Top 10 Silent Films

[wpqx]

I know some of us can go for 20, 20, or even a full 100, but lets make it so that nearly everyone can submit a list. Take your ten favorites, and try to rank them. Just so we are in agreement, Sunrise, City Lights, and Modern Times are all silent films despite having syched soundtracks.

1. Intolerance (1916)
2. Napoleon (1927)
3. Man With the Movie Camera (1929)
4. Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)
5. City Lights (1931)
6. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
7. Sunrise: A Story of Two Humans (1927)
8. Variety (1925)
9. The Birth of a Nation
10. Metropolis (1927)

I also love For Heaven's Sake, Battleship Potemkin, The General Line, Zvenigora, The Gold Rush, The Circus, The General, Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Die Nibelungen, The Wedding March, and Faust.

[oscar jubis]

ALTERNATIVE LIST OF FAVORITE SILENTS

Arsenal (Dovzhenko)

Broken Blossoms (Griffith)

Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Weine)

The Crowd (Vidor)

Docks of New York (Sternberg)

Earth (Dovzhenko)

Foolish Wives (Stroheim)

Greed (Stroheim)

I Was Born but... (Ozu)

L'age d'or (Bunuel)

The Last Laugh (Murnau)

Leaves from Satan's Book (Dreyer)

Les Vampires (Feuillade)

Nanook of the North (Flaherty)

Nosferatu (Murnau)

October (Eisenstein)

Orphans of the Storm (Griffith)

The Parson's Widow (Dreyer)

Un Chien Andalou (Bunuel/Dali)

Vampyr (Dreyer)

[Johann]

No problem.

1.Greed
2.October
3.Foolish Wives
4.Haxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages
5.Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
6.Metropolis
7.Pandora's Box
8.Napoleon
9.The Passion of Joan of Arc
10.Nosferatu

[SinjinSB]

I have to start by saying that this is one area I am lacking in movies I've seen, but I'm working on it. I have several on DVD that I haven't watched yet (Keaton box, Gold Rush, Haxan, Metroplis, the Hitchock Silents, The Movies Begin box set, etc).

But here's an early top 10 list of some of the ones I have seen so far:

1) The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
2) Nanook of the North (1922)
3) The Lodger (1927)
4) The Black Pirate (1926)
5) Nosferatu (1922)
6) Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
7) The Pleasure Garden (1925)
8) The Great Train Robbery (1903)
9) A Trip to the Moon (1902)
10) The Ring (1927)

I REALLY enjoyed the Top 5!

Honorable Mention: Blackmail (1929)...filmed as a silent then made into first British talkie (I think that's right). I've seen both versions, but not sure if it officially qualifies as a silent (it would be around the middle of my top ten).

Dishonorable Mention: Birth of a Nation (1915)

I also enjoyed the Lumiere shorts as an early look into filmmaking.

[oscar jubis]

Birth of a Nation is dishonorable indeed. Mr. Griffith was a white supremacist and a facist. He was also a pioneer filmmaker. So give yourself another chance to enjoy his artistry.
Watch Broken Blossoms if you can ignore the fact that a major character is known simply as "chinaman" and "chinaman" is played by a caucasian actor.
Watch Orphans of the Storm and ignore Griffith's injecting anti-communist messages into the intertitles of a movie about the French Revolution.
It's a lot easier to take than a movie that condones the murder of non-whites.

[SinjinSB]

Thanks for the recommendation...I'll hafta check that out.

[wpqx]

I have begun to believe that I am the only person alive who can watch Birth of a Nation, and not be affected by its racism (and no I am not a member of the KKK). I think the film is brilliant, and the attention to detail in battle scenes is truly remarkable. Being that a second subject of interest for me is American history I can also attest that this the most historically accurate fiction film about the Civil War and the reconstruction era. People like to attack the film, because it showed things the way they were at the time. We have had too much of a tendency to white wash history and pretend that only the bad guys had slaves, and no decent German was anti-semetic. This is real history and the fact that Griffith thought the film wasn't racist at all, goes to prove that he viewed as a piece of truth. If you can complain about anything then attack the rather awful makeup job. Now if you simply don't like the film because the Civil War bores you, or you find the film too long and disinteresting (as some people have) then by all means dismiss it. I can admire a great film no matter what the subtext is, so if you can't stomach this, then by all means stay away from Triumph of the Will.
I'm also far more interested in subconscious racism in film. A prime example is the dopy black stereotype found in early sound films. Watch Harold Lloyd's second sound feature Feet First. The final stunt (a reprise of his building climbing in Safety Last) is nearly ruined by the world's most ignorant "darky". There is also a similar disturbing scene in the late silent Garbo feature Wild Orchids. Gabro and her later love interest first meet as he is reprimanding his black servant and whipping him in front of her aboard a cruise ship. Not exactly the type of violence we get in today's movies, at least not without the pretext of "these are ignorant, racist, bigots, who are almost always from the deep south". Somehow white southerners make for as easy a target in movies as nazis, and I think that in itself is reversed racism and just as harmful. Anyways I'm preaching about the ethics of film. As for Griffith see Intolerance (There is a reason why it tops my list). For what it's worth, Pauline Kael actually called it the greatest film of all time.

