Ernest Torrence was a Scottish film character actor who appeared in many Hollywood films, including Broken Chains (1922) with Colleen Moore, Mantrap (1926) with Clara Bow and Fighting Caravans (1931) with Gary Cooper and Lili Damita. A towering figure, Torrence frequently played cold-eyed and imposing villains.
The Viking is a 1928 American synchronized sound drama film. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-film Western Electric Sound System process. This film was the first feature-length Technicolor film that featured a soundtrack, and it was the first film made in Technicolor's Process 3. It stars Pauline Starke, Donald Crisp, and LeRoy Mason. The film is loosely based on the 1902 novel The Thrall of Leif the Lucky by Ottilie A. Liljencrantz. The Viking was directed by Roy William Neill.
Raffles is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy-mystery film produced by Samuel Goldwyn. It stars Ronald Colman as the title character, a proper English gentleman who moonlights as a notorious jewel thief, and Kay Francis as his love interest. It is based on the play Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1906) by E. W. Hornung and Eugene Wiley Presbrey, which was in turn adapted from the 1899 short story collection of the same name by Hornung.
Thirst is a craving for liquids.
A Lady of Chance is a 1928 synchronized sound film directed by Robert Z. Leonard. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with singing and sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film is based upon the story "Little Angel" by Leroy Scott and is Norma Shearer's last silent film. Although the film was released with added dialogue scenes, Shearer had no lines. The film's copyright was renewed, so it will not be in the public domain until January 1, 2024.
A Woman of Affairs is a 1928 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer synchronized sound drama film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Lewis Stone. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film was based on a 1924 best-selling novel by Michael Arlen, The Green Hat, which he adapted as a four-act stage play in 1925. The Green Hat was considered so daring in the United States that the movie did not allow any associations with it and was renamed A Woman of Affairs, with the characters also renamed to mollify the censors. In particular, the film script eliminated all references to heroin use, homosexuality and syphilis that were at the core of the tragedies involved.
The Three Passions is a 1928 British sound drama film directed by Rex Ingram and starring Alice Terry, Iván Petrovich and Shayle Gardner. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film was made as a quota film for Allied Artists and was based on a novel by Cosmo Hamilton. It was filmed on the French Riviera.
Claude Ewart King was an English-born character actor and unionist, who appeared in American silent film. With his distinctive wavy hair, King appeared on both stage and screen. He served his country, Great Britain, in World War I in Field Artillery, reaching the rank of Major and surviving the war. He began his stage career in his native country, before emigrating to the US. In 1919, he appeared on Broadway in support of Ethel Barrymore in the play Declassee.
The Cossacks is a 1928 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and directed by George Hill and Clarence Brown. Due to the public apathy towards silent films, a sound version was also prepared. While the sound version has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film stars John Gilbert and Renée Adorée and is based on the 1863 novel The Cossacks by Leo Tolstoy.
The Woman Disputed is a 1928 American synchronized sound film. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The plot draws in part on the 1880 short story "Boule de Suif" by French writer Guy de Maupassant.
Ginsberg the Great is a lost 1927 synchronized sound film starring George Jessel in the period in which he made films with Warner Bros. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process.
The Loves of Casanova or Casanova is a 1927 French Historical drama film directed by Alexandre Volkoff and starring Ivan Mozzhukhin, Suzanne Bianchetti and Diana Karenne. The film portrays the life and adventures of Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798). Many of those involved with the film were Russian emigres who had come to France following the Russian Revolution. A sound version was prepared in 1929 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer in 1929. While the sound version has no audible dialog, it features a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process.
The Girl from Chicago is a lost 1927 American synchronized sound criminal romantic drama film directed by Ray Enright and starring Myrna Loy and Conrad Nagel. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. The film was produced and distributed by the Warner Bros. and is based upon a short story by Arthur Somers Roche that appeared in the June 1923 Redbook.
The Queen's Necklace is a 1929 synchronzied sound French historical drama film directed by Tony Lekain and Gaston Ravel and starring Marcelle Chantal, Georges Lannes and Diana Karenne. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects. The film is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's novel The Queen's Necklace which portrays the Affair of the Diamond Necklace which occurred before the French Revolution. The film's art direction was by Lucien Carré. The film was made and distributed by Gaumont. In Germany it was released by the major studio UFA.
Love in the Desert is a 1929 American sound part-talkie drama film directed by George Melford and starring Olive Borden, Hugh Trevor, and Noah Beery. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the RCA Photophone sound-on-film system.
Beware of Married Men is a 1928 American synchronized sound comedy film directed by Archie Mayo and starring Irene Rich, Clyde Cook and Audrey Ferris. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-disc Vitaphone process. The film was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers.
Fazil is a 1928 American synchronized sound drama film directed by Howard Hawks and written by Philip Klein and Seton I. Miller. The film stars Charles Farrell, Greta Nissen, John Boles, Mae Busch, Tyler Brooke and John T. Murray. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-film movietone process. The film was released on June 4, 1928, by Fox Film Corporation.
Captain Swagger is a 1928 American synchronized sound crime drama film directed by Edward H. Griffith and stars Rod La Rocque. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects utilizing the RCA Photophone sound-on-film sound system. The film was released with both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film formats. The film was produced and distributed by the Pathé Exchange company.
The Whip is a 1928 American synchronized sound drama film directed by Charles Brabin and starring Dorothy Mackaill. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-disc Vitaphone process. It was based on a 1912 play The Whip by Cecil Raleigh and Henry Hamilton and distributed by First National. This sound film was released with a synchronized Vitaphone soundtrack of music and sound effects. It is set in the horse racing world of England.
The Missing Link is a 1927 American synchronized sound comedy film directed by Charles Reisner and starring Syd Chaplin, Ruth Hiatt and Tom McGuire. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. The title of the film is a reference to the so-called "missing link" that connects man and the ape.
