St. Gloede's complementary silent selection
The Top 300 Silent Era Films list has a great selection of silents, and I hope it will help many explore deeper into this great and largely forgotten era. However, the list as it stands is highhly Americanized while several countries such as Germany, Sweden, Japan and more were going incredibly strong. So to broaden the perspective here's a selection great non-American silents I hope will leave an impression on you as well. It's ranked in reverse chronological order.
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- DirectorYonggang WuStarsLingyu RuanTian JianZhizhi ZhangStreet walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsKinuyo TanakaJôji OkaSumiko MizukuboA gangster tries to find redemption with the inadvertent help of an innocent shop girl and his jealous girlfriend will do anything to keep him.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsYoshiko OkadaUreo EgawaKinuyo TanakaRyoichi and Chikako are brother and sister. They live together. Chikako works during the day in an office and at night she prostitutes herself to fund her brother's studies at the university. Ryoichi doesn't know about his sister's secret life, but he is dating Harue whose brother is a policeman.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsYoshiko OkadaShin'yô NaraYukiko TsukubaAn actress returns to Tokyo after a successful stint in Hollywood to reclaim - with the help of her gangster brother - the daughter she abandoned years before.
- DirectorMikhail KalatozovStarsAleksandre JaliashviliSiko PalavandishviliAkaki KhoravaSympathetic portrayal of a soldier who inadvertently commits sabotage through his ineptitude on the battlefield.
- DirectorAleksandr SolovyovStarsAleksandr IstominMatvei LyarovRaisa Rami-ShorBandits descend on a Jewish village and threaten to destroy it if they're not given five beauties in wedding dresses.
- DirectorFlorián ReyStarsCarmen ViancePedro LarrañagaAmelia MuñozIn an impoverished Castilian village live Juan, his wife Acacia, their son and Juan's blind father. The harsh weather conditions force the peasants to emigrate to a better land. Acacia goes to the city instead. Time goes by and they will meet again.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsMitsuko IchimuraTokihiko OkadaChishû RyûA desperate man with a sick daughter decides to commit a robbery in order to help her. He begins to feel remorse though, which makes him question his decision.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsDita ParloGinette MaddieAndrée BrabantDenise, an orphaned girl, moves to Paris where she hopes to find work at her uncle's store. But the glamorous department store 'Aux Bonheur des Dames' across the street crunches all the little businesses around. She finds a position there.
- DirectorHumberto MauroStarsMaury BuenoErnani de PaulaPedro FantolIn the beginning of the Twentieth Century, in Belo Horizonte, the industrial Sampaio lives in a manor house with his stepdaughter Carmen, who has a sort of engagement with Roberto. Sampaio's daughter Neusa, of same age as Carmen, was sent to a metropolis to have a modern education and returns to Belo Horizonte. In the São João party in the country of Acaba-Mundo, promoted by the traditional Marta, Neusa has a one night stand with Roberto. Carmen witnesses their affair and decides to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Cristovão and his cousin Max decides to go to a cabaret in town instead of staying in the party,. They find Carmen and bring her to Marta's property, where she stays with the family and Tufy, Max's younger brother. Along this period, Cristovão falls in love for Carmen, and she has to decide between the love of the unfaithful Roberto and Cristovão.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsWilliam DieterleTheodor LoosEugen BurgSecond of two German silents about the life of Bavarian king Ludwig II, a character who would much later also be the center of a film by Luchino Visconti.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsMinoru TakadaHiroko KawasakiSatoko DateA small-time hood wants to go straight for a good girl but finds that starting over isn't as simple as it sounds.
- DirectorGrigoriy KozintsevLeonid TraubergStarsDavid GutmanYelena KuzminaAndrei KostrichkinIn the beginning of the industrial revolution, the Paris Commune was established in 1871 against the rich and the powerful, and violently repressed by the army that remained faithful to a tamer form of Republicanism. How could the love story between a young sales girl and a soldier unable to decide if he was pro or against the radical fashion? Two short months were needed for the answer to be found - in blood and tears, and under rain that washes all past memories. Any day, a New Babylon shop will open with frilly things for the bourgeois girls. The washerwomen will be there to wash them.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsPaul FrometGeymond VitalGenica AthanasiouTwo lighthouse keepers (the father and the son) are to spend one entire month in the middle of the sea near the coasts of Brittany; the young man is ill.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsWilly FritschGerda MaurusKlaus PohlA tenacious scientist blasts off for the moon in hopes of riches that may be found there.
