Action & Adventure

The Indian Tomb

Fritz Lang wrote the script to this exotic epic adventure with the intention of directing it himself, but when producer Joe May (a pioneer of German silent cinema himself) read it, he nabbed it, and did the work proud. Conrad Veidt (the stalking somnambulist of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) stars as a vengeful maharajah with a diabolical plot against his unfaithful wife and her haughty British lover. His plan involves a monumental tomb dedicated to his lost love, a spell-casting yogi (revived from his underground tomb in a riveting prologue), and a world-famous architect (Olaf Fonss), who is secretly whisked away to Bengal. Close behind is his fiancée Irene (Mia May, the director's wife and frequent star), who follows him to the maharajah's grand palace. With his piercing eyes and gaunt, hawklike face, Veidt cuts a majestic figure and makes a fascinating villain, his menace tempered with a haunted sense of sadness.

Working with magnificent sets and simple but graceful special effects, May creates a sense of wonder and grandeur in the first half of the film, and then kicks it into high gear for a swiftly paced second half of deadly tiger pits, crocodile-infested moats, cliffhanger escapes, and mountaintop chases, straddling both high adventure and dramatic melancholy. The 3.5-hour production doesn't drag for a second. --Sean Axmaker

Joe May's spectacular "The Indian Tomb" captivated audiences in 1921, and was one of the biggest successes of its day. This lavish adventure thriller transported cinemagoers to an atmospheric India of the romantic imagination, with elaborate temples and palaces, exotic yogis and dancing girls, roaring tigers on the prowl and hissing cobras. Thea von Harbou's colorful plot stretches over two feature-length films, with twists and turns worthy of a serial. Ayan, the powerful Maharajah of Eschnapur, has lost his beloved wife, the beautiful Princess Savitri, but not through death. He plots revenge against Savitri and her lover MacAllan, an English officer. Ayan vows to build a tomb to his dead love; he'll supply the mausoleum's occupant. A yogi, Ramigani, prophesies that revenge will ruin the prince's life. Ayan sends the yogi to Europe to hire an architect, Herbert Rowland, who is sworn to secrecy about his commission. Rowland's fiancee Irene follows him to India, and the adventure begins. "The Indian Tomb" features a fantastic star-studded cast, topped by the legendary Conrad Veidt, who has a field day as the charismatic, sadistic Maharajah. Sumptuously photographed by Werner Brandes with a beautiful new score compiled and orchestrated by Eric Beheim, this is the most complete version available.

The Spiders Part 1- The Golden Lake, Part 2- The Diamond Ship (1919)

Fritz Lang's first major success as a director was with this exotic, globetrotting adventure. It's actually made up of two short silent features that were the first of a proposed quartet of movies about the adventures of high-society adventurer Kay Hoog (Carl de Vogt, whose gaunt, expressionless face resembles a younger William S. Hart) and his arch nemesis, a secret criminal organization known as the Spiders. Part 1 ("The Golden Lake") is a treasure hunt that takes both Kay and Spiders mastermind Lio Sha (Ressel Orla) to Peru, where they battle primitive Incas (who capture Lio for a human sacrifice) and each other for a fortune in hidden gold. Part 2 ("The Diamond Ship") is a longer and far more intricate conspiracy involving a hidden criminal underground beneath the streets of Chinatown, a legendary lost jewel known as the Buddha Head Diamond, and an ambitious plot to rule all of Asia. Full of secret passages, coded messages, treasure maps, double-crosses, and death-defying escapes, Lang's pulpy action-fantasy borrows from the wacky serials of Louis Feuillaude (notably the deliriously entertaining Les Vampires). But behind the wild plots, gorgeous sets, and driving, breakneck-paced direction lies a dark undercurrent of death and doom that transforms his gallant hero into a brooding, vengeful spirit. The prints are seriously scratched and worn in places but always watchable. They have been appropriately tinted, and Gaylord Carter's organ score is upbeat and exciting. --Sean Axmaker

The Spiders by Fritz Lang is considered by many to be the real beginning of the golden age of the German silent film. An adventure story about an organized band of criminals who scheme to dominate the world, "The Spiders" was long considered a lost film until its three year reconstruction by film historians David and Kimberly Shepard using original German censorship records and Lang's own instructions for color tinting.

