# Recommend a SILENT feature film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 18, 2021, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880 "2021-09-18T18:33:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/21 "2021-09-19T04:18:10Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Mel Brooks’ “Silent Movie” wasn’t bad. Of course, it did have one spoken word in it. Whatever became of that movie anyway? I was cute (although quite slapstick). After I saw it, I wanted to see it again just one week later and it had totally vanished from every theater, never to be seen or heard of again. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/22 "2021-09-19T07:03:44Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > It was actually a cow eyeball. Yes, even the most dedicated method actor would balk at being maimed for a scene. However, the preceding shot, editing, and “[t]hrough the use of intense lighting, and bleaching of the calf’s skin, Buñuel attempted to make the furred face of the animal appear as human skin,”[\*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_Chien_Andalou) makes the intent clear. Still a pass for me. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/23 "2021-09-19T11:36:44Z")
Thank you for all of the responses. I just thought of a few more myself: Old Ironsides with Wallace Beery. Tabu: A Story of the South Seas by F. W. Murnau The Iron Horse by John Ford. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/24 "2021-09-19T12:41:47Z")
Per [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Movie) it was moderately successful, made for $4 million, it grossed $36 million. Reviews were positive overall, if not the glowing ones he got for earlier works. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/25 "2021-09-19T13:04:35Z")
Two, staring **Louise Brooks** : [Pandora’s Box](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora%27s_Box_(1929_film)) (1929) and [Diary of a Lost Girl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary_of_a_Lost_Girl) (1929). If you’ve never seen a Louise Brooks film, please see these. She is mesmerizing. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/26 "2021-09-19T14:43:11Z")
Seconding Harold Lloyd’s “Speedy”. Watch for the real life streetcar accident during the climactic race. There were no injuries. I’ll add King Visor’s “The Crowd”. A slice of life tale. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/27 "2021-09-19T15:01:30Z")
Some good documentaries: [Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film](https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0akmvZuhxdhb0_181vDXAhdOgOjnS1xP), made in 1980 by the BBC, included many participants who were still alive (and, unlike Warren Beatty’s _Reds_ from the same time, identifies them). Narrated by James Mason, which is apt because he’d rehabilitated Buster Keaton’s reputation when he’d bought Keaton’s old mansion and discovers many lost films stashed away there [Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood](https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ1IwaxJO68yJMVZmOTlP2Fc1iATcntZe) From 1996. If anyone knows of a doc about Asian and Australian silent cinema, please RSVP. I understand Australia made the first feature length film, and the Indonesians were very active in the era ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/28 "2021-09-19T15:34:48Z")
Not exactly what you were looking for, but this “tongue in cheek” mockumentary is a lot of fun for every silent movie fan: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116344/?ref\_=nm\_flmg\_slf\_261](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116344/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_261) ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/29 "2021-09-19T23:35:12Z")
Ben-Hur (1925) - The version with the Carl Davis score recorded in the '80s is worth tracking down, I thought that soundtrack was terrific. The Hands of Orlac (1924) - this is the granddaddy of the horror trope where someone gets a hand transplant but the hands turn out to have a will of their own. He Who Gets Slapped (1924) - a really weird and creepy film starring Lon Chaney as a broken man who channels his pain into performing as a masochistic circus clown. I wouldn’t quite call this a great film but I’ve never forgotten it. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) - a nonnarrative film showing a typical day in Berlin. Most of the online essays about it focus on the rhythmic editing and possible social commentary, but it can also be simply enjoyed as a fascinating step back in time. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/30 "2021-09-19T23:57:58Z")
Douglas Fairbanks as “Coke Ennyday” in _The Mystery Of The Leaping Fish_(1916). Fairbanks stars as a coke-snorting pastiche of Sherlock Holmes. [The History Blog » Blog Archive » Starring Douglas Fairbanks as Coke Ennyday](https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/36356) “Our hero is not only an avowed drug user, he wears a bandolier of syringes filled with liquid cocaine strapped to his chest and injects himself every few minutes. He also has a large round box labelled “COCAINE” in large print that he grabs fistfuls of powder out of that he then buries his face into with Scarface-like gusto. His wall clock eschews hour markers in favor of four words at the cardinal points: eats, sleep, drinks, dope. When the single hand points to drinks, Ennyday’s manservant makes him the beverage of champions: equal parts Gordon’s Gin, laudanum and prussic acid (a solution of hydrogen cyanide).” ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/31 "2021-09-20T00:39:21Z")
Seconding _Broken Blossoms_. Huge Lillian Gish fan. Only fan letter I ever wrote was to her, when I was 17. She **answered**. A couple of other good films of hