Silent Films
"Our invention can be exploited for a certain time as a scientific curiosity, but apart from that, it has no commercial future whatsoever."
- Auguste Lumiere, early film maker who, with his brother Louis, organized the first public performance of motion pictures in December 1895.
A silent film is a film which has no accompanying soundtrack. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as the motion picture itself, but before the late 1920s, most films were silent.
The years before sound came to the movies are known as the "silent era" among film scholars and historians. The art of motion pictures grew into full maturity before silent films were replaced by "talking pictures" or "talkies", and a number of film buffs believe the quality of the cinema actually decreased for a few years, before the new medium of sound was adapted to the movies.
The glorious early days of cinema are represented here in this collection with many titles still acknowledged as classics of the cinema to this day.
"Slapstick Comedy" found as a subhead of "Comedy" may also be worth a browse...
Right: Scene from Fritz Lang's 1927 "Metropolis"
Charlie Chaplin Marathon (1916)
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin
This DVD compilation includes four early Chaplin films; 'The Rink' (1916), 'The Immigrant' (1917), 'The Vagabond' (1916) and 'Tillie's Punctured Roman... Read more
Charlie Chaplin: A Night Out (1915)
6.1/10
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Edna Purviance, Ben Turpin
Compilation includes the classics "A Night Out" (1915) co-starring Ben Turpin, "Kid Auto at the Races" (1914) with Charlie Chaplin in only his second... Read more
Charlie Chaplin: Volume 17 to 20 (1918)
6.1/10
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin
Hi & welcome to the ultimate Charlie Chaplin collection. The complete collection volumes 1 - 20 containing 66 Chaplin Movies including the full length... Read more
Charlie Chaplin: Volume 5 to 8 (1918)
6.1/10
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin
Hi & welcome to the ultimate Charlie Chaplin collection. The complete collection volumes 1 - 20 containing 66 Chaplin Movies including the full length... Read more
Charlie Chaplin: Volume 9 to 12 (1918)
6.1/10
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin
Hi & welcome to the ultimate Charlie Chaplin collection. The complete collection volumes 1 - 20 containing 66 Chaplin Movies including the full length... Read more
Die Nibelungen ( Siegfried / Kriemhild's Revenge ) (1924)
6.6/10
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Hanna Ralph, Margarete Schon, Paul Richter, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
One of the greatest artistic and technical achievements of the German silent cinema, Fritz Lang's monumental saga is a passionate retelling of Nordic... Read more
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1920)
7/10
Director: John S Robertson
Starring: John Barrymore, Martha Mansfield, Sheldon Lewis
John Barrymore is riveting as humanitarian scientist Dr Henry Jekyll in this classic 1920 version of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale. Dr Jekyll,... Read more
Dr Mabuse, The Gambler (1922)
7.9/10
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede Nissen
This expressionist classic is the tale of a master criminal (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) planning to rule the world and the State Attorney trying to entrap hi... Read more
Edison: The Invention of the Movies (2005)
8.1/10
Truly an event to be celebrated by cinephiles, "Edison: The Invention of the Movies" is an unprecedented survey of one of cinema's most influential fi... Read more
Faust (1926)
8.1/10
Director: F W Murnau
Starring: Emil Jannings, Warner Fuetterer, Gosta Ekman
F.W. Murnau's last German film features astonishing photography, magnificent art direction, and special effects which retain the power to amaze. Freed... Read more