The 20 Best Silent Films of the Era

• Directed by: Charlie Chaplin

A Charlie Chaplin production starring Edna Purviance, 1923’s A Woman of Paris is about a young woman who believes she gets stood up by her fiancé (Carl Miller) after they were supposed to meet on a train to go to Paris and he's a no-show. Undeterred and unbothered, she goes to Paris, becomes a mistress to a wealthy fellow (Adolphe Menjou), and all is good for about a year until she connects with her fiancé again by happenstance. Now, the lovely lady is caught in between two men and has to make a decision. An interesting theme for a short film for sure, and the score makes it even better.

• Directed by: Georges Méliès

An early foray into the realm of science fiction, A Trip to the Moon is about a group of astronomers that travel to the moon in a cannon-propelled capsule to explore the moon’s surface. Of course this (going to the moon, exploring space, walking on the moon) would actually happen in real life years/decades later, so it’s quite cool to see the imaginations of those in the early 1900’s in terms of what they thought that process and outer space as a whole would look like.

• Directed by: Cecil B. DeMille

While the first part of this film focuses on telling, the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, the primary part of this movie is the second part, which stars Richard Dix and Rod La Rocque as a son embodying the life of Moses and a contractor living a life a sin. The contractor’s mother passes away, causing the contractor to want to right his various wrongs. Unfortunately for him, there’s a lot of rough lessons ahead for him to learn and experience before he achieves redemption. A lot of silent films are around a little over an hour, sometimes an hour-and-a-half, but this one in particular spans over two hours. That means there's a lot to digest.

• Directed by: Paul Leni, Leo Birinski

William Dieterle plays a poet hired by a wax museum owner to create different stories. Through the film you see Dieterle taking on a number of different characters including a baker sentenced to death by a prince, a Russian prince dealing with a very paranoid individual, and a man being haunted in London by Jack the Ripper. A Jack the Ripper 1920s horror movie sounds interesting doesn't it?

• Directed by: F.W. Murnau

Setting the tone for the horror genre, a man named Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons his man (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvania castle in the mountains as he is looking to buy a house next to him and his wife (kinda spooky). Count Orlok eventually reveals himself to be a vampire and puts the couple in grave danger. You know, normal vampire stuff where they're terrorizing random people. A good silent film to watch if you're in a spooky mood.

• Directed by: Edward Sedgwick, Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton co-directs and stars as a photographer who falls for a secretary (Marcelina Day) working in the newsreel department at MGM. He then quits his job at an attempt to get a job at MGM as a news cameraman, and is eventually able to win her over through his awkwardness. The only problem is that a veteran camera guy is also after her as well, creating a competition for her heart.

• Directed by: Charlie Chaplin

Once again, no silent film list is complete without Charlie Chaplin. In A Day’s Pleasure was created at the legendary Chaplin Studio, and is actually a two-part reeler that was used to fill the absence as he was working on his first film The Kid. A Day's Pleasure is about a man's outing with his wife that doesn't quite go as planned. The film also stars Edna Purviance as Chaplin's wife, and Jackie Coogan as one of his children.

• Directed by: D. W. Griffith 

Starring Dorothy and Lillian Gish, Orphans of the Storm is about two young sisters that lose both of their parents to the plague. With one of the sisters being blind, they go to Paris in the hopes of finding a cure. While in Paris one of the sisters gets kidnapped by aristocrat but escapes, and the other gets taken in by thieves. Throw all of that in with the French Revolution happening, and Orphans of the Storm is a challenge for two orphan sisters to reunite.

• Directed by: F.W. Murnaw

Emil Jannings stars as a demon Mephistopheles that makes a bet with an archangel that he can corrupt somebody good. An older alchemist trying to save his village from getting the plague gets targeted, leading to the Mephistopheles saving the village. That, however, comes at a cost for the alchemist. Does he get corrupted? You’ll have to watch and see (evil laugh).

