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Silent Features
Before the advent of sound, filmmakers produced some of its most extraordinary works in the history of cinema.
The history of British silent cinema has, until recently, been neglected, as so many films made in the 1920s and before were difficult to access.
Thankfully, archive restorations have rescued these films from obscurity, and a range of British masterpieces are once being reappraised. These include Underground (1928), Anthony Asquith’s romantic melodrama set on the London Underground, The Great White Silence (1924), official film record of Captain Scott’s tragic expedition to the South Pole, and The Epic of Everest (1924), a breathtaking and poignant account of the valiant 1924 British assault on the awe-inspiring peak.
Alongside British films, the collection also features Lon Chaney as The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and the Russian masterpiece Man With a Movie Camera (1929), voted the best documentary of all time in a Sight & Sound poll.
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Love Story of Ann Thomas the Maid of Cefn YdfaLove Story of Ann Thomas the Maid of Cefn Ydfa
Romance191434 minsSilent Location: Cefn Ydfa
Lovingly rendered version of a traditional Welsh folk tale of thwarted romance, set in 17th-century Cefn Ydfa.
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A Message from MarsA Message from Mars
Science Fiction191360 mins Location: London
Britain's first full-length science fiction feature has been restored by the BFI National Archive and given a new score by composer Matthew Herbert, commissioned by the BFI and the BBC.
Currently unavailable
High Treason (silent version)High Treason (silent version)
Science Fiction192975 minsSilent
A terrorist plot plays out on a backdrop of towering skyscrapers, bullet-railways and silver lamé in this vintage vision of London's future.