Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Fritz Lang (upper right), & crew on the set of  Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang) (via)

Eheferien (1927, dir. Victor Janson) (via)

The undersea ‘Realm of Glass’ set from The Thief of Bagdad (1924, dir. Raoul Walsh) Art direction by William Cameron Menzies.

To prepare the set for the underwater world, a family of artisans spent three months hand-blowing the required glass pieces.

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Charlie Chaplin playing with children (c. early 1920’s) (via)

Constance Bennett in Sally, Irene and Mary (1925, dir. Edmund Goulding) (via)

The Tell-Tale Heart (1928, dir. Charles Klein) (via)

“Oh God! what could I do? I foamed —I raved —I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder —louder —louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! —no, no! They heard! —they suspected! —they knew! —they were making a mockery of my horror!-This I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now —again! —hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!

‘Villains!’ I shrieked, ‘dissemble no more! I admit the deed! —tear up the planks! here, here! —It is the beating of his hideous heart!’”

-Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart

Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera (1925, dir. Rupert Julian) (via)

“Poor, unhappy Erik! Shall we pity him? Shall we curse him? He asked only to be ‘some one,’ like everybody else. But he was too ugly! And he had to hide his genius or use it to play tricks with, when, with an ordinary face, he would have been one of the most distinguished of mankind! He had a heart that could have held the entire empire of the world; and, in the end, he had to content himself with a cellar. Ah, yes, we must need pity the Opera ghost…”

-Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera (1911)

Conrad Veidt in The Hands of Orlac (1924, dir. Robert Wiene) (via)

Buster Keaton in Go West (1925, dir. Buster Keaton) (via)

Dorothy Mackaill in His Captive Woman (1929, dir. George Fitzmaurice) (via)

Thérèse Raquin (1928, dir. Jacques Feyder) (via)

The Cat and the Canary (1927, dir. Paul Leni) (via)

Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and playwright Edward Knobloch (c. early 1920s)

Chaplin: “I had heard much about Douglas Fairbanks’ charm and ability, not only as a personality but as a brilliant after-dinner speaker. In those days I disliked brilliant young men - especially after-dinner speakers. However, a dinner was arranged at his house. Both Douglas and I told a story of that night….I made up my mind to feign a headache and leave early. Fairbanks said he was also nervous, & that when the doorbell rang he quickly descended into the basement, where there was a billiard table, and began playing pool. That night was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.”

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Paul Wegener in Monna Vanna (1922, dir. Richard Eichberg) (via)