Jazz music was all the rage and musicians like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Louis Armstrong, Paul Whiteman, and Jelly Roll Morton were in high demand. And no other entertainment medium was having as strong an effect on the public like movies were. Audiences flocked to their local movie theater to watch their favorite stars on the big screen. It can’t be underestimated the level of celebrity enjoyed by movie icons like Rudolph Valentino, Greta Garbo, Clara Bow, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks. Everything came to a halt when the October 1929 stock market crash ushered in the Great Depression.

The generations that followed would look back at the Roaring Twenties as a carefree time, but not one without its own set of challenges including gangster violence, police corruption, and racism. Many films about this era have been over the years. Let’s take a look at some of these 1920s-themed period pieces that are available to rent on DVD Netflix.