archive footage
A compilation featuring comedic stars of the silent era including Will Rogers, Laurel and Hardy, and the Keystone Cops.
Man Knocked Down By Dreamy
A publicity man promotes his newspaper, but finds his boss always steals the credit.
Photographer at Train Station (uncredited)
Leslie is being chased by the gangsters, the police and the insurance investigators. He is on the run. Falsely accused of a murder, he embarks upon a life-and-death journey to save his family.
Stage Doorman
A pair of slick Broadway producers con a wealthy cowboy into backing their show.
Lumberjack On Line for Cashier (uncredited)
Outdoor drama about a newly-hired lumberjack discovering that his former girlfriend is now his new boss's wife.
Prisoner (uncredited)
A hardened crook behind bars comes up against a reform-minded warden.
4h Reporter (uncredited)
Philo is in Vienna working for the US Government to see if Archer Coe is selling aircraft designs to foreign powers. He grabs the plans with Archer's signature, but is captured by police before he can escape. Deported he comes back to America and plans to confront Archer, but Archer is found dead in his locked bedroom with a gun in his hand. While it looks like a suicide, Vance knows better and the coroner finds that Archer has been shot, hit with a blunt instrument and stabbed - making suicide unlikely. But Vance is on the case and is looking to see if government secrets have been sold and who has murdered Coe. This is a remake of "The Kennel Murder Case" using aircraft designs and espionage instead of Chinese porcelain and dog shows.
Cockney Soldier
During WWI pretty German master spy Helene von Lorbeer is sent undercover to London to live with the family of a high-placed British official where she is to rendezvous with the butler Valdar, also a spy, and help him transmit secret war plans back to Germany.
Intern Stopping Jed (uncredited)
A pregnant prison inmate shares her problems with the patients in a maternity ward.
Sleeping Train Passenger (uncredited)
After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.
British Sniper
Three American soldiers help a young girl deliver a secret message across enemy lines.
Trial Spectator (uncredited)
T-Man Brass Bancroft goes undercover in a prison which has a secret counterfeit operation set up in the print shop.
Man in O'Grady Crowd
When Barry Corvall discovers that his new bride is a possible enemy agent, he resigns from the diplomatic service to go undercover to route out an espionage ring planning to destroy American industrial capability.
Man Asking for a Match (uncredited)
Embittered after serving time for a burglary he did not commit, Joe Bell is soon back in jail, on a prison farm. His love for the foreman's daughter leads to a fight between them, leading to the older man's death due to a weak heart. Joe and Mabel go on the run as he thinks no-one would believe a nobody like him.
Reporter (uncredited)
Nancy helps two aging spinsters fulfill the byzantine provisions of their father's will, but the murder of their chauffeur complicates matters.
Dish Vendor (uncredited)
A young man just released from a reformatory moves to a new neighborhood with his sister, intending to start a new life. However, he gets mixed up with the local mob boss and corrupt politicians and soon finds himself being framed for an arson and murder he didn't commit.
Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Torchy Blane and Steve McBride try to nab a gangster by tracking his moll.
Fan at Homecoming
A champion auto racer who unhappily learns his kid brother wants to enter the same profession rather than finish school.
Nightclub Extra
Football scout for the Chicago Packers Rusty Walker signs Harry Lynn, a legendary broken-field runner. Harry won't leave his home town without his girlfriend Maizie Williams. He gets tangled up with gamblers and Rusty's girl Evelyn Corey makes a play for him.
Extra Watching Fire
Nancy Drew clears her Uncle Matt of murder charges when she exposes the real murderers. She and Ted find themselves in many dangerous positions such as trying to fly an airplane after the pilot parachuted out and being face-to-face with the murderer.
Official (uncredited)
One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
Airport Man Getting Hose Out (uncredited)
A famous aviator helps an amateur enter a cross-country air race for women.
Would-Be Settler (uncredited)
McCord's gang robs the stage carrying money to pay Indians for their land, and the notorious outlaw "The Oklahoma Kid" Jim Kincaid takes the money from McCord. McCord stakes a "sooner" claim on land which is to be used for a new town; in exchange for giving it up, he gets control of gambling and saloons. When Kincaid's father runs for mayor, McCord incites a mob to lynch the old man whom McCord has already framed for murder.
Alien - First Flight
Brass Bancroft and his sidekick Gabby Watters are recruited onto the secret service and go undercover to crack a ruthless gang that smuggles illegal aliens.
Husband Leaving Train
Ellen is a free spirited young woman in love with Doug. Sadly he must leave America for a two year job in Belgium. Ellen and Doug decide to spend their last weekend together in a tourist cabin at a rural lake. Her family is shocked that a young unmarried woman would engage in such amoral activity. The comic plot develops as Ellen argues her case for women's freedom and independence, trying to win over her mother, grandmother, and other dubious relatives.
