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In Robert Wiene’s 1920 dreamlike horror classic, veteran German actor Werner Krauss plays the mysterious Dr. Caligari, the apparent force behind a creepy somnambulist named Cesare and played by Conrad Veidt, who abducts beautiful Lil Dagover. The finale in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has inspired tons of movies and television shows, from Fritz Lang's 1944 film noir The Woman in the Window to the last episode of the TV series St. Elsewhere. In addition, the film shares some key elements in common (suppposedly as a result of a mere coincidence) with Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's 2011 thriller Shutter Island. The 1920 crime melodrama Outside the Law is not in any way related to Rachid Bouchareb's 2010 political drama. Instead, the Tod Browning-directed movie is a well-made entry in the gangster genre (long before the explosion a decade later). Browning, best known for his early '30s efforts Dracula and Freaks,...

The Mollycoddle (1920) Direction: Victor Fleming Screenplay: Douglas Fairbanks, Thomas J. Geraghty ("scenario editor"); from a short story by Harold McGrath Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Ruth Renick, Wallace Beery, Paul Burns, Morris Hughes, George Stewart Ruth Renick, Douglas Fairbanks, The Mollycoddle Though no masterpiece, The Mollycoddle is a surprisingly enjoyable romp starring Douglas Fairbanks as an effete, upper-class, European wannabe who discovers both his manhood and his red-white-and-blue Americanness — both qualities are inextricably linked — before the final fadeout. Fairbanks' leading lady is a minor actress named Ruth Renick, but one barely notices her. The director is Victor Fleming, best known for Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, but The Mollycoddle is truly all Fairbanks'.