If you had to pick one silent movie as your all-time favorite, what would it be? Inquiring minds wish to know!
This isn’t the “best” silent movie of all time or anything like that. It’s the one that, if someone put a gun to your head (how rude!), you would choose as your best beloved. Obviously, this is personal taste and there are no wrong answers. It is also likely that your choices will be helpful to silent film newbies looking for recommendations.
My favorite silent movie is, of course, Michael Strogoff. (You can read my complete top ten here.) It has action, intrigue, epic scale and Ivan Mosjoukine looking all scruffy and scrummy.
(Alas, it is not on home video so if your friendly local silent venue is playing it, jump at the chance!)
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Movies Silently 
For me, it would be a toss-up between “Metropolis” and “Nosferatu”. I couldn’t pick one over the other… whoever had the gun to my head would have to pull the trigger!!
“Just shoot, damn you!” he snarled.
Great picks 🙂
The Gaucho, followed closely by City Lights
Love Doug and Charlie!
THE GENERAL followed by
PANDORA’S BOX
Greed directed by Erich Von Stroheim. For audacious use of the art of film, the scope of its narrative, the universality of its message, the power of its imagery. But you must see the recently restored version to come anywhere close to the greatness of this cinematic masterpiece.
Charles Chaplin’s Modern Times. I know it’s a hybrid with a few talking sequences in the early going coming from machines to help satirize the machine age, but its the film that made me want to see more silent movies to get me started in our field of interest.
I’m going to go with Safety Last. I had friends over the other evening and showed them a Harold Lloyd short. They really liked it, but I had the feeling they had never heard of him before.
Dimitri Kirsanov’s Menilmontant!
It changes as I discover stuff, but I’ll say Sunrise (this week!) because the person I recommended it to as their first silent loved it.
I’ve recently fallen in love with Murnau’s “Sunrise” and Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush”. I’ll give the edge to Chaplin (I’ve always been a sucker for comedy) but Sunrise in particular has made me want to seek out more dramatic silents. It’s spellbinding!
The Man Who Laughs would be my choice, but I would shed a tear for those I had to reject 😢
It’s between The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (because no matter how many times you see it, there’s always something else to think about) and The General (BUSTER!).
Good evening to Fritzi Kramer and to all,
we are part of, our favorite is Michael Strogoff film my Grandfather the Director V. Tourjansky.
Thanks Fritzi
Best regards.
Marco Bomba and Eleonora Tourjansky
Show People. Love my Marion Davies. Second would be Wings.
So many, but the one that I keep watching over and over, without fail is METROPOLIS!
As much as I love Pola, I would tend to say my favorite is The Wind (even though Lillian hams it up a bit). There is just something about it that brings me back to watch it.
You mean today? 😉
Seriously, any day of the week it would be The Sea Hawk, with The Penalty and Phantom of the Opera tied for second.
Comedy-wise, it’s always the wonderful Mabel Normand in any and all things Keystone.
Very tough to choose just one, but Broken Blossoms was the first “non comedy” that was able to move me
CITY LIGHTS is my favorite movie, silent or sound. I also love THE CROWD and THE BIG PARADE..especially the last ten minutes. Going way back, my favorite early silent is Coquelin in CYRANO..a film and a play that have haunted me, because as an actor, I was told I was too small to play this role, but Coquelin was exactly my size. Wish you would discuss, sometime, how come Chaplin, such a genius in the silents, never quite got it right in the talkies, and that includes THE GREAT DICTATOR, parts of which are better than the whole, and MONSIEUR VERDOUX which is the same, and those parts are generally stolen by Martha Raye.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari followed not far behind by Chaplin’s The Kid.
“City Lights”
Hmmm…OK to go way back, I love anything by George Melies. I Love the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Nosferatu! The Big Parade and Pandora’s Box. I can’t pick just one:) Oh and the Keystone Cops! Zany!!
There are many that I love in different ways, but the answer is still obvious. The Phantom Carriage. That movie is made of pure pain and it moves me more than anything. Culture and history matters a great deal here. It’s atmospheric and powerful on its own, but I can relate to it because it’s a story from a time when my country was different. The harship depicted there is still a part of the common memory. My grandparents lived through it and told me about it. I love it so much.
At this moment, I’d say “Lucky Star”. It’s beautiful and one of the sweetest (non-saccharine) films I’ve ever seen. Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell are both wonderful in it, and give such naturalistic performances. The ending is completely ridiculous, but it somehow doesn’t bother me.
Very good and unconventional choice. It’s my favorite Gaynor/Farrell movie.
Too many choices, but on a whim, I’d go with Keaton’s “The General.” It’s so epic in scope and succeeds at every turn.
Sunrise, Wings, and The Cruise of the Jasper B
BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST
I was blown away with Ben-Hur when I first saw it in December. The chariot scene is way better than the 1959 version. Francis Bushman knew how to properly drive the chariot and horses making the scene even more realistic. Also the scene on the boat where it is an actual fire made it very realistic.
