The Birth Of A Nation, USA, 1915, 186 min. Starring Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall. Directed by D. W. Griffith. Two friendly families find themselves at odds with each other when forced to choose sides in the Civil War. Extremely controversial owing to its seemingly pro-segregationist politics and unquestionable lionizing of the Klan, this is still a valuable piece of educational filmmaking by one of the original constructionists of the art form. You will find yourself cringing at some of the things depicted on screen, and they deserve to be cringed at. But the film is what it is and always will be, so it is up to the individual whether or not they wish to learn what the good things the film has to offer.

Intolerance, USA, 1916, 178 min. Starring Lillian Gish, Constance Talmadge, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh, Walter Long. Directed by D. W. Griffith. Griffith's masterwork tells four different stories of prejudice and hatred through the ages, one about the downfall of ancient Babylon, one an abridged version of the story of Christ, one set in 16th Century France regarding the persecution of the Huguenots, and a modern tale concerning a workers' strike in a mill town. Anyone looking for a through primer on the earliest examples of almost all of the modern film language we now take for granted need look no further than here. And while the stories may seem a bit heavy-handed message-wise, you can always lose yourself in the mind-blowing production design, particularly in the Babylonian sequences.

The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, Germany, 1919, 69 min. Starring Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover. Directed by Robert Wiene. Classic of German Expressionism tells the tale of a hypnotist who uses a sleep walker to commit murder. A macabre triumph of visual design.

Nosferatu, Germany, 1922, 84 min. Starring Max Schreck, Alexander Granach. Directed by F. W. Murnau. Probably the best of the many adaptations of Bram Stoker's tale of horror, Dracula. Schreck provides an indelible image as the title ghoul.

The Navigator, USA, 1924, 69 min. Starring Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Frederick Vroom. Directed by Buster Keaton and Donald Crisp. Two spoiled upper class people, a man who has just proposed marriage and the woman who rejected him, find themselves adrift on an ocean liner, a situation that calls for some real survival instincts. Only problem is neither one of them has ever done anything for themselves in their lives. The premise allows for Keaton's usual brand of ingenuity, particularly in the beautifully Goldberg-ian contraptions the couple construct to make the ship livable.