1. Tillie's Punctured Romance

Above: Mabel Normand (1892 - 1930) 

Watch or download "Tillie's Punctured Romance" by clicking here

Tillie's Punctured Romance (Dir. Mack Sennett, starring Charles Chaplin, Marie Dressler, and Mabel Normand) topped the 1914 box office as the most popular comedy of the year.  

Mack Sennett cranked out dozens of Keystone comedies in 1914, but Tillie remains one of his comedy troupe's most beloved works. 

Chaplin's co-star, Mabel Normand, began her career in pictures as an artist's model for  Charles Dana Gibson. She worked briefly for D.W. Griffith's Biograph studio in 1911, before meeting Mack Sennett at a party and beginning what Wikipedia calls a "topsy-turvy" relationship with him. 

Sennett founded Keystone studios in 1912.

Sennett often gave full creative rein to Mabel, who became one of the film industry's first female screenwriters and directors. In the summer of 1914 she began writing and directing Keystone comedies herself, including Mabel's Stormy Love Affair, Won in a Closet and Mabel's Blunder -- one of her earliest hits.

Above: Normand, Chaplin and Dresser in a classic restaurant scene from Tillie's Punctured Romance.

2. Photo-Drama of Creation

Watch or download the "Photodrama of Creation" by clicking here.

Photo-Drama of Creation (Dir. Charles Taze Russell) won its No. 2 spot in 1914 through sheer momentum and a clever marketing scheme called "free admission."

Weighing in at a whopping 480 minutes in length, it certainly needed some kind of marketing gimmick to make people sit still, and apparently Russell found just the right mix!

Funded by fundamentalists, Russell spent two years making this eight-hour Christian epic, which retold the story of Genesis in four parts. He combined film acting with synchronized sound, music and color slides. 

In fact, thanks to his innovative use of phonographic sound, some consider this film the first "talkie." To see the lips moving and hear a human voice really wowed the crowd. 

An estimated 9 million people in America and Europe watched the Photo-Drama of Creation, making it one of the most popular films of its time.

3. The Squaw Man

The Squaw Man (Dir. Oscar Apfel, Cecil B. DeMille) starring Dustin Farnum, Monroe Salisbury, and Winifred Kingston, may be watched or downloaded at archive.org by clicking here.


Summary: Call this a corny and unauthentic Western if you wish, but Buffalo Bill (1846 - 1917) and many pioneers of the Old West were still living when The Squaw Man was made. In fact this was the first full-length Western feature movie ever made in Hollywood, and director Cecil B. DeMille's first-ever movie assignment.

The Squaw Man brought to screen a 1905 stage play by Beulah Marie Dix, a popular children's book writer. The plot is pure sap and Sarsaparilla: Accepting blame for his brother's charity fraud, Capt. Wynngate leaves England for the Wild West, punches out men in a saloon and meets a beautiful Indian princess . . . . The romantic storyline was so popular, that DeMille successfully remade this film in 1918 and 1931.

The Silent Era website gives film details here. Note bit parts (uncredited) played by DeMille and Hal Roach, director of the "Spanky and Our Gang" comedies.

4. Cabiria

Cabiria (Dir. Giovanni Pastrone, an Italian film epic starring Italia Almirante-Manzini, Lidia Quaranta, Bartolomeo Pagano) may be watched or downloaded by clicking here.

Silent Era website provides film details and full feature here.

Summary: A sprawling, elaborate and sumptuously mounted Italian historical epic based on Emilio Salgari's 1908 novel Carthage in Flames. Adapted to screen by poet Gabriel D'Annunzio, Cabiria tells the story of the Second Punic War (218 B.C.) from the point of view of a small girl, Cabiria, who is kidnapped by pirates, sold into slavery and offered as a human sacrifice to the god Moloch by a wicked priesthood. 

Great mugging, wild costumes, volcanic eruptions, big battles, vast crowd scenes, and elephants, elephants, elephants (Hannibal crossing the Alps!) make this film the great-grand daddy of all epic crowd pleasers. Just imagine the wrap party. Wow.

