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Movies: Popular Movies of the 1920s (1920-1929)

Movies in chronological context: The 1920s (pronounced "nineteen-twenties" often shortened to the "'20s" or the "Twenties") was a decade that began on January 1, 1920, and ended on December 31, 1929. In America, it is frequently referred to as the "Roaring Twenties" or the "Jazz Age", while in Europe the period is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Twenties" because of the economic boom following World War I (1914–1918). French speakers refer to the period as the "Années folles" ("crazy years"), emphasizing the era's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism. The 1920s saw foreign oil companies begin operations in Venezuela, which became the world's second-largest oil-producing nation. The devastating Wall Street Crash in October 1929 is generally viewed as a harbinger of the end of 1920s prosperity in North America and Europe. In the Soviet Union, the New Economic Policy was created by the Bolsheviks in 1921, to be replaced by the first five-year plan in 1928. The 1920s saw the rise of radical political movements, with the Red Army triumphing against White movement forces in the Russian Civil War, and the emergence of far-right political movements in Europe. In 1922, the fascist leader Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy. Other dictators that emerged included Józef Piłsudski in Poland, and Peter and ... ()

Movies of a single year: 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929


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11,214 movies found (page 1/374):

Metropolis(1927)

4.1/5 (with 1,145 votes)

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

The Kid(1921)

53min | Comedy, Drama
4.1/5 (with 876 votes)

A tramp cares for a boy after he's abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son.

Nosferatu(1922)

1h 34min | Fantasy, Horror
3.9/5 (with 825 votes)

The mysterious Count Orlok summons Thomas Hutter to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen. After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari(1920)

1h 17min | Drama, Horror, Thriller, Crime
4.0/5 (with 704 votes)

Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep.

The Gold Rush(1925)

1h 35min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
4.0/5 (with 669 votes)

A gold prospector in Alaska struggles to survive the elements and win the heart of a dance hall girl.

Un Chien Andalou(1929)

21min | Fantasy
3.8/5 (with 549 votes)

Un Chien Andalou is an European avant-garde surrealist film, a collaboration between director Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.

Directed by Luis Buñuel - With Pierre Batcheff, Simone Mareuil, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí, Jaume Miravitlles

The General(1926)

4.0/5 (with 507 votes)

During America’s Civil War, Union spies steal engineer Johnnie Gray's beloved locomotive, 'The General'—with Johnnie's lady love aboard an attached boxcar—and he single-handedly must do all in his power to both get The General back and to rescue Annabelle.

Battleship Potemkin(1925)

1h 15min | Drama, History
3.8/5 (with 494 votes)

A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre. The film had an incredible impact on the development of cinema and is a masterful example of montage editing.

The Passion of Joan of Arc(1928)

1h 22min | Drama, History
4.0/5 (with 398 votes)

A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.

Sherlock Jr.(1924)

4.1/5 (with 392 votes)

A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans(1927)

1h 34min | Drama, Romance / Love
3.9/5 (with 336 votes)

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

The Circus(1928)

4.0/5 (with 325 votes)

Charlie, a wandering tramp, becomes a circus handyman - soon the star of the show - and falls in love with the circus owner's stepdaughter.

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Man with a Movie Camera(1929)

1h 8min | Documentary
3.9/5 (with 291 votes)

A cameraman wanders around Moscow, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Odesa with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.

Directed by Dziga Vertov

Steamboat Willie(1928)

3.7/5 (with 211 votes)

Mickey Mouse, piloting a steamboat, delights his passenger, Minnie, by making musical instruments out of the menagerie on deck.

Directed by Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks

Safety Last!(1923)

3.9/5 (with 200 votes)

When a store clerk organizes a contest to climb the outside of a tall building, circumstances force him to make the perilous climb himself.

Häxan(1922)

3.8/5 (with 149 votes)

Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious-- instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.

The Cameraman(1928)

4.0/5 (with 146 votes)

A photographer takes up newsreel shooting to impress a secretary.

Faust(1926)

1h 56min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
4.0/5 (with 140 votes)

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

The Phantom of the Opera(1925)

1h 41min | Drama, Horror
3.6/5 (with 138 votes)

A grotesquely disfigured composer known as "The Phantom" haunts Paris' opera house, where he's secretly grooming Christine Daae to be an opera diva. Luring her to his remote underground lair, The Phantom declares his love. But Christine loves Raoul de Chagny and plans to elope with him. When The Phantom learns this, he abducts Christine.

Steamboat Bill, Jr.(1928)

3.9/5 (with 137 votes)

The just out of college effete son of a no-nonsense steamboat captain comes to visit his father whom he's not seen since he was little.

The Phantom Carriage(1921)

1h 47min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
4.0/5 (with 136 votes)

It's New Year's Eve. Three drunkards evoke a legend. The legend tells that the last person to die in a year, if he is a great sinner, will have to drive during the whole year the Phantom Chariot, that picks up the souls of the dead.

The Last Laugh(1924)

1h 30min | Drama
3.9/5 (with 126 votes)

An aging doorman, after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious Hotel is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbours and society.

Nanook of the North(1922)

1h 19min | Documentary
3.5/5 (with 122 votes)

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

The Skeleton Dance(1929)

3.7/5 (with 119 votes)

The clock strikes midnight, the bats fly from the belfry, a dog howls at the full moon, and two black cats fight in the cemetery: a perfect time for four skeletons to come out and dance a bit.

Directed by Walt Disney

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog(1927)

13
| 1h 31min | Drama, Thriller
3.6/5 (with 118 votes)

London. A mysterious serial killer brutally murders young blond women by stalking them in the night fog. One foggy, sinister night, a young man who claims his name is Jonathan Drew arrives at the guest house run by the Bunting family and rents a room.

Wings(1927)

3.6/5 (with 108 votes)

Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the girl eventually threatens their bond. Meanwhile, a hometown girl who's the lovestruck lifelong next door neighbor of one of them, pines away.

One Week(1920)

25min | Comedy
4.0/5 (with 107 votes)

The story involves two newlyweds, Keaton and Seely, who receive a build-it-yourself house as a wedding gift. The house can be built, supposedly, in "one week." A rejected suitor secretly re-numbers packing crates. The movie recounts Keaton's struggle to assemble the house according to this new "arrangement.".

Seven Chances(1925)

3.8/5 (with 107 votes)

Struggling stockbroker Jimmie Shannon learns that, if he gets married by 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday -- which is today -- he'll inherit $7 million from an eccentric relative.

Our Hospitality(1923)

3.8/5 (with 106 votes)

A man returns to his Appalachian homestead. On the trip, he falls for a young woman. The only problem is her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.

Pandora's Box(1929)

3.8/5 (with 92 votes)

Lulu is a young woman so beautiful and alluring that few can resist her siren charms. The men drawn into her web include respectable newspaper publisher Dr. Ludwig Schön, his musical producer son Alwa, circus performer Rodrigo Quast, and seedy old Schigolch. When Lulu's charms inevitably lead to tragedy, the downward spiral encompasses them all.

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