Mark Cousins's The Story of Film: An Odyssey

When the moon is full, young men die attempting to reach the mysterious blue light in the mountains.

Two young brothers become the leaders of a gang of kids in their neighborhood. Ozu's charming film is a social satire that draws from the antics of childhood as well as the tragedy of maturity.

Scarface is a brutal gangster film from 1932 from director Howard Hawks that depicts the fall of a Chicago gangster.

Shanghai Express is an American love story and adventure film by Josef von Sternberg from 1932 starring Marlene Dietrich. The film takes place in a train during the Chinese civil war.

When World War I comes to an end, three pilots find themselves on hard times. They wind up in Hollywood, where they work as stunt fliers for a sadistic director.

Director Carl Theodor Dreyer's answer to the film Dracula was this film Vampyr. Dreyer presented a classic vampire story full of ellipsis.

Rufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.

A bandleader woos a Latin flame who is already engaged to his employer.

A wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play, but insists on remaining anonymous.

Humphrey Jennings' first film as a director, a brief overview of the British postal service.

Fritz Lang directed this sequel to his nearly four-hour Dr. Mabuse silent of 1922. The film opens with Detective Hofmeister (Karl Meixner) spying on the activities of a criminal syndicate. Not realizing he has been seen, Hofmeister is attacked by the thugs and later turns up out of his mind.

In a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the director on a celebration day.

Newly married couple Juliette and ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'Atalante along with the captain's first mate and a cabin boy.

The story of a young prostitute who is trying to give her infant son a good start in life, fighting against the prejudices of others and the attentions of a pimp.

Oscar Jaffe is a successful Broadway director; Lily Garland, one of his stars. But when she leaves his direction, his success goes with her. When he recognizes her aboard the Twentieth Century Limited, the train that both of them are riding, he tries to get her back for a new show. But accomplishing that feat isn't as simple as he had thought.

Overnight, the sexy Wei Ming will become a successful novelist. But, desperate to get the money that she needs to cure her little daughter (and harassed by a rich, unscrupulous rake), she will end up eventually engage in luxury prostitution.

The young poet Xin Baihe flees Shanghai with his friend, Liang. Liang soon joins the resistance against the Japanese invaders, but Xin chooses to pursue a relationship with a glamorous and westernized widow in Qingdao. After hearing that Liang has been killed, Xin has a change of heart and rushes to join the war effort.

The 39 Steps is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpieces. A romantic thriller that revolves around a Canadian tourist visiting London who gets caught in the middle of a murder plot that has police and the secret service after him. A classic Hitchcock of romance mixed with adventure and picturesque scenes.

The infamous propaganda film of the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany

A pair of partner-swapping lovers finds their romantic games leading to tragedy when jealousy begins to factor into their free-love lifestyle.

A young woman becomes a mistress of her boss in order to support her family.

Karl Anton Verloc and his wife own a small cinema in a quiet London suburb where they live seemingly happily. But Mrs. Verloc does not know that her husband has a secret that will affect their relationship and threaten her teenage brother's life.

This classic film chronicles the life of Tukaram (17th C.), one of Maharashtra’s most popular saint poets, activating the 20th century resonances of his turning away from courtly Sanskrit towards vernacular rhythms of religious poetry.

Grand Illusion is a classic war film from French director Jean Renoir created without using images from the first World War.

Snow White, pursued by a jealous queen, hides with the Dwarfs; the queen feeds her a poison apple, but Prince Charming awakens her with a kiss.

In the early inscriptions, this film is presented as a “lyrical bounce from reality” but not “senseless extravagance.” The plot involves a trek official to the advice of “There will be a hole in the sky even if you go back”, the procession of two people with a wardrobe and a march of people defending the established rules (“Down with walking bac...

Stan and Ollie try to deliver the deed to a valuable gold mine to the daughter of a dead prospector. Unfortunately, the daughter's evil guardian is determined to have the gold mine for himself and his saloon-singer wife.

Bringing Up Baby is an American screwball comedy starring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.

A military deserter in a French port city finds love amidst trouble.

Olympia is a documentary about the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin by German Director Leni Riefenstahl. The film played in theaters in 1938 and again in 1952 after the fall of the Nazi Regime.

SECOND ONE? Olympia is a documentary about the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin by German Director Leni Riefenstahl. The film played in theaters in 1938 and again in 1952 after the fall of the Nazi Regime.

Stan and Ollie are mousetrap salesmen hoping for better business in Switzerland, with Stan's theory that because there is more cheese in Switzerland, there should be more mice.

Gone With The Wind is, when adjusted for inflation, the most successful film of all times and the height of Hollywood studio films.

Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game is a comedic drama about a Parisian aristocrat. The film was released shortly before the start of World War II.

A stern Russian woman sent to Paris on official business finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.

Stagecoach is a western film from director John Ford. John Wayne stars as The Ringo Kid and would become world famous from the film.

Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.

The Great Dictator is a cult film from Charlie Chaplin that satires German Nationalism and Adolf Hitler. The movie was filmed during the Nazi power and if Chaplin would have known what they were doing in German at the time he says he probably wouldn’t have made the film.

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

Orson Wells was 26 when he made his first feature film Citizen Kane. The film became known as one of the greatest of all time and earned him international celebrity. The story is about the publishing business and how one thrill-seeker’s struggle for power negatively affected everybody he came in contact with and eventually lead to a merciless war.

A scientific expedition happens to discover that gold exits on Tarzan's escarpment. The villainous Medford and Vandermeer kidnap Jane and Boy to extort from Tarzan the location of the gold. Everyone is captured by wicked natives. Tarzan and his elephants rush to the rescue.

The Maltese Falcon is a mystery thriller detective film from John Huston starring Humphrey Bogart. The film is regarded as a landmark in the film-noir movement.

In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

A depiction of life in wartime Britain during the Second World War. Director Humphrey Jennings visits many aspects of civilian life and of the turmoil and privation caused by the war, all without narration.

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane flees across the United States after he is wrongly accused of starting the fire that killed his best friend.

A dead World War II bomber pilot, Pete Sandidge becomes the guardian angel of another pilot, Ted Randall. He guides Ted through battle and helping him to romance his old girlfriend, despite her excessive devotion to Sandidge's memory.

A woman hardened by her past now runs a ranch she acquired through manipulation and bribery.

Double Indemnity is a film noir thriller from directory Billy Wilder from 1944 in which the protagonist sets up an insurance fraud.

A Hollywood star (George Raft) organizes wartime shows: W.C. Fields shoots pool; Orson Welles saws Marlene Dietrich in half.