No Words Necessary: Silent Film's Most Enchanting Actresses

International Cinema Day is celebrated on 28 December, reminding us of the history of the "moving pictures" that first appeared over a century ago.

The first films were silent and only documentary but later more art (feature) films flooded the market. The movies remained silent, but later musical scores accompanied the films. Silent cinema flourished in the 1920s.

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Russian silent film actress Vera Holodnaya (1893-1919), in 1916.

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American actress Fritzi Ridgeway with colleague Vilma Banky in "This Is Heaven".

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American actress Theda Bara (1885 - 1955) wearing an Egyptian headdress and breast plates with a snake design for director J Gordon Edwards' film, "Cleopatra", 1917.

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American actress Gloria Swanson, James Abbe's photo, 1921.

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American Actress Mary Pickford, The Photo-Play Journal, June 1916.

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Polish, German and Italian silent film actress Elena Makovskaya, 1916.

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American actress Bessie Love, 1920.

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American actress of French origins Renée Adorée in Goldwyn Pics, 1922.

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Russian silent film actress Alexandra Rebikova, during a performance of the Moscow Art Theatre's "Blue Bird" 1908.

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Single frame from newly found (June 2006) lost American drama film Maytime (1923) with Clara Bow and Ethel Shannon, the 1920s.

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Indian movie actress Sulochana dans Daku Ki Ladki in 1933.

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Actress Claire Windsor on page 8 of the July 1921 Photoplay magazine.