Year 1921
by PretentiousFilmCritic | created - 23 Dec 2015 | updated - 06 Jun 2016 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Destiny (1921)
Not Rated | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
When a woman's fiancé disappears, Death gives her three chances to save him from his fate.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Bernhard Goetzke, Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, Hans Sternberg
Votes: 6,689 | Gross: $0.01M
Leonard Maltin: 3.5 of 4 Stars: Extraordinarily stylized expressionistic silent fantasy on [Fritz] Lang's favorite subject that put the great director on the map, with brilliant art direction, photography, and effects that still astonish.
2. The Wildcat (1921)
Not Rated | 79 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A charismatic lieutenant newly assigned to a remote fort is captured by a group of mountain bandits, thus setting in motion a madcap farce that is Lubitsch at his most unrestrained.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Pola Negri, Victor Janson, Paul Heidemann, Wilhelm Diegelmann
Votes: 1,314
Leonard Maltin: 3.5 of 4 Stars: Ernst Lubitsch film; Whimsical, visually innovative tongue-in-cheek tale
3. Tol'able David (1921)
99 min | Drama
When three thuggish men are responsible for the death of his father and the crippling of his brother, young David must choose between supporting his family or risking his life and exacting vengeance.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Richard Barthelmess, Gladys Hulette, Walter P. Lewis, Ernest Torrence
Votes: 1,947
Leonard Maltin: 3.5 of 4 Stars: Beautifully crafted Americana . . . The finale is a rip-roaring piece of movie storytelling.
4. The Nut (I) (1921)
Not Rated | 74 min | Action, Comedy, Romance
Eccentric inventor Charlie Jackson tries to interest wealthy investors in his girlfriend's plan to help children from poor neighborhoods.
Director: Theodore Reed | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Marguerite De La Motte, William Lowery, Gerald Pring
Votes: 299
Leonard Maltin: 3.5 of 4 Stars: Fairbanks is charming . . . enormously entertaining comedy, one of Fairbanks' best.
5. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Passed | 150 min | Drama, Romance, War
An extended family split up in France and Germany find themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield during World War I.
Director: Rex Ingram | Stars: Rudolph Valentino, Alice Terry, Pomeroy Cannon, Josef Swickard
Votes: 3,549 | Gross: $9.20M
Leonard Maltin: 3 of 4 Stars: Famous silent spectacle . . . Extremely well made, with imagery that still staggers and message that cannot be overlooked.
6. Orphans of the Storm (1921)
Not Rated | 150 min | Drama, History, Romance
Two orphaned sisters are caught up in the turmoil of the French Revolution, encountering misery and love along the way.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Joseph Schildkraut, Frank Losee
Votes: 5,477 | Gross: $0.79M
Leonard Maltin: 3 of 4 Stars: For all its creaky situations, and extreme length, still dazzling.
7. The Sheik (1921)
Passed | 86 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A charming Arabian sheik becomes infatuated with an adventurous, modern-thinking Englishwoman and abducts her to his home in the Saharan desert.
Director: George Melford | Stars: Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, Ruth Miller, George Waggner
Votes: 3,661
Leonard Maltin: 3 of 4 Stars
8. The Haunted Castle (1921)
Not Rated | 69 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In the castle Vogeloed, a few aristocrats are awaiting baroness Safferstätt. But first count Oetsch invites himself.. Everyone thinks he murdered his brother, baroness Safferstat's first ... See full summary »
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Arnold Korff, Lulu Kyser-Korff, Lothar Mehnert, Paul Hartmann
Votes: 2,065
Leonard Maltin: 3 of 4 Stars: Subtly eerie tale is more mystery than chiller.
9. The Ace of Hearts (1921)
Passed | 75 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A romantic rivalry among members of a secret society becomes even tenser when one of the men is assigned to carry out an assassination.
Director: Wallace Worsley | Stars: Leatrice Joy, John Bowers, Lon Chaney, Hardee Kirkland
Votes: 1,327
Leonard Maltin: 3 of 4 stars: Good mid-career Chaney vehicle, a relic of the early Red Scare era, relies more on characterization than on makeup effects.
10. Peck's Bad Boy (1921)
51 min | Comedy
Trouble and havoc seem to trail Little Henry Peck wherever he goes and only his dear mother understands him. But when young Henry's pranks get his big sister's boyfriend, Dr. Martin, arrested, dad decides that the boy must be punished.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Jackie Coogan, Wheeler Oakman, Doris May, Raymond Hatton
Votes: 104
Leonard Maltin: 3 of 4 Stars: Still-fresh and enjoyable vehicle.
11. Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921)
Passed | 112 min | Drama
An American boy turns out to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune. He is sent to live with the cold and unsentimental lord who oversees the trust.
