Favorite silent films
by Hunley | created - 19 Nov 2013 | updated - 23 May 2021 | PublicSomewhat in order, features only, no shorts, and stopped at 1936 with Modern Times.
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1. City Lights (1931)
G | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
With the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers
Votes: 195,825 | Gross: $0.02M
2. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
Not Rated | 70 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
The effete son of a cantankerous riverboat captain comes to join his father's crew.
Directors: Charles Reisner, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Tom McGuire, Ernest Torrence, Tom Lewis
Votes: 16,163
3. Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Passed | 45 min | Action, Comedy, Romance
A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.
Director: Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, Erwin Connelly
Votes: 56,826 | Gross: $0.98M
4. The Navigator (1924)
Unrated | 59 min | Action, Comedy, Romance
Two spoiled rich people find themselves trapped on an empty passenger ship.
Directors: Donald Crisp, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Frederick Vroom, Clarence Burton
Votes: 11,046 | Gross: $1.48M
5. 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: 98,018 | Gross: $1.03M
6. The Gold Rush (1925)
Passed | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune, and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman
Votes: 118,502 | Gross: $5.45M
7. 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: 11,712 | Gross: $1.30M
8. The Circus (1928)
Passed | 72 min | Comedy, Family, Romance
The Tramp finds work and the girl of his dreams at a circus.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia, Harry Crocker
Votes: 35,987
9. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A landlady suspects that her new lodger is the madman killing women in London.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: June Tripp, Ivor Novello, Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney
Votes: 13,358
10. 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: 53,800 | Gross: $0.54M
11. 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: 6,058 | Gross: $0.00M
12. Modern Times (1936)
G | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford
Votes: 259,111 | Gross: $0.16M
13. 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: 134,613 | Gross: $5.45M
14. 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: 14,509 | Gross: $6.59M
15. 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: 8,049
16. Girl Shy (1924)
Not Rated | 87 min | Comedy, Romance
A shy young man who can't talk to women ventures out to publish a book full of fictional conquests, but finds true love along the way.
Directors: Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor | Stars: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Richard Daniels, Carlton Griffin
Votes: 3,651 | Gross: $0.63M
17. Our Hospitality (1923)
Passed | 65 min | Comedy, Romance, Thriller
A man returns to his Appalachian homestead. On the trip, he falls for a young woman. The only problem is her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.
Directors: John G. Blystone, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Natalie Talmadge, Joe Keaton, Joe Roberts
Votes: 12,481 | Gross: $1.17M
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: 22,875 | Gross: $1.36M
19. The Mark of Zorro (1920)
Passed | 79 min | Adventure, Romance, Western
A seemingly idiotic fop is really the courageous vigilante Zorro, who seeks to protect the oppressed.
Director: Fred Niblo | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Marguerite De La Motte, Noah Beery, Charles Hill Mailes
Votes: 2,782
20. 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: 185,268 | Gross: $1.24M
21. 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: 13,149
22. Go West (1925)
Not Rated | 69 min | Comedy, Western
With little luck at keeping a job in the city a New Yorker tries work in the country and eventually finds his way leading a herd of cattle to the West Coast.
Director: Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Howard Truesdale, Kathleen Myers, Ray Thompson
Votes: 4,991
23. Sally of the Sawdust (1925)
Not Rated | 104 min | Comedy
Judge Foster throws his daughter out because she married a circus man. She leaves her baby girl with Prof. McGargle before she dies. Years later Sally is a dancer with whom Peyton, a son of... See full summary »
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Carol Dempster, W.C. Fields, Alfred Lunt, Erville Alderson
Votes: 592 | Gross: $0.30M
24. 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: 3,555 | Gross: $0.41M
25. Way Down East (1920)
Passed | 145 min | Drama, Romance
A naive country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild her life despite the taint of having borne a child out of wedlock.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Mrs. David Landau, Lowell Sherman
Votes: 5,889 | Gross: $4.50M
26. 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: 20,075 | Gross: $3.75M
27. Her Night of Romance (1924)
95 min | Comedy, Romance
An impoverished British lord (Paul Menford) impersonates a doctor in order to woo an ailing American heiress (Dorothy Adams). The lord is in it for love, but his business associate (Joe Diamond) smells money.
