The 1920s were the heart of the silent film era, building upon the early experiments with the medium and taking it in whatever directions filmmakers across the world could dream. Hollywood, taking advantage of the interruptions to the Italian and French film communities caused by World War I, solidified its grip on the film industry throughout the decade as bigger film studios, like Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and United Artists began taking over the smaller houses.
The Roaring ’20s saw the advent of the art film, the movie star and the Academy Awards. It also was the decade where filmmaking rapidly transformed from silent movies to talkies beginning with The Jazz Singer in 1927. Feature films began to dominate shorts, while the genres at play flourished. Looking through the list below, it’s remarkable how many of these movies remain relevant today.
Director: Robert Wiene
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari brought German Expressionist film to full view with art direction that’s every bit as dark and twisted as the story it tells. Set in an environment full of askew streets, warped roofs and staircases that travel at impossible angles, no film has the same spooky feel as this tale of a mysterious doctor and the sleepwalker he uses as a murder weapon. While the film’s influence is immeasurable, its visuals were more a catalyst for ideas than a target of direct imitation. This is partly because the look is so out there, and partly because the graphical set design could have lent itself more to the film medium—the painted-on shadows and canvas backdrops can make it seem as if the characters are walking on plywood theater stages rather than through a…
On Wednesday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams tweeted his opposition to planned affordable housing development in Flatbush said to sit atop a centuries-old African burial ground. 
