Below is a list of significant events and films in underground film history between the years 1920 and 1929. Reference key of sources appears at the bottom of the page.
1920
MAJOR EVENTS
January: First publication of Cine Club by Louis Delluc in France. Jean Epstein, Marcel L’Herbier and Germaine Dulac are all eventually involved in the club.
D.C.
In France, Ricotto Canudo forms the world’s first film club: Club des Amis du Septième Art (CASA).
D.C.
Kodak develops 16mm for amateur use.
D.C.
SIGNIFICANT FILMS
FRANCE
Marcel Duchamp
abandoned films
D.C.
Marcel L’Herbier
L’Homme du Large
D.C.
GERMANY
Robert Wiene
The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari
S.R.
F.S. lists as 1919
U.S.
Dudley Murphy
Aphrodite
D.E.J.
Soul of the Cypress
D.E.J.
Anywhere Out of the World
D.E.J.
1921
MAJOR EVENTS
Louis Delluc launches Cinéa film magazine and imports The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from Germany into France. Jean Epstein, Marcel L’Herbier and Germaine Dulac are all also involved with Cinéa.
D.C.
Robert Florey moves to Los Angeles where he works as a movie journalist for French magazines, and as a publicist for Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Rudolph Valentino.
D.E.J.
Slavko Vorkapich arrives in Los Angeles where he makes a living as a painter and photographer in the studio of dance photographer Thomas Bouchard.
D.E.J.
Bell and Howell market the first 16mm camera.
D.E.J.
SIGNIFICANT FILMS
FRANCE
Louis Delluc
Fièvre
D.C.
S.R. credits film as 1922
Marcel L’Herbier
El Dorado
D.C.
GERMANY
Fritz Lang
Destiny
S.R.
Hans Richter
Rhythmus 21
S.R.
F.S.
P.A.S.
D.C. also calls film Film Is Rhythm
Walter Ruttman
Lichtspiel Opus 1
D.E.J.
RUSSIA
Dziga Vertov
History of the Civil War
S.R.
U.S.
Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand
Manhatta
S.R.
D.C.
D.E.J.
1922
MAJOR EVENTS
Maya Deren emigrates to America from Kiev with her parents.
P.A.S.
D.E.J. also notes that she grows up in Syracuse.
SIGNIFICANT FILMS
FRANCE
Louis Delluc
La Femme de nulle Part
S.R.
D.C.
Germaine Dulac
La Souriante Madame Beudet (The Smiling Madame Beudet)
S.R.
D.C.
F.S.
Jean Epstein
L’Auberge Rouge
D.C.
GERMANY
Viking Eggeling
Diagonal Symphony (1920-22)
S.R.; P.A.S.
D.C. lists as 1920-22
F.S. lists as 1918-20 and calls it Symphonie Diagonale
D.E.J. lists as 1924 and calls it Symphonie diagonale
F. W. Murnau
Nosferatu
S.R.
U.S.
Charles Bryant
Salomé
D.E.J.
1923
MAJOR EVENTS
Ricotto Canudo dies.
D.C.
Dziga Vertov and his group the Kinoks extend their film magazine Kino-Pravda into a newsreel format that runs for 20 issues until 1925.
D.C.
B&W silent 16mm film stock is marketed.
D.C.
Kodak markets its first 16mm camera.
D.E.J.
SIGNIFICANT FILMS
FRANCE
René Clair
Paris qui dort (or) Le Rayon Invisble (The Crazy Ray)
S.R.
D.C.
Marcel Duchamp
abandoned films
D.C.
Jean Epstein
Coeur Fidèle
D.C.
Abel Gance
La Roue
D.C.
Marcel L’Herbier
L’Inhumaine
sets designed by Fernand Léger and Alberto Cavalcanti
D.C.
S.R. lists as 1925
Dimitri Kirsanov
L’Ironie du Destin (1922-3)
D.C.
Man Ray
La Retour à la Raison
S.R.
D.E.J.
GERMANY
Hans Richter
Rhythmus 23
S.R
1924
MAJOR EVENTS
Louis Delluc dies.
D.C.
Jean Tedesco opens full-time avant-garde cinema at Théâtre du Vieux Colombier.
D.C.
Kodak introduces 16mm film, which helps encourage thousands of amateur filmmakers, many of whom belong to a network of amateur film clubs, “little theaters” and the Amateur Cinema League.
S.M.
SIGNIFICANT FILMS
FRANCE
Claude Autant-Lara
Fait-Divèrs
S.R.
René Clair
Entr’acte
S.R.
F.S.
D.C. also gives credits: Producer: Rolf de Maré; Scenario: Picabia; Music: Erik Satie; Actors: Man Ray, Inge Fiis, Marcel Duchamp, Georges Auric, Jean Borlin, Erik Satie
P.A.S. gives credits: negative titling and film scenario written by Francis Picabia; music by Erik Satie
Louis Delluc
L’Innondation
D.C.