[SinjinSB]

It's not really the racism that I dislike about Birth of a Nation. That's one slight negative, but there are plenty of movies with racism that I consider good movies.

I was bored silly by Birth of a Nation. I saw it back in '87 in High School and really disliked the movie.

I may be wrong, but I swear I remember seeing people shot in the battle scenes to later get back up and join the fight. Though like I said, that may not be correct. I saw it so long ago and don't remember it that well. I do remember how much I disliked the movie when I was watching it.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by wpqx
I have begun to believe that I am the only person alive who can watch Birth of a Nation, and not be affected by its racism (and no I am not a member of the KKK). I think the film is brilliant, and the attention to detail in battle scenes is truly remarkable. Being that a second subject of interest for me is American history I can also attest that this the most historically accurate fiction film about the Civil War and the reconstruction era. People like to attack the film, because it showed things the way they were at the time.

Simply outrageous. Particularly coming from one claiming American History as a "subject of interest". The only thing YOU can attest is your own ignorance on the subject, particularly the Reconstruction.(Funny you found it necessary to remind us that you're not as member of the KKK) The Birth of a Nation is spectacle as argument, advancing a warped point of view. That of Southern whites of the time, no surprise coming from a rural Kentuckian, son of a proud Civil War hero. You state "I am the only person alive..." but I'm not as optimistic.

Negroes were our children, whom we loved and cared for all our lives (D.W. Griffith)

The postwar and Reconstruction scenes are racist in the ham-handed way of an old minstrel show or vile comic pamphlet. It's a stark history lesson to realize that this film expressed widely held and generally acceptable white views. A great film that argues for evil. To understand how it does so is to learn a great deal about film, and something about evil. (Roger Ebert)

Given the complex nature of reality and the subjectivity of human perception, a thoughtful person thinks of objectivity as an ideal. To say that "it shows things the way they were" is naive and simplistic. Everyone is looking at truth from a particular angle.

[harri]

Here's a list, but I'm in the mood to type, so I'll get a little more specific than just numbering.

Kinugasa's A Page of Madness is a favorite. Dramatic camera angles and truly experimental filmmaking makes for an unforgettable experience. I've only seen this on POOR quality VHS, set to inappropriate music, and it still holds as my favorite japanese silent film. Mizoguchi's The Paper Cranes of Osen and Ozu's An Inn in Tokyo are a couple of other favorites (both seen on poor quality VHS, the first was so expensive I bought it and then had to sell it immediately to pay rent, and the second had only german subtitles and really unfortunate picture quality). Everything I've heard about Hiroshi Shimizu points to his work being something that I would realy love, but unless his work comes to video, I doubt I'll have the opportunity (the recent retrospective gives hope).

Some of Jean Renoir's silent films are Hilarious (especially Charleston, Charleston!) and Rene Clair can't help but be interesting (his Dadaist experimental short Entre'acte is great). Of course I'm also a big fan of Bunuel's Un Chien Andalou.

I've loved both Sjostrom I've seen (The Phantom Chariot and The Wind) but unfortunately haven't found any more of his work (though I haven't searched terribly hard). I'm also looking forward to any future Dreyer silents released as I love The Passion of Joan of Arc more than most films of any age that I've seen.

The German and American silents are a treasure trove of greats. Chaplin and Keaton (I can't decide who I love more... though I might like Chaplin's sound films more than his silents, and certainly the opposite for Keaton) have many greats. Stroheim's Queen Kelly is a joy to watch. I admit, there are many mainstays that I, for one reason or another, haven't gotten around to yet (laziness and/or bypassing film school and just seeing things that "sound" interesting to me might be the causes) such as any Griffith (other than Birth...) DeMille, and Stroheim's Greed. Pabst, Murnau, Lang, and Lubitsch are easily three of my favorite directors from this period, and I can't choose a favorite film between them (I've seen maybe three or four a piece from those three). Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl, Murnau's Sunrise, Lang's Metropolis, and Lubitsch's The Marriage Circle are all available on DVD and worth watching though. (Sternberg's The Blue Angel is a very popular silent, but I can't say it's a favorite... still worth mentioning)

I really enjoyed Battleship Potemkin, Aelita: Queen of Mars, and Man with a Movie Camera, but other than those and a couple more I have little exposure to Russian silents... definitely something to look forward to in the future.

For Animation, The Adventure of Prince Achmed is incredible to watch.

This post has reminded me of something... I need to see more silent films!

Steven

[wpqx]

Interesting comments, but The Blue Angel is not only a sound film, but it was shot in two languages. Perhaps you could be thinking of other silent Sternberg such as The Last Command, Underworld, or the Docks of New York.

[harri]

Originally posted by wpqx
Interesting comments, but The Blue Angel is not only a sound film, but it was shot in two languages. Perhaps you could be thinking of other silent Sternberg such as The Last Command, Underworld, or the Docks of New York.

Thanks for the correction... I haven't seen any of those last few films (I think they're available pretty cheap on VHS, so I'll look into seeing them though). I genuinely remembered The Blue Angel as being silent. Guess that's a good sign I should revisit it!

Steven