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"
The Lodger (Blu-ray) (1927)
7.6/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Marie Ault, Ivor Novello
2012 restoration. Aesthetically influenced by German Expressionism, and based on the story of Jack the Ripper, 'The Lodger' was the film in which Hitc... Read more
Napoleon (1927)
7.6/10
Director: Abel Gance
Starring: Albert Dieudonne
Abel Gance's original 1927 masterpiece is a must-see not only for silent film buffs, but for all interested in classic world cinema. You are taken fro... Read more
Metropolis (Restored) (1927)
8.3/10
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Gustav Frohlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel
Perhaps the most famous and influential of all silent films, 'Metropolis' had for 75 years been seen only in shortened or truncated versions. Now, res... Read more
The Cat and the Canary (1927)
7.2/10
Director: Paul Leni
Starring: Laura La Plante, Creighton Hale, Tully Marshall
One of the great ghost stories and the prototype of all haunted house mysteries. Director Paul Leni's silent masterpiece is set in a creepy mansion wh... Read more
Sunrise (1927)
8.2/10
Director: F W Murnau
Starring: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston
Aka "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans". This exquisite silent film is just as powerful today as when it was made, telling the simple story of a farmer wh... Read more
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
7.9/10
Director: Lotte Reiniger
German director Lotte Reiniger spent three years making this silent animated film based on the Arabian Nights legends. The dashing Prince Achmed saves... Read more
Tartuffe (1926)
7.3/10
Director: F W Murnau
Starring: Hermann Picha, Rosa Valetti, Lil Dagover, Werner Krauss, Emil Jannings
Famous German filmmaker FW Murnau's interpretation of Moliere's satirical play about a devious housekeeper who convinces her master to cut his son out... Read more
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926)
5.8/10
Director: Frank Capra, Harry Edwards
Starring: Harry Langdon, Joan Crawford
When baby-faced comedian Harry Langdon left Mack Sennett Studios to make features for First National, he wisely brought along the two Sennett staffers... Read more
The Holy Mountain (1926)
7.9/10
Director: Arnold Fanck
Starring: Leni Riefenstahl, Luis Trenker, Ernst Petersen
In director Arnold Fanck's breathtaking silent drama, considered by many to be the epitome of the German "mountain film" genre, Leni Riefenstahl plays... Read more
The Black Pirate (1926)
7.2/10
Director: Albert Parker
Starring: Douglas Fairbanks Sr, Billie Dove, Anders Randolf
The definitive pirate movie and one of Douglas Fairbanks' most popular films is this silent swashbuckler about a nobleman who vows to avenge the death... Read more