Silents
by Thumpersma | created - 26 Oct 2012 | updated - 19 Jul 2015 | PublicJust some of the wonderful Silent movies I have viewed and come to appreciate. Enjoy!
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1. The Circle (1925)
Passed | 71 min | Comedy, Drama
An unhappy woman considers leaving her dull husband for another man.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Eleanor Boardman, Malcolm McGregor, Alec B. Francis, Eugenie Besserer
Votes: 700
2. Sunrise (1927)
Passed | 94 min | Drama, Romance
A sophisticated city woman seduces a farmer and convinces him to murder his wife and join her in the city, but he ends up rekindling his romance with his wife when he changes his mind at the last moment.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing
Votes: 53,865 | Gross: $0.54M
3. Beyond the Rocks (1922)
Passed | 80 min | Drama, Romance
A young woman marries an older millionaire and then falls in love with a handsome nobleman on her honeymoon.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, Edythe Chapman, Alec B. Francis
Votes: 2,403 | Gross: $0.27M
Love Gloria Swanson in this one.
4. Greed (1924)
Not Rated | 140 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
The sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved.
Director: Erich von Stroheim | Stars: Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller
Votes: 10,766 | Gross: $0.16M
5. The Kid (1921)
Passed | 68 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
The Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put their relationship in jeopardy.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Jackie Coogan, Carl Miller
Votes: 134,902 | Gross: $5.45M
This one makes me cry every single time.
6. It (1927)
Passed | 72 min | Comedy, Romance
A salesgirl pursues a handsome playboy.
Directors: Clarence G. Badger, Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Clara Bow, Antonio Moreno, William Austin, Priscilla Bonner
Votes: 3,575 | Gross: $0.41M
Clara Bow blew me away when I saw this. I had never seen anything else she had done. But after being disappointed by so many other "special silent stars", I wasn't expecting much from her even though everyone told me she was the best. Luckily, I was wrong. Clara Bow really thrilled me with her style. Can't wait to see more of her.
7. Broken Blossoms or the Yellow Man and the Girl (1919)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Donald Crisp, Arthur Howard
Votes: 11,064
8. The Blackbird (1926)
Not Rated | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Two thieves, the Blackbird and West End Bertie, fall in love with the same girl, a French nightclub performer named Fifi. Each man tries to outdo the other to win her heart.
Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Lon Chaney, Owen Moore, Renée Adorée, Doris Lloyd
Votes: 907 | Gross: $0.25M
Lon Chaney does a little jig where he folds up his leg and arm into a contorted mass and then uses a crutch to walk around. When I first saw him do that in this movie, I literally got the chills. How could he fold up his body like that and keep it that way for so long? What a brilliant guy!
9. The Sheik (1921)
Passed | 86 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A charming Arabian sheik becomes infatuated with an adventurous, modern-thinking Englishwoman and abducts her to his home in the Saharan desert.
Director: George Melford | Stars: Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, Ruth Miller, George Waggner
Votes: 3,664
10. The Hoodlum (1919)
Not Rated | 78 min | Comedy
A spoiled young rich girl is forced by misfortune to fight for survival in the slums and alleys, where she becomes involved with all manner of unpleasantness.
Director: Sidney Franklin | Stars: Mary Pickford, Ralph Lewis, Kenneth Harlan, T.D. Crittenden
Votes: 1,042
11. Metropolis (1927)
Not Rated | 153 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Votes: 185,621 | Gross: $1.24M
12. The General (1926)
Passed | 78 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
After being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.
Directors: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley
Votes: 98,207 | Gross: $1.03M
13. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Not Rated | 67 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Hypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
Director: Robert Wiene | Stars: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover
Votes: 70,096
14. The Crowd (1928)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Romance
The life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles, and downfalls.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Eleanor Boardman, James Murray, Bert Roach, Estelle Clark
Votes: 9,176
15. The Wind (1928)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A frail young woman from the East moves in with her cousin in the West, where she causes tension within the family and is slowly driven mad.
Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cumming
Votes: 7,162
16. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
TV-PG | 195 min | Drama, History, War
The Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper
Votes: 26,350 | Gross: $10.00M
17. Intolerance (1916)
Passed | 163 min | Drama, History
The story of a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh, F.A. Turner
Votes: 16,729 | Gross: $2.18M
18. Safety Last! (1923)
Not Rated | 74 min | Action, Comedy, Thriller
A boy leaves his small country town and heads to the big city to get a job. As soon as he makes it big his sweetheart will join him and marry him. His enthusiasm to get ahead leads to some interesting adventures.
Directors: Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor | Stars: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother, Noah Young
Votes: 22,930 | Gross: $1.36M
19. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Passed | 93 min | Horror
A mad, disfigured composer seeks love with a lovely young opera singer.
Directors: Rupert Julian, Lon Chaney, Ernst Laemmle, Edward Sedgwick | Stars: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe
Votes: 20,118 | Gross: $3.75M
20. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
Not Rated | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A Jewish prince seeks to find his family and revenge himself upon his childhood friend who had him wrongly imprisoned.
Directors: Fred Niblo, Charles Brabin, Christy Cabanne, J.J. Cohn, Rex Ingram | Stars: Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Betty Bronson
Votes: 7,978 | Gross: $12.45M
I like this version better than the one with Charlton Heston.
21. Flesh and the Devil (1926)
Passed | 112 min | Drama
Childhood friends are torn apart when one of them marries the woman the other fiercely loves.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, Lars Hanson, Barbara Kent
Votes: 4,634 | Gross: $1.61M
22. Wings (1927)
PG-13 | 144 min | Drama, Romance, War
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.
Directors: William A. Wellman, Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast | Stars: Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen, Jobyna Ralston
Votes: 14,548 | Gross: $6.59M
23. The Unknown (1927)
Unrated | 68 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
A criminal on the run hides in a circus and seeks to possess the daughter of the ringmaster at any cost.
Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford, Nick De Ruiz
Votes: 9,169 | Gross: $0.41M
24. The Cameraman (1928)
Passed | 76 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Hopelessly in love with a woman working at MGM Studios, a clumsy man attempts to become a motion-picture cameraman to be close to the object of his desire.
Directors: Edward Sedgwick, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin, Sidney Bracey
Votes: 13,189
25. The Freshman (1925)
Not Rated | 77 min | Comedy, Family, Romance
A nerdy college student will do anything to become popular on campus.
Directors: Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor | Stars: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Brooks Benedict, James H. Anderson
Votes: 6,069 | Gross: $0.00M
26. He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
95 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A bitter clown endeavors to rescue the young woman he loves from the lecherous count who once betrayed him.
Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Ruth King
Votes: 4,295 | Gross: $0.19M
27. The Man Who Laughs (1928)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
When a proud noble refuses to kiss the hand of the despotic King James in 1690, he is cruelly executed and his son surgically disfigured.
Director: Paul Leni | Stars: Mary Philbin, Conrad Veidt, Julius Molnar, Olga Baclanova
Votes: 8,078
28. Seven Chances (1925)
Passed | 56 min | Comedy, Romance
A man learns that he will inherit a fortune if he marries by 7PM that evening.
Director: Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Ruth Dwyer, T. Roy Barnes, Snitz Edwards
Votes: 11,739 | Gross: $1.30M
29. Orphans of the Storm (1921)
Not Rated | 150 min | Drama, History, Romance
Two orphaned sisters are caught up in the turmoil of the French Revolution, encountering misery and love along the way.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Joseph Schildkraut, Frank Losee
Votes: 5,480 | Gross: $0.79M
30. Sparrows (1926)
Unrated | 109 min | Drama
Molly, the eldest child at a baby farm hidden deep in a swamp, must rescue the others when their cruel master decides that one of them will be disposed of.