The Holy Mountain

Parisian Love / Down to the Sea in Ships

Clara Bow is a firecracker as the sexy, sassy French apache (street crook) who plots an elaborate con on the society swell who reforms her criminal lover in 1925's Parisian Love. This is a silly but smartly fashioned trifle, crafted with deliciously designed sets and costumes, deftly played sight gags, graceful direction, and a happy ending. Hardly a masterpiece, it's a likable and highly entertaining little tale and one of the films that helped Bow earn the nickname "the It girl."

Bow landed her first sizable role in the 1922 adventure Down to the Sea in Ships, playing a scrappy tomboy granddaughter of a Quaker whaling magnate. The film has little to do with her and everything to do with the thrilling record of authentically re-created 19th-century whaling. The story is a tired romantic melodrama, but the exciting footage on the high seas is utterly captivating, making this a one-of-a-kind document of a long-gone culture. --Sean Axmaker

The Last of the Mohicans

Male and Female

Cecil B. DeMille's breakthrough production a satire on class distinctions. Based on James M. Barrie's play "The Admirable Crichton" "Male and Female" made a star of Gloria Swanson (Queen Kelly) and solidified DeMille's standing as a big box office director with one of his more modest but no less 'big' silent classics.System Requirements:Running Time: 116 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 014381566727 Manufacturer No: ID5667DSDVD

The Gaucho

Douglas Fairbanks was 44 when he made The Gaucho, one of his most thoughtful and visually rich adventures. As the lusty, live-for-today leader of a South American outlaw band preying upon small villages, he drives out a corrupt garrison from a holy mountain village (which seems to literally hang off the edge of a cliff by the grace of God) and takes over the town like a benevolent dictator. When a plague victim infects a wound of his, the impish roustabout becomes a brooding cloud of despair, until he's selflessly saved by the blessing of the fabled "Miracle Girl." As in The Thief of Bagdad, Fairbanks plays the repentant rascal, but one whose acrobatic antics and cigarette tricks mask a hard-living, hedonistic life: he smokes, drinks to excess, and lives in sin with the sexy Lupe Velez, and a sudden conversion isn't about to change a long life of debauchery overnight. Fairbanks hasn't slowed down a bit, leaping and cavorting with the same jaunty bounce and hearty laugh, but the dark undertones and surprising coda suggest the work of a mature artist rethinking his swashbuckling superhero image in light of his advancing years. Lushly designed and handsomely shot (by Tony Gaudio), The Gaucho is also one of the most gorgeous pictures of the silent era. --Sean Axmaker

Judex (Deluxe Edition)

Occupying a delicious place between Victorian melodrama and superhero comic books, Judex is one of the great serials from the career of French movie pioneer Louis Feuillade. From his castle lair high above the countryside, mystery man Judex (granite-faced Rene Creste) seeks to protect the lovely Jacqueline, while nursing a secret hatred for her fatcat father. Multiple kidnappings, assassination attempts, and narrow escapes follow; much of the mischief is orchestrated by wicked temptress Diana Monti (Musidora, the star of Feuillade's Les Vampires). There's also a delightfully overwhelmed detective (Marcel Levesque), who's a sort of prototype of Monsieur Clouseau, and a streetwise Artful Dodger known as the Licorice Kid.

