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Okay, I know there's no excuse for playing that tired old parlor game of naming the ten best silents...

...but you know you can't resist, and I have an excuse anyway, since we've been talking about the Sight & Sound polls and the like. I think these lists provide a snapshot of a time and place. And I think it would be interesting to compare it to one that I tabulated at AMS probably 15 years ago, and see what changes have come along in the communal perception of the art since then.

So here's the drill:

1. Jot down your top ten, preferably without looking at the lists as they're posted. You can define "top ten" however you want-- greatest, favorite, most artistically important, what you'd most happily watch again, stuck on a desert island with, however you choose.

2. Post it in this thread. I will put up a big random picture at the end of the message, to make it easier to avoid reading the lists before you intend to.

3. Then read the lists.

4. Eventually, I'll tabulate and draw sociological conclusions re who's up, who's down.

Mine will be below the big random picture.


Not 13, Norma, 10! I said 10!

Mike Gebert:
1. Our Hospitality
2. The Crowd
3. Seventh Heaven
4. The Kid Brother
5. My Best Girl
6. I Was Born, But
7. The Iron Mask
8. Asphalt
9. The Whistle
10. Bed and Sofa

This will probably change by tea time:

1. Sunrise
2. Spione
3. The Iron Horse
4. Metropolis
5. Intolerance
6. Thief of Bagdad
7. The Big Parade
8. Ben-Hur

flip a coin:
9. The Kid/City Lights
10. Sherlock Jr/The General

This is subject to change on a whim (by the time I get to number 10).

1. Show People
2. Son of the Sheik
3. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
4. Peter Pan
5. Robin Hood (skipping!)
6. My Best Girl
7. Tol'Able David
8. Go West
9. Sorrell and Son
10. The Sea Hawk

Fred

Totally off the cuff - I'm sure I will think of alternates I'd prefer later, but here goes (in no particular order):

LAST COMMAND
DOCKS OF NY
IT
BEAU GESTE
WEDDING MARCH (specifically with original soundtrack)
THE MAN WHO LAUGHS
SPEEDY
CITY LIGHTS
THIEF OF BAGHDAD
THE SCARLET LETTER

Edit - I've already changed my mind about a few, but too late!

In no particular order:

NOSFERATU
DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (Barrymore)
GIRL SHY
SAFETY LAST!
7 CHANCES
STEAMBOAT BILL, JR.
THE GOLD RUSH
MODERN TIMES
"IT"
ELLA CINDERS or ORCHIDS & ERMINE (not sure which...flip a coin)

I really wanted to squeeze METROPOLIS in here...but I couldn't quite make it.

Broken Blossoms
The General
City Lights
The Kid Brother
Big Business
Tol'able David
The Big Parade
Paths to Paradise
My Best Girl
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Although I could easily populate a Top Ten list with just Laurel & Hardy shorts, or just Keaton Films!

The thing that I hate about these lists is that you have to exclude so many great films, and you are stuck trying to figure out if The General, Steamboat Bill, Jr., or Sherlock, Jr is the "best" Keaton film, because there is only room for one!

In no particular order, no particular category...

THE MARK OF ZORRO
GIRL SHY
THE BIG PARADE
FLESH AND THE DEVIL
WILD ORANGES
THE CAVE MAN
SHOW PEOPLE
TELL IT TO THE MARINES
STEAMBOAT BILL JR.
NOSFERATU

silentfilm wrote:
The thing that I hate about these lists is that you have to exclude so many great films, and you are stuck trying to figure out if The General, Steamboat Bill, Jr., or Sherlock, Jr is the "best" Keaton film, because there is only room for one!

What he said! I went with Go West because that's the Keaton film I still laugh hardest at...although people keep telling me it's not his best.

Fred

I keep changing my mind too. As of this second in no order:

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Greed
Sherlock Jr.
City Lights
The Love of Jeanne Ney
Tol'able David
Terje Vigen
La Maison du Mystere (long version)
I Was Born But ...
The Unknown

greta

What blows me away about this list is that it seems to be features. While I love Keaton -- and think that SHERLOCK JUNIOR is a lot more fun than his 'stronger' features, just as I find WHY WORRY far more watchable than GIRL SHY or SAFETY LAST.... the stuff that blows me away are the shorts. In no particular order, how about

Funeral Leaving the President's House and Church at Canton, Ohio

L'Auberge Infernal

Move On

The Pawn Shop

The Boat

Cops

Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life

Big Business

A Corner in Wheat

The Musketeers of Pig Alley

Life of an American Fireman


Yes, I know it's 11, but I could add more.

Bob

Here's my offering (in no real order):

1. The Battle of the Somme
2. Tianming (Daybreak)
3. Our Hospitality
4. Umarete Wa Mita Keredo… (I was born, but...)
5. The Tempest (1908)
6. Un chapeau de paille d'Italie (An Italian Straw Hat)
7. Satan's Merry Frolics (Les Quatre Cents Farces du Diable)
8. A Corner in Wheat
9. Hindle Wakes
10. The Manxman

Luke

The Golden Chance (1915)
Young Romance (1915)
Stella Maris (1918)
The Marriage Circle (1924)
Peter Pan (1924)
The Freshman (1925)
Sunrise (1927)
Three’s a Crowd (1927)
The Crowd (1928)
The Man Who Laughs (1928)

This is, of course, in chronological order rather than a strict 1-10 sequence. I'd never pretend to have seen everything I 'should' have; these are just ten silents that have made a marked impression on me. And yes, I'm already second-guessing myself: how could I have left off Griffith and the first half of the 20s? I'm sure a couple of these will get knocked off when I finally see one of Constance Talmadge's mid-20s pictures, and some titles like The Cameraman I haven't revisited anytime recently so I wasn't quite ready to include them.