Joe, Taxi Driver (uncredited)
While participating in a contest at a local newspaper in which school children are asked to submit a news story, local attorney Carson Drew's daughter Nancy intercepts a real story assignment. She "covers" the inquest of the death of a woman who was poisoned. Nancy doesn't think the young woman accused of the crime is guilty and corrals her neighbor Ted into searching for a vital piece of evidence and stumbles onto the identity of the real killer.
Party Guest (uncredited)
Torchy Blane joins her police-detective fiance to solve a series of murders involving a set of Chinese grave tablets taken and sold to a collector and death-threats written in Chinese characters.
Reporter (uncredited)
A boxer flees, believing he has committed a murder while he was drunk.
Townsman Running (uncredited)
Physician Carole Nelson, suspected of having ties to notorious gangster Joe Gurney, must prove her innocence or the Medical Board will revoke her license. When Gurney seeks her out for treatment after being shot, it could be the break Nelson needs. Now she has a chance to use her medical know-how to outwit Gurney and his goons and reestablish her professional reputation.
Man at Track
A sports store clerk poses as a famous jockey as an advertising stunt, but gets more than he bargained for.
Mechanic
In 1915 France, Major Brand commands the 39th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. The young airmen go up in bullet-riddled "crates" and the casualty rate is appalling, but Brand can't make the "brass hats" at headquarters see reason. Insubordinate air ace Captain Courtney is another thorn in Brand's side...but finds the smile wiped from his face when he rises to command the squadron himself. Everyone keeps a stiff upper lip.
Jack Richardson (uncredited)
A two-fisted Canadian Mountie leads lawmen in pursuit of the thieves who stole an Edmonton-bound freighter's cargo.
Escaping Convict
A dizzy young girl falls into crime but wins her lawyer's heart.
Jones - Waiter Who is Fired (uncredited)
Don Vincente is determined to make a success of himself and his band. He gets his break by performing at the Garden of the Moon, which is broadcast over the radio. The problem is that John Quinn is the club's ruthless, scheming manager who will do anything to keep Vincente under his thumb. John's assistant, Toni Blake, falls for Vincente, complicating the escalating war.
Man Warning Matt That the Balloon Was Up (uncredited)
When a young boy disappears, a man desperate for the offered reward money turns up with an identical child.
Ring Attendant
When a singing, song-writing prizefighter is framed for murder and sent to the state pen, his girlfriend sets out to prove his innocence.
$45 Bidder
A lowly office clerk angers his fiancee and future mother-in-law by spending money intended for marriage furniture on a statue of a pretty girl, which he refuses to part with at any cost.
Chick Morgan's Mechanic (uncredited)
To spite his girlfriend, the owner of a successful bus company, an auto racer goes to work for her rival.
Pvt. Nelson - Hackett's Orderly
Army Private Eddie Pratt smuggles his new bride into camp in hopes of having a happy wedding night. Instead they discover a murder. Colonel Rogers of Army Intelligence arrives to take over the case. The prime suspect, Jevries, is well-known to Rogers, who sets out to get a confession from Jevries even though there are plenty of other suspects.
Cabbie (uncredited)
Choreographer Bob Connolly and prolific screenwriter Crane Wilbur teamed up on the direction of Warner Bros.' The Patient in Room 18. Patric Knowles delivers a delightfully comic performance as Lance, an outwardly normal young man obsessed with detective stories. When his obsession threatens to lapse over into lunacy, Lance is sent to the hospital for a nice long rest. It isn't long before he gets mixed up in a genuine murder mystery, using his second-hand knowhow to solve the case. Up-and-coming Ann Sheridan is quite amusing as Lance's nurse and confidante, while the murderer is played by a fellow who is usually cast as the murder victim.
Waiter at Dance
A young man with a checkered past struggles to make good as a fireman.
Joe - First 7-11 Club Waiter
A newscaster gets demoted for exposing the town's criminal activities over the airwaves.
Studio Worker Extra (uncredited)
A Hollywood heartthrob helps a small-town girl achieve stardom.
Cameraman
The operators of a bankrupt carnival sideshow hope to restore their fallen fortunes by staging a fake 'public wedding' in the mouth of their unprofitable giant whale. But the intended 'bridegroom' absconds with the proceeds, arranging a substitute. The bride, Flip Lane (Jane Wyman), much to her surprise, finds herself really married to a handsome stranger, whose career as an artist she decides to manage, much to his dismay.