5. The New Wizard of Oz

Above: Violet MacMillan (1887 - 1953)

Watch or download The New Wizard of Oz (originally released as His Majesty the Scarecrow of Oz) by clicking here.

The Silent Era website provides  film details here.

His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz  (Dir. L. Frank Baum, starring Violet MacMillan, Frank Moore, Pierre Couderc) made a very palpable hit amongst the little people, becoming one of the most popular children's films of the year 1914. Consequently, writer and director L. Frank Baum quickly re-issued the film in 1915 as The New Wizard of Oz.

The film's star, the blonde-haired and wide-eyed ingenue Violet MacMillan (1887 - 1953) launched her career in pictures by winning a Cinderella Girl slipper contest, a publicity stunt sponsored by a Broadway theatre (her small feet fit). She joined  The Oz Film Manufacturing Company in 1914 and starred in several films directed by Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum, including The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) and the Magic Cloak of Oz (1914).  

His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz (1914) turned out to be the short-lived companies most popular work. From 1915 to 1916, Violet also appeared in a lost series of shorts produced by L. Frank Baum called Violet's Dreams, in which she played a girl named Claribel who had fairytale adventures in her dreams.

Violet MacMillan went on to work for Universal Studios and appeared in a total of 26 silent films, briefly starring opposite Lon Chaney. She married an industrial executive, and retired from show business in 1922.  She moved back home to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she died in 1953 at age 66.

6. Judith of Bethulia

Above: Blanche Sweet (1896 - 1986) in a 1915 photo for Biograph Studios.  
Below: A sob scene from Judith of Bethulia (1914). Sweet came from a family of Vaudeville performers, toddled onto stage at age 4, started her career with Biograph in 1909 (as a 14-year-old), and charmed so many people that she was once considered a very serious rival to Mary Pickford.

Judith of Bethulia (Dir. D.W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet, Henry B. Walthall, Mae Marsh, Lillian Gish) may be watched or downloaded by clicking here.

7. Fantômas IV: Fantoms Against Fantômas

Watch Fantoms v. Fantomas at the French Concerte Arte TV site here. 

Fantômas IV: Fantoms Against Fantômas (Dir. Louis Feulliade), released in the Spring of 1914, was the fourth episode in a series of French gothic "phantom" films based on the popular Fantômas novels by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre.  Because they were silent, there was no language problem!

The series starred Rene Navarre as the Phantom, Edmond Bréon as police inspector Juve, Georges Melchior as an enterprising journalist, and Laurent Morleas. 

The Silent Era website provides a free showing of Fantomas (1913), the first film in the series here.

8. The Perils of Pauline

The Perils of Pauline (Dir. Louis J. Gasnier, Donald MacKenzie) starring Pearl White, Crane Wilbur, and Paul Panzer,  may be watched online or downloaded by clicking here.

Summary: Pauline (Pearl White), a dreamy young waif who wants to write novels, is all set to inherit millions from her loving guardian, Mr. Marvin (Crane Wilbur), but Marvin's secretary, Mr. Koerner (Paul Panzer), has different ideas. He wants to keep the money for himself. 

A popular 1914 series of 20 two-reelers, shown in weekly installments, the Perils of Pauline pitted a damsel in distress against a wide variety of perfidious villains hellbent on sending her through sawmills or tying her to railroad tracks. 

What fun! Whew. I almost thought that train was going to hit her. 

A former bare-back rider for the circus, Pearl White did all her own stunts -- some of them very dangerous.

Can't get enough of women being tied like a sack of potatoes to railroad tracks? The audience couldn't. They bought so many tickets that Pearl White suddenly found herself cast in a very similar series of cliffhanger: The Exploits of Elaine (1914) and the New Exploits of Elaine (1915).

9. Fantômas V: Le Faux Magistrat

Above: René Navarre, star of the five-episode series.

Fantômas V: Le Faux Magistrat (Dir. Louis Feuillade), the fifth and final episode of the popular French Fantômas series, starring Rene Navarre, and Georges Melchior, Mesnery.

Watch Fantomas V: The False Magistrate for free at instantwatcher.com here.  


Summary: The fifth and final episode of the popular French Fantômas series. See a great summary of the film, with photos, at the Cinema History blog here. Based on "The Burglar Magistrate" the 12th of the 43 Fantomas novels.

