After being betrayed by her playboy lover, a heartbroken mute young woman joins a ballet company; during a performance of “The Dying Swan,” she enraptures a painter obsessed with portraying death genuinely.

The story of Prince Stepán Kasátsky discovering his fiancée was the mistress of the Czar, so he then becomes a monk.

"Polikushka" was the only film directed by Aleksandr Sanin, one of Moscow Art Academic Theatre's founders, and is based on Lev Tolstoy's homonym short story. In spite the many differences between the literary oeuvre and its film adaptation it is a remarkable work that is outstanding for its depiction of the cruel realities of Russian society -the harsh life condition of its main character and his family in contrast to the wealth of his mistress;

Since Zoya Verenskaya's husband passed away ten years ago, she has been devoted to her daughter Lee. At present, Lee is in poor health, and she is in danger of losing her eyesight. Zoya's suitor Dmitry wants to get married, but Zoya is determined to wait until Lee is better. Then, on a vacation in the Crimea, they learn Lee's true feelings for Dmitry, and suddenly all of their lives are thrown into turmoil.

Pastor Talnoх furiously urges the flock to fight temptations, but he himself becomes a victim of temptation. In his house appears Satan, pushing the hero to theft and spiritual fall.

A young man discovers the reason his new bride killed herself.

The film is based on the words of a song performed by Iza Kremer in Odessa.

Based on the story of the same name by I. S. Turgenev. The movie has not survived.

Young scholar Andrei, fascinated by haunting actress Zoia Kadmina, is surprised when she sends him a note. The two have a brief scheduled meeting, then three months later Andrei is shocked to learn she has died. He becomes obsessed with Zoia's memory and decides he must find out all that he can about her.

Famous Russian screen actors play themselves in this drama about the lives of actors. Thirteen minutes of the film survive.

This film was a true peculiarity, a filmed version of the great Feodor Chaliapin in one of his most famous roles; the fact that it was a silent film, with title cards, meant that audiences could only appreciate his acting. Another curiosity is that the film also included a minor role enacted by Richard Boleslavsky, who in 1932 directed “Rasputin and the Empress.”(9)

The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.

A young woman arrives in her school where she must teach for the first time. Her task consists in teaching a class of adults to read and write. All her students are male, ranging from boys to old men, and they are rather rowdy and difficult. All the more as a young hooligan dares write her on a test paper that he loves her. Feeling harassed by the young man, she is defended by other students. But she more or less feels the young bad boy's love is true and when this one is lying on his dying bed, after being stabbed by the other students, she solaces him by kissing him tenderly.

Based on the poem by Pushkin. A thief and his gang are at their camp next to the Volga River. He tells them of how his father died in a river, and how his brother and he were thrown out of the house as children by their step-mother…

Mazepa, the Ukrainian governor is in love with his goddaughter Maria. He quickly wins her heart. But her old father treats the wooer harshly… Maria runs away. The furious father won’t submit. This intrigue makes the most of the ingredients of historical drama. Maria is confronted to the arbitrary; the young woman is in a dilemma between her love and her family. The tragic outcome is equal to her destiny.

Directed by Vladimir Gardin and Yakov Protazanov, this two-part epic was the most expensive Russian film at the time and smashed box office records. It is now considered lost, with only a 4 minute clip surviving.

The Kreutzer Sonata is based on a novella by Leo Tolstoy, named after Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. The work is an argument for the ideal of sexual abstinence and an in-depth first-person description of jealous rage. The main character, Pozdnyshev, relates the events leading up to his killing his wife.

"Bread" - a Bolshevik propaganda tale about the fundaments of living.

Despite living in luxury, Vera is lonely and discontented. When she accompanies her mother, the Countess, on a charity visit to the poor, she is troubled by what she sees, and she resolves to do whatever she can to help them…

The Kreutzer Sonata is a 1911 Russian silent film directed by Pyotr Chardynin. The film is considered lost.

A romance in the upper-classes develops as the Bolshevik revolution is at hand.

The picture tells the story of Maria, a devoted wife of a bank employee. The couple has a cozy life; they have a baby but he is cared for by their maid so Maria can spend her time doing terrific things like going shopping. During one of these consumer afternoons, Maria meets by chance an old friend, Lidia, who will introduce her to exclusive idle class social circles. Soon Maria's beauty attracts the interest of Lebedev, a rich old libertine. From that point on Maria suffers continual sexual harassment (worthy of inclusion in any silent film encyclopedia article on beleaguered heroines) which she resists for a time. In the end, however, she falls into his bourgeois claws.

