Must-Watch List in the Vein of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Cult Guide

Dir: Richard Smith

Harpo played the hero, a detective named Watson who "made his entrance in a high hat, sliding down a coal chute into the basement". Groucho played an "old movie" villain, who "sported a long mustache and was clad in black", while Chico was probably his "chuckling [Italian] henchman". Zeppo portrayed a playboy who was the owner of a nightclub in which most of the action took place, including "a cabaret, [which allowed] the inclusion of a dance number". The final shot showed Groucho "in ball and chain, trudging slowly off into the gloaming". Harpo, in a rare moment of romantic glory, gets the girl in the end.

Dir: Fred Stranz

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Der Vampyr perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Julius Herska

France in the late 1600s, the son of a widowed lord is kidnapped by gypsies, who carve a permanent grin on the child's face. When the deformed boy grows up, he falls in love with a blind girl named Dea, and joins a touring company as a performer. Calling himself Gwynplaine, he develops an act in which he reveals his hideous face to the crowds for money. A sexually perverse, seductive socialite named Josiane becomes attracted to him and seeks to possess him.

Dir: Fritz Lang

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Man Who Laughs perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

When a woman's fiancé disappears, Death gives her three chances to save him from his fate.

Dir: Maurice Elvey

Sherlock Holmes comes to the aid of his friend Henry Baskerville, who is under a family curse and menaced by a demonic dog that prowls the bogs near his estate and murders people.

Dir: Rudolf Liebscher

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Destiny perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A mad scientist, an Indian fakir and a Japanese conman walk into a lab - and try to resurrect a dead alchemist in order to discover the secret of creating gold.

Dir: Károly Lajthay

A girl has frightening visions after visiting an insane asylum where one of the inmates claims to be Drakula and she can not be sure whether they were a nightmare or real.

Dir: Jan S. Kolár

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Hound of the Baskervilles perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Jan S. Kolár

Richard Bor brings his neighbor, the landowner Drazicky, an old book. The latter tries in vain to persuade his wife Dagmar to leave. In the book Drazicky finds the story of the Mystery of the Black Tower and he falls asleep. He goes into the tower and finds an alchemist's laboratory and the body of a man holding instructions describing how he can be revived. Drazicky successfully carries out the experiment and finds out that the man is his ancestor Jesek Drazicky who lived during the time of Rudolf II. He had become the apprentice of the alchemist Borro who had entrusted him with the mystery of the elixir of life.

Dir: Charles Raymond

A magician helps outwit a Chinaman's gang.