10. The Patchwork Girl of Oz

The Patchwork Girl of Oz  (Dir. J. Farrell MacDonald), starring Violet MacMillan, Frank Moore, Raymond Russell.

Watch The Patchwork Girl of Oz at archive.org here or at YouTube here.

11. In the Land of the Head Hunters

Above: Maggie Frank

In the Land of the Head Hunters (Dir. Edward S. Curtis), is a fictionalized telling of the story of the Kwakiutl peoples of British Columbia, acted entirely by Native North Americans, starring Maggie Frank.  

The Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences provides a restored copy of the film, which may be seen by clicking here.

The original book may be read or downloaded at archive.org here

12. The Avenging Conscience

The Avenging Conscience: or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" (Dir. D.W. Griffith), starring Henry B. Walthall, Spottiswoode Aitken, and Blanche Sweet may be viewed or downloaded at archive.org by clicking here.

13. The Jungle

The Jungle (Dir. George Irving, Jack Pratt), a silent film adaptation of Upton Sinclair's book by the same name, starrred George Nash, Gail Kane, Julia Hurley.  Not available on the internet, but short clips may be found via Bing Video search results here.
 

14. The Aftermath

Above: Virginia Belle Pearson, c. 1918.  

The Aftermath (Dir. Sydney Ayres) starred William Garwood, Viviane Rich, Owen Moore, Virginia Pearson and Harry von Meter may be watched online via a commercial site, TrackTVLinks.com here.

Listed only as a "short drama" written by George A. Posner, The Aftermath may be considered a very silent film indeed.  Almost no description may be found.

Director Sydney Ayres (1879 - 1916) directed more than 16 films in the year 1914 -- more than one a month.  As a New York director, his methods may be considered a classic example of pre-Hollywood film making: He was a respected actor who simply bought some camera equipment and began cranking. He died, tragically, of Multiple Sclerosis in 1916 at age 37. 

Wikipedia's detailed filmography for actor Harry von Meter suggests that The Aftermath was just another one-reeler for him: he made 45 films in 1914 (almost one per week).  

In 1914 actress Virginia Pearson not only starred in The Aftermath but also appeared opposite Theda Bara in The Stain. She made 51 films in a career spanning from 1910 to 1932.

15. Cinderella

Cinderella (Dir. James Kirkwood), starring Mary Pickford, Owen Moore, and Isabel Vernon, may be viewed and downloaded at archive.org here. 

16. The Escape

Above: Actress Mae Marsh (1894 - 1968), star of The Escape (1914, a lost film), seen here in another D.W. Griffith classic, The Birth of A Nation, which Griffith released in February 1915.

The Escape (Dir. D.W. Griffith), starred Donald Crisp, F.A. Turner, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh and Blanche Sweet. A short clip from the film may be viewed at YouTube here.

17. A Florida Enchantment

A Florida Enchantment (Dir. Sidney Drew), was a Vitagraph photo play based on a gender-bending fantasy drama written in 1896 by Fergus Redmond and Archibald Clavering Gunter. It starred Sidney Drew, Edith Storey, and Charles Kent.  Bing Video search results may be seen here.

18. The Life of General Villa

The Life of General Villa (Dir. Christy Cabanne, Raoul Walsh), an action-drama based on the 1913-1914 Mexican Revolution led by Pancho Villa, starred Pancho Villa himself, Irene Hunt, W.H. Lawrence, and Walter Long.  To see Bing Video search results, click here.

19. The Mysterious X

Above: Danish Film Director Benjamin Christensen (1879 - 1959)

The Mysterious X (Det hemmelighedsfulde X, Dir. Benjamin Christensen), was a Danish film drama starring Benjamin Christensen, Karen Caspersen, Otto Reinwald.  The film has been posted at YouTube here.

20. Brewster's Millions

Brewster's Millions (Dir. Oscar Apfel, Cecil B. DeMille), was an adaptation of the 1902 comedy written by George Barr McCutcheon, starring Edward Abeles, Joseph Singleton, Sydney Deane). The film is not available online.

