10 Best Silent Films Poll

Arndt · Post by **Arndt** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:20 am

1. Die Nibelungen (Lang, both parts)
2. Gösta Berlings Saga (Stiller)
3. The Scarlet Letter (Sjöström)
4. Intolerance (Griffith)
5. Nana (Renoir)
6. Faust (Murnau)
7. Underworld (von Sternberg)
8. Greed (von Stroheim)
9. Every Night Dreams (Naruse)
10. Der Schatz (Pabst)
11. La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (Dreyer) I know, I know...

Ferdinand Von Galitzien · Post by **Ferdinand Von Galitzien** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:41 pm

- "Sunrise" (1927) By Herr Murnau
- "Nosferatu" (1922) By Herr Murnau
- "Das Kabinett Des Dr. Caligari" (1920) By Herr Wiene
- "Metropolis" (1927) By Herr Lang
- "Die Büchse Der Pandora" (1929) By Herr Pabst
- "The General" (1926) By Herr Bruckman/Keaton
- "Greed" (1924) By Herr von Stroheim
- "Der Müde Tod" (1921) By Herr Lang
- "Von Morgens Bis Mitternacht" (1920) By Herr Heinz Martin
- "The Crowd" (1928) By Herr Vidor

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

Gagman 66 · Post by **Gagman 66** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:00 pm

Well, I can't seem to find my top 10 from about a year ago posted on SSO. Will try again. This list probably looks a little different than the older one. The order changes all the time. This is just the American Silent films list.

Cracking the top 10 for the first time is TIDE OF EMPIRE. While THE COSSACKS jumped from Number 10 on my list to Number 5 just love that movie. BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT probably should be on the list too. I had a top 10 list for both dramas and comedies. Not sure I included TELL IT TO THE MARINES last time? WINGS might have been on the list, either that or THE CROWD? Not to sure?

It's also possible that THE LAST COMMAND, THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK or UNDERWORLD could have been on the list? Also THE MATING CALL? WHAT PRICE GLORY? May or may not have been in my Top 10 previously? And Like TWO ARABIAN KNIGHTS, I could almost consider it a comedy. If not for the epic battle sequences. Actually, I think I had FOUR SONS on the original list. But only with the Vintage Erno Rapee' Lew Pollock Movie-tone score.

My Top 10 Silent Dramas:

1. THE BIG PARADE

2. STREET ANGEL

3. SEVENTH HEAVEN

4. OLD HEIDELBERG

5. THE COSSACKS

6. THE GODLESS GIRL

7. CAPTAIN SALVATION

8. WHAT PRICE GLORY?

9. TELL IT TO THE MARINES

10. TIDE OF EMPIRE

My TOP 10 Favorite Silent Comedies:

1. THE FRESHMAN

2. CITY LIGHTS

2. TWO ARABIAN KNIGHTS

4. THE PATSY

5. GIRL SHY

6. SEVEN CHANCES

8. THE CARDBOARD LOVER (Bumps THE RED MILL?)

9. KIKI

10. GRANDMAS BOY

Damfino · Post by **Damfino** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:53 pm

Sigh....can't resist....

Intolerance
Greed
The Crowd
Cabinet of Dr Caligari
Nosferatu
Metropolis
Pandora's Box
Docks of New York
Last of the Mohicans
Happiness (Medvedkin)

[And, if we were to pick twenty, the next ten -
People on Sunday
Broken Blossoms
The Love of Jeanne Ney
Foolish Wives
Show People
The Black Pirate
Bed & Sofa
Lonesome
White Shadows in the South Seas
City Lights ]

Gagman 66 · Post by **Gagman 66** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:42 am

Damfino,

Have you ever seen THE BIG PARADE??? As for THE BLACK PIRATE despite the Two-Strip Technicolor, and the elaborate stunts, it is not really one of Fairbanks better films. Relatively weak story. To me PANDORA'S BOX was truly God Awful. Kept waiting for it to get better and it never did. Wouldn't make my top 50 Silents let alone Top 10. I did like THE LOVE OF JEANNE NEY allot. THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK is great. I also love THE KING OF KINGS which many of you here do not like for whatever reason.

Murnau · Post by **Murnau** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 1:21 am

I have seen The Big Parade, but not on big screen. The print I saw was weak but the movie was great – much, much better than other silent war movies I have seen (especially Wings, which I think is boring and overlong). Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings was also a great movie, one of the best Bible-movies I have seen.