- DirectorWilhelm ThieleStarsIgo SymMarietta MillnerLilian Harvey
- DirectorJean GourguetGeorges PécletStarsMona GoyaGeorges PécletMonsieur de VilletteHow a funny Sunday is spent in the area of Paris and its surroundings.
- DirectorMartin FricStarsKarel HaslerOscar MarionSuzanne MarwilleThe old organist unwittingly witnessed the suicide of an unknown man. Before his death, he handed him an envelope with money for his daughter Klara, who lived in the monastery. The organist did not report the case to the authorities, but hid the suicide's corpse in the cellar. Little did he know that he was being followed by his unscrupulous neighbor, a shoe shiner, who then blackmailed him with the threat of a murder charge.
- DirectorArnold FanckGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsGustav DiesslLeni RiefenstahlErnst PetersenA man climbs a 12,000-foot mountain to search for his wife, who was lost on their honeymoon. Another couple makes the dangerous climb with him.
- DirectorAlberto CavalcantiHenry WulschlegerStarsPierre BlancharLien DeyersCharles BoyerCapt. Fracasse, a down-on-his-luck nobleman, gives shelter at his estate one night to a troupe of traveling actors. He falls in love with Isabelle, an actress with the group. The next day, as they prepare to leave, he decides to join them, seeing as how his future looks none too promising where he is, but mainly to be with Isabelle. Along the way, however, Isabelle is kidnapped by a villainous nobleman who wants her for himself. Capt. Fracasse must ride to the rescue of his beloved.
- DirectorHiroshi ShimizuStarsEmiko YagumoMinoru TakadaMichiko OikawaToshie, a young, conservative secretary-typist has fallen in love with Shozo Narita, a young man she has met through her work.
- DirectorMarco de GastyneStarsSimone GenevoisFernand MaillyGeorges PaulaisBiography of Joan of Arc from her departure from Domremy until her death in Rouen.
- DirectorMarcel L'HerbierStarsBetty BalfourJaque CatelainRoger KarlLudivine Bucaille stupidly wishes that Leherg and his son Delphin both die at sea. Amazingly, Leherg actually is lost at sea but his son somehow survives. His mother subsequently dies of sorrow. Remorseful, Ludivine gets her parents to take Delphin in their care. She makes sure the house is nice and tidy. Delphin and Ludivine grow to love each other and eventually get engaged. But father Bucaille, a drunk, wants Ludivine to marry Lauderin, the owner of a bar. Ludivine, in a moment of jealousy, thinking that Delphin has cheated on her, accepts. As Delpin plans on leaving the country the day after the engagement, Ludivine takes a boat to meet him. Lauderin sneaks into the boat and, as a storm hits it, he attempts to rape her. Delphin comes to the rescue. The two lovers can now unite.
- DirectorGermaine DulacStarsAlex AllinLucien BatailleGenica AthanasiouObsessed with a general's woman, a clergyman has strange visions of death and lust, struggling against his own eroticism.
- DirectorJoe MayStarsLars HansonDita ParloGustav FröhlichFollowing World War I, after a long imprisonment, two German prisoner-of-war soldiers escape from a Siberian lead-mine. Karl manages to reach Germany before Richard, and is sheltered by Anna, wife of Richard. While Richard is still on his homeward trek, Karl and Anna fall in love. And then Richard comes home.
- DirectorWladyslaw StarewiczStarsNina StarBogdan ZoubowitchIt's the story of Yolande, a little girl (about 12) who wanted to become a princess. Bombastus, her old father, has created a marvelous and big clock crowded with little characters (animated puppets). On each hour ring, one of the twelve knights of the clock comes into motion. They're all in love with the princess but a strong black knight doesn't agree... It's not a happy end. So Yolande will dive deep into her dreams, maybe to change the story. It's the second part of the movie. Sylph, master of this imaginary earth and Ondin, master of the aquatic world are the main characters. Yolande and then the man of her dreams join this strange world...
- DirectorRolf RandolfStarsHenry StuartElza TemaryCarl de VogtDuring the Cologne carnival in Germany, Interpol inspector Tom Wilkins, master of disguise, hunts a band of jewelry thieves who haunt the cathedral square, disguised as beggars.
- DirectorSentarô ShiraiStarsTaki AkizukiDaikichi ArashiUtaemon IchikawaA rare film which depicts the tragic fate of a Christian lord who fought for his fate in the Edo period. Of note is Utaemon Ichikawa's extraordinary memorable final scenes in which he takes on his enemy with a gash in his forehead and a wild, unkempt mane.