Second Taxi Driver (uncredited)
A Bishop from Australia comes to Perry to ask him to take a case of a woman wrongly accused of manslaughter 22 years before. The case would involve the wealthy Mr. Brownley and the fact that his alleged granddaughter may be an imposter. With that, the Bishop leaves and is clubbed in his hotel room. Soon after, he leaves on a boat and Perry meets the woman - Ida Gilbert. Perry goes to see Mr. Brownley, but gets nowhere. Later that night, Brownley is to meet Ida, but he is shot by a woman who drops Ida's gun. Ida is arrested for the murder of Mr. Brownley and Perry gets involved.
(uncredited)
Fight promoter Nick Donati grooms a bellhop as a future champ, but has second thoughts when the 'kid' falls for his sister.
Jack - Pete's Co-Worker (uncredited)
After a mine cave in, the rescue crew risks their lives to search for two trapped miners.
Green Hill Patron
A singing bandleader signs on with an all-girls band.
Grocery Store Owner (uncredited)
The various members of the middle-class Hilton family have a series of romantic misadventures during one eventful spring day.
Man in Line-Up (uncredited)
In the underworld of Manhattan, a woman dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters.
Bert Richards (uncredited)
Ambitious reporter Torchy Blane guides her policeman boyfriend to correctly pinpoint who shot the man she was interviewing.
Convict Under Inspection
A reporter gets himself sent to prison so he can solve a murder behind bars.
Accident Spectator
A salesman tries to sell a tractor to a customer who hates tractors while falling for the girl.
Second Photographer (uncredited)
In the second screen version of The Maltese Falcon, a detective is caught between a lying seductress and a lady jewel thief.
Cook Reporting to Jones (uncredited)
In mid-nineteenth century England the medical establishment does not recognize the value of skilled nurses, cleanliness, nutrition and kindness. Florence Nightingale's heroic measures slowly changes all of this.
Gate Guard
Broadway star Jimmy Canfield stars in a patriotic show on the great white way during WWI. He plays the heroic soldier, but he is doesn't want to join the Army. To evade some troubles with fellow actress Berenice, he acts like joining the forces going over there, but that turns out to be real. In France he falls in love with a French barmaid and is arrested as spy. He escapes from prison, only to end in the uniform of a German officer leading "his" soldiers in an Allied trap. But being escaped from prison and wearing the enemy's uniform isn't that healthy in wartime.
Smokey - Safecracking Convict (uncredited)
A crusading young reporter planning a series of articles about a corrupt politician is framed for a crime and sentenced to serve five years at a prison farm.
Second Reporter
A young doctor is determined to expose the killer when a surgeon is found stabbed to death in a hospital elevator.
Party Guest
City girl marries country doctor, meets prejudice and exclusion when she tries to befriend the townspeople.
Photographer (uncredited)
A country girl goes to the city and gets a job in a posh hotel, and winds up becoming an instant celebrity thanks to an ambitious photographer.
Elevator Operator (Uncredited)
Owen, a small time bookie, decides to open an insurance business as it involves lesser risk. His first client is Colonel Youngblood who insures his daughter, Marilyn, against marriage.
First Taxi Driver (uncredited)
A Traveler's Aid worker who delights in solving people's problems gets mixed up with gangsters.
Prison Visitor
A mother sends her young son to military school so he won't find out she's been sentenced to a prison term on a framed fraud charge.
Cabbie
An irresponsible Broadway star gets mixed up with gambling and gangsters.
Reporter (uncredited)
A murder happens when greedy relatives gather to await the demise of their wealthy and very ill family patriarch.
John - Chauffeur
A man with a broken back dies after his wife has an affair with his brother.
Silent Diner (uncredited)
Director William C. McGann's 1935 film stars Gloria Stuart and Ross Alexander as a young couple in love who face economic woes once they're wed.
Dignitary (uncredited)
Instead of delivering some fancy dresses to a customer, the girls wear them to a party.
Drunk (Uncredited)
After a mix-up with his application photograph, an aspiring actor is invited to a screen test and goes off to Hollywood.
Whistling Man at Fountain
Andy's wife, seeing others succeed in the stock market, decides to invest their money in it.
Italian vegetable cart vendor
Casey and Babe are sisters who work in a department store and each year the store puts on a show. As expected, things are going wrong with every act until Casey comes out to help Babe with her song. They are a hit, but in the final act, Casey again comes out and this time the president sees her act and fires both her and Babe on the spot. Benny is able to book Casey, Babe and Dean into Vaudeville and their act is popular. But before they have their shot at stardom, Dean and Babe leave Casey and the act.
Vernon Dent out fishing.
The Bandit's Pal
A detective sets out to nab Notorious Nora, the tough female leader of a gang whose headquarters is in a dangerous speakeasy. He decides to infiltrate her gang in order to get the goods on her, but things don't turn out exactly the way he expected them to.
Relentless Rudolph
Beautiful Belinda is kidnapped by terrible people who want her to sign over a gold mine.