Directors: William Beaudine, Tom McNamara | Stars: Mary Pickford, Roy Stewart, Mary Louise Miller, Gustav von Seyffertitz
Votes: 1,519 | Gross: $0.97M
31. The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927)
Passed | 106 min | Drama, Romance
A cloistered, overprotected Austrian prince falls in love with a down-to-earth barmaid in this "Viennese fairy tale."
Directors: Ernst Lubitsch, John M. Stahl | Stars: Ramon Novarro, Norma Shearer, Jean Hersholt, Gustav von Seyffertitz
Votes: 1,669
32. The Kid Brother (1927)
Passed | 82 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
A sheriff's milquetoast son has a chance to prove himself when a medicine show run by con artists comes into town.
Directors: Ted Wilde, Harold Lloyd, Lewis Milestone, J.A. Howe | Stars: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Walter James, Leo Willis
Votes: 4,825 | Gross: $1.55M
33. Queen Kelly (1932)
Passed | 101 min | Drama
A convent girl is abducted and seduced by a prince before being sent off to a brothel in East Africa.
Directors: Erich von Stroheim, Richard Boleslawski | Stars: Gloria Swanson, Walter Byron, Seena Owen, Sylvia Ashton
Votes: 3,365
I haven't actually seen this one yet. I'm still hoping TCM will show it.
34. Foolish Wives (1922)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama, Thriller
A con artist masquerades as Russian nobility and attempts to seduce the wife of an American diplomat.
Director: Erich von Stroheim | Stars: Rudolph Christians, Miss DuPont, Maude George, Mae Busch
Votes: 4,023 | Gross: $0.40M
35. The Immigrant (1917)
Unrated | 30 min | Short, Comedy, Drama
Charlie is an immigrant who endures a challenging voyage and gets into trouble as soon as he arrives in America.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Albert Austin
Votes: 9,207
36. A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923)
Passed | 82 min | Drama, Romance
A kept woman runs into her former fiancé and finds herself torn between love and comfort.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Edna Purviance, Clarence Geldert, Carl Miller, Lydia Knott
Votes: 6,166 | Gross: $1.38M
37. The Unholy Three (1925)
Passed | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A sideshow ventriloquist, a midget, and a strongman form a conspiracy known as "The Unholy Three" and commit a series of robberies.
Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Lon Chaney, Mae Busch, Matt Moore, Victor McLaglen
Votes: 2,216 | Gross: $0.70M
38. The King of Kings (1927)
Not Rated | 160 min | Biography, Drama, Family
Jesus Christ faces religious and political oppression during his ministry and in the days before his death and resurrection.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: H.B. Warner, Dorothy Cumming, Ernest Torrence, Joseph Schildkraut
Votes: 2,418 | Gross: $1.77M
I never realized until I saw this that "Mr Gower" from "It's a Wonderful Life" played Jesus in this version of "The King of Kings". What a long career he had!
39. The Penalty (1920)
Passed | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A deformed criminal mastermind plans to loot the city of San Francisco as well as revenge himself on the doctor who mistakenly amputated his legs.
Director: Wallace Worsley | Stars: Charles Clary, Doris Pawn, Jim Mason, Lon Chaney
Votes: 2,631
40. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Passed | 150 min | Drama, Romance, War
An extended family split up in France and Germany find themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield during World War I.
Director: Rex Ingram | Stars: Rudolph Valentino, Alice Terry, Pomeroy Cannon, Josef Swickard
Votes: 3,550 | Gross: $9.20M
This is the one where dreamy Rudolph Valentino does his sexy tango. My jaw dropped and I had to wipe up the drool the first time I saw it!!
41. For Better, for Worse (1919)
70 min | Drama
Dr. Edward Meade and friend Richard Burton both love Sylvia Norcross. Both enlist in the military, but Meade stays back to care for deformed children. Sylvia thinks him a coward and marries... See full summary »
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Elliott Dexter, Tom Forman, Gloria Swanson, Sylvia Ashton
Votes: 754
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