Harlett O'Dowd · Post by **Harlett O'Dowd** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 9:47 am

Gagman 66 wrote: As for THE BLACK PIRATE despite the Two-Strip Technicolor, and the elaborate stunts, it is not really one of Fairbanks better films. Relatively weak story.

Yes, but it has the "underwater ballet" of Fairbank's buddies in their leather harnesses!

Damfino · Post by **Damfino** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 3:59 am

Gagman 66 -
I picked Favorite films I've loved longest & thought of most often - not Best or Greatest films, despite appearances - so my choices, like all of ours, are not accountable to anyone!
I have seen THE BIG PARADE, and hold it in high regard - but I already listed two Vidors. There are many films I was sorry to see didn't make it onto my list, but there was only room for the few.... I suspect Nitratevillains in general would be happier making a Top 50 List!

N_Phay · Post by **N_Phay** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:50 am

This is my favourite/most enjoy repeatedly watching, no particular order:

"A Woman of the World"
"Beggars of Life"
"Ella Cinders"
"Faust"
"Diary of a Lost Girl"
"Sunrise"
"Ben Hur"
"City Lights"
"Bare Knees"
"Way Down East"

As a bonus extra bite of the cherry style, here is my top 10 titles that I know exist, but I wish I could actually see them/buy them on DVD or whatever:

"Forbidden Paradise"
"The Woman Disputed"
"Secrets"
"The Lady"
"Smilin' Through"
"The Fire Brigade"
"Noah's Ark"
"Lilac Time"
"Why be Good"
"Single Wives"

Gagman 66 · Post by **Gagman 66** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:22 pm

N_Phay,

I have A WOMAN OF THE WORLD, but have never watched it. Have Had it for a couple years. If I was listing a Pola Negri feature it would have been BARBED WIRE, and yes that rates very high among my favorites.

I have seen LILAC TIME in Truncated form. Hoping to see a nice35 Millimeter print sometime, that is complete. Also have seen NOAH'S ARK several times. The added dialogue ruins the film, but the Silent portion is brilliant. WHY BE GOOD?, and SYNTHETIC SIN both exist, but sadly might be lost again before Warner's finally gets around to the promised restorations. Having put it off each of the last three years. I to would relish seeing THE FIRE BRIGADE, and Lubitsch FORBIDDEN PARADISE as well.

Besides those, these are probably my most wanted Silents that I have never seen:

1. FORBIDDEN HOURS (1928)

2. TWELVE MILES OUT (1927)

3. CHILDREN OF DIVORCE (1927)

4. HER WILD OAT (1927)

5. PROUD FLESH (1925)

6. HONOR FIRST (1922)

7. AN EXCHANGE OF WIVES (1925)

8. BUTTERFLY (1924)

9. THE PERFECT FLAPPER (1924)

10. HER NIGHT OF ROMANCE (1924)

Among the many films that I did not mention are HONOR FIRST (1922), and SHE'S A SHEIK (1927). Both may be lost? I still haven't seen HER SISTER FROM PARIS, and THE FLAMING FOREST also survives. HER BIG NIGHT (1926) with Laura La Plante is supposed to be at Eastman House, or UCLA? I forget which one?

Jeff Rapsis · Post by **Jeff Rapsis** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:29 pm

We've been showing programs of silent features on the big screen with live music and audiences of varying sizes for the past two years up here in New Hampshire. Here are the top 10 in terms of audience reaction:

1. 'Speedy' (1928): shown to a standing-room-only crowd in the screening room of the Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H.; audience went completely bonkers during Harold's final dash through the streets. Afterwards, a local filmmaker said he had "no idea that cinema could be so exhilarating!"

2. 'Way Down East' (1920): Ice floe sequence retains its power to thrill, but what was REALLY surprising was how much the crowd at a screening this past January (in the dead of winter) got into the entire film from start to finish, even spontaneously hissing the Lowell Sherman character. Must be because we're in New England, where some of this was filmed, and where some attitudes haven't changed. (What does she expect, going down to Boston?)

3. 'Wings' (1927): Once the air sequences start, the first-ever "Best Picture" just grabs an audience and never lets go. Final scenes in the family home are absolutely gut-wrenching. Showed this to a crowd of aviation enthusiasts on Veterans Day last year and more than a few old fly-boys were in tears at the end.