-Harold

This was tougher than I thought. In assembing my list, I considered mainly silent films I've watched numerous times with pleasure, while getting my favorite actors and directors in, as well. Therefore, this list is as representative as it is specific, and the 10 I post here now might not be the 10 I might post sometime next week, for example.

But here it is this very moment, in no particular order:

1. Girl Shy
2. The Immigrant
3. Sunrise
4. The King of Kings
5. The Patsy
6. Sherlock Jr.
7. Hell's Hinges
8. The Lodger
9. Stella Maris
10. The Indian Tomb

What blows me away about this list is that it seems to be features.

Yeah, I'm feeling pretty stupid for leaving Big Business off, considering we watch it about every three weeks around here, and the kids regard it like the critics regard Citizen Kane.

Well, Mike, can't your kids post their own lists?

Bob

Just top 10 greatest I guess for me...

1) Son of the Sheik (the rapey scene puts it above and beyond!)
2) Sparrows
3) City Lights
4) Sadie Thompson
5) Monsieur Beaucaire
6) Pandora's Box
7) Little Annie Rooney
La Boheme (I'm surprised too!)
9) A Fool There Was (strictly for Theda)
10) Birth of a Nation (it is awe inspiring but a little creaky being the first)

Yes its heavily Charlie, Mary, and Valentino...but what else did you expect? I seriously adore those films, even though I love silents I dont tend to watch any films over again...but these I all have on DVD (except Pandora's Box...and that needs to change!) and have watched many times. I would like to give an honorary nod to Bed and Sofa...I've only seen it once but it was pretty awesome.

In no particular order:

Seventh Heaven
Asphalt
The River
The Wishing Ring
Tess of the Storm Country (1922)
The Wind
Judex
The Student Prince of Old Heidelberg
Lucky Star
Hangman's House

There were more, but the limit is ten. If there's a theme here, many of these films feature an attractive female star who plays an intriguing character.

Mike Gebert wrote:

What blows me away about this list is that it seems to be features.

Yeah, I'm feeling pretty stupid for leaving Big Business off, considering we watch it about every three weeks around here, and the kids regard it like the critics regard Citizen Kane.

You feel stupid? I left off Kid Brother, Tol'able David, Man Who Laughs and, especially, The Wedding March.

Don't feel foolish on my account, I can do that myself. Surely in a group like this the idea of a list of 'silent favorites' being cut off at 10 is extreme. A couple of hundred is more like it.

Bob

Napoleon vue par Abel Gance (BFI version)
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Kid
City Lights
Steamboat Bill Jr.
A Cottage on Dartmoor
Die Todesschleife
The Italian Straw Hat
Sunrise
Underworld


In no particular order.....if there was a film festival that could only rotate ten films, these are the ten I would want; I could not get bored with these ten.

LaRoue
Woman In The Moon
Die Freudlose Gasse
The Big Parade
The Gaucho/ The Mark of Zorro (tie)
Napoleon
Les Vampires
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Wings
A Woman of Paris

Not a Ten Greatest list, just favourites to remember and rewatch:

THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK
SEVEN CHANCES
THE KID
YOU'RE DARN TOOTIN'
SAFETY LAST
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (Tourneur and Brown)
SUNRISE
BROKEN BLOSSOMS
LONG PANTS (Langdon)
LIMOUSINE LOVE

This is as least original as it gets, but hey - quality is quality. I choose those I never get tired of watching again and again, which have been with me for many years and have shaped my cinematic tastes. The choice is very much tied to my homecountry. I'll use the original titles, with whom you all are familiar I'm sure.

1. Nosferatu - Eine Symphonie des Grauens (I have seen this one at least 30 times, in the course of almost 20 years)
2. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
3. Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam
4. Die Büchse der Pandora
5. Metropolis
6. Les Vampires
7. Die Nibelungen 1 & 2
8. Queen Kelly
9. La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc
10. Flesh & The Devil

Duh! How could I have left SUNRISE off? Well, make it #11.

My list hasn’t changed for a long time.

1. Greed
2. The Kid
3. Sunrise
4. The Passion of Joan of Arc
5. Napoleon
6. The Last Laugh
7. The Wedding March
8. City Lights
9. Seventh Heaven
10. The Wind

I am going to make this kind of a poll on my movie site this autumn, except I’m going to ask also the worst silent movie and the greatest star, too. Last time (3 years ago) Finnish voted Sunrise the best, The Kid was a runner-up – worst silent wasn’t asked then.

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

Ten films I can watch over and over again:

The Unknown
Sunrise
The General
Safety Last
Nosferatu
Destiny (Der Muede Tod)
The Man who Laughs
Potemkin
Caligari
Sherlock Jr.

Why not have two separate lists: features (anything 4 reels and over), and shorts (anything less than 4 reels) ?

Jim

1. The Passion of Joan of Arc
2. Sunrise
3. The Soul of Youth
4. Way Down East
5. The Kid
6. Safety Last!
7. Flesh and the Devil
8. Napoleon
9. Foolish Wives
10. Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley

1. Faust
2. Lorna Doone
3. A Cottage On Dartmoor
4. The Thief of Bagdad
5. The Faces of Children
6. Greed
7. The Cat and the Canary
8. Dr. Mabuse - The Gambler
9. The Garden of Eden
10. A Story of Floating Weeds