1920 in film

The year 1920 in film involved some significant events.

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Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top five films released in 1920 by U.S. gross are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1920
RankTitleDistributorDomestic rentals
1 Way Down East United Artists $2,000,000[1]
2 Why Change Your Wife? Paramount $1,046,286[2]
3 Passion (Madame DuBarry) UFA/First National $1,000,000[1]
4 Something to Think About Paramount $915,848[2]
5 The Mark of Zorro United Artists $500,000[3]

Events

Notable films released in 1920

Austria

For a complete list see: List of Austrian films of the 1920s
  • Anita (aka Trance), directed by Luise Kolm and Jakob Fleck; an obscure adaptation of George Du Maurier's novel Trilby[6]
  • Boccaccio, directed by Michael Curtiz.
  • The Prince and the Pauper directed by Alexander Korda.
  • The Scourge of God directed by Michael Curtiz.
  • The Star of Damascus directed by Michael Curtiz.

France

For a complete list see: French films of 1920
  • Barrabas, a 12-chapter serial/ crime drama directed by Louis Feuillade
  • The Man Who Sold His Soul to the Devil, directed by Pierre Caron [7]
  • Les Morts qui parlent/ The Dead Who Speak, directed by Pierre Marodon[8]
  • Narayana (translates as Vishnu), directed by Leon Poirier, starring Laurence Myrga and Edmon Van Daele; based on the 1831 novel "Le Peau de Chagrin" by Honore de Balzac, with some story elements lifted from Wilkie Collins' novel The Moonstone[9]
  • The Silence, ghost film directed by Louis Delluc, starring Gabriel Signoret and Eve Francis (Delluc's wife)

Germany

For a complete list see: List of German films of 1920
  • Algol: Tragedy of Power, science fiction film directed by Hans Werckmeister, starring Emil Jannings
  • Anna Boleyn directed by Ernst Lubitsch
  • The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari directed by Robert Wiene; starring Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt and Lil Dagover
  • Cagliostro, directed by Reinhold Schuenzel, starred Schuenzel and Conrad Veidt (a lost film)[6][10]
  • The Devil Worshippers/ Die Teufelsanbeter, A 6-part serial directed by Marie Louise Droop, starring Carl de Vogt and Bela Lugosi, based on the novel by Carl May
  • Evening – Night – Morning (Abend – Nacht – Morgen) directed by F. W. Murnau
  • Genuine: A Tale of a Vampire, directed by Robert Wiene, starring Fern Andra; only a 43-minute condensation of the much longer original film exists[11]
  • The Golem: How He Came into the World (Der Golem, Wie Er in die Welt Kam), directed by and starring Paul Wegener based on the old Jewish folktale, photographed by Karl Freund
  • The Head of Janus (Der Januskopf), directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Conrad Veidt and Bela Lugosi, photographed by Karl Freund; based (without authorization) on the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde[12]
  • Hound of the Baskervilles, directed by Willy Zehn, released in two parts (Dr. MacDonald's Sanitorium and The House Without Windows); Willy Keyser-Heyl played Sherlock Holmes[13]
  • The House Without Windows, directed by Friedrich Feher, not to be confused with the above Hound of the Baskervilles[14]
  • The Hunchback and the Dancer (Der Bucklige und die Tänzerin), directed by F. W. Murnau , photographed by Karl Freund
  • Kohlhiesels Töchter (Kohlhiesel's Daughter) directed by Ernst Lubitsch
  • Kurfurstendamm, a horror-comedy written and directed by Richard Oswald, starring Conrad Veidt as The Devil, photographed by Carl Hoffmann[15]
  • The Last of the Mohicans (Der Letzte der Mohikaner), starring Bela Lugosi
  • Nachtgestalten (aka Eleagable Kuperus), directed by Richard Oswald, starring Conrad Veidt and Paul Wegener, photographed by Carl Hoffmann, based on the Karl Hans Strobl short story Eleagable Kuperus[7]
  • Satan (Satanas) directed by F. W. Murnau, starred Conrad Veidt, filmed in 1919[16]
  • Sumurun (One Arabian Night) directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Paul Wegener and Pola Negri[17]
  • Die Todeskarawane, starring Dora Gerson and Bela Lugosi
  • Torgus, the Coffin Maker, directed by Hans Kobe[17]