- DirectorGéza von BolváryStarsGuy NewallIlse BoisLouis RalphA detective poses as a simpleton to uncover gun-runners using an abandoned railway line.
- DirectorAlberto CavalcantiStarsBlanche BernisNina ChousvalowaPhilippe HériatThe life of a great city (Paris) from dawn until dusk, including the beautiful and the ragged, the rich and the poor, with little or no comment (intertitles) from the director, Cavalcanti (whose first film this was).
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsWerner KraussRuth WeyherIlka GrüningA scientist is tormented by an irrational fear of knives and the irresistible compulsion to murder his wife.
- DirectorA.W. SandbergStarsGösta EkmanMaurice de FéraudyKate FabianThe clown Joe Higgins and the circus princess Daisy have grown up together and seem perfect for each other.
- DirectorYakov ProtazanovStarsOlga ZhiznevaNikolai ProzorovskyVladimir FogelWho is a thief - a street pickpocket, a social lion or a banker? The thief is the one who takes it small, the man with prospects is called a winner.
- DirectorJean EpsteinStarsSandra MilovanoffMaurice SchutzNino ConstantiniSet before the French Revolution, the film tells the story of Bernard De Mauprat, a noble orphan, raised by despicable aristocrats, who is saved from the gallows by his cousin Edmée and his father, the knight Hubert De Mauprat. The return of Bernard causes tensions within Mauprat's family since him tries to win the heart of his cousin Edmée (Knight of La Marche's fiancée) after obtaining her pledge of loyalty under a certain threat of rape.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsJohannes MeyerAstrid HolmKarin NellemoseWhen a man becomes tyrannical towards his family, the women of the house decide to teach him a lesson in gratitude.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHenry KraussCharlotte Barbier-KraussAndré HeuzéNothing can atone for young "Carrot top"s mother's hatred, nor for his father's indifference. But when his father learns that his son is thinking about committing suicide, he steps in and takes him under his wing.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsCatherine HesslingCharlotte ClasisPierre ChampagneAfter her father's death and her uncle having drunk all the inheritance, Virginia is left alone. She is accepted by a family of bohemians but a quarrel between the bohemians and the peasants coerce her to flee the peasants' riot. She is then helped by Raynal who falls in love with her but is too shy to tell her. Sheltered by his father, Virginia is robbed by her uncle of the money Raynal gave her to pay the bill in the village. He and his son then start to consider her a thief.
- DirectorJacques FeyderStarsJean ForestVictor VinaPierrette HouyezA man whose wife has died remarries, and his new wife has a daughter of her own from a previous marriage. The man's young son, however, who loved his mother deeply and misses her terribly, resents his father's new wife, not wanting her to take the place of his beloved mother, and makes life miserable for his new stepsister..
- DirectorAlexandre VolkoffStarsIvan MozzhukhinNathalie LissenkoPauline PoWhen a famous Shakespearean actor falls in love with a woman above his station, his professional and personal life begin to crumble.
- DirectorJaque CatelainStarsJaque CatelainLois MoranClaire PréliaThe life of the clown Riquet and his young wife, the dancer Ralda, is threatened by the despotic owner of the circus where they work together. He wants the girl and will not hesitate to try to kill her when Ralda rejects him. But love is stronger than cruelty.
- DirectorDziga VertovThis documentary promoting the joys of life in a Soviet village centers around the activities of the Young Pioneers. These children are constantly busy, pasting propaganda posters on walls, distributing hand bills, exhorting all to "buy from the cooperative" as opposed to the Private Sector, promoting temperance, and helping poor widows. Experimental portions of the film, projected in reverse, feature the un-slaughtering of a bull and the un-baking of bread.
- DirectorJean EpsteinStarsBlanche MontelMarie LacroixMaurice TouzéBargeman Louveau finds an abandoned boy, Victor, and with the authorities permission takes him back to his own family where he raises him. 10 years later Victor and Louveau's daughter Clara have fallen in love, and it is then that Louveau is called to Paris, where it has been discovered that Victor is really the son of Maugendré, a charcoal shipper on the Nivernaise canal. Meanwhile, Victor protects Clara when a jealous bargehand attacks her and he manages to save the family barge from crashing into the lock. Returned to his real father, Victor is sent away to be educated but misses Clara and his life on the barges. When Maugendré realizes this he lets him return and when they are married he gives Victor and Clara a barge of their own.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsJenny HasselqvistMatheson LangVictor SjöströmA naval adventure that focuses on the rivalry among the crew, particularly the indignation wrought by the behavior of implacable Captain Steen. Dick, one of the sailors, is one of the most rebellious and draws up plans to exact vengeance.
