# Doper Film Mavens: Must-See Silent Flicks **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152 "2004-12-10T16:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/1 "2004-12-10T16:51:03Z")
Since getting Netflix I’ve been trying to watch some of the movies that apparently everyone in the world but me has seen. I’ve decided to start with the silent era, so some recommendations please. So far I’ve seen: 1)_Metropolis_ - Thoroughly enjoyed this one, especially the contrast between the elite and the worker drones. 1. _Birth of a Nation_ - Once again I enjoyed the film, despite being expected to root for the Ku Kluxers. 2. _The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari_ - This was one I really liked but for the life of me can’t explain why. I just _did._ 3. _The General_ - How can you _not_ like Buster Keaton? So what should I go for next? Two requests: It should be available from Netflix (not a dealbreaker…) Please, please no Chaplin. That little bastard makes my flesh crawl. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/2 "2004-12-10T17:47:18Z")
I’m the first to reply? Wow. Way Down East is pretty darn good in the drama category; I’d also recommend The Phantom of the Opera, Nosferatu, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in their silent incarnations. I think Netflix will soon have some Harold Lloyd - since his films are finally coming to DVD - at which time you’ll need to see Safety Last. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/3 "2004-12-10T17:48:13Z")
Pretty much anything with Harold Lloyd. _Safety Last_ is a classic. (Literally!) Harold Lloyd is Da Man. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/4 "2004-12-10T17:54:37Z")
Curse you, **CandidGamera**! Curse you! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/5 "2004-12-10T18:02:58Z")
A few films for you. Wings-Two pilots in WWI, both in love with the same woman. It won the first Academy Award. The King of Kings-The Cecil B. DeMille version, not the later one. Greed-Why you really don’t want to win the lottery. Intolerance-Why?! Why must hatred keep us apart! Plus, there are Babylonians. Ben Hur-It’s probably better than the later one with Charlton Heston. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/6 "2004-12-10T18:10:56Z")
_Broken Blossoms_, starring Lillian Gish, directed by D.W.Griffith. When Lillian asked DW why he didn’t get a younger girl to play the role(she was 25 at the time) he told her he didn’t want to submit a younger actress to the harshness of what her character was going to go through. One of the earliest films about child abuse, Lillian Gish plays a young girl whose father regularly subjects her to savage beatings. A sad film, but with splendid acting, and the epilogue is so poignant. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/7 "2004-12-10T18:19:22Z")
Don’t know anything about Netflix, so excuse me if some of these are not on it: **It** , a marvelous comedy with Clara Bow as a shopgirl in love with her boss. **Show People** , one of the funniest movies about movies ever. **Nosferatu** , scary as all get-out. **The Thief of Bagdad** —God, Doug Fairbanks was sexy. **The Wind** , maybe Lillian Gish’s best silent. Moody and creepy. Any collection of shorts by **Georges Melies** and the marvelous French comic **Max Linder**. I’m sure I’ll think of more later . . . ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/8 "2004-12-10T18:32:21Z")
Chaplin was, as Max Sennett pointed out, just the greatest artist who ever lived, and if you can’t appreciate his genius, your life is truly barren. However, if you want to remain that way, here are a few more: **Sally of the Sawdust**. Directed by D. W. Griffith. Starring W. C. Fields. Worth it for that alone. 🙂 (Not really a great film – Fields needed sound – but interesting). **Sadie Thompson**. The final reel has been lost, but there is a version using stills to recreate the ending. Gloria Swanson is brilliant. Other essential Keaton: **Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr.** **The Black Pirate** – fine Douglas Fairbanks spectacle, the even pokes fun at Douglas Fairbanks spectacles. **He Who Gets Slapped** – Lon Chaney in a great role as a clown. I’ll also second **The Wind, Greed,** and **Dr. Caligari** ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/9 "2004-12-10T19:16:14Z")
Black Adder on Charlie Chaplin: “I find his films about as funny as getting an arrow through the neck and discovering there’s a gas bill tied to it.” ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/10 "2004-12-10T19:38:11Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Black Adder on Charlie Chaplin: “I find his films about as funny as getting an arrow through the neck and discovering there’s a gas bill tied to it.” Which is quite funny because about ten years ago Rowan Atkinson did a TV special about physical comedy that featured Chaplin quite prominently ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/11 "2004-12-10T19:42:59Z")
