Organised by the Tuli Research Centre for India Studies, the exhibition is part of the 6th Self-Discovery via Rediscovering India Festival that is currently underway in New Delhi till 3rd March 2026 at the India International Centre.The Tuli Research Centre for India Studies (T.R.I.S.) is pleased to announce the launch of an exhibition, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Golden Age of Hollywood 1914-1964. Part of an Indo-American Cinematic dialogue and learning module for India Studies, the exhibition will trace major movements in Hollywood from Comedy to German Expressionism; from the Epic to Science-Fiction and Horror; from the Western to Film Noir, and beyond. The Exhibition takes off from the start of the Hollywood Studio system post the grip of Thomas Edison’s patent system to pioneers such as Vitagraph, William Fox, Paramount Pictures, Famous Players-Lasky, First National, Universal & many others, to the impact of the epic Italian Spectacles such as Cabiria (1914) to the influence from the powerful German Expressionist films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and The Last Laugh (1924) to the comic genius of Hollywood, from Mack Sennett to Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton to the Marx Brothers, from Laurel & Hardy to Screwball Comedy.
We then focus on the cinema of great directors such Maurice Tourneur, Tod Browning, F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, Erich von Stroheim, Josef von Sternberg, Orson Welles, and others. The Glory of Stardom follows with a focus on the cinema of Sessue Hayakawa, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Rudolph Valentino, Lon Chaney, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Marlon Brando, among others. The Nature of Uncertainty as Inspiration via Magic, Sci-Fi, Horror, Mystery, Gambling is explored with figures such as Houdini, Hitchcock, Dracula, H.G. Wells, being privileged. Additional foci on pioneers and characters such as Walt Disney and James Bond close the great adventure of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
It is an Exhibition, especially for the student of history, as the art and film publicity material is heavily supported by rich and rare archival materials. Come and enjoy a cinematic feast at the IIC Gallery, New Delhi. The exhibition opened on 25 February at the India International Centre, New Delhi, and will be on till 3rd March.Neville Tuli, Founder Trustee, Tuli Research Centre for India Studies, said, “It has been more than three decades since the research, study and collection-building processes to build the most comprehensive top quality World Cinema Archive & Library, with Hollywood and Indian Cinema at the heart of the framework, began. It has been a rollercoaster journey with so much destruction along with the creation and preservation. Yet today, with pride, as we share a small part of the Archive, I can clearly say that India is now home to one of the finest archives on Hollywood, and that Indian academia will be a leading force in the study of World Cinema and all its related cultural subjects moving forward.”