Director: Sidney Franklin | Stars: Constance Talmadge, Ronald Colman, Jean Hersholt, Albert Gran
Votes: 303
28. The Patsy (1928)
Not Rated | 78 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An awkward teenager hopelessly in love with her older sister's boyfriend tries to make him notice her.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Marion Davies, Orville Caldwell, Marie Dressler, Lawrence Gray
Votes: 2,772
29. Kiki (1926)
108 min | Comedy, Drama
Kiki, a poor young woman who sells newspapers on the street corners of Paris, is able to land a job singing and dancing at a nearby theater. While she is there, she invites herself into the... See full summary »
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Norma Talmadge, Ronald Colman, Gertrude Astor, Marc McDermott
Votes: 461 | Gross: $0.41M
30. Show People (1928)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Romance
A young lady from Georgia goes to Hollywood in the hopes of becoming an actress.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Marion Davies, William Haines, Dell Henderson, Paul Ralli
Votes: 4,001 | Gross: $1.10M
31. Upstream (1927)
60 min | Comedy, Drama
Among the residents of a theatrical boarding-house is the last member of a once-great acting family, down on his luck. When an offer to star in a London "Hamlet" comes, he takes lessons ... See full summary »
Director: John Ford | Stars: Earle Foxe, Nancy Nash, Grant Withers, Lydia Yeamans Titus
Votes: 351
32. The Big Parade (1925)
Not Rated | 151 min | Drama, Romance, War
A young American soldier witnesses the horrors of the Great War.
Directors: King Vidor, George W. Hill | Stars: John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Hobart Bosworth, Claire McDowell
Votes: 7,262 | Gross: $11.00M
33. Souls for Sale (1923)
Passed | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.
Director: Rupert Hughes | Stars: Eleanor Boardman, Mae Busch, Barbara La Marr, Richard Dix
Votes: 1,104
34. The Red Mill (1927)
Passed | 74 min | Comedy, Romance
A tavern worker and the daughter of a burgomaster enter into elaborate masquerades in order to win the hearts of the men they love.
Director: Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle | Stars: Marion Davies, Owen Moore, Louise Fazenda, George Siegmann
Votes: 1,511
35. Seven Years Bad Luck (1921)
TV-G | 62 min | Comedy
After breaking a mirror in his home, superstitious Max tries to avoid situations which could bring bad luck-- but in doing so, causes himself the worst luck imaginable.
Director: Max Linder | Stars: Max Linder, Alta Allen, Betty K. Peterson, Ralph McCullough
Votes: 1,371
36. Pandora's Box (1929)
Not Rated | 109 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer, Carl Goetz
Votes: 11,842 | Gross: $0.01M
37. 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: 1,513 | Gross: $0.97M
38. 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: 7,139
39. Peter Pan (1924)
105 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Peter Pan enters the nursery of the Darling children and, with the help of fairy dust, leads them off to Never Never Land, where they meet the nefarious Captain Hook.
Director: Herbert Brenon | Stars: Betty Bronson, Ernest Torrence, George Ali, Esther Ralston
Votes: 1,258 | Gross: $0.63M
40. For Heaven's Sake (1926)
Passed | 58 min | Action, Comedy, Romance
An irresponsible young millionaire changes his tune when he falls for the daughter of a downtown minister.
Director: Sam Taylor | Stars: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Noah Young, Jim Mason
Votes: 1,961 | Gross: $5.67M
41. Bardelys the Magnificent (1926)
Passed | 90 min | Drama, Romance
In the reign of King Louis XIII, dashing rogue and libertine Marquis de Bardelys is entranced by Roxalanne de Lavedan. Against a background of knavery and intrigue he sets out to woo and win her.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: John Gilbert, Eleanor Boardman, Roy D'Arcy, Lionel Belmore
Votes: 1,310 | Gross: $0.49M
42. Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)
Not Rated | 100 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Siegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, sets off on a treacherous journey to the Kingdom of Burgundy to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Princess Kriemhild.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Paul Richter, Margarete Schön, Theodor Loos, Gertrud Arnold
Votes: 6,534
43. The Docks of New York (1928)
Not Rated | 76 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A blue-collar worker on New York's depressed waterfront finds his life changed after he saves a woman attempting suicide.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova, Clyde Cook
Votes: 5,023
44. Why Be Good? (1929)
TV-G | 84 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
A flapper with a dubious reputation enjoys a vivacious night of dancing and finds herself romantically linked to her boss.
