Stubs - Moana (1926)

Moana. A Romance of the Golden Age (1926) starring Ta’avale Uni, Fa’amgase Súa-Filo, Pe’a Taulealea, Tu’ungaita. Directed by Robert J. Flaherty and Frances Hubbard Flaherty. Produced by Robert J. and Frances Hubbard Flaherty. Written by Robert J. and Frances Hubbard Flaherty. Black and White. Run time: 98 minutes. USA. Silent with sound, Documentary

If you ever wondered where the term "documentary" comes from, you need look no further than a contemporary review of this film. Scottish filmmaker, film theorist, and critic John Grierson, writing for The New York Sun under the name “The Moviegoer”, coined the term in his review on February 8, 1926, the day after Moana opened. Grierson is considered by many to be the father of British and Canadian documentary film. Despite that, many view the film as more docufiction.

Stubs - The Johnstown Flood

The Johnstown Flood (1926) starring George O'Brien, Florence Gilbert, Janet Gaynor Directed by Irving Cummings Screenplay by Edfrid Bingham, Robert Lord. Produced by William Fox Run time: 60 minutes. Black and White with tints. USA. Silent, Melodrama, Disaster

On Friday, May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, catastrophically failed. The result was a flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that killed 2208 people and accounted for $17 million (equivalent to $580,000,000 in 2023 dollars) in damage. The death total made the disaster the largest loss of civilian life in the U.S. at the time. It has only been surpassed twice, by the 1900 Galveston hurricane and the 9/11 attacks in 2001.