Hungary

  • Lord Arthur Saville's Crime (aka The Mark of the Phantom), written and directed by Paul Fejos, starring Margit Lux, based on the 1891 story by Oscar Wilde

Ireland

  • Willy Reilly and his Colleen Bawn, directed by John MacDonagh, featuring Brian Magowan and Frances Alexander, based on the 1855 novel Willy Reilly and his dear Colleen Bawn by William Carleton

Italy

  • The Last of the Borgias, directed by Armando Carbone
  • Monella Street, directed by Umberto Fracchia and starring Carmen Boni
  • The Power of the Borgias, directed by Luigi Caramba for Medusa Film, starring Irene Saffo-Nomo and Enrico Piacentini
  • Spiritism (aka Spiritismo), starring Francesca Bettina [18]

Japan

  • Akakabe Myojin/ The Red Wall God, a ghost-cat film directed by Jiro Yoshino for Kokkatsu Films, starring Shirogoro Sawamura
  • Arima no neko/ The Cat in Arima, a ghost-cat film directed by Shozo Makino for Nikkatsu Films, starring Matsumosuke Onoe and Sentaro Nakamura

Philippines

For a complete list see: List of Philippine films before 1940
  • La Mariposa Negra directed by Jose Nepomuceno[19]

Sweden

For a complete list see: Swedish films before 1930

United Kingdom

For a complete list see: British films of 1920
  • At the Villa Rose, directed by Maurice Elvey, based on the 1910 novel by A.E.W. Mason[20]
  • The Barton Mystery, directed by Harry (Henry) Roberts, starred Lyn Harding; based on the 1917 stage play by Walter Hackett[21]
  • Bleak House directed by Maurice Elvey
  • Build Thy House directed by Fred Goodwins, starring Henry Ainley
  • Colonel Newcome directed by Fred Goodwins' starring Milton Rosmer, Joyce Carey
  • Desire (aka The Magic Skin) directed by George Edwardes-Hall, starring Dennis Neilson-Terry, based on the 1831 novel Le Peau de Chagrin by Honore de Balzac[22]
  • Ernest Maltravers directed by Jack Denton; starring Lillian Hall-Davis
  • The Ever Open Door directed by Fred Goodwins; starring Hayford Hobbs
  • The Face at the Window, directed by Wilfred Noy, starring C. Aubrey Smith and Gladys Jennings, based on the stage play by F. Brooke Warren[23]
  • The Fordington Twins directed by W.P. Kellino
  • General Post directed by Thomas Bentley; starring Douglas Munro, Lilian Braithwaite
  • The Great London Mystery, a 12-chapter serial directed by Charles Raymond for T&P Films, starring David Devant and Lady Doris Stapleton; features a Yellow Peril menace called Ching Ling Fu.
  • The Lure of Crooning Water directed by Arthur Rooke; starring Guy Newall and Ivy Duke
  • Mr. Gilfil's Love Story directed by A.V. Bramble; starring Mary Odette
  • The Price of Silence (aka At the Mercy of Tiberius), directed by Fred Leroy Granville, starring Peggy Hyland and Campbell Gullan [24]
  • A Son of David directed by Hay Plumb; starring Ronald Colman
  • Trent's Last Case directed by Richard Garrick; starring Gregory Scott, Pauline Peters and Clive Brook
  • The Twelve Pound Look directed by Jack Denton; starring Milton Rosmer
  • The Yellow Claw, directed by Rene Plaisetty, starring Arthur Cullin and Cyril Percival; based on the 1915 novel by Sax Rohmer featuring a criminal Asian menace named Mr. King.[25]

United States

For a complete list see: American films of 1920

A

B

  • Black Shadows, directed by Howard M. Mitchell[6]

C

D

F

G

  • The Girl in Number 29 (lost), directed by John Ford, starring Frank Mayo
  • Go and Get It, directed by Marshall Neilan and Henry Roberts Symonds[28]