4. 'Paths to Paradise' (1925): Seldom-screened Raymond Griffith film brought gales of laughter once audience grasped his character; high velocity car chase sequence was greeted by one giant laugh after another. Also, in 'Hands Up' (1926), which we screened as a companion feature, the "teaching the savages to dance" segment got probably the biggest laugh yet; Griffith's pantomime in this is absolutely superb.

5. 'The Big Parade' (1925): The sweep of this film just grabbed everyone at a Sept. 11 screening at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, N.H., especially when the troops go to the front and begin their march through that forest. We had a lot of newbies in the audience that night, and many came up afterwards and said they had NO IDEA that it could be so powerful.

6. 'The Kid' (1921): Plenty of big laughs (especially when the dog flies away in the dream) but the sequence when Jackie Coogan is taken away, and then Charlie is chased over the rooftops and lands in the truck to continue the battle, got a really big reaction. Also, Chaplin films still tend to draw the biggest crowds, so that's always a plus for audience reaction.

7. 'The Wind' (1928): We had a relatively small audience for this, so the 'critical mass' factor wasn't in play so much here, but the film still just blew everyone away. There's something about this film that absorbs an audience, and it's a great film for music, too.

8. 'When The Clouds Roll By' (1919): I think we caught this one just right for some reason, for an audience at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H. reacted strongly right from the beginning to this whimsical early Fairbanks film; lots of spontaneous applause at each turn of events as the film was wrapping up.

9. 'The General' (1927): For all the reasons you'd expect. Plenty of big laughs and even some screams when the locomotive meets its end. Audiences seem to love this film; our screening produced the highest-ever amount of donations for ongoing film series. (Used to defray costs.)

10. 'Clash of the Wolves' (1925): Rip-roaring Rin Tin Tin film had everyone on the edge of their seats right from the beginning clear to the rousing finish, though a family with kids left early on when a wolf gets shot and the others in the pack attack the wounded animal. (Too frightening!)

Honorable mention to 'The Unknown' (1927), which we've shown a few times and leaves everyone's mouth hanging wide open.

We haven't had too many complete duds, but one was 'The Crowd' (1928), which seemed to baffle the audience the night we screened it. We've also had some really unfortunate audience reactions, such as inappropriate laughter throughout 'Phantom of the Opera' (1925) and at certain moments in 'Flesh and the Devil' (1926) - most notably when Greta Garbo unexpectedly meets her untimely end. (Har!)

Generally, though only 'Speedy' was singled out here, Harold Lloyd's feature films are singular for the reactions they draw from a live audience. The two most amazing screenings I ever remember, in terms of audience reaction, were a showing of 'The Freshman' (1925) at the Film Forum in NYC some years ago that made everyone laugh until it hurt (in my case, literally), and a screening a couple of years ago of 'Safety Last' (1923) in 35mm at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, N.H. before a sizeable crowd with a fresh score performed live by local composer Michael Annicharico; more than 80 years on, the building climb still had people shrieking.

Gagman 66 · Post by **Gagman 66** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:32 pm

Jeff Rapsis,

Thanks for the post. Harold Lloyd's features always go over big live.

Say did you guys have access to the the restored 35 Millimeter version of THE BIG PARADE, that we have been waiting on for year and years (restoration completed in 2004) to turn up on TCM, let alone DVD? Or was it an older version, or 16 millimeter? Tinted print, or Monochrome?

THE BIG PARADE in my opinion is the greatest film that has never been offered on DVD by a wide margin. Not just Silent films. Personally, I think it puts many better known and much beloved classics to total shame by comparison. Here is a link to my recent blog on GAOH:

http://goldenageofhollywood.ning.com/pr ... 25-finally

Incidentally, I am also curious about WINGS too? Was it a recent restoration? There have been several Photoplay Productions in 1993 if you consider that recent, and in this decade AMPAS, and the LOC. Yet TCM was still stuck with the Laser-disc version from 1985 last year. The saety-stock transfer to which was made 20 years earlier.

KenGriffin · Post by **KenGriffin** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:57 am

Here's my list (in no particular order):

1. Metropolis
2. Sunrise
3. Steamboat Bill Jnr
4. The Phantom of the Opera
5. Nostferatu
6. The Gold Rush
7. The Iron Mask
8. The Cameraman
9. The General
10. Irish Destiny [a real obscurity!]