- DirectorFritz WendhausenStarsRudolf Klein-RoggeLucie MannheimGustav von WangenheimA dreaded master lives in a gloomy castle on top of a mountain, while the villagers in the valley below dread his arrival at every wedding.
- DirectorReinhold SchünzelStarsEmil JanningsHermann ThimigDagny ServaesRupp (Jannings) is a former butcher, made rich in the meat packing industry as a result of the reversal of fortunes brought on by WWI. He is crude, uncouth and uneducated. His son, Fred, is the apple of his father's eye and is an auto enthusiast. The widowed Rupp falls in love with a former aristocrat, Helen, now down on her luck and pawning her last heirloom. He proposes marriage and she accepts in order to save her ailing mother who needs a monetary influx to avoid death. Her former boyfriend, Platen, warns Helen against Rupp's intentions - he and Rupp are enemies, Rupp having caused his being fired for protecting a chorus girl against Rupp's unwanted advances. Meanwhile, Graf, a shyster, arranges purchase of a near bankrupt auto manufacturing firm, Phoenix, to Rupp's great advantage with practically no monetary recognition to Graf, who swears revenge. Rupp comes upon his son begging Helen not to marry his father but to return to Platen. Rupp misinterprets the scene, thinks his son is after his intended, and banishes him. The last twenty minutes involve an auto race and its aftermath. Fred unknown to all becomes the driver of his father's rival auto maker. Platen is driving for Rupp's firm, Phoenix. In order to win, Rupp has bribed Graf to make sure his rival won't.
- DirectorAugusto GeninaStarsPierre MagnierLinda MogliaAngelo FerrariCyrano de Bergerac is a joyous and witty poet filled with plenty of charisma and bravado in 17th-century France. He has only one flaw: an unusually long nose which makes him unattractive to any woman.
- DirectorArthur RobisonStarsFritz KortnerRuth WeyherGustav von WangenheimA wealthy man invites the local wealthy bachelors over for a puppet show about men who covet another man's wife. The puppeteer is actually a witch and gives the men nightmares about what could happen if they date the lady of the house.
- DirectorKarl Heinz MartinStarsErnst DeutschErna MorenaRoma BahnA Cashier in a bank in a small German town is alerted to the power of money by the visit of a rich Italian lady. He embezzles 60, 000 Marks and leaves for the capital city, where he attempts to find satisfaction in politics, sport, love and religion.
- DirectorRichard OswaldStarsConrad VeidtLiane HaidAlbert BassermannRodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, has three adult children: Juan, who is virtuous and has a sweetheart who is a woman of the people, Lucrezia, who is virtuous and wants to marry Alfonso, and Cesare, who is wicked and lusts after Lucrezia, Juan's girlfriend, and probably others. Cesare has vowed to kill any suitor for Lucrezia's love, and he has three thugs to carry out his wishes. Bodies fall into the Tiber, into the Colosseum (with lions prowling), and onto the Vatican floors.
- DirectorDimitri BuchowetzkiStarsEmil JanningsWerner KraussIca von LenkeffyBased on Shakespeare's play: The treacherous Iago plans to ruin the life of Othello by provoking him to jealousy.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsAdele Reuter-EichbergVladimir GajdarovPolina PiekowskajaBased on the 1918 novel 'Elsker hverandre' by Aage Madelung, the film follows various lives, one of which is Jewish girl Hanne Liebe, as she grows up, and experiences the pains of living as a Jew in Russia, leading to a revolution.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsClara PontoppidanSvend MethlingPeter JerndorffA beautiful but imperious princess refuses all offers of marriage, often condemning her suitors to death. The prince of Denmark comes seeking her hand and, aided by magic objects given to him by a mysterious spirit, seeks to win her love.
- DirectorSvend GadeHeinz SchallStarsAsta NielsenPaul ConradiMathilde BrandtDanish silent movie-star Asta Nielsen formed her own production company to make this film, in which new elements are combined with features (and a few lines) familiar from Shakespeare's version of the legend. The most important of these changes sees Hamlet made into a female character - a princess forced to masquerade as a man by her scheming mother; from this follows Hamlet's secret passion for Horatio and rivalry with Ophelia for his love. Queen Gertrude is here presented as conspiring in her first husband's murder, and the old king's ghost does not appear - young Hamlet merely hears a voice from the tomb and (apparently) dreams of him. In addition, Hamlet now kills Claudius (in a fire) immediately upon returning from Norway with an army led by old school- friend Fortinbras, and it falls to Gertrude to engineer Hamlet's death in the fencing match as well as kill herself by accidentally drinking the poisoned wine.