• Directed by: Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor

Safety Last stars Harold Lloyd as a young man who moves to NYC to support his girlfriend, but gets a rude awakening of what it really takes to make it in a big city. As he's going about his day, the man just so happens to overhear where a store manager is willing to pay $1,000 to anyone who can draw customers to his store, thus birthing the brilliant idea of “the human fly.” What does that entail exactly? Climbing a building. Fun stuff.

• Directed by: Josef von Sternberg

Underworld is another fun silent film that stars George Bancroft as a gangster kingpin Bull Weed, who is aiming to rehabilitate his lawyer who has a drinking problem. There’s also a bit of drama with these things, and the lawyer starts to fall for the gangster girlfriend which causes…trouble to say the least. Lots of trouble to be frank.

• Directed by: Alan Crosland

John Barrymore is a playboy that doesn’t think very highly of women and views them nothing more than objects. As such, he rejects a rather hard to resist woman named Lucrezia Borgia (Estelle Taylor) to pursue a woman much more his speed. That makes Lucrezia pretty mad, and she sets out to destroy him. 

• Directed by: Larry Semon

Before Judy Garland’s take on Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz was done as a silent film in 1925. Dorothy Dwan takes on the titular role as she leads her uncle Henry (Frank Alexander) and three farmhands to the magical kingdom of Oz (or the wonderful Wizard of Oz if you will). If you like all things Wizard of Oz, you’ll appreciate this silent film.

• Directed by: Alan Crosland

It’s not the 1920s without a flapper right? The 1920 film The Flapper sees a young woman named Ginger get sent away to a boarding school for flirting with a guy, and only to end up flirting with more guys once she gets to the school (that's right Ginger, don't let anybody stop your shine). Not only that, but she somehow ends up the fall guy for a robbery. Chaos, but enjoyable chaos.

• Directed by: Wallace Worsley

Set in 15th century Paris, Brandon Hurst takes on the role of Jehan, the evil brother of the archdeacon listing after a beautiful woman named Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller). This leads to commanding a Hunchback to capture this woman for him, only for the Hunchback and the lady to end developing a close bond with one another. This ultimately leads to Jehan framing Esmeralda for the murder of somebody else who was also interested in her. An entertaining watch full of twists and turns for sure.

• Directed by: Buster Keaton

If suddenly you found out that you are due to inherit seven million dollars if you get married before 7pm on the day of one of your birthday's what would you do? Get married is the only logical answer right? So, you go for somebody you’ve crushed on for years thinking the seven million offer might be enticing enough to whoo them over, but...you get turned down. So what do you do now? Find somebody random of course! That's why Seven Chances is a fun watch.

• Directed by: Frank Borzage

1927’s 7th Heaven is about a poor Parisian sewer who meets an abused prostitute and tells police that she’s his wife in order to stop her from getting arrested. He then invites the woman to live with him to keep up the act of them being married but as it turns out, they end up actually falling in love with each other. There's some challenges along the way, but we'll save that for you actually watching the movie.

• Directed by: D.W. Griffith

Released in 1920 and directed by D.W. Griffith, Way Down East stars Lillian Gish as an abandoned unwed mother that gets banished in a blizzard and set adrift on ice floes. Needless to say, this mother is in a fight for survival, which is one of the elements that makes this film such a good watch. Very well acted as well.

• Directed by: Robert Wiene

Friedrich Feher and Rudolf Lettinger star as two men who meet a rather odd fellow named Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss). In Dr. Caligari’s possession is a hypnotized man that can apparently see into the future. The hypnotized subject accurately predicts one of the men’s death, which leads to him becoming a primary suspect in for murder. Now he has to prove that he was under control by the doctor. Again, very well acted.

• Directed by: Lon Chaney, Rupert Julian, Edward Sedgwick, Ernst Laemmle

Ah yes. The Phantom of the Opera in silent film form. Mary Philbin takes on the role of the young opera singer Christina Daae who soon discovers an admirer is helping her advance her career. Sounds nice at first, but the admirer is actually a phantom (Lon Chaney) who’s been very creepily living underneath the Paris Opera House. Oh, and he takes Christina and makes her a prisoner too in usual phantom style. If you like Old Hollywood horror, this is right up your alley.