The Last Laugh, Germany, 1924, 90 min. Starring Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Max Hiller. Directed by F. W. Murnau. Jannings plays a larger-than-life doorman at a swanky hotel, who is unfairly stripped of his position, and must face the humiliation that comes from his fall. Murnau's revolutionary use of the camera, in part the work of another soon-to-be-legendary director Karl Freund, helps create a distinct world that sardonically pokes at the notion that a man is no more than what his uniform makes him.

Greed, USA, 1925, 140 min. Starring Gibson Gowland, ZaSu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Chester Conklin, Dale Fuller. Directed by Eric von Stroheim. Von Stroheim's labor of love suffered severe studio interference but remains a compelling depiction of the title deadly sin.

The Gold Rush, USA, 1925, 82 min. Starring Charlie Chaplin, Georgia Hale, Mack Swain, Tom Murray. Directed by Charlie Chaplin. The Little Tramp goes Yukon in this gem. Includes some of Chaplin's most recognizable bits, such as him eating his shoe and making the rolls dance.

Ivan The Terrible Parts I & II, Russia, 1943/1946, 96/88 min. Starring Nikolai Cherkassov, Serafima Berman, Ludmila Tselikovskaya, Mikhail Nazvanov. Directed by Sergei Eisenstein. Eisenstein planned a trilogy about the life of Russia's notorious Czar. Part three never got made, and part two almost never saw the light of day, owing to interference from Stalin. Sergei Prokoviev wrote original music for the project.

Battleship Potemkin, Russia, 1925, 65 min. Starring Alexander Antonov, Vladimir Barsky. Directed by Sergei Eisenstein. The most famous of the 'red silents', detailing a crucial event in the 1905 Revolution. Includes the oft-referenced 'Odessa Steps' sequence.