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"
Intolerance (1916)
8/10
Director: D W Griffith
Starring: Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh, Bessie Love
After the storm of controversy that followed "The Birth of a Nation", D.W. Griffith followed up with this profound comment on intolerance through the... Read more
Laurel & Hardy: Someone's Ailing (1932)
4.7/10
Starring: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel
A collection of classic Laurel & Hardy shorts on the theme of ailments, plus the only example of a direct sequel in L&H history. In 'County Hospital'... Read more
Les Vampires (1915)
6.9/10
Director: Louis Feuillade
Starring: Musidora , Edouard Mathe
Ten-part silent serial from French pioneer Louis Feuillade. Made at a time when France was in the grip of fear and suspicion due to WWI, this hugely p... Read more
Lonesome (1928)
7.8/10
Director: Paul Fejos
Two lonely people in the big city meet and enjoy the thrills of an amusement park, only to lose each other in the crowd after spending a great day tog... Read more
Lotte Reiniger - The Fairy Tale Films (2009)
Director: Lotte Reiniger
Lotte Reiniger has the distinction of creating the very first feature animation, her enthralling The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), an epic silho... Read more
Mad Love: Twilight of a Woman's Soul (1913) / After Death (1915) / The Dying Swan (1916)
5.3/10
Director: Evgenii Bauer
The films of Russian cinema pioneer Evgenii Bauer were thought to be lost until the dying days of the Soviet regime when 20 of his 80 films were recov... Read more
Master Of The House (1925)
7.2/10
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Starring: Johannes Meyer, Astrid Holm
Since the failure of his small business, Victor has become a household tyrant who constantly complains and criticises his long suffering family until... Read more
Melies the Magician (1997)
Director: Jacques Meny
A documentary on pioneering French filmmaker Georges Melies along with fifteen of his rarely seen restored films from 1898-1905. Included are the leg... Read more
Metropolis (Reconstructed & Restored) (1927)
8.3/10
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Fritz Lang's masterwork, set in a towering city of the future whose populace is divided between the idle ruling class and the dehumanized workers who... Read more
Metropolis (Reconstructed & Restored) ( Blu-ray ) (1927)
8.3/10
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Gustav Frohlich
Fritz Lang's masterwork, set in a towering city of the future whose populace is divided between the idle ruling class and the dehumanized workers who... Read more