Genuine - 1920

Country: Germany
Language: German
Director: Robert Wiene
Writer: Carl Mayer
Stars: Fern Andra (Genuine), Hans Heinrich von Twardowski (Florian) and Ernst Gronau (Lord Melo)
Release Date: 2 September 1920 (Germany- Berlin) (premiere)
Also known as: Genuine: A Tale of a Vampire (undefined)
Filming Locations: Bioscop-Atelier, Neubabelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany
Production Co: Decla-Bioscop AG
Runtime: 43:51 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Trivia
A 43-minute condensation of this silent film can be found as an Extra Feature on the Kino Video DVD of _Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The (1920)_ The full-length version can only be viewed at the Munich City Film Museum archive in Germany.
Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Une histoire seule (1989) (V)
Plot Keywords: One Word Title | Vampire | German Expressionism | Expressionist
Genres: Horror
First off, I am reviewing the "43 minute condensed version" that is found on KINO's "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," so this is the longest version currently available on video.
It's hard to talk plot line since I have no idea how the somewhat tenuous plot of this version compares to the apparently complete version locked up in Germany, but I can say that the subtitle "A Tale of a Vampire" is erroneous as there is no vampire in this film. The original subtitle is "Tragedy of a Strange House," which is much more accurate to the film in the version I own.
While there is very little to go on story-wise, the set design and imagery is fantastic! While of course, the sets look like painted cardboard (because they are), one must ignore that fact and look at the pure artistry put into the set design. There are some truly disturbing images, such as a skeleton with a clock for a head. And while actual camera movement is absent, this is an early example of a film that allows some action to occur at the fringes of the lens instead of dead center (like you are watching a play). This allows for some interesting and startling entrances from Genuine herself.
Speaking of startling, there is a scene in a slave market that features two women in a gauze-like material. You can see their breasts clearly, one of the earliest examples of nudity in a mainstream film. The nudity isn't highlighted and isn't used for eroticism, but I was surprised to see nipples so clearly in a movie from 1920.
I also must mention the brilliant score. While it is repetitive, it isn't annoying. It seems a perfect fit for such a strange little film. I found the score to be quite complementary to the imagery, and very beautiful as well.
This may not be "Caligari," but it shouldn't be dismissed as it seems to have been by others on this forum. And in its full form--if we ever get to see it--it may just be another "Caligari." Short on plot, but a hallucinogenic, dreamlike, and fascinating trip into a strange world. Try it! 

Beau Revel - 1921

Country: USA
Director: John Griffith Wray
Writers: Luther Reed, Louis Joseph Vance (story)
Stars: Lewis Stone, Florence Vidor and Lloyd Hughes
Release Date: 20 March 1921 (USA)
Production Co: Thomas H. Ince Corporation
Runtime: 69 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Society | Character Name In Title
Genres: Drama
Among the producer Thomas Ince's series of specials for Paramount, source was as important as star; several were from Louis Joseph Vance novels: False Faces, The Bronze Bell, The Dark Mirror, and "Beau" Revel, as I outline in my Ince biography. All prominently acknowledged the popular author best known for the "Lone Wolf" mysteries. Vance had been signed to a four-picture deal with Ince, and was particularly involved with dramatizing The Dark Mirror and "Beau" Revel. A year earlier, Ralph Ince Film Attractions, a combine including not only Thomas's brother, but also Arthur Sawyer and Herbert Lubin, had secured Vance to compose originals and also analyze the story construction of each script prior to production.
"Beau" Revel, "An Ince-Vance Special Paramount Picture," was introduced with the subtitle, "This is the story of a man who played at love, forgetting in his vain selfishness, the rules of Duty, even Decency—conceitedly 'wasting his manhood in a game unworthy of man.'" That is a precise definition of Lewis Stone as the title character, first shown having his nails trimmed, his shoes shined, and receiving a shave. His latest fancy is Alice (Kathleen Kirkham), a woman whose husband's drunkenness has given Beau an opening. However, she refuses to believe his protestations that despite his reputation for breaking the hearts of many women, if she marries him he will henceforth only love her.
Beau arranges his evening with Alice to meet the woman his son cares for at the Club de Dance. Betty Lee (Florence Vidor) is a dancer, truly in love with Dick Revel (Lloyd Hughes), but his father cynically judges her by his own standards. Alice, for her part, perceives that Beau has a new interest, and she turns out to be correct, for Beau tricks his son into agreeing to not see Betty for two weeks, convinced he can get Betty in his room alone. Dick tries to warn her, but when Betty expresses dismay over such an opinion of his father, Dick believes she is already under his sway.
By the end of the two weeks, Beau has forgotten his promises in the new thrill to fulfill his vanity, and is now avoiding Alice, even though she is ready for the divorce from her husband. Beau's soul, through double-exposures, becomes a literal battleground of temptation, the shadows of women and his wicked self. His reputation is already tarnishing that of Betty, and when father and son both express their desire to marry her, she declares herself through with both. "You have never loved anybody—Not even Dick," Betty tells Beau, "The only thing you've ever loved is the idea of being in love." Dick wins her back, but meanwhile his father has realized that his life has been one of failure and mistakes. He doesn't want to die old, so he jumps to his death. In the last shot, as a metaphor, a moth is drawn too close to the flame of a dying candle.
"Beau" Revel is unusual for its exposure of the empty life, particularly that of a father, as a type of man usually accepted if not celebrated in cinematic narratives—a man who knows how to seize the psychological advantage with women, regardless of consequences. Stone is ideally cast, with Vidor and Hughes complimenting him in creating the sense of tragedy. Variety gave high praise to the realism of the acting and the restraint of novice director John Griffith Wray, suggesting he would have the significant Hollywood career that was shortly to occur with Ince. "Beau" Revel cost $134,380, and grossed $209,469.