H

  • Haunted Spooks, directed by Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach, starring Harold Lloyd
  • His Brother's Keeper (lost), directed by Wilfred North[13]
  • The House of the Tolling Bell, directed by J. Stuart Blackton, starring May McAvoy and Bruce Gordon, based on the novel by Edith Sessions Tupper
  • The House of Whispers (lost), directed by Ernest C. Warde, starring J. Warren Kerrigan, based on the 1918 novel by William Andrew Johnston[13][14]
  • Huckleberry Finn, directed by William Desmond Taylor, starring Lewis Sargent

I

  • If I Were King, directed by J. Gordon Edwards, starring William Farnum

J

L

M

N

O

P

  • The Penalty, directed by Wallace Worsley, starring Lon Chaney, based on the pulp novel by Gouverneur Morris
  • The Phantom Foe, a 15-chapter serial directed by Bertram Millhauser, starring Juanita Hansen and Warner Oland[29]
  • The Phantom Melody (lost), directed by Douglas Gerrard, starring Monroe Salisbury[18]
  • Pollyanna, directed by Paul Powell, starring Mary Pickford

R

S

T

W

Film serials

  • The Son of Tarzan, a 15-chapter film series

Short film series

  • Harold Lloyd (1913–1951)
    • An Eastern Westerner
    • Get Out and Get Under
    • Haunted Spooks
    • High and Dizzy
    • His Royal Slyness
    • Number, Please?
  • Buster Keaton (1917–1941)
    • The Garage
    • One Week
    • The Saphead
    • Convict 13
    • The Scarecrow
    • Neighbors

Animated short film series

The following is a list of animated shorts of the year 1920 that belong to series that lasted several years.

  • Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
    • A Frolic with Felix (January 25, 1920)
    • Felix the Big Game Hunter (February 22, 1920)
    • Wrecking a Romeo (March 7, 1920)
    • Felix the Food Controller (April 11, 1920)
    • Felix the Pinch Hitter (April 18, 1920)
    • Foxy Felix (May 16, 1920)
    • A Hungry Hoodoo (June 6, 1920)
    • The Great Cheese Robbery (June 13, 1920)
    • Felix and the Feed Bag (July 18, 1920)
    • Nifty Nurse (August 22, 1920)
    • The Circus (September 26, 1920)
    • My Hero (October 24, 1920)
    • Felix the Landlord (November 21, 1920)
    • Felix's Fish Story (December 26, 1920)
  • Out of the Inkwell (1918–1929)

A major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929 in which it appeared Koko the Clown:

  • The Boxing Kangaroo
  • The Chinaman
  • The Circus
  • The Ouija Board
  • The Clown's Little Brother
  • Perpetual Motion
  • Poker
  • The Restaurant

Births

Deaths

  • January 31 – Gilda Langer, 23, German actress
  • February 11 – Gaby Deslys, 38, French actress, dancer, singer
  • February 17 – Thomas Commerford, 64, American veteran character actor
  • March 2 – Harry Solter, 46, American actor
  • April 12 – Walter Edwards, 50, American director
  • April 25 – Clarine Seymour, 21, American actress
  • May 22 – Hal Reid, 59, American actor & director (father of Wallace Reid)
  • June 14 – Gabrielle Réjane, 64, stage and film actress
  • August 1 – Eugene Gaudio, 33, Italian born cinematographer (brother of Tony Gaudio)
  • August 2 – Ormer Locklear, 29, American stunt flier
  • August 13 – Gladys Field, 31, actress (died in childbirth)
  • August 28 – Suzanne Grandais, 27, French actress
  • September 5 – Robert Harron, 27, American actor
  • September 10 – Olive Thomas, 25, American actress
  • November 19 – Will S. Davis, 38, American film director
  • December 9 – Mollie McConnell, 55, American actress

Film debuts

Films set in 1920

There are films released in later years whose plot is developed totally or partially in 1920:

  • Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
  • Winterset (1936)
  • The Road Back (1937)
  • Clash of Loyalties (1938)
  • Three Comrades (1938)
  • Hostile Whirlwinds (1953): Film portrays the first years of Soviet government, biography of Felix Dzerzhinsky in 1918–1921.
  • Kappalottiya Thamizhan (1961)
  • The Ball of Count Orgel (1970): Set in 1920, the Comte hosts a soirée and dance for the upper echelons of Parisian society.
  • Vengeance (1970): The film is set in 1920 Peking, and centers on a revenge plight of Chiang.
  • Reds (1981)
  • Once Upon a Time in America (1984): David "Noodles" Aaronson struggles as a street kid in Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1920.
  • The Man Who Planted Trees (1987)
  • A Month in the Country (1987): Set in rural Yorkshire during the summer of 1920, the film follows a destitute World War I veteran employed to carry out restoration work on a Medieval mural discovered in a rural church while coming to terms with the after-effects of the war.
  • Life and Nothing But (1989): Set in October 1920, it tells the story of Major Delaplane, a man whose job is to find the identities of unknown dead soldiers after World War I.
  • The Treaty (1991): The film is about the Anglo-Irish Treaty that Michael Collins bargained for with the British government in 1921.
  • Michael Collins (1996)
  • The Image Makers (2000): The drama is set in the year 1920 at Filmstaden where the film director Victor Sjöström is shooting the film The Phantom Carriage.
  • The Admiral (2008)
  • 1920 film series (2008–2016)
1920 (2008)
1920: The Evil Returns (2012)
1920: London (2016)
  • Battle of Warsaw 1920 (2011)
  • Sunstroke (2014)

See also

  • List of American films of 1920

References

  1. "The All Time Best Sellers". International Motion Picture Almanac 1937–38. Quigley Publishing Company. p. 942. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  2. Birchard, Robert S. (2004). Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. p. 120. ISBN 0-813-12324-0.
  3. Vance, Jeffrey; Maietta, Tony (2008). Douglas Fairbanks. ISBN 978-0-5202-5667-5. The Mark of Zorro was produced at a cost of $169,187.05 and in its initial release grossed over three times that amount domestically; it was Fairbanks' most profitable film up to that time.
  4. "C. B. C. Film Sales: New Independent Organization Formed by Joe Brandt and Jack Cohn". Wid's Daily. August 11, 1920. p. 3. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  5. "Obituaries". Variety. March 1, 1939. p. 54.
  6. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 108.
  7. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 119.
  8. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 226. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  9. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  10. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 213. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  11. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 219. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  12. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  13. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 118.
  14. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  15. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 225. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  16. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 106.
  17. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 123.
  18. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 122.
  19. "La Mariposa Negra (1920)". imdb.com.
  20. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  21. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 109.
  22. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  23. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 218. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  24. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  25. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 231. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  26. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  27. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 113.
  28. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 114.
  29. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  30. Sandra Brennan (2012). "Vincent Gardenia". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2009.
  31. "Polish theatre legend comes out as gay at 100". Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  32. "DeForest Kelley | American actor". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  33. Chris Wiegand (2003). Federico Fellini: Ringmaster of Dreams, 1920-1993. Taschen. p. 10. ISBN 978-3-8228-1590-8.
  34. "Remembering Lewis Gilbert, director behind Bond and Shirley Valentine". The Independent. 5 March 2018. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01.
  35. Goldman, Ari L. (24 July 2002). "Leo McKern, 82, Veteran Actor Who Gave Voice to 'Rumpole'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  36. Film Review. W.H. Allen. 1998. p. 177. ISBN 978-1-85227-767-3.
  37. "John Dall, 50, Oscar Nominee For 'Corn Is Green' Role, Dies". New York Times. January 18, 1971. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  38. Robert Strom (2005). Miss Peggy Lee: A Career Chronicle. McFarland. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-7864-1936-4.
  39. Screen International: The international film & television directory. EMAP Media Information. 1993. p. 74.
  40. International Film and TV Year Book. Screen International, King Publications Limited. 1981. p. 312.
  41. John Willis' Theatre World. Crown Publishers. 1952. p. 214.
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