Director: William A. Seiter | Stars: Colleen Moore, Neil Hamilton, Bodil Rosing, John St. Polis
Votes: 557
45. A Throw of Dice (1929)
Not Rated | 74 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Two neighboring Indian kingdoms are ruled by cousins - King Ranjit and King Sohat. Unbeknownst to Ranjit, Sohat is plotting to seize control of his kingdom.
Director: Franz Osten | Stars: Seeta Devi, Himanshu Rai, Charu Roy, Modhu Bose
Votes: 1,001
46. The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
Not Rated | 155 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
A recalcitrant thief vies with a duplicitous Mongol ruler for the hand of a beautiful princess.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Julanne Johnston, Snitz Edwards, Charles Belcher
Votes: 6,967 | Gross: $4.36M
47. 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: 5,473 | Gross: $0.79M
48. Dr. Jack (1922)
Passed | 60 min | Comedy, Romance
Country doctor Jack Jackson is called in to treat the Sick-Little-Well-Girl, who has been making Dr. Saulsbourg and his sanitarium very rich, after years of unsuccessful treatment. Dr. ... See full summary »
Directors: Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor | Stars: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, John T. Prince, Eric Mayne
Votes: 1,674 | Gross: $0.69M
49. The Mysterious Lady (1928)
Passed | 96 min | Drama, Romance
An attractive Russian spy seduces an Austrian officer in order to get some important plans, but when she actually falls in love with him, both of them are placed in a dangerous situation.
Director: Fred Niblo | Stars: Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Albert Pollet
Votes: 1,459 | Gross: $0.54M
50. Oliver Twist (I) (1922)
Passed | 98 min | Drama
An orphan named Oliver Twist meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.
Director: Frank Lloyd | Stars: Jackie Coogan, James A. Marcus, Aggie Herring, Lewis Sargent
Votes: 941 | Gross: $4.36M
51. The Street (1923)
74 min | Drama
Presents two distinct plot lines until the two eventually merge: the first is that of the bored middle-aged man seeking a departure from monotony in his life; the second is that of the ... See full summary »
Director: Karl Grune | Stars: Anton Edthofer, Aud Egede-Nissen, Leonhard Haskel, Lucie Höflich
Votes: 476
52. 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: 1,662
53. Little Annie Rooney (1925)
Unrated | 94 min | Drama, Comedy
The tenements are home to an international community, including the friends and family of a tough young ragamuffin named Annie Rooney, but their neighborhood is threatened by a dangerous street gang.
Director: William Beaudine | Stars: Mary Pickford, William Haines, Walter James, Gordon Griffith
Votes: 1,063 | Gross: $1.10M
54. The Last Command (1928)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, History, Romance
A former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell, Jack Raymond
Votes: 4,508
55. Stark Love (1927)
70 min | Drama
A literate young hillbilly plans to attend college to learn about chivalry and escape the brutal, rigid mountain society with the love of his life, but his tyrannical father interferes.
Director: Karl Brown | Stars: Helen Mundy, Forrest James, Reb Grogan, Silas Miracle
Votes: 159
56. Exit Smiling (1926)
Passed | 77 min | Comedy, Romance
A maid who works for a traveling theatrical troupe wants desperately to be an actress, and manages to get some small roles in the company's productions, but is determined to do anything she... See full summary »
Director: Sam Taylor | Stars: Beatrice Lillie, Jack Pickford, Doris Lloyd, DeWitt Jennings
Votes: 518
57. So This Is Paris (1926)
Passed | 60 min | Comedy
Georgette lives in Paris with her unexciting, effeminate husband, an actor and interpretive dancer. Meanwhile, Suzanne lives across the street and reads romance novels while dreaming of ... See full summary »
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Monte Blue, Patsy Ruth Miller, Lilyan Tashman, George Beranger
Votes: 753 | Gross: $0.11M
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