Romance in the 1920s
by Chihir0 | created - 17 Feb 2015 | updated - 19 Feb 2015 | PublicCharlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and a lot of other filmmakers brought us retro romances in the 1920s.
Which one do you think is the best?
Discuss the list
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1. 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: 53,702 | Gross: $0.54M
2. 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: 97,824 | Gross: $1.03M
3. 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: 118,279 | Gross: $5.45M
4. 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: 35,924
5. 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: 13,093
6. 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: 11,807 | Gross: $0.01M
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: 11,671 | Gross: $1.30M
8. 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: 12,455 | Gross: $1.17M
9. The Crowd (1928)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Romance
The life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles, and downfalls.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Eleanor Boardman, James Murray, Bert Roach, Estelle Clark
Votes: 9,118
10. The Unknown (1927)
Unrated | 68 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
A criminal on the run hides in a circus and seeks to possess the daughter of the ringmaster at any cost.
Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford, Nick De Ruiz
Votes: 9,085 | Gross: $0.41M
11. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
Not Rated | 80 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A handsome prince rides a flying horse to faraway lands and embarks on magical adventures, which include befriending a witch, meeting Aladdin, battling demons and falling in love with a princess.
Directors: Lotte Reiniger, Carl Koch
Votes: 6,848
12. 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: 14,447 | Gross: $6.59M
13. 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: 7,229 | Gross: $11.00M
14. 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: 8,004
15. 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: 5,008
16. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (I) (1923)
Passed | 133 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
In 15th-century Paris, the brother of the archdeacon plots with the gypsy king to foment a peasant revolt. Meanwhile, a freakish hunchback falls in love with a gypsy dancer.
Director: Wallace Worsley | Stars: Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Kate Lester
Votes: 6,075 | Gross: $2.22M
17. 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: 5,877 | Gross: $4.50M
18. He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
95 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A bitter clown endeavors to rescue the young woman he loves from the lecherous count who once betrayed him.
Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Ruth King
Votes: 4,261 | Gross: $0.19M
19. Battling Butler (1926)
Passed | 77 min | Comedy, Sport
A love-struck weakling must pretend to be boxer in order to gain respect from the family of the girl he loves.
Director: Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Snitz Edwards, Sally O'Neil, Walter James
Votes: 3,873 | Gross: $0.70M
20. 7th Heaven (1927)
110 min | Drama, Romance
A street cleaner saves a young woman's life, and the pair slowly fall in love until war intervenes.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Ben Bard, Albert Gran
Votes: 4,129 | Gross: $3.92M
21. 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: 3,544 | Gross: $0.41M
22. Lonesome (1928)
Passed | 69 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
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 together. Will they ever see each other again?
Director: Pál Fejös | Stars: Barbara Kent, Glenn Tryon, Fay Holderness, Gusztáv Pártos
Votes: 2,584
23. A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923)
Passed | 82 min | Drama, Romance
A kept woman runs into her former fiancé and finds herself torn between love and comfort.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Edna Purviance, Clarence Geldert, Carl Miller, Lydia Knott
Votes: 6,127 | Gross: $1.38M
24. A Woman of Affairs (1928)
Passed | 98 min | Drama
When two childhood sweethearts are kept from marrying, misery ensues.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lewis Stone, Johnny Mack Brown
Votes: 1,688 | Gross: $0.85M
25. Street Angel (1928)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama
A woman on the run from the law finds her past catching up to her just as she is on the verge of true happiness.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Natalie Kingston, Henry Armetta
Votes: 2,559 | Gross: $3.71M
26. 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: 3,644 | Gross: $0.63M
27. My Best Girl (1927)
Passed | 80 min | Comedy, Romance
A department store's stock girl falls in love with a co-worker, the son of the store's manager; the feeling is mutual though he is engaged to a debutante and focusing on becoming successful without the influence of his father.
Director: Sam Taylor | Stars: Mary Pickford, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Sunshine Hart, Lucien Littlefield
Votes: 940 | Gross: $2.24M
28. Blood and Sand (1922)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
A toreador's (Rudolph Valentino) familial and social life is threatened when he has an affair.
Directors: Fred Niblo, Dorothy Arzner | Stars: Rudolph Valentino, Rosa Rosanova, Leo White, Rosita Marstini
Votes: 1,529 | Gross: $2.73M
29. The Sheik (1921)
Passed | 86 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A charming Arabian sheik becomes infatuated with an adventurous, modern-thinking Englishwoman and abducts her to his home in the Saharan desert.
Director: George Melford | Stars: Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, Ruth Miller, George Waggner
Votes: 3,650
30. The Broadway Melody (1929)
Passed | 100 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A pair of sisters from the vaudeville circuit try to make it big time on Broadway, but matters of the heart complicate the attempt.
Director: Harry Beaumont | Stars: Bessie Love, Anita Page, Charles King, Eddie Kane
Votes: 7,953 | Gross: $6.12M
31. 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: 22,807 | Gross: $1.36M
32. Robin Hood (1922)
Not Rated | 143 min | Adventure, Family, Romance
A nobleman becomes the vigilante Robin Hood who protects the oppressed English people from the tyrannical Prince John.
Director: Allan Dwan | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Wallace Beery, Sam De Grasse, Enid Bennett
Votes: 2,469 | Gross: $5.45M
33. Easy Virtue (1927)
Not Rated | 80 min | Romance, Thriller
A recently divorced woman hides her scandalous past from her new husband and his family.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Isabel Jeans, Franklin Dyall, Eric Bransby Williams, Ian Hunter
Votes: 3,050
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