THE MECHANICAL MAN (1922) Besides NOSFERATU this is one of the weirest, strange and very cool silent films I've ever seen. It features Italian title cards. Though I don't know Italian, the story seems oretty simple. A female criminal scientist fakes her death and sets loose a creepy robot which smashes though walls and creates terror. Unlike movies filmed later, this actually presents the robot as scary and not silly. Shades of Frankenstein. Short but very good. Recommened.
THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN (1922) Stars Will Rogers as Ichabod Crane. The classic Washington Irving tale of an unwelcome schoolmaster in the village of Sleepy Hollow. The new teacher is very sensative to tales oft he supernatural and this town has the ghost of a beheaded Revolutionary War soldier haunting it. At least that's the legend. Some of Crane's antagonists use his beliefs in the supernatural to the rid the town of him. There's an early special effect of a skeleton riding a horse that is transparent and a striking "vision" sequence where Crane is tarred and feathered. A pretty neat piece of cinema history and Will Rogers is quite good as the prissy Ichabod Crane.