Directors: Alfred E. Green, Jack Pickford | Stars: Mary Pickford, Claude Gillingwater, Joseph J. Dowling, James A. Marcus
Votes: 369 | Gross: $0.90M
Leonard Maltin: 3 of 4 Stars: Mary is as charming as ever.
12. The Three Musketeers (1921)
119 min | Action, Adventure, Family
Cardinal Richelieu, engaged in intrigue at the court of Louis XIII, attempts to rule by threatening the queen, who is secretly in love with the Duke of Buckingham. From Gascony comes ... See full summary »
Director: Fred Niblo | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Nigel De Brulier, George Siegmann, Eugene Pallette
Votes: 1,139 | Gross: $3.27M
Leonard Maltin: 3 of 4 Stars: Great fun; Douglas Fairbanks.
13. The Blot (1921)
Passed | 91 min | Drama, Romance
The Professor dispenses the wisdom of the ages and does not make a living wage. The sons of the rich and powerful are students lacking any motivation. The next door neighbor of the ... See full summary »
Director: Lois Weber | Stars: Philip Hubbard, Margaret McWade, Claire Windsor, Louis Calhern
Votes: 697
Leonard Maltin: 3 of 4 Stars: Earnest, humanistic account of economic barriers between the classes . . . Overly melodramatic at times, but still a notable work for its long-ignored director.
14. The Affairs of Anatol (1921)
Unrated | 117 min | Comedy, Drama
Socialite Anatol Spencer seeks a better relation than he has with his wife. He sets up the friend of his youth Emilie in an apartment and she two-times him; he comforts near-suicidal Annie and she robs him.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Wallace Reid, Gloria Swanson, Elliott Dexter, Bebe Daniels
Votes: 1,358
Leonard Maltin: 3 of 4 Stars: Cecil B. DeMille film.
15. The Saphead (1920)
Not Rated | 77 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The simple-minded son of a rich financier must find his own way in the world.
Directors: Herbert Blaché, Winchell Smith | Stars: Edward Jobson, Beulah Booker, Edward Connelly, Edward Alexander
Votes: 1,762
Leonard Maltin: 2.5 of 4 Stars: Keaton is fine but not allowed to express his unique comic personality.
16. My Boy (1921)
55 min | Comedy, Drama
An orphan escapes immigration officials at Ellis Island and goes to live with an old ship's master who can't find work and can't pay the rent.
Directors: Albert Austin, Victor Heerman | Stars: Mathilde Brundage, Claude Gillingwater, Jackie Coogan, Frank Hayes
Votes: 304
Leonard Maltin: 2.5 of 4 Stars: Sentimental almost to a fault, but it works.
17. The Sky Pilot (1921)
Not Rated | 77 min | Drama, Western
The sky pilot is a preacher who helps Gwen walk again after a near-fatal accident.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: John Bowers, Colleen Moore, David Butler, Harry Todd
Votes: 174
Leonard Maltin: 2.5 of 4 Stars: Moore is miscast.
18. Mysteries of India, Part I: Truth (1921)
120 min | Adventure, Fantasy
The unfaithful wife of a cruel Indian prince attempts to escape from his domination.
Director: Joe May | Stars: Olaf Fønss, Mia May, Conrad Veidt, Erna Morena
Votes: 392
Leonard Maltin: 2.5 of 4 Stars: Sumptuous claptrap . . . is just as corny as can be.
19. Dream Street (1921)
Passed | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Three men in London compete for the love of a dance-hall girl.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Carol Dempster, Ralph Graves, Charles Emmett Mack, Edward Peil Sr.
Votes: 211
Leonard Maltin: 2 of 4 Stars: Disappointing silent melodrama; D.W. Griffith film.
20. The Love Light (1921)
Unrated | 89 min | Drama
Angela maintains a coastal lighthouse in Italy, where she awaits the return of her brothers from the war. She learns they are casualties and takes solace in the arms of an American sailor washed ashore
Director: Frances Marion | Stars: Mary Pickford, Evelyn Dumo, Fred Thomson, Eddie Phillips
Votes: 412 | Gross: $0.69M
Leonard Maltin: 2 of 4 Stars: Ambitious but disappointing
21. Through the Back Door (1921)
89 min | Comedy, Drama
When her mother remarries, a young Belgian girl is left behind with her nurse, but when Germany invades the country, she is sent to America to find her mother.
Directors: Alfred E. Green, Jack Pickford | Stars: Mary Pickford, Gertrude Astor, Wilfred Lucas, Helen Raymond
Votes: 211
Leonard Maltin: 2 of 4 Stars: Pickford is always watchable, but she's defeated by hackneyed storyline.
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