The Best Silent Films

The Last Command (1927) Underworld (1928) and Docks of New York (1928). Josef von Sternberg.

7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928) and Lucky Star (1929). I was already a fan of silent, but Frank Borzage sent me on a journey in a big way. I encountered these three masterpieces in the Spring of 2026.

The Wind (1928). Victor Sjostrom.

The Crowd (1928) and The Big Parade (1925). King Vidor.

The Lodger (1927). Hitch.

The General (1926). Clyde Bruckman / Buster Keaton.

Pandora's Box (1929) / Diary of a Lost Girl (1929). G.W Pabst. Once you've met Louise Brooks, there's no turning back.

The Last Laugh (1924). Murnau.

The Student Prince (1927), So This Is Paris (1926) and The Marriage Circle (1924). Lubitsch.

Broken Blossoms (1919). D.W. Griffith.

Greed (1924). Eric von Stroheim. I was lucky enough to get hold of the four hour version that was broadcast on TCM.

Safety Last (1923). Fred Newmeyer, Sam Taylor. 

Man With a Movie Camera (1929). Dziga Vertov. One of the most stunning endings to a film ever.

Sunrise. If you look at the first Oscar ceremony in 1929, you'll see that Wings won the Oscar for Best Picture, Production (7th Heaven was nominated) and Sunrise won for Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production (The Crowd was nominated). Janet Gaynor won Best Actress for 7th Heaven, Sunrise and Street Angel and Emil Jannings won for The Last Command! 7th Heaven won again for Best Writing, as did Underworld, Frank Borzage won Best Director and Sunrise again for Best Cinematography.

When Cahiers Du Cinema created their Top 100, Sunrise came in at No. 4, Greed was 11, City Lights and The General were 17 & 18 (and Nosferatu 19), Pandora's Box 27, The Wind 42 and The Crowd 45. Sight & Sound published a similar list voted on by directors. Here Man with  a Movie Camera was 9th, Sunrise 11, The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, from that great year 1927) 21 and City Lights 36.