The Battle of the Sexes

Billy Jim is a rich cowboy who tries to seduce a young girl whose father exploits a mine.

Hoping to foil his own gold-digging wife's plan, a loathsome businessman arranges his own kidnapping, only to realize that there are plenty of other people interested in his wealth as well.

A young woman uses her body and her sexuality to help her climb the social ladder, but soon begins to wonder if her new status will ever bring her happiness.

Bear (10 minutes, 35 seconds) was Steve McQueen's first major film. Although not an overtly political work, for many viewers it raises sensitive issues about race, homoeroticism and violence. It depicts two naked men – one of whom is the artist – tussling and teasing one another in an encounter which shifts between tenderness and aggression. The film is silent but a series of stares, glances and winks between the protagonists creates an optical language of flirtation and threat.

The protagonist recalls her past while her daughter is going to leave her forever. Years ago, the protagonist came from a province to a big city to get rid of poverty. Marriage to a gangster didn’t make her happy. She fell in love with her husband’s accomplice and soon got pregnant. Murder seems the only solution to the lovers…

After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.

A debutante's (Helen Twelvetrees) brother (Robert Young) stands trial for killing her no-good lover.

A tramp cares for a boy after he's abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son.

A BFI collection of 7 short films from the USA, England and Italy scored for Piano, Guitar and String Quartet.

An early Thomas Edison short. A young woman is kidnapped while attending a play in Chinatown. A reporter attends another play in Chinatown, is likewise kidnapped and rescues the young woman. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2011 in partnership with the National Film Preservation Foundation New Zealand Project.

A silent 3-reel comedy short that uses the 1933 film King Kong as a backdrop to the story. It was produced by Shochiku Studios (who released the original 1933 film in Japan on behalf of RKO). It is now considered to be a lost film.

The first film featuring Mildred Davis

Artist Henry is wildly jealous of his girl Flossie so when he sees her in the arms of another man he overreacts and tries to end it all in a variety of over the top ways. Even when Flossie explains he still tries to end it all until word comes that his uncle has died and left him a million.

Doctor Lambert takes his wife west to a mining town, where he can both minister and doctor. His wife is not happy and upon discovering she is pregnant, runs away with a gambler. He soon dumps her, and she comes back and dies giving birth to a baby girl. Lambert, out of his mind with rage, leaves the baby on a doorstep and vows to never have faith again. He returns to the mining town fifteen years later a drunkard. He meets young, kind Lily Sawyer and is greatly impressed by her compassionate nature. Meanwhile, the gambler has returned and decides to abduct Lily, but his partner recognizes Lambert and tells him Lily is his daughter. He kills the gambler before he can harm Lily and soon his faith returns.

Unrequited love rules the day as both wealthy Judith Sylvester and her invalid aunt pine for men who got away, but happiness lays ahead for one while hopeful dreams sustain the other.

Mr. Jones, since his last escapade, had made strenuous efforts to amend the reputation he had gained in the eyes of the ladies of the Temperance League. But Oh! the ordeal, for such it was, was telling on him, and his pent-up spirits were threatening ebullition, when at last the chance comes. The league arranges to attend a three-days' convention out of town, and when Mrs. Jones departs, Jones sends a note to Smith, telling him to bring the gang, and they would have a "Prayer Meeting," enjoining him not to forget the "fixings." Well, the gang are not long in putting in an appearance, for they feel that every minute's delay is a chunk lost from a golden opportunity for fun.

Sister Angelika has the power of life or death over her former tormentor, now sick and placed in her care.

'Snub' Pollard and Mildred Davis star in this 1920 comedy short.

Snub's many humorous experiences in attempting to transport his goat home. Comedy short directed by Charley Chase.

Temporary Marriage is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by Lambert Hillyer and starring Kenneth Harlan, Mildred Davis, and Myrtle Stedman.