Just one?!?! Oh, good grief!! OK, push comes to shove, it would be Chaplin’s City Lights. But if you were to aim that gun away from my head for just a moment, it would be followed closely by Ozu’s I Was Born, But…, Keaton’s Our Hospitality, and St. Clair’s Are Parents People? Whew, there, I got them all in!
Anything with norma talmadge
Gonna be predictable and name “The Wind” and “Show people”. Yeah ladies!!!
Sorry, my husband added one more vote for “The General”
Forced to pick just one, I think I’d have to go with I Was Born, But…
I agree with Hedvig – the Phantom Carriage. And, among my many other favourites, the Passion of Joan of Arc, Cabiria, Sunrise and City Lights probably fill up my top five.
Hi Fritzi. That is a difficult question because the answer varies according to my mood, but I think The General is my all-around favorite.
“Seven Chances” (1925) — Buster Keaton.
Lately it’s been a tie between “Don’t Change Your Husband” and “The Whispering Chorus”. These are ones I can watch many times – I think I have a crush on Elliott Dexter!
Everyone is picking such wonderful films! Such good taste! I love this! This is an easy question for me(for once)! COLLEGE! Very first silent I ever saw. Opened a whole new world for me. The final scene still blows me away. I can still watch it over and over again, and can’t believe what that man could do! I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Buster is Superman!! Those teeny little shorts don’t hurt either…. 😉
Been a fan of Joseph von Sternberg’s UNDERWORLD for a long time now, but THE PENALTY and THE MAN WHO LAUGHS are close seconds.
Sunrise followed closely by, The Crowd. I would love a follow-up question in the future asking what everyone’s favorite obscure silent is. Michael Strogoff might be mine if only I could see it……
Hi Frltzl. I’m new to the blogging world, but have been reading your fantastic blog for some time now. Your passion for the Silent era is evident, you have introduced me to films and actors I had never heard of. You will always have my thanks for this.
My favourite Silent? I have so many, but if pressed to choose just one, it would have to be Shooting Stars (1928). One of the best films about what goes on behind the scenes that I have ever seen. Funny, suspenseful, moving and visually very clever. I can only imagine the impact this had on audiences at the time of release; as it focuses so much on the illusion of film and how audiences are still caught up in it all even when they know it’s not real.
Hi Maddy,
So sorry for the delay in replying but I just wanted to thank you for your kind words. Best of success on your blogging!
Thank you so much, I’m really enjoying it so far. You’re most welcome. You and your site are helping to make Silent films popular. You’ve introduced me to many I’ve never even heard of before. Keep up the good work.
Definitely “The Shock,” my favorite Lon Chaney picture.
Out of curiosity, do you still stand by your original Top 10 list? If you would change anything, what would it be?
Yep, it pretty much covers what I love.
Pandora’s Box, The Man Who Laughs and The General are my favorites. As my silent film collection expands, I’m sure I’ll have other, less well known favorites but for now those are the ones I like best.
My number one is…Sunrise!
It’s great seeing everyone’s favourite films. The silent era rocks!
For me, Maurice Elvey’s The Life Story of David Lloyd George (1918). It is a bit worthy but I’ve been studying it for nearly a decade and I never tire of it – and I see new things in it every time I watch it. Plus there is footage of Elvey himself, and as he’s my main research interest, it’s fascinating to see the director on screen.
METROPOLIS – not only my favorite silent film, but also my pick for favorite film of all time. Gotta mention SHERLOCK JUNIOR as well.
Peter Pan.
Ug, how can I pick?! Well, I really really love Cobra (1925), anything Lon Chaney Sr. but especially The Unholy Three (1925), anything Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd but I love The Cameraman (1928) and Billy Blazes (1919) and Safety Last (1923). Also The Red Lily (1924), The Enchanted Cottage (1924), and Lady Windermere’s Fan (1925)
Almost forgot about Lucky Star with Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor, I love that one!
Lucky Star, The Cook (1918, can’t beat Buster’s dancing, so funny!), and The Penalty
Also Forbidden Fruit (1921) and All Night (1918)
The Cameraman! I got my nephew to watch some of it with me and he loved it!
This was the film that got me addicted to silent films. This was Buster at his best. It was a tragedy at MGM as they became ever more controlling.
GREED, (1925, MGM).
The released cut of Stroheim’s would-be epic, “McTeague,” may have been (in his words) “mutilated,” but it is still a brilliant, absorbing study of human depravity (fun ! fun ! fun!). I saw it in college in 1975, in a completely silent (no music track) version and was mesmerized. I had been interested in silent film for a few years, but this film made me a lifelong devotee.
I then read Herman Weinberg’s monumental study, “The Complete Greed,” (Dutton,1973), which became the basis for the 1999 “reconstruction” of the film. I have mixed feelings about the film reconstruction. Still photos work great in a book, not so well on screen. But it does give you a good idea of what Stroheim was trying to achieve.
Phantom of the Opera, followed by Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Mark of Zorro, and Metropolis. It is really difficult to select only one!