Otto B. Shott
The "Joybell Players" consisting of Jack Cooper, Ethelyn Gibson and Jack Richardson star in this very funny comedy from writer/director Robert Tansey. Producer Billy West was himself a silent film comedian, and was the best-known and most successful Charlie Chaplin imitator.
Relentless Rudolph
Beautiful Belinda is kidnapped by Relentless Rudolph; Hairbreadth Harry must race to her rescue.
Bryson's Secretary
Billy Davis discovers that his father's bakery business is in serious financial trouble and leaves college in order to help his family.
Bertie Ward
A Sweet Pickle is a 1925 Comedy short.
Eric Legree
A jail break turns into a race.
Yellow Michael
Sneezing Beezers is a silent comedy short.
T. Potter Doam
An eccentric inventor has thought of a way that automobiles can run on radio waves, without gasoline. His plans put him in conflict with the owner of an oil company, who is also pursuing the inventor's daughter. This rival begins to scheme against the inventor, and it is left up to the inventor's hired man to try to stop him.
Brigham Smith
Billy works at a film studio where lots of things keep going wrong. First, while filming, the camera man and director nearly get dropped off a building. This stunt is funny and rather realistic. Second, Billy looks in a keyhole at what he THINKS is a lady taking a bath--and she's soon joined by a man!
Captain Dangerfield
A boat race rivalry erupts into comical danger.
Rollin Stock - Rival Promoter
The Cannon Ball Express is a 1924 comedy short.
Howson Lotts - the Villain
All the qualified men line up to be chosen, as an heiress advertises that she will marry the man with the most interesting mustache, that marriage which comes with a mansion. John Syrup Soother wins the marriage to who he believes is the heiress, Olive Palmer, a tank of a woman who has lost her beauty with age. But he learns that he his betrothed is not the heiress, Diana Palmer, but her mother. Howson Lotts, a shyster and one of Diana's other suitors, sells John a beach-front house for his new life, that house which is not all that it seems on the surface. In the meantime, others still will do anything to be Diana's betrothed, that choice in which John now has a different but still vested interest.
Ben Davis
There is no love lost between the Red Dog Garage and the Black Cat Garage, two auto repair shops on opposite sides of the street. A big cross-country auto race is announced, and it turns into a no-holds-barred contest as the rival garages go all out to win.
Carl Kopeck - the Loan Shark
A bumbling bank custodian becomes an unlikely hero when he foils a robbery.
The Peruna Kid (as Jack Richardson)
Cyclone Bill is the popular sheriff of Mustang Gulch, where "a gun in the hand is worth two on the hip." Bill keeps the town free of criminals, and is also in love with the mayor's daughter. But when Yukon Jake brings his gang to town, causing trouble and kidnapping Bill's girl, it looks as if Bill might have more trouble than he can handle.
Charlie Greenback
In this Mack Sennett comedy, a mother and daughter fear foreclosure because their mortgage payment is due and they're unable to pay it. Meanwhile, the family's son Jack, who's in prison, unexpectedly finds himself free of captivity.
Poodles Byng
George Bryan Brummel, a British military officer, loves Lady Margery, the betrothed of Lord Alvanley. Despite her own desperate love for Brummel, she submits to family pressure and marries Lord Alvanley. Brummel, broken-hearted, embarks upon a life of revelry.
The Proprietor
In this silent comedy, a pretty department store cashier is charged with a robbery that occurred overnight at the store. However, circumstantial evidence points to the store's soda clerk having committed both the $10,000 robbery and the assumed murder of the store's nightwatchman, who is missing.
The Leading Man
The movie makers are filming the next installment of the western serial "Get Your Man". The movie's leading man wants his stunt double to do the next dangerous stunt. Purely by accident, a hapless, cross-eyed aspiring actor named Joe Magee ends up doing the stunt perfectly. He ends up doing dangerous stunt after stunt, all by accident, that fit the movie so perfectly that the movie's leading lady wants him in the picture. The exasperated director finds that getting Joe to do the stunts on command is an entirely different story.
Israelite Slave (uncredited)
The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf. The second part shows the efficacy of the commandments in modern life through a story set in San Francisco. Two brothers, rivals for the love of Mary, also come into conflict when John discovers Dan used shoddy materials to construct a cathedral.
Rampaging lions are on the loose in a hunting lodge.
Walrus
In this movie, Max Linder parodies the famous novel "The Three Musketeers".
The Fortune Hunter (as Jack Richardson)
An oil heir and the daughter of a social climbing family are set to marry.
The Daughter's Fickle Fiance
Call a Cop is a 1921 comedy short.
Count de Silver
A Hank Mann slapstick comedy where he plays a Junk Dealer's Helper.
