What is Your Favorite Classic Silent Film?

The Man Who Laughs

The Phantom Carriage

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The Dictator

"Greed" (1924) .

Visages d'enfants, a sadly neglected 1925 French-Swiss masterpiece.

Sunrise.

Nosferatu

^^ the most famous scene that just everyone has probably seen at some point is at 1:16:06

Wings, for the homoeroticism.

Agree with R4 - Sunrise.

‘King of Kings’ starring HB Warner. Made in 1927, I was always convinced that Judas’ death scene influenced the death scene of the witch in Snow White, which was only made about five years later.

The musical Mame is best watched silent.

WINGS. You won't miss spoken dialogue. The technical achievements and the photography in this film are breathtaking by today's standards. Better, really. No CGI in WINGS. It was made in 1927.

Sunrise, Pandora's Box, and Nosferatu definitely. Others worth seeing:

Ben-Hur

Seven Chances

Passion of Joan of Arc

Potemkin

Mother

The Late Mathias Pascal

The Crowd—ahead of its time look at ordinary people trying to climb the ladder of success in America and not succeeding. Made more poignant by the fact that it’s star, James Murray, died of alcoholism only a few years later.

Pandora’s Box—the film that made the legendary Louise Brooks. Absolutely breathtaking.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Rudy Valentino is sex on a stick in this one—and he showed he could act. After watching this, I understood exactly why all those women mobbed his funeral.

Didn’t mean to add that apostrophe to “its.” Forgive me, Oh DL Grammar Gods!

R13

OP=Jaqueline Stewart.

Tango scene in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The Last Laugh (1924).

I like a lot of Lon Chaney films but my favorites are While the City Sleeps, The Unknown, and Tell It to the Marines.

Metropolis, just for the visuals. Ditto Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.

Released in 1927 and starring Janet Gaynor, R4?

R18 Yes, and George O'Brien.

I agree with R13 on Pandora's Box and The Crowd. Never saw Four Horsemen but now I need to look it up.

Napoléon The Passion of Joan of Arc.

The Wind (1928) with Lillian Gish. A fucking MASTERPIECE.

Well, there's...

Intolerance (1916; D.W. Griffith): It's equally as epic and groundbreaking as Griffith's The Birth of Nation (1915), but without all the racist story elements; plus there's a hint of homoeroticism at certain points.

The Prisoner of Zenda (1922; Rex Ingram): Not a perfect film, but gay icon Ramon Novarro is magnificent as the villainous Rupert of Hentzau.

The Navigator (1924; Donald Crisp, Buster Keaton): Dizzying, dazzling comedy set aboard an abandoned ship.

The Big Parade (1925; King Vidor): A feckless youth (John Gilbert) volunteers for the Army during World War I; cinema's highest grossing film until the release of Gone with the Wind in 1939.

Flesh and the Devil (1926; Clarence Brown): A seductive woman (Greta Garbo) comes between two men (John Gilbert, Lars Hansen); dreamy romance with an unforgettable climax.

3 Bad Men (1926; John Ford): During the settling of the Dakotas, three outlaws play matchmaker for a young couple (Olive Borden, George O'Brien).

The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927; Ernst Lubitsch, John M. Stahl): The Lubitsch touch is in full force in this adaptation of the famous operetta (obviously minus the music); Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer give terrific comedy performances.

Bed and Sofa (1927; Abram Room): Fascinating Soviet film about two men and a woman sharing an apartment in Moscow; there's even some interesting homoeroticism (pictured below).

The Last Command (1927; Josef von Sternberg): Emil Jannings won the first Best Actor Oscar for his staggering portrayal of a former Russian noble general reduced to extra work in Hollywood.

Show People (1928; King Vidor): Another look at Hollywood, this time a comedy focusing on actors (Marion Davies, gay legend William Haines) trying to break into the industry, with cameos from stars of the era, including Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart, and John Gilbert.

Spies (1928; Fritz Lang): Slick, engrossing espionage thriller laid the groundwork for the James Bond movies to come 3 decades later.

The Trail of '98 (1928; Clarence Brown): Corny but massively entertaining epic about the Klondike Gold Rush.

A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929; Anthony Asquith): Gripping thriller with Hans Schlettow absolutely chilling as a man obsessed with a woman, leading to attempted murder.

Who doesn't love Ella Cinders?

I've been a silent movie buff my entire life. I think my very favorite silent film is German "The Love of Jeanne Ney" (1927). It is among "the culminating works of silent cinema"

Diary of a Lost Girl starring the immortal Louise Brooks. I've been fortunate to see it on the big screen twice.

Lang's "M" is ALMOST silent...

I was thinking the same, R28. I actually had to stop and think for a second to remember that it's not a silent, even though I've seen it at least 4 times. The only truly memorable parts that involve sound are the killer's whistling of "Peer Gynt" and Becker's hysterical monologue at the end. Almost all of the story is told through compelling visuals.

This is a very interesting documentary if you like history and/or silent films.

Laugh, Clown, Laugh with Lon Chaney is another favorite!

Fuck I don’t watch shit that old!

Then what are you doing in this thread, r32? Just thought you'd pop in to sneer and cast aspersion?

A few minutes of Theda Bara's "Salome" (1917) have just been discovered, in case any of you are interested. Most of her films are lost.

I agree with R4 that “Sunrise” is the greatest silent film ever made. Keaton’s “Sherlock, Jr.” is in the Top 5 for me.

For me, it's a toss up between "Sunrise" and "Wings."

Both were incredible technical achievements for their time, and there could not be a more beautiful onscreen presence than George O'Brien in "Sunrise."

Another unqualified vote for Sunrise.

The nightclub tracking shot in "Wings" was phenomenal, especially considering it was done in 1927. It even had a lesbian couple in it!

All of mine.

[quote]Intolerance (1916; D.W. Griffith)

Helen Lawson played the Whore of Babylon.

"Played", r40? She *was* the Whore of Babylon.

Metropolis

"Menilmontant," with "Sunrise" a close second.

Also a huge fan of "Intolerance."

Any guesses as to who the Whore of Metropolis was?

Wings sucks.

R45 God, that scene had me in tears. So tragic.

I have a VHS tape of Wings, and what I have noticed is that other reproductions of it put in different background music. I like the music on my copy much better than other Wings videos I’ve seen.

One more vote for Sunrise, honorable mention for Buster Keaton’s "Sherlock Jr." and Yasujiro Ozu’s "I Was Born, But..."

Not to duplicate any previous suggestions - The Sea Hawk from 1924 starring Milton Sills, who was a university professor before entering the movie business. Sills plays a British aristocrat who is wrongly charged with piracy and kidnapped to serve on a ship which he eventually commandeers. A few scenes of the handsome Sills on the ship's crew, rowing shirtless. The studio famously built full-sized replicas of the period ships only to destroy them for the battle scenes. Slightly over two hours long but actually a fast mover of a film.

The General. Hilarious and innovative from start to finish.

And since someone mentioned the ultra-hot George O'Brien in Sunruse, another recommendation is the silent western The Iron Horse from 1924, which has a few scenes of a shirtless O'Brien in addition to a very good story and cinematography

Spione, by Fritz Lang. I even have a signed photograph of Gerda Maurus in her role.

R3 is so sad about being the only person smart and brilliant enough to appreciate a movie. SO SAD.

And such a braggart.

Hey, blowhard. It ain't SAD. Everyone who worked on it is dead and it's there for anyone to appreciate.

Christ, these people and their convolutions.

I'm sure Norma's would have danced rings around that chick Nazimova's.

No love for Chaplin? What's wrong with you bitches?