S.R. spells as L’Inondation
Dimitri Kirsanov
Ménilmontant
S.R.
D.C.
F.S. lists as 1924-25
Fernand Léger
Le Ballet Mécanique
D.C.
F.S.
P.A.S.
S.R. also credits with “assisted by Dudley Murphy”
GERMANY
Viking Eggeling
Parallèle
S.R
Horizontale
S.R
Walter Ruttmann
Opera (Opus 1, 2, 3 etc.; 1922-4)
D.C.
S.R. lists only under “Opus series” and as 1921-25
D.E.J. lists Lichtspiel Opus 1 — see 1921 above
“Dream of Hawks” animated sequences for Fritz Lang’s Die Nibelungen
S.R.
D.C.
only D.C. provides the “Dream of Hawks” title
RUSSIA
Sergei Eisenstein
Strike
S.R.
Dziga Vertov
Kino-Eye
S.R.
1925
MAJOR EVENTS
In England, Film Society forms and includes members Ivor Montagu, Adrian Brunel, Alberto Cavalcanti and Thorold Dickinson. Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin give lectures. Hans Richter conducts an “abortive” film class.
D.C.
“First international avant-garde film show was held in Berlin at UFA’s theatre Kurfürstendamm.” Screened: Clair’s Entr’acte (1924), Fernand Léger’s Ballet Mécanique (1924), Viking Eggeling’s Diagonal Symphony (1921), Hans Richter’s Rhythmus 23 (1923).
D.C.
SIGNIFICANT FILMS
FRANCE
Henry Chomette
Reflets de Lumière et de Vitesse
S.R.
D.C.
Jean Epstein
Photogénie
S.R.
Dimitri Kirsanov
Brumes d’Automne
D.C.
S.R. credits as 1926
Marcel L’Herbier
Feu Mathias Pascal
D.C.
S.R. credits as 1924
GERMANY
Hans Richter
Rhythmus 25
S.R
RUSSIA
Sergei Eisenstein
Potemkin
S.R.
Dziga Vertov
Kino-Pravda (1923-25)
S.R.
U.S.
Robert Flaherty
24 Dollar Island
S.R.
D.C.
Josef von Sternberg
The Salvation Hunters
D.E.J.
1926
MAJOR EVENTS
The Parufamet Agreement allows the immigration of German experimental filmmakers into Hollywood.
D.E.J.
The Amateur Cinema League formed. Publishes magazine Movie Makers.
D.C.
Lectures given by Slavko Vorkapich to the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) are printed as articles in The Film Mercury and the ASC’s American Cinematographer.
D.E.J.
SIGNIFICANT FILMS
FRANCE
Alberto Cavalcanti
Rien que des heures
S.R.
F.S.
Henry Chomette
Cinq Minutes de Cinéma Pur
S.R.
D.C.
René Clair
Le Voyage Imaginaire
D.C.
Man Ray
Emak Bakia
S.R.
D.C.
F.S.
Jean Renoir
Charleston
S.R.
Nana
D.C.
GERMANY
Hans Richter
Film Study
S.R.
D.C.
RUSSIA
Dziga Vertov
Forward Soviet
S.R.
The Sixth Part of the World
S.R.
1927
MAJOR EVENTS
The Life and Death of 9413 — A Hollywood Extra is shot on 35mm for $97 over several weekends mostly in Slavko Vorkapich’s kitchen.
D.E.J.
Kenneth Anger is born in Santa Monica as Kenneth Anglemyer.
D.E.J.
P.A.S. says 1930
SIGNIFICANT FILMS
FRANCE
Abel Gance
Napoléon
S.R.
D.C.
Marcel Duchamp
Anemic Cinema
S.R.
D.C. lists as 1926
F.S. lists as 1925
F.S. and S.R. both spell as Anaemic Cinéma
P.A.S. has listed as 1926 and 1927 in different chapters
GERMANY
Walter Ruttmann
Berlin, the Symphony of a Great City
S.R.
F.S.
P.A.S. titles film Berlin — Die Symfonie der Grosstadt
RUSSIA
Sergei Eisenstein
October or Ten Days That Shook the World
S.R.
1928
MAJOR EVENTS
Paramount hires Slavko Vorkapich to create montage sequences for their narrative films.
D.E.J.
Curtis Harrington is born in Los Angeles.
D.E.J.
Gregory Markopoulos is born to Greek immigrant parents in Toledo, Ohio.
D.E.J.
SIGNIFICANT FILMS
ENGLAND
Len Lye
Tusalava
S.R.
P.A.S.
D.C. lists as 1929
FRANCE
Luis Buñuel
Un Chien Andalou
with Salvador Dali
S.R.; D.C.; P.A.S.