- DirectorJacques FeyderStarsJean AngeloGeorges MelchiorMarie-Louise IribeTwo men, lost in the desert, meet Queen Antinea, ruler of Atlantis.
- DirectorMarcel L'HerbierStarsÈve FrancisJaque CatelainMarcelle PradotSibilla is a single mother, working as a gypsy dancer in a lousy cafe in the south of Spain. Unable to keep with the costs of his son's medical bills, she asks for help to Estiria, her son's biological father and one of the richest men in town. After being rejected, Sibilla vows to save her son's life by any means necessary - even at the cost of her own life.
- DirectorAndré AntoineStarsArmand BourRené AlexandreGermaine RouerAs Jean is walking across the countryside in search of work, he helps and befriends a young woman, Françoise, who is having trouble controlling the cow that she is leading. Jean finds work at a local farm, but he soon finds himself caught in the middle of the conflicts in Françoise's family. Her uncle Fouan has just decided to divide everything that he has amongst his two sons and his daughter, hoping that he can then spend the rest of his life at ease. But the details of the division only create bitterness, rivalry, and intrigue.
- DirectorMauritz StillerStarsJenny HasselqvistMathias TaubeHildegard HarringOn a farm in up-country Sweden, an enigmatic stranger comes to a conservative peasant community and seduces a farmer's wife.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsArnold KorffLulu Kyser-KorffLothar MehnertIn the castle Vogeloed, a few aristocrats are awaiting baroness Safferstätt. But first count Oetsch invites himself.. Everyone thinks he murdered his brother, baroness Safferstat's first husband, three years ago. So he is rather undesirable. But Oetsch stays; arguing he is not the murderer and will find the real one...
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsHelge NissenHalvard HoffJacob TexiereIn 4 episodic tales of human suffering: the temptation of Jesus, the Spanish Inquisition, the French Revolution and the Russo-Finnish war of 1918, Satan attempts to win God's favor.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsHildur CarlbergEinar RödGreta AlmrothA newly elected village parson is required to marry the previous parson's widow. However he's already married, and the woman is old enough to be his grandmother.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsVictor SjöströmConcordia SelanderGreta AlmrothA pawnbroker, widely despised, called Mästerman is the subject of tales of terror and cruelty. In his profession, he is merciless.
- DirectorAndré AntoineStarsMaguy DeliacPierre AlcoverLouis RavetA bargeman, his wife and sister-in-law navigate the canals of northern Belgium in their two vessels, the eponymous "L'Hirondelle et la Mésange," taking the time to appreciate the sites and landscapes they encounter along their way. Like many in his trade, the mariner supplements his income by transporting occasional contraband. The tranquil rhythms of their nautical lives are interrupted, however, when they hire an ambitious new pilot.
- DirectorAntoni BednarczykStarsAntoni RózanskiJan KarpowiczStanislaw JasienskiThe north-eastern Polish province of Vilnius is after WW1 plundered by savage Bolsheviks. The heroic Polish army is bound to stop them.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsHenny PortenEmil JanningsJakob TiedtkeIn Southern Bavaria, Xaver wants to marry Gretel, but her father Kohlhiesel insists his elder daughter Liesel marry first. Liesel is shunned as too brutal. Seppel suggests marrying Liesel first, ridding her, then wedding Gretel.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsLotte NeumannJulius FalkensteinGustav von WangenheimComical variation on the Shakespeare play, featuring two feuding farmers families.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsTore SvennbergTora TejeRichard LundTwo weary travelers come upon a monastery. While staying the night, they learn of its mysterious founding.
- DirectorMarcel L'HerbierStarsCharles BoyerClaire PréliaSuzanne DorisNolff, a tough Breton fisherman is happy: his wife has just given birth to a son, Michel. His only wish is to make him a fisherman like him. But when he becomes a man, Michel becomes a good-for-nothing who spends his time in taverns with his evil genius friend Gwenn la Taupe. The sea will be his judge.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsOssi OswaldaCurt GoetzFerry SiklaA teenaged tomboy, tired of being bossed around by her strict guardian, impersonates a man so she can have more fun, but discovers that being the opposite sex isn't as easy as she had hoped.
- DirectorLéonce PerretStarsSuzanne GrandaisÉmile KeppensLéonce PerretCount Fernand De Keramic plots against his niece in order to acquire her wealth to pay his debts.