My list is probably a bit lopsided as there's a lot of silents that I haven't seen but want to eg. Wings!

Jeff Rapsis · Post by **Jeff Rapsis** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:51 am

"Say did you guys have access to the the restored 35 Millimeter version of THE BIG PARADE, that we have been waiting on for year and years (restoration completed in 2004) to turn up on TCM, let alone DVD? Or was it an older version, or 16 millimeter? Tinted print, or Monochrome?"

We got clearance to show 'The Big Parade' through Swank, who shipped us a 16mm print to use for the screening. But at the venue (the 900-seat Palace Theatre in Manchester, N.H.), we opted to go with the laser disc version from about 20 years ago because the image on the screen from a digital projector we have was much brighter and better, and we didn't want to disappoint the audience. It was straight black-and-white, as I recall.

'Wings' was off a DVD, but I'm not sure what version. It looked fantastic, though!

Einar the Lonely · Post by **Einar the Lonely** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:44 pm

3. 'Wings' (1927): Once the air sequences start, the first-ever "Best Picture" just grabs an audience and never lets go. Final scenes in the family home are absolutely gut-wrenching.

I was lucky to see "Wings" on a big screen with an old cinema organ accompanying and experienced the same audience reaction, including myself. The most striking thing is that you can immediately see how the combat sequences were (literally) shot out of REAL flying planes. Even if you are used to Bruce Willis & Co, these scenes kick major a**.

Later I obtained a video copy but compared to the screen experience it was lousy. This is a film that is most alive in cinema.

jessica · Post by **jessica** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:26 pm

Man Who Laughs
Docks of New York
The Wind
Sherlock Jr
Lonesome
Paths to Paradise
Broken Blossoms
A Cottage on Dartmoor
Pass the Gravy
Metropolis

Post by **Mike Gebert** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:10 pm

Okay, 31 lists, that's great, anybody else who wants to contribute, do so in the next couple of days, I'll tabulate later this week. Even if you don't post and merely read NitrateVille, here's your chance to make a first and possibly only post, I'm really interested in a broad read on what titles matter to the silent film viewing community, so let us know what you like as of 2009!

quietone · Post by **quietone** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:16 pm

Hard to do. . .

1. Sunrise
2. Sherlock Jr.
3. Faust
4. The Kid
5. It
6. Speedy
7. Seventh Heaven
8. The Crowd
9. Die Nibelungen
10.Three Bad Men

Kevin2 · Post by **Kevin2** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:39 pm

These would be the silents I watch the most (in alphabetical order).

1. Berlin: Symphony of a City (1927)
2. The Chaser (1928)
3. The Circus (1928)
4. The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
5. The Kid Brother (1927)
6. Little Annie Rooney (1925)
7. Our Hospitality (1923)
8. Pandora's Box (1929)
9. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
10. Sir Arne's Treasure (1919)

boblipton · Post by **boblipton** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:55 pm

Kevin, I know there's no disputing taste, and there are a lot of Langdon movies I like, but THE CHASER? Can you say what about it you like?

Bob

Hookhandlady · Post by **Hookhandlady** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:48 pm

More than my top choices, really a list of essentials:
(in no particular order)

-A Cottage on Dartmoor
-Phantom
-The Unknown
-Sunrise
-Pandora's Box
-The Unholy Three (1925)
-Le Voyage Dans La Lune
-Beggars of Life
-The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
-The Penalty

Jim Reid · Post by **Jim Reid** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 3:00 pm

No particular order.

Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Kid Brother
The Circus
The Unknown
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
The Crowd
Two Tars
Pass the Gravy
Wings
City Lights

Kevin2 · Post by **Kevin2** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 3:42 pm

Kevin, I know there's no disputing taste, and there are a lot of Langdon movies I like, but THE CHASER? Can you say what about it you like?

Hi Bob,

I figured this one might get me in trouble. I really love Langdon and his minimalistic humor. There's no one, certainly in silent cinema, who can hold a reaction longer than Langdon. While his masterpiece is The Strong Man, I watch The Chaser far more regularly. In The Chaser you get a lot of Langdon's minimalism, plus a great deal of surrealism. It's a gag-filled, gender-changing comedy, with suicide as a major plot point, and it all degenerates into a Mack Sennet ending. I'll admit it's not for all tastes, but I really like it.

Chris Snowden · Post by **Chris Snowden** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 4:59 pm

Well, these aren't necessarily high art, but each of them delighted me more than any other silents I can think of right now... so here goes...

