Manhandled directed by Allan Dwan and with Gloria Swanson. I also really like Hula with Clara Bow. and Ben-Hur with Ramon Novarro.
“Vampyr”, “Sunrise”, and “Steamboat Bill Jr.” are my three faves.
Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman. Honourable mention to G.W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box.
No one mentioned Storm Over Asia? Anyone else like this film?
My other favorites are City Lights, The General, Metropolis and The Passion of Joan of Arc (!).
Sunrise
’nuf said
Maybe I’m ignorant, but… Brand Upon the Brain!
The old ones (maybe the exception of Metropolis) don’t really interest me.
Battleship Potemkin has the most riveting performances I’ve seen onscreen.
Vampyr
Man with the Movie Camera
City Lights
Modern Times
M
Pandora’s Box
the passion of joan or arc, but if you don’t want to sit through 80 minutes of emotional torture, then it’s the general
HOLD ON! WHAT THE HELL?!? since when is Vampyr silent?? you’re not talking about the carl dreyer film?
Vampyr is not a silent film but a ‘silent’ film…
The Passion of Joan of Arc
I’ll tip my hat to City Lights, Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Pandora’s Box, and Vampyr. The latter two are available in exquisite boxes from Criterion.
Cheers,
Steve
http://cinemauprising.blogspot.com/
The Wind is my personal pick
Greed
Passion Of Joan Of Arc
Earth
Storm Over Asia
Regen
Shelock Jr
The Chess Player
The Man Who Laughs
and of course Sunrise and City Lights
The Passion of Joan of Arc is the apex of silent cinema, and may be the greatest film ever made, its up there with Ran, La Dolce Vita, and Children of Paradise. Its way up there.
Abel Gance is a forgotten master who is mostly known for his masterpiece Napoleon, even though perhaps his best film was La Roue. Ja Cuse is a classic itself, but for this movie lover, its not quite on the same level as the other two.
Metropolis is a mega-film, but Die Niebelungen is Lang’s masterpiece.
everyone who thinks they are a cineste has seen Battleship Potemkin, but I’ve always thought that Eisenstein’s talkies were better than his silents. For me the true silent soviet master is Pudovkin, who produced two classics-Mother and Storm over Asia, and one masterpiece, “The End of St. Petersberg”
I’ve seen three of Murnau’s films, and Sunrise is the best one I’ve seen thus far, and one of the great films of the silent era. His Faust and Nosferatu are classic as well, and I am very much looking forward to seeing Tabu and The Man Who Laughs
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from 1921 may be the first truly great film, although 1920’s Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is certainly deserving of mention.
Greed is a great film, but its overly long, and short on innovation.
There are still many that I need to see.
SHERLOCK JR.
I’ll second Gance’s work. I do wish they’d do something about getting NAPOLEON out of limbo, it really should be seen again.
I have the DVDs of J’ACCUSE and LA ROUE. Haven’t yet been able to get through LA ROUE, but J’ACCUSE is really something. Fast and vivid.
Menilmontant
The Passion of Joan of Arc
I heard a Vidor box is coming. Can anyone confirm this?
I would have to agree with Frank about Jeanne d’Arc, but I’ve maybe seen a dozen silent films, tops. Vidor’s The Crowd and Murnau’s Sunrise have got to be a good example of great silent films because they can stand beside any film from any era. I prefer Faust to Sunrise though. And I can say that Keaton made many great silent films – The General, Sherlock Jr., and especially Steamboat Bill Jr. are favorites.
I want to say Vampyr, L’Atalante, and M but they just seem silent in my memory.
Francis Ford Coppola has Napoleon tied up in limbo.
In Britain, Kevin Brownlow has restored the film to 333 minutes in length, almost 100 minutes longer than the cut that Coppola put out in 1981, and the word is that since Coppola’s father did the score to the 235 minute version put out in 1981, that he won’t allow any other version of the film to be released, so that his father’s score won’t be removed. And since he owns the rights, nobody can see a fuller restoration.
something new to the topic: Pudovink’s “Mat” is a great piece of revolutionary propaganda on celuloid. very strong and very beautifull.
my favourite silent film is Pabst’s “Diary of a Lost Girl”, but this is absolutelly personal – and I’m not sure this film would ever become Criterion material, “Pandora’s” would be more like it. “Diary” is pure melodrama and has a redeeming ending that makes it somewhat too naive. but it had tremendous impact on me as a 16 year old and it was my first silent film (ohhh). also made Louise Brooks my hero and model for ever. I’m 32 and still unable to get rid of my bob.
Well, my favourite is the film chosen recently by Cahiers du Cinéma the single greatest in cinema history- Sunrise. Followed by The General, Metropolis, Man with a Movie Camera and Battleship Potemkin
I like:
Sadie Thompson
Steamboat Bill Jr.
Sunrise
The Crowd
Nosferatu
KING VIDOR’S THE CROWD
The Passion of Joan of Arc, with a close second being City Lights. But I am not at all well-versed in foreign film. I really need to see more.
“Die Nibelungen”
Though, I still need to see “The Passion of Joan of Arc” and “Sunrise” before I make this decision with any appearance of finality.
Good to see Arturo recommending The Chess Player. Don’t be deceived by the title, this is a very entertaining swashbuckling romantic period adventure, with sleighs in the snow, fireworks, palaces, battles and automata in 18th century Russian-occupied Poland
Nosferatu
Mathias Palmberg
The Phantom Carriage by Victor Sjöström. Especially the new edition with a cracking new score by KTL.