If I pitted people, which I don’t, my seething words to the Chaplin-haytahs would melt your flesh. Chaplin-haytin’ OP-type - **Phantom of the Opera** , and **The Navigator**. There’s also a must-see collection of Fatty Arbuckle shorts (which are very rare because of his being blackballed) out there - forget the name, but it features Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton (who Arbuckle discovered) in nearly every one. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/12 "2004-12-10T19:44:07Z")
Oh, and **The Lost World** - the copies vary wildly, but the special effects are too charming to miss. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/13 "2004-12-10T19:48:27Z")
But I hijack- Metropolis is available in several versions. The most recent was a complete restoration released in 2002. Avoid the Giogio Moroder semi-colorized version from the early 1980s. He screwed around with the plot and the motivations of the characters too much. I can recommend almost all the silent work of Laurel and Hardy, as well as “Seven Chances” featuring Buster Keaton. CAN NOT recommend: Birth of a Nation or Battleship Potemkin (the famous Odessa Steps sequence in the middle of the film IS one of the signature moments in the history of cinema, but frankly, it’s not worth sitting through the rest of the film for.) ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/14 "2004-12-10T19:55:01Z")
You might also take a look at [this chart](http://us.imdb.com/chart/1920s) ---
**Author:** ![Dusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Dusty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/15 "2004-12-10T20:45:44Z")
La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc The Big Parade Sparrows Laugh, Clown, Laugh Napoléon Nibelungen: Siegfried’s Death Nibelungen: Kriemhild’s Revenge The Unknown Orphans of the Storm The Man With a Movie Camera Earth My Best Girl The Patsy The Lodger The Kid (I know you said no Chaplin, but The Kid isn’t like most of his movies) Un Chien Andalou …that’s a rather eclectic collection, but they’re all good. They’re not in any order, but if you only see one, let it be the first. I’ll second The Wind and Ben Hur, the later is significantly better than the Charlton Heston remake. Be sure to get a good copy of Nosferatu and Metropolis–there are some truly atrocious versions of those floating around. I’d suggest trying to see them at a cinema. Of course you can appreciate them at home on TV, but the experience is so greatly enhanced in a dark room with an enormous screen and live accompaniment. There are silent film festivals all over the place, it shouldn’t be too hard to find one nearby. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/16 "2004-12-10T20:53:53Z")
Ooh! I forgot. I recommend The Man Who Laughs. Netflix has it. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/17 "2004-12-10T21:01:10Z")
> [@Dusty](#): > > Ben Hur, the later is significantly better than the Charlton Heston remake. Half-nekkid Ramon Novarro—_yum!_ ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/18 "2004-12-10T21:07:37Z")
For purely historical interest **The Great Train Robbery** Do they have the Silent \*\*Our Gang \*\* shorts? **The Man who laughs** **The Gold Rush** … oops sorry… scratch that. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/19 "2004-12-11T01:27:15Z")
_I’m limiting my list to titles that are currently available from Netflix:_ Man With a Movie Camera The Last Laugh In the Land of the War Canoes Earth Battleship Potemkin Animation Legend: Winsor McCay Grass October The Camerman (on the DVD _TCM Archives: Buster Keaton Collection_) Napoleon (1927) Tabu The Black Pirate Intolerance The Last of the Mohicans The Cheat Fall of the House of Usher It (if you have problems searching for that title, search under star Clara Bow) Nanook of the North Ben-Hur (1925) Les Vampires (it’s long, but stay with it) The Passion of Joan of Arc Berlin: Symphony of a Great City The Lost World The Phantom of the Opera Greed Landmarks of Early Film The Magic of Méliès The Thief of Bagdad D.W. Griffith: Years of Discovery 1909-1913 Broken Blossoms The Jazz Singer (well, it’s _mostly_ silent) Sherlock, Jr. From the Manger to the Cross The Wind Salome (1922) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152/20 "2004-12-11T01:55:36Z")
> [@kingpengvin](#): > > Do they have the Silent \*\*Our Gang \*\* shorts? I hope so. I am the proud ower of **Mary, Queen of Tots**. Now that I’m home and can peruse my video collection . . . **The Cheat** , an early DeMille bodice-ripper with a real kick. Some good action adventure serials, like **The Perils of Pauline** and **Les Vampires**. Garbo and Gilbert in **Love** , the silent version of Anna Karenina, much better than the talkie. **The Joyless Street** , another early Garbo–great Weimar-era grittiness. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-film-mavens-must-see-silent-flicks/279152.md?page=2)