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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 Ydfa Love Story of Ann Thomas the Maid of Cefn Ydfa

Romance 1914 34 mins Silent 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 Mars A Message from Mars

Science Fiction 1913 60 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.

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High Treason (silent version) High Treason (silent version)

Science Fiction 1929 75 mins Silent

A terrorist plot plays out on a backdrop of towering skyscrapers, bullet-railways and silver lamé in this vintage vision of London's future.