Silent Western
see all genres ›No genre was more natural for the movies, or for American viewers (as well as fascinated foreign ones), than the Western, with its scenic wide-open spaces, elemental white hat/black hat conflicts and rootin'-tootin' action.
Discover Silent Western Films
Genres / Silent / Silent Western
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The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
Lillian Gish stars as a young wife-with-child, traveling by stagecoach, in this legendary D.W. Griffith short. When her group is attacked by Native Americans, things go from bad to worse as puppies go missing, children get kidnapped and the calvary comes to the rescue.Start your free trial to watch -
Go West
A fascinating alternative to the manic stunt work and elaborate sight gags that distinguish the films of Buster Keaton, GO WEST offers a rare and satisfying glimpse of his talent for more expressive comedy: charming moments of intimate humor flavored with rich pathos. Heeding the expansionist call of Horace Greeley, a...Start your free trial to watch
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The Great Train Robbery
More than a crucial historical artifact, THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY reveals the foundation from which the styles and stories of the contemporary cinema would later arise. Known for using such innovative filming techniques such as double exposure, cross-cutting and camera movement, THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY is...Start your free trial to watch -
The Heart of an Indian
Thomas Ince leased 17,000 acres of spectacular California land to produce rugged westerns like THE HEART OF AN INDIAN, also known as THE INDIAN MASSACRE. With the men, livestock and wagons of the Miller Brothers 101 Wild West Show, it has the genuine and unglamorous feel of the frontier.Start your free trial to watch
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The House of Cards
THE HOUSE OF CARDS is designed to culminate in a confrontation between a sheriff ("Rattlesnake Jim") and a man who has gambled away someone else's money. Both love the same woman and they stage a duel where the victor will be determined by a rattlesnake. The movie critic for the New York Dramatic Mirror...Start your free trial to watch -
The Last Drop of Water
Water! Water! As settlers venture west, they run dry. One of the group breaks away and desperately attempts to find a river or a stream. In this tense D.W. Griffith short, it might already be too late. A nail-biter from the beginning until the thrilling conclusion.Start your free trial to watch -
The Massacre
Controversial (to some) "father of cinema" D.W. Griffith tackles cowboy-and-indian territory with THE MASSACRE. What could initially be interpreted as an anti-Native American portrayal becomes a sympathetic tale of familial sorrow and the extent to which retribution can be unbalanced.Start your free trial to watch
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Quick Billy
In QUICK BILLY, the experience of transformation between life and death, death and birth (or rebirth) in four reels. "[Bruce] Baillie once related a dream in which he, as a doctor, had to suffer the illnesses and then die the deaths of all people," writes Kathleen Michael Connor. "Any human being willing to take on...Start your free trial to watch -
Two Gun Gussie
When Sheriff Whooping-Cough Charlie mistakes Harold Lloyd's hapless piano player for a gunslinger, Lloyd learns that being a tough dude is all an act. That is, until he runs into the real thing at the bar! The place goes to pieces, but there's time for a kiss before this wild one-reeler is through.Start your free trial to watch
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Wild and Woolly
WILD AND WOOLLY, Fairbanks' second independent production, is the finest of the Douglas Fairbanks/John Emerson/Anita Loos collaborations and perhaps the best of the thirteen films he made for Artcraft. From his first appearance (in which his character is enthusiastically enjoying a campfire repast) to the final frantic...Start your free trial to watch




