This is an overview of 1923 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
London After Midnight is a lost 1927 American silent mystery horror film directed and co-produced by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney, with Marceline Day, Conrad Nagel, Henry B. Walthall and Polly Moran. The film was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and was written by Waldemar Young, based on the story "The Hypnotist" which was written by Browning. Merritt B. Gerstad was the cinematographer, and the sets were designed by Cedric Gibbons and Arnold Gillespie. Harry Sharrock was the assistant director. The film cost $151,666.14 to produce, and grossed $1,004,000. Chaney's real-life make-up case can be seen in the last scene of the film sitting on a table, the only time it ever appeared in a movie.
The Bat is a 1926 American silent comedy mystery film directed by Roland West and starring Jack Pickford and Louise Fazenda. The film is based on the 1920 Broadway hit play The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, which itself was an adaptation of Rinehart's 1908 mystery novel The Circular Staircase.
Henry Brazeale Walthall was an American stage and film actor. He appeared as the Little Colonel in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915).
The Last Warning is a 1928 American mystery film directed by Paul Leni, and starring Laura La Plante, Montagu Love, and Margaret Livingston.
The Gorilla is an American 1927 silent mystery film directed by Alfred Santell based on the play The Gorilla by Ralph Spence. It stars Charles Murray, Fred Kelsey, and Walter Pidgeon.
The Avenging Conscience: or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is a 1914 silent horror film directed by D. W. Griffith. The film is based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" and his 1849 poem "Annabel Lee".
Seven Footprints to Satan is a 1929 American mystery film directed by Danish filmmaker Benjamin Christensen. Based on the 1928 story of the same name by Abraham Merritt, it stars Thelma Todd, Creighton Hale, William V. Mong and Sheldon Lewis. It was first released as a silent film and later as a part-talkie. The film survives in a sound version known as an International Sound Version in which the dialogue was cut and replaced with music. The sound disks for this foreign sound version are apparently not extant.
Garry Marsh was an English stage and film actor.
The Terror is a 1928 American pre-Code horror film written by Harvey Gates and directed by Roy Del Ruth, based on the 1927 play of the same name by Edgar Wallace. It was the second "all-talking" motion picture released by Warner Bros., following Lights of New York. It was also the first all-talking horror film, made using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.
The Ghost Breaker is a 1922 American silent horror comedy film about haunted houses and ghosts. It was produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Alfred E. Green and starred Wallace Reid in one of his last screen roles. The story, based on the 1909 play The Ghost Breaker by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard, had been released on film in 1914, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar Apfel.
The Preview Murder Mystery is a 1936 American comedy mystery film directed by Robert Florey and starring Reginald Denny, Frances Drake and Gail Patrick. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The plot follows a studio public relations man who attempts to trap a killer using television technology, allowing on-screen glimpses of technicians like Florey's cinematographer Karl Struss.
The Woman on the Jury is a lost 1924 American silent drama film produced and released by Associated First National and directed by Harry Hoyt. It is based on a Broadway stage play, The Woman on the Jury, and stars Sylvia Breamer and Bessie Love. The story was refilmed in 1929 as an early talkie under the title The Love Racket starring Dorothy Mackaill.
The Flying Torpedo is a 1916 American silent drama directed by John B. O'Brien and Christy Cabanne. It was produced by the Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by the Triangle Film Corporation. The film was written by John Emerson, Robert M. Baker and D. W. Griffith. The film is now considered lost.
The Bat is a three-act play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood that was first produced by Lincoln Wagenhals and Collin Kemper in 1920. The story combines elements of mystery and comedy as Cornelia Van Gorder and guests spend a stormy night at her rented summer home, searching for stolen money they believe is hidden in the house, while they are stalked by a masked criminal known as "the Bat". The Bat's identity is revealed at the end of the final act.
The Unknown Soldier is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Renaud Hoffman, written by Richard Schayer and James J. Tynan, and starring Charles Emmett Mack, Marguerite De La Motte, Henry B. Walthall, Claire McDowell, and George Cooper. It was released on May 30, 1926, by Producers Distributing Corporation.
The Recoil is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by T. Hayes Hunter based on a Rex Beach story. Mahlon Hamilton and Betty Blythe star. Blythe filmed some scenes for the picture in Paris in November 1923.
Shore Acres is a 1920 American drama film directed by Rex Ingram that was based on the stage play of the same name by James A. Herne. It was adapted from the play by Arthur J. Zellner.
The Little Tease is a 1913 silent black and white film directed by D. W. Griffith, produced by Biograph Company and starring Henry B. Walthall and Mae Marsh.
Code of the Air is a 1928 American silent thriller film directed by James P. Hogan and starring Kenneth Harlan, June Marlowe and Arthur Rankin.
