CLASSICS & ANTHOLOGIES
Silent Screams
Silent Film Anthology
With “Silent Screams”, CINEMATEK invites you to explore the origins of the horror genre. From dancing skeletons in the works of Méliès and De Chomón to the first silver screen monsters, the silent film era provided countless memorable moments to fuel many a nightmare.
The true origin of the horror genre as we know it could be traced back to November 16, 1931, when Universal released Frankenstein. Directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff as the monster, this film was the studio’s carefully planned follow-up to Dracula (directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi), which had been a box-office sensation earlier that year. Frankenstein was such an unprecedented success that it not only established a new genre – the horror film – but also became the first movie to be explicitly labeled as such.
Though many films of the silent era featured terrifying scenes or monstrous figures, by the early 1930s, even a genre-defining classic like The Phantom of the Opera was marketed not as horror, but as an unconventional melodrama with strange or mysterious elements. Meanwhile, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari was promoted as a special “art film.” However, horror had been a presence in cinema from its very beginnings, albeit in a more playful and lighthearted form, as seen in Georges Méliès's Le Manoir du diable, Segundo de Chomón’s La Maison des revenants, or Abel Gance's Au secours!, starring Max Linder. The more narrative-driven precursors to the genre often drew on literary sources (The Hound of the Baskervilles, Nosferatu, La Chute de la maison Usher), legends and folklore (Körkarlen, Der Golem, Alraune), or a combination of both (Murnau’s Faust). By the time John S. Robertson’s adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde hit theaters in 1920, it was already the seventh film version of the story, not counting numerous unofficial adaptations under different titles worldwide.
Although the horror film genre as such did not yet exist, the 1910s and 1920s saw the emergence of directors and actors whose names are now inextricably linked with it. Paul Wegener, for example, was both director and actor in his portrayal of the clay-created golem, a clear influence on James Whale’s Frankenstein. Conrad Veidt, who early in his career played the murderous sleepwalker Cesare in Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, also starred in The Man Who Laughs, a role that inspired the iconic Batman villain, the Joker. F.W. Murnau provided a blueprint for countless horror film scripts to come with his masterpiece, Nosferatu. Henrik Galeen, who collaborated with Paul Wegener on the now-lost 1914 version of Der Golem, wrote the screenplay for Nosferatu, and later directed Brigitte Helm in Alraune. Lon Chaney, known as “the man of a thousand faces,” left an indelible mark with his portrayals of grotesque characters in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. Lastly, Tod Browning, the future director of Dracula, worked with Chaney on several dark melodramas, including The Unknown.
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Silent Screams
La Charrette fantôme
De spookkar
Körkarlen
- Victor Sjöström, Sweden 1920 ⁄ Victor Sjöström, Hilda Borgström, Tore Svennberg ⁄ 85' ⁄ TIT: SV ⁄ ST - OND: FR - NL ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
Le Golem
Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam
- Paul Wegener, Carl Boese, Germany 1920 ⁄ Paul Wegener, Albert Steinrück, Lyda Salmonova ⁄ 100' ⁄ TIT: FR - NL ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- John Stuart Robertson, USA 1920 ⁄ John Barrymore, Brandon Hurst, Martha Mansfield ⁄ 92' ⁄ TIT: EN ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
La Sorcellerie à travers les âges
Heksen
Häxan
- Benjamin Christensen, Sweden 1921 ⁄ Maren Pedersen, Clara Pontoppidan, Elith Pio ⁄ TINTED ⁄ 111' ⁄ TIT: FR - NL ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
The Hound of the Baskervilles
- Maurice Elvey, UK 1921 ⁄ Eille Norwood, Catina Campbell, Rex McDougall ⁄ 75' ⁄ TIT: EN ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
Notre-Dame de Paris
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Wallace Worsley, USA 1923 ⁄ Lon Chaney Sr., Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry ⁄ 94' ⁄ TIT: FR ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
Les Mains d’Orlac
Orlacs Hände
- Robert Wiene, Austria 1924 ⁄ Conrad Veidt, Alexandra Sorina, Fritz Strassny ⁄ 93' ⁄ TIT: FR - NL ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
The Phantom of the Opera
- Rupert Julian, USA 1925 ⁄ Lon Chaney Sr., Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry ⁄ B&W + color ⁄ 92' ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
Faust - Eine deutsche Volkssage
- Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Germany 1926 ⁄ Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn ⁄ 118' ⁄ TIT: DE ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
L’Étudiant de Prague
Der Student von Prag
- Henrik Galeen, Germany 1926 ⁄ Conrad Veidt, Elizza La Porta, Fritz Alberti ⁄ 121' ⁄ TIT: DE ⁄ ST - OND: FR - NL ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
Une page folle
A Page of Madness
Kurutta ippêji
- Teinosuke Kinugasa, Japan 1926 ⁄ Masuo Inoue, Ayako Iijima, Yoshie Nakagawa ⁄ 78' ⁄ TIT: — ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
Le Cabinet du docteur Caligari
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
- Robert Wiene, Germany 1919 ⁄ Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher ⁄ TINTED ⁄ 76' ⁄ TIT: DE ⁄ ST - OND: FR - NL ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
Nosferatu le vampire
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens
- Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Germany 1922 ⁄ Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder ⁄ 81' ⁄ TIT: DE ⁄ ST - OND: FR - NL ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
La Volonté du mort
The Cat and the Canary
- Paul Leni, USA 1927 ⁄ Laura La Plante, Creighton Hale, Forrest Stanley ⁄ 80' ⁄ TIT: CS ⁄ ST - OND: FR - NL ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
L’Inconnu
The Unknown
- Tod Browning, USA 1927 ⁄ Lon Chaney Sr., Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford ⁄ 59' ⁄ TIT: FR ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
L’Homme qui rit
The Man Who Laughs
- Paul Leni, USA 1927 ⁄ Mary Philbin, Conrad Veidt, Julius Molnar ⁄ 109' ⁄ TIT: FR - NL ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
Mandragore
Alraune
- Henrik Galeen, Germany 1928 ⁄ Brigitte Helm, Albert Bassermann, Harald Paulsen ⁄ 105' ⁄ TIT: FR - NL ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
Le Dernier Avertissement
The Last Warning
- Paul Leni, USA 1928 ⁄ Laura La Plante, Montagu Love, Roy D'Arcy ⁄ 85' ⁄ TIT: FR ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
La Chute de la maison Usher
- Jean Epstein, France 1928 ⁄ Jean Debucourt, Marguerite Gance, Charles Lamy ⁄ 62' ⁄ TIT: FR ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO
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Silent Screams
La Vengeance du Homunculus
Wraak van de Homunculus
Die Rache des Homunculus
- Otto Rippert, Albert Neuss, Germany 1915 ⁄ Olaf Fønss, Friedrich Kühne, Theodor Loos ⁄ 66' ⁄ TIT: NL - FR ⁄ ST - OND: — ⁄ PIANO