Short List of the Top Twenty

Top Grossing Films

1. The Million Dollar Mystery (Dir. Howell Hansel, a 23-chapter film serial starring  Florence La Badie, Marguerite Snow, James Cruze and Frank Farrington)

2. The Squaw Man (Dir. Oscar Apfel, Cecil B. DeMille, a Western drama starring Dustin Farnum, Monroe Salisbury, Winifred Kingston)

Source: Wikipedia "1914 in Film" citing Birchard, Robert S. Cecile B. DeMille's Hollywood (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2004) pp. 1 - 13.

Most Popular Feature Films Released in 1914

1. Tillie's Punctured Romance (Dir. Mack Sennett, starring Charles Chaplin, Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand)

2. Photo-Drama of Creation (Dir. Charles Taze Russell, a four-part eight-hour Christian film combined with synchronized sound, music and color slides, shown for free and seen by 9 million people in America and Europe)

3. The Squaw Man (Dir. Oscar Apfel, Cecil B. DeMille, starring Dustin Farnum, Monroe Salisbury, Winifred Kingston)

4. Cabiria (Dir. Giovanni Pastrone, an Italian film epic starring Italia Almirante-Manzini, Lidia Quaranta, Bartolomeo Pagano)

5. His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz reissued in 1915 as The New Wizard of Oz (Dir. L. Frank Baum, starring Violet MacMillan, Frank Moore, Pierre Couderc)

6. Judith of Bethulia (Dir. D.W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet, Henry B. Walthall, Mae Marsh, Lillian Gish)

7. Fantômas IV: Fantoms Against Fantômas (Dir. Louis Feulliade, the fourth episode in a series of French gothic "phantom" films based on the popular Fantômas novels by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre , starring Rene Navarre, Georges Melchior, Laurent Morleas)

8. The Perils of Pauline (Dir. Louis J. Gasnier, Donald MacKenzie, starring Pearl White, Crane Wilbur, Paul Panzer)

9. Fantômas V: Le Faux Magistrat (Dir. Louis Feuillade, the fifth and final episode of the popular French Fantômas series, starring Rene Navarre, Georges Melchior, Mesnery)

10. The Patchwork Girl of Oz (Dir. J. Farrell MacDonald, starring Violet MacMillan, Frank Moore, Raymond Russell)

11. In the Land of the Head Hunters (Dir. Edward S. Curtis, a fictionalized telling of the story of the Kwakiutl peoples of British Columbia, acted entirely by Native North Americans, starring Maggie Frank)

12. The Avenging Conscience: or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" (Dir. D.W. Griffith, starring Henry B. Walthall, Spottiswoode Aitken, Blanche Sweet)

13. The Jungle (Dir. George Irving, Jack Pratt, a silent film adaptation of Upton Sinclair's book by the same name, starring George Nash, Gail Kane, Julia Hurley)

14. The Aftermath (Starring Owen Moore, Virginia Pearson and Harry von Meter)

15. Cinderella (Dir. James Kirkwood, starring Mary Pickford, Owen Moore, Isabel Vernon)

16. The Escape (Dir. D.W. Griffith, starring Donald Crisp, F.A. Turner, Robert Harron)

17. A Florida Enchantment (Dir. Sidney Drew, a Vitagraph photo play based on a gender-bending fantasy written in 1896 by Fergus Redmond and Archibald Clavering Gunter, starring Sidney Drew, Edith Storey, Charles Kent)

18. The Life of General Villa (Dir. Christy Cabanne, Raoul Walsh, an action-drama based on the 1913-1914 Mexican Revolution led by Pancho Villa, starring Pancho Villa as himself, Irene Hunt, W.H. Lawrence, Walter Long)

19. The Mysterious X (Det hemmelighedsfulde X, Dir. Benjamin Christensen, a Danish film drama starring Benjamin Christensen, Karen Caspersen, Otto Reinwald)

20. Brewster's Millions (Dir. Oscar Apfel, Cecil B. DeMille, an adaptation of the 1902 comedy written by George Barr McCutcheon, starring Edward Abeles, Joseph Singleton, Sydney Deane)

Source: "Most Popular Feature Films Released in 1914"  Internet Movie Database