, but is foiled by a cop. He then goes after some mice, who conspire with other mice

The first Polish color film. A reportage from the Alps, delighting with the splendidly rendered colors of the beautiful mountain landscapes.

Document of the XXVII Congress of the Italian Socialist Party, held in Livorno, at the Goldoni Theater, from 15 to 21 January 1921, and which, on the last day, led to the split and the birth of the Communist Party of Italy...The representatives of the Socialist International, Turati and Terracini, Bordiga and Bombacci, Argentina Altobelli and Francesco Misiano, who escaped to the USSR gave life to the Mezrapom production house, for a decade, the most innovative studio of Soviet cinema, pass before our eyes...In the elections of November 16, 1919, the Socialist Party was the most voted party, the first party, with 32% of the votes and 156 seats, in those of May 15 it obtained 24% of the votes and 123 seats, the Communist Party of Italy 4% and 15 parliamentarians. The wind had turned, the march on Rome was almost upon us. The film arrived at the Cineteca di Bologna, thanks to Cecilia Mangini, who deposited a copy at the Cineteca.

The billionaire Hogan Ford, a modern day Prometheus, is driven to rebellion and revolt against the almighty Creator by his bitter experiences of life.

This film advocates the consolidation of rural schools into larger education centers and the use of mass transportation for children attending these new schools. The Rugged Road to Learning dramatizes a day in the life of children who, before consolidation, had to travel through the snowy woods to attend a cold country schoolhouse. Later in the film, a larger, consolidated school encompassing five Ontario country districts is featured favourably. Scenes show happy and lively children who are ready to learn. The use of dramatic scenes to underline a film's message was a common technique by the 1920s. Although this film is far from subtle, it was well understood that "the great mass of the movie public want to be amused and entertained not instructed, and if they are to be educated it must be in a subtle, delicate manner"

In Switzerland an architect and a suffragist schoolteacher fall in love at a TB sanatorium.

A look at an exhibition in Reval (now known as Tallinn).

President Harding and his wife paying tribute to a group of Indians (Fragment of a longer piece)

Fotage of the boxing gala at Cirkus in Stockholm on February 22, 1921. The match between Georges Carpentiers and Jules Lenaers isthe main event.

In the summer of 1921 (Taisho 10), a major labour dispute broke out at the Kawasaki-Mitsubishi shipyard in Kobe. The Kawasaki-Mitsubishi dispute is said to be the largest labour dispute in the pre-war period, with an unprecedented scale of 30,000 participants. The dispute, which had been fiercely fought for more than 40 days under the scorching sun, ended with the declaration of defeat by the workers. This live-action film, only nine minutes long and silent, provides a glimpse into the grand demonstration on July 10th, when the dispute was at its peak. Filming was done by the Nikkatsu film crew at the request of the Ohara Institute for Social Research.

A short film screened Il Cinema Ritrovato 2021. The film demonstrates "the inability of most filmmakers to meet a foreign culture in an appropriate manner, while offering gorgeous cinematographic shots from African landscapes, an important raison d’être of the genre." (Karl Wratschko)

This somewhat mysterious assemblage of various American materials, probably made up of clips from a Hollywood "behind the scenes" series, is a sort of predecessor to Screen Snapshot, distributed by Pathé Exchange in the years 1922-1923.

A nature documentary depicting the variety of changes undergone by plants and animals as the seasons of the year change. A deer is shown shedding his antlers, then growing new ones, while other examples of flora and fauna go through corollary changes.

Ideal Cinema Company of Callao.

Views of the Iquitos advance; typical customs of the aborigines of the Amazon region; the Peruvian river flotilla; modes of navigation on the Amazonian rivers.

A compilation of recordings from Prins Wilhelm's expedition to Central America, including the journey across the North Sea and the Atlantic, a visit to the former Swedish Colony of Saint-Bartélemy, and footage from Bélize and British Honduras.

Pip, Squeak and Wilfred find a treasure map, which leads them to a chest of Spanish gold which they recover. Back at their lodging house, they get into trouble with the landlady, who sends a letter to Uncle Dick, who summons them home. They take a steam ship, but find themselves stranded at sea.

Squeak is still missing. Pip looks for her at London Zoo, Wilfred at the British Museum. Popski has Squeak in chains and will blow her up if she does not join the anarchists. Pip saves Squeak and Popski himself is blown up.

A marriageable and wealthy young woman receives a proposal for her hand from a down-and-out nobleman, but she has other suitors.

The film, a silent melodrama, was designed to persuade viewers to visit a physician for regular checkups and at the first sign of the disease.

The story deals with a man whose fidelity and loyalty are rewarded by his being thrown into prison for the crime of another.

Free adaptation from Ferragus by Balzac, first story of the Histoire des Treize trilogy in Scènes de al vei parisienne of La Comédie humaine. Balzac's text has as its backdrop the events of a secret community made up of men of Parisian high society and is endowed with all the typical adventurous and bourgeois elements of the Guaita/Deliot production. Lost film.

Film about Ghost-Cat.

Various onlookers, including pets, experience the eclipse. We also see a view through a telescope of the eclipse itself.

A real rarity in silent cinema with an appearance by the father of the Kiljunen books, Jalmari Finne, as a film director. A funny little story about the teacher and students of Norssi and the dogs of the city of Helsinki. Young Joel Rinne as a teacher in his first role on the big screen.

A Cockney fishmonger's daughter weds a bart who loses his all on a trotting race.

The Winning Track is one of many, many Hoot Gibson Western film shorts.

Felix learns to fight.