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Silent Crime
see all genres ›Criminal intrigue fueled a great deal of suspenseful action before there was sync-sound, especially in the thrill-a-minute context of serials.
Discover Silent Crime Films
Genres / Silent / Silent Crime
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The Adventure of the Hasty Elopement
The ninth installment in the twelve episode OCTAVIUS AMATEUR DETECTIVE series (of which THE ADVENTURES OF THE WRONG SANTA CLAUS is or perhaps is not a part). Octavius is a bumbler who "never fails" to solve the crime due to an endless array of good luck and coincidence. He goes in search of local car...Start your free trial to watch
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The Adventure of the Wrong Santa Claus
Amateur detective Octavius agrees to portray Santa Claus for his friends. Unfortunately, a burglar appears and puts on a Claus costume of his own. Two is one too many. The other St. Nick gets away with the loot and its up to Octavius to track down the culprit.Start your free trial to watch
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Asphalt
Gustav Froelich, best known as the young protagonist of METROPOLIS, stars as Holk, a strait-laced traffic cop who has the simple task of escorting a diamond thief to the police station. However, the thief is the exotic and beautiful Else (played by Betty Amann), which makes the task far from simple. The stage is thus set for...Start your free trial to watch
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The Burglar on the Roof
J. Stuart Blackton and Albert Smith emerged as important filmmakers and exhibitors in the spring and summer of 1898. When they were caught duping Thomas Edison's copyrighted war films, they seemed to have no choice but to become licensees and acknowledge Edison's patents. With audiences tiring of war...Start your free trial to watch
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The Center of the Web
A counterfeiting gang is foiled by police, and the action-chase takes up almost all of the second reel. The real stars of the chase are the agile and determined police dogs. This is a rather conservative example of late-1914 film style with only a couple of interesting camera set-ups and compositions, few...Start your free trial to watch
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Dr. Mabuse the Gambler
A truly legendary silent film, DR. MABUSE THE GAMBLER had a major impact on the development of the crime thriller, building upon the work of the pioneering French film serialist Louis Feuillade and firmly establishing it as a significant film genre. This epic two-part tale was originally released as two...Start your free trial to watch
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The Elusive Diamond
A one-reel crime drama with crooks, ruses, kidnapping, escape and a twist, all wrapped in a coherent narrative. Screenwriter Lloyd Lonergan’s amazing versatility served equally well in several genres. There is successful pictorial telling of the setup and attempted theft, and a little cross-cutting as the...Start your free trial to watch
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The Evidence of the FIlm
Recently discovered and preserved, THE EVIDENCE OF THE FILM is a particularly clever and unusual early example of a fictional dramatic movie with filmmaking as a subject. The portrayal of a movie crew that just happens to be at work on a street corner is accurate. The director is seen consulting a shooting...Start your free trial to watch
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The False Magistrate
In THE FALSE MAGISTRATE, Louis Feuillade's fifth and final film in the Fantômas series, Inspector Juve (Edmund Bréon) once again battles false accusations from behind bars (though this time in a plan of his own devising). It is all part of a fiendish plot of multiple disguised identities in order to...Start your free trial to watch
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Fantômas in the Shadow of the Guillotine
Based on the phenomenally popular French pulp novellas, Louis Feuillade's outrageous, ambitious FANTOMAS series became the gold standard of espionage serials in pre-WWI Europe and laid the foundation for such immortal works as Feuillade's own LES VAMPIRES and Fritz Lang's DR. MABUSE films. In the first of...Start your free trial to watch
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Fantômas vs. Fantômas
Evildoer Fantômas (René Navarre) operates uninhibited as his rival, Inspector Juve (Edmund Bréon), battles false accusations in prison in FANTOMAS VS. FANTOMAS, the fourth film in the series. Director Louis Feuillade's five Fantômas films feature surrealistic horror, cold-blooded murder and startling plot...Start your free trial to watch
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The Girl and Her Trust
A telephone operator (Dorothy Bernard) working an isolated railroad outpost is besieged when two tramps try to steal a cash delivery. After telegraphing for help, she heroically gives chase to the thieves on their getaway handcar. A thrilling railroad chase commences when her engineer love interest...Start your free trial to watch
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Haldane of the Secret Service
In his final film as an actor, Harry Houdini stars as Heath Haldane, an undercover operative assigned to infiltrate a band of counterfeiters within the dark alleys of New York’s Chinatown. Virtually unseen since its 1923 release, HALDANE OF THE SECRET SERVICE has been mastered from a 35mm print and retains...Start your free trial to watch
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Juve vs. Fantômas
Driven by greed and sheer malice, ruthless criminal genius and incomparable master of disguise Fantômas (René Navarre) weaves a path of death and destruction across Paris while trying to remain a step ahead of his resourceful nemesis, police inspector Juve (Edmund Bréon) in JUVE VERSUS FANTOMAS, the second...Start your free trial to watch
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Life of an American Policeman
Photographed with the cooperation of the New York City Police Department, this film was first shown at two vaudeville benefits for the Police Relief Fund in early December 1905. The opening scene, which presents an officer at home with his wife and child, identifies the police with the institution of the...Start your free trial to watch
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The Little Train Robbery
In this parody of THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, Edwin S. Porter burlesqued his own landmark film by substituting children for adults and using a miniature railroad and playhouse as sets. The young robbers don't take money but candy and dolls. Perhaps unintentionally, this film supported the argument made by...Start your free trial to watch
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The Murderous Corpse
With his mentor Inspector Juve missing, journalist Jérôme Fandor (Georges Melchior) assumes the difficult task of pursuing the infamous Fantômas (René Navarre), a frightfully brilliant villain who excels in deception, larceny and murder. In this third film of the classic silent film series, Fantômas uses a...Start your free trial to watch