On DVD, the serial's 12 episodes and prologue are smartly tinted and feature a lively orchestral score by Robert Israel. Feuillade's use of real locations (both Paris and the Riviera figure prominently in the action) gives the film a realistic freshness that cuts wonderfully against the flamboyant plotline. When Feuillade's serials were re-discovered in the 1940s, they proved influential to a generation of filmmakers, and Georges Franju actually did a feature-length remake of Judex in 1963. Indeed, the figure of Judex remains a powerful fantasy protector: his secret lair, his disguises, his complete moral authority (although a cynic might point out that he doesn't always do a good job of protecting his ladylove--but then there'd be no cliffhangers). For all intents and purposes, Judex is Batman. He even has the cape. --Robert Horton

Flicker Alley presents JUDEX, an important part of cinema history now available for the first time. This remarkably inventive and dreamlike French serial by the great Louis Feuillade represents a highlight in French filmmaking and has inspired generations filmmakers since its first release in 1917. One of cinema's first "superheroes," the mysterious Judex (René Cresté) is torn between an oath of justice against the wealthy banker Favraux (Louis Leubas), who had earlier wronged his family, and his secret love of Favraux's daughter, Jacqueline (Yvette Andreyor). This framework is the basis of a series of extraordinary and engaging incidents involving Judex's brother (Edouard Mathe), the evil Diana Monti (Musidora) and her accomplices, the detective Cocatin (Marcel Levesque), and the charming Licorice Kid (Bout-de-Zan), all of them regular players in Feuillade's grand tapestries. Enjoy this brand new digital edition of what the Village Voice declared as "one of the most lithe, charming, inventive, and supplely paced serials ever made."

DVD Features:

• The most complete version of the film currently available presented in its entirety in a newly tinted film transfer • A brand new English language translation • A new digitally recorded orchestral score by the renowned silent film composer Robert Israel

Special Bonus Features:

• New booklet essay by noted film historian Jan-Christopher Horak • The Music of Judex - Robert Israel discusses his process

For creating the music score in an 18-minute featurette

Credits: Directed by Louis Feuillade Screenplay by Arthur Bernede and Louis Feuillade Cinematography by André Glatti and Léon Klausse Production Design by Robert-Jules Garnier Original Serial released by Gaumont Co. Ltd., France (1917)

Cast: René Cresté, Edouard Mathé, Musidora, Yvette Andréyor, Marcel Lévesque, Louis Leubas, Jean Devalde, René Poyen, Gaston Michel, Yvonne Dario, Olinda Mano, Georges Flateau, Lily Deligny, Juliette Clarens

Son of the Sheik

Outside the Law/Shadows

Lon Chaney is not the star of Tod Browning's Outside the Law (the second of 10 pictures they made together), but he practically steals the film. Browning cast the man of a thousand faces in two roles, as the despicable gangster Black Mike ("a rat, a vulture, and a snake," according to the titles) and as the devoted Chinese servant to a Confucian Chinatown teacher. Priscilla Dean stars as Molly, the daughter of a San Francisco underworld leader lured back to a life of crime by Mike, who frames her father for murder and then plots to double-cross her as well. Hard-bitten kewpie doll Dean underplays her gangster-moll part beautifully, and Chaney's Mike is dastardly and dangerous, a sneering hard case with a scar running down his cheek. Browning pours on the syrup in the film's middle section as Molly's hard heart is slowly melted by her gangster lover and the cloyingly cute kid from next door. Then he twists it back from melodrama with an escalating series of taut confrontations that build to an exciting, well-staged climactic shootout. The Kino print, taken from the Blackhawk Collection, shows some serious deterioration near the end, but it clears up in time for the fireworks. The orchestral score is edited together from other music and enhanced with sound effects. --Sean Axmaker

The masterful Lon Chaney stars in these two classic silent films. "Outside the Law" (1920, 75 min.) - In this early collaboration with director Tod Browning (Dracula, Freaks), Chaney delivers a dual performance of dramatic intensity, starring as Ah Wing, a kind-hearted student of Confucian philosophy, and Black Mike Sylva, a murderous rake of the San Francisco underworld. Like night and day, Ah Wing and Sylva are physical representations of the opposing factions of light and dark that weigh upon the moral conscience of the film's protagonist, Molly Madden (Priscilla Dean), who must choose between lives of crime and domesticity. "Shadows" (1922, 68 min.) - In one of the most challenging performances of his illustrious career, Chaney stars as a Chinese laundryman caught in a web of small-town jealousy and extortion. Both films features new orchestral scores.