Ukrainian silent courtroom drama about the trial on charges of Menachem Mendel Beilis in the ritual murder of 12-year-old Andrey Yushchinsky. Menahem Mendel Beilis was a Ukrainian Jew accused of ritual murder in Kyiv, in the then Russian Empire, in a notorious 1913 trial, known as the Beilis trial or Beilis affair.

Marianna advertises for work as a reader and is employed by the reclusive millionaire Dymov. Appreciative of her sensitive, artistic nature, and of her youthful innocence and purity, Dymov is protective of Marianna and shields her from the attentions of his philandering playboy son. Marianna confesses to her fiancé Sergei that, at times, she feels deeply conflicted, drawn by the seductive lure of wealth and luxury. When her protector Dymov dies, his son begins to pursue her. Can Marianna resist her attraction to the opulent lifestyle that Dymov's son offers?

Made in 1912, this film has become known as one of the greatest pieces of pre-Soviet cinema. The silent film tells the story of the Patriotic war of 1812 when Napoleon attempted to invade Russia. This joint French and Russian film sparked major excitement in Moscow at its premier screening and continues to entertain audiences throughout the world today. The 32-minute silent film was the point of origin for some of the more advanced camera techniques used today. Sirotin of the Voice of Russia said that, “The film is interesting to spectators even today and is frequently shown both in Russia and abroad.”

An adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel.

While hosting a game of cards one night, Narumov tells his friends a story about his grandmother, a Countess. As a young woman, she had once incurred an enormous gambling debt, which she was able to erase by learning a secret that guaranteed that she could win by playing her cards in a certain order. One of Narumov's friends, German, has never gambled, but he is intrigued by the story about the Countess and her secret. He soon becomes obsessed with learning this secret from her, and he starts by courting her young ward Lizaveta, hoping to use her to gain access to the Countess.

Wealthy Mrs. Khromova has a natural daughter, Musya, and an adopted daughter, Nata. The merchant Zhurov is in love with Nata, and hopes to marry her, but she is non-committal.

Prosecutor Olsen's lover, the singer-songwriter Betsy, leaves him for a new passion. And he, speaking in court as a prosecutor, remains deaf to the dictates of feelings, a ruthless servant of the harsh Law. Some time later, Betsy kills her new lover in a fit of jealousy; Olsen, who retained his feelings, nevertheless becomes her accuser at the trial. He seeks the condemnation of Betsy, but comes to the realization that he lived unrighteously, allowing himself to be judged, becoming a servant of Themis. Exit in the classic tradition of the great mute: Olsen commits suicide.

Silent film from 1915 which draws on the story of Carmen

Based on the poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin.

This 1914 drama set in the WWI-era relates a heroic act carried out by a war nurse for the Red Cross (Dora Tschitorina) who has witnessed the death of her husband (Ivan Mosjoukine).

A group of young people made a bet, according to the terms of which they had to visit a cemetery at midnight.

A Jewish parvenu climbs the social ladder by seducing wealthy women.

In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.

Fantastical story about an artist whose life changes after a ballerina from a film poster comes to life. Mostly lost.

Based on the novel "South of the Slot" by J. London. The movie didn't survive.

"The Living Corpse" - Fedor Protasov is tormented by the thought that his wife Liza never really made a clear choice between him and Victor Karenin, a more conventional rival for her hand. He wants to kill himself, but doesn't have the nerve. Running away from his life, he falls in with Gypsies, and into a sexual relationship with a Gypsy singer Mascha. Meanwhile, his wife Liza, presuming him dead, marries the other man, Victor.

Based on the novel of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. "Filming of the theater play performed by the Ukrainian troupe N. Sadovsky". Film illustration, not quite successful in mastering the classics. The film is stored in the Gosfilmofond of Russia.

Two peasants in feudal Russia wish to marry but tragedy strikes. A grim if familiar depiction of the precarious condition of the rural life.

A husband discovers that his wife has had a lover from the early days of their marriage. He is faced with a painful and agonizing problem: whose are the three girls that he is supposed to have fathered?

Millionaire Gornostayev and ballet dancer in Ilona are always arguing about what is more important - youth and beauty or wealth. Ilona thought that youth and beauty are more important, but Gornostayew disagreed with her. He intended to prove Ilona that she in wrong. Gornostayew signed a contract with young worker Alexey. They moved abroad. Year later. Alexey changed into a real aristocrat and returned to Russia. Gornostayew introduced Alexey to Ilona and she falls in love with him.