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Underground Film Timeline: 1920 — 1929

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

Still from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari where Caligari greets Cesare rising from coffin
The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari

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

DVD

Abstract film still featuring black and white rectangles of various shapes
Rhythmus 21

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.

DVD 1 DVD 2

Skyline of '20s New York City including the Brooklyn Bridge
Manhatta

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.

DVD

B&W abstract shapes
Diagonal Symphony

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

DVD

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.

An abstract shape casting a shadow
La Retour à la Raison

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.

DVD

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

DVD

Kaleidoscope image of a woman's face
Le Ballet Mécanique

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

DVD

Fernand Léger

Le Ballet Mécanique

D.C.
F.S.
P.A.S.
S.R. also credits with “assisted by Dudley Murphy”

DVD 1 DVD 2 DVD 3

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.

Woman in silent movie looking forlorn
Brumes d’Automne

Dimitri Kirsanov

Brumes d’Automne

D.C.
S.R. credits as 1926

DVD

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.

DVD

Henry Chomette

Cinq Minutes de Cinéma Pur

S.R.
D.C.

Man Ray adjusts the lens on his camera
Emak Bakia

René Clair

Le Voyage Imaginaire

D.C.

Man Ray

Emak Bakia

S.R.
D.C.
F.S.

DVD

Jean Renoir

Charleston

S.R.

DVD

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

DVD 1 DVD 2 DVD 3

Still from Anemic Cinema featuring a circular abstract image
Anemic Cinema

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

DVD

Alberto Cavalcanti

En Rade

S.R.

A priest pushes a man hanging from a rope
La Coquille et le Clergyman

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”

DVD 1 DVD 2

Jean Epstein

Six et Demi Onze

D.C.

La Glace à Trois Faces

D.C.

DVD

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”

DVD

Jean Renoir

Petite Marchande d’Allumettes (The Little Match Girl)

D.C.
S.R. lists as 1927

DVD

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

DVD

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.

Close-up of a man pointing a gun
Ghosts Before Breakfast

HOLLAND

Joris Ivens

The Bridge

S.R.

DVD

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

Man with 9413 written on his forehead yells into a telephone
The Life and Death of 9413

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

DVD 1 DVD 2

Charles Klein

Tell-Tale Heart

S.R.
D.E.J.

DVD

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

DVD

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.

DVD

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.

DVD

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.

DVD

Still from Man With a Camera featuring an eyeball in a camera lens
Man With a Movie Camera

U.S.

Boris Deutsch

Lullaby

D.E.J.

Walt Disney

The Skeleton Dance

F.S.

Water pours out of a pump
H2O

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.

DVD

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.