In chronological order:

The Terrible Turkish Executioner (1904) - Unusually bloodthirsty Melies short, but magical too, an element completely lacking in the al-Qaeda remakes of a century later.

A Winter Straw Ride (1906) - This is an Edison semi-actuality film. It's really nothing more than people going out on a horse-drawn wagon ride through the snow. But that's enough. Beautiful and evocative.

Princess Nicotine (1909) - One of my favorites of the nickelodeon era, an American picture in the European trick film tradition. Very charming, not just a lot of camera tricks for their own sake.

The Pawn Shop (1916) - Chaplin at his best, from his mischievous rascal period rather than his later weary philosopher period. The film that got me started in film collecting 33 years ago. I hate to think what would've happened if I'd started with something like A Jitney Elopement instead.

Spring Fever (1919) - Harold Lloyd ditches the office for an exuberant day in the park. Originally saw it at Disneyland's Main Street Theatre, and was so delighted with it that I copied down all the intertitles. (Good thing, too, because they've been replaced in every print I've seen since then with lame re-written titles.)

The Wolf (1926) - My favorite (so far) from an obscure series starring Fearless (sometimes billed as Fearless the Canine Detective, though he does no detecting in this one). Two reels of silent movie hokum, and in my opinion you're not really a silent movie buff if you can't enjoy good hokum. Little girl loses her puppy, which recognizes her years later and rescues her from a wolf attack and then from a sleazy embezzler.

Seventh Heaven (1927) - Silent movie hokum raised to a fine art; as moving as you allow it to be.

Lonesome (1929) - The peak of the silent art, yet completely free of pretension. Its mercifully brief talking sequences only make the silent material seem all the better in contrast.

Saturday's Lesson (1929) - It was the Our Gang talkies that got me interested in vintage film, and I didn't know they went back to the silent days until this hit the screen at the pizza parlor. An overlooked treat, with more laughs than their first dozen talkies combined. If only they were all this good.

Post by **Mike Gebert** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:10 pm

Silent movie hokum raised to a fine art; as moving as you allow it to be.

That, sir, is an absolutely perfect description.

Einar the Lonely · Post by **Einar the Lonely** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:14 pm

in my opinion you're not really a silent movie buff if you can't enjoy good hokum

Well said. Actually, I think nobody can be a true cinema lover in general who doesn't enjoy good hokum. "Hokum" is a nice word, it always reminds me of "Hooka", as in Baudelaire---"il rêve d'échafauds en fumant son houka..." There is a relation between the movies and pipe dreams.

Mark Goffee · Post by **Mark Goffee** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 6:23 pm

The Crowd
Peter Pan
Little Annie Rooney
Diary of a Young Girl
The Big Parade
Broken Blossoms
Hot Water
The Gaucho
Go West
The Night Cry

Post by **silentfilm** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:51 pm

Chris Snowden wrote: The Pawn Shop (1916) - Chaplin at his best, from his mischievous rascal period rather than his later weary philosopher period. The film that got me started in film collecting 33 years ago. I hate to think what would've happened if I'd started with something like A Jitney Elopement instead.

When I found out about 10 years ago that David Shepard was still making 16mm prints from the Blackhawk collection, this was the first print that I ordered. Almost all of Chaplin's Mutual films are very, very good, but The Pawnshop is outstanding. (And I do have a print of Jitney Elopement too!)

myrnaloyisdope · Post by **myrnaloyisdope** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 11:19 pm

myrnaloyisdope wrote:1. The Crowd
2. My Best Girl
3. The Kid
4. Sherlock Jr.
5. Safety Last
6. Lonesome
7. The Phantom Carriage
8. The Cheat
9. Broken Blossoms
10. Les Vampires

Just realized I forgot about Maurice Elvey's The Life Story of David Lloyd George, which blew me away upon viewing it a couple months ago. Pretty grand staff, and acres of backstory make it a must see.

Jim Henry · Post by **Jim Henry** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:09 am

Just off the top of my head and in no particular order:

Nosferatu
The General
Flesh and the Devil
Steamboat Bill Jr.
Phantom of the Opera
Lilac Time
Metropolis
One Week
The Cook
Number Please

I suppose this is the first 10 titles that came to mind as films I'd watch more than once.

10 Best Silent Films Poll

My top 10

The Essentials