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 Birth of a Nation (1915)
6.7/10
Director: D W Griffith
Starring: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B Walthall
An epic tale of the Civil War which many consider to be the single most important film in the development of cinema as an art. It is a stunning summar... 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
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
The Wizard of Oz Collection (1914)
Starring: Oliver Hardy, Larry Semon, Violet Macmillan
Not the famous 1939 film with Judy Garland, instead, these are earlier films, all silent, based on the Oz books by L Frank Baum. The author himself st... Read more
Chaplin - The Legend Lives On (1914)
Starring: Charlie Chaplin
This definitive five-disc collection from the legendary Charlie Chaplin includes: "Caught in a Cabaret", "Mabel's Busy Day", "By the Sea", "His New Jo... Read more
The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)
6.3/10
Director: Charles Tait
In 1906, Australia produced what was arguably the first ever feature-length film. Shot just outside Melbourne, it recounts the exploits of legendary... Read more
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
7.3/10
Director: Edwin S Porter
Starring: Tom Mix, William S Heart, Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh
The first motion picture to be shot with a coherent narrative celebrates a century with this release featuring the original silent print as well as a... Read more
RW Paul: The Collected Films 1895-1908 (1895)
Director: R W Paul
Robert W Paul is justly celebrated as the leading pioneer of British film and one of the founders of world cinema. Concentrating first on actuality fi... Read more