F.S. lists as 1929
Alberto Cavalcanti
En Rade
S.R.
Germaine Dulac
La Coquille et le Clergyman (The Seashell and the Clergyman)
S.R.; F.S.
D.C. lists as 1926-7 and gives credit “scenario: Antoine Artaud”
Jean Epstein
Six et Demi Onze
D.C.
La Glace à Trois Faces
D.C.
La Chute de la Maison Usher (The Fall of the House of Usher)
S.R.; F.S.
D.C. also credits Louis Buñuel serving as apprentice
Marcel L’Herbier
L’Argent
D.C.
Man Ray
L’Etoile de Mer
D.C.; F.S.
P.A.S. titles film Étole de Mer and gives credit “Based on a poem by Robert Desnos”
Jean Renoir
Petite Marchande d’Allumettes (The Little Match Girl)
D.C.
S.R. lists as 1927
GERMANY
Hans Richter
Ghosts Before Breakfast (1927-28)
D.C.; F.S.
S.R. just lists as 1928
D.C. uses both the English and German title Vormittagsspuk
F.S. spells German name as Vormittagspuk and lists as Ghosts Before Noon
Walter Ruttmann
Weekend
S.R.
D.C. lists film with both the English title and the German title Wochenende
Tonende Welle (Sounding Wave)
D.C.
HOLLAND
Joris Ivens
The Bridge
S.R.
Rain
S.R.
U.S.
Walt Disney
Steamboat Willie
F.S.
Paul Fejos
The Last Moment
D.C.
D.E.J.
S.R. lists as 1927
Robert Florey
The Life and Death of 9413 — A Hollywood Extra
designed by Slavko Vorkapich; photographed by Gregg Toland
S.R.
D.E.J.
D.C. lists, but doesn’t give a year
Charles Klein
Tell-Tale Heart
S.R.
D.E.J.
Dr. James Sibley Watson
The Fall of the House of Usher
written by Melville Webber
S.R.
D.C.
P.A.S. and D.E.J. don’t distinguish credits, just call film by Watson & Webber
1929
MAJOR EVENTS
The International Congress of Independent Film held at the Chateau de la Sarraz, Switzerland. Filmmakers from different countries in attendance are:
Alberto Cavalcanti and Isaacs (England)
Bela Balasz and Leon Moussinac (France)
Hans Richter and Walter Ruttmann (Germany)
Sergei Eisenstein, Edward Tisse and Grigori Alexandroff (Russia)
Film Liga (Holland)
S.R.
D.C.
D.E.J.
C. Adolph Glassgold has his essay “The Films: Amateur or Professional?” published in The Arts, a journal mostly devoted to modernist painting.
D.E.J.
The magazine American Cinematographer begins to include a column for amateurs, usually written by William Stull.
D.E.J.
SIGNIFICANT FILMS
ENGLAND
Kenneth MacPherson
Foothills
S.R.
FRANCE
Claude Autant-Lara
How to Start a Fire
S.R.
Georges Lacombe
La Zone
S.R.
Man Ray
Les Mystères du Château du Dé
S.R.
D.C.
Jean Vigo
A propos de Nice
made with Boris Kaufman
S.R.
GERMANY
Oskar Fischinger
Study No. 5
F.S.
Erno Metzner
Uberfall
S.R.
F.S.
Walter Ruttmann
Melody of the World
S.R.
P.A.S. titles film Die Melodie der Welt
HOLLAND
Joris Ivens
Branding
S.R.
RUSSIA
Sergei Eisenstein
The General Line or Old and New
S.R.
Dziga Vertov
Man With a Camera
S.R.
D.C.
U.S.
Boris Deutsch
Lullaby
D.E.J.
Walt Disney
The Skeleton Dance
F.S.
Robert Florey
The Loves of Zero
Johann the Coffin Maker
S.R.
D.E.J. lists both as 1928
D.C. also lists both, but doesn’t give a concrete year
Ralph Steiner
H2O
S.R.
D.C.
Herman G. Weinberg
City Symphony
S.R.
D.C.
REFERENCE KEY:
D.C.: David Curtis. Experimental Cinema. New York: Dell Pub., 1978.
D.E.J.: David E. James. The Most Typical Avant-garde: History and Geography of Minor Cinemas in Los Angeles. Berkeley: University of California, 2005.
F.S.: Frank Stauffacher. Art in cinema; a symposium on the avantgarde film. New York: Arno Press, 1968. (reprint from 1947)
P.A.S.: P. Adams Sitney. Visionary Film: the American Avant-garde, 1943-2000. New York: Oxford UP, 2002.
S.M.: Scott MacDonald. Canyon Cinema: the Life and times of an Independent Film Distributor. Berkeley: University of California, 2008.
S.R.: Sheldon Renan. An Introduction to the American Underground Film. New York: Dutton, 1967.