Movies · 1919
Cinema Rebounds After the Great War
In 1919, a world recovering from World War I witnessed rapid artistic evolution and commercial expansion in the motion picture industry. Filmmakers across Europe and the United States pushed narrative boundaries, giving rise to cinematic masterworks and major international stars.
- May 1919 | USA | Drama
Broken Blossoms
Directed by D.W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish, this poetic silent masterpiece tells a tragic tale of love and cruelty in London's Limehouse district.
- Nov 1919 | USA | Drama
Male and Female
Cecil B. DeMille's lavish blockbuster starring Gloria Swanson explores class structures upended when an aristocratic family and their servants are shipwrecked.
- Aug 1919 | USA | Drama
The Miracle Man
George Loane Tucker's massive box-office smash catapulted Lon Chaney to stardom through his remarkable physical transformation as a fake invalid.
- Apr 1919 | France | War Drama
J'accuse
Abel Gance's powerful anti-war silent film incorporated real World War I footage to deliver a poignant critique of combat's tragic cost.
- Dec 1919 | USA | Drama
Blind Husbands
Erich von Stroheim made a striking directorial debut with this psychological triangle drama set in the Austrian Alps, in which he also starred as a seductive officer.
- Sep 1919 | Germany | Historical Drama
Madame DuBarry
Ernst Lubitsch directed Pola Negri in this grand spectacle about the French Revolution, which sparked international acclaim and reopened global markets to German cinema.
- May 1919 | Germany | Drama
Different from the Others
Directed by Richard Oswald and starring Conrad Veidt, this landmark silent film stands as one of cinema's earliest sympathetic portrayals of homosexuality.
- Nov 1919 | Sweden | Crime Drama
Sir Arne's Treasure
Mauritz Stiller's visually haunting Swedish masterpiece dramatizes a cold-blooded murder and supernatural retribution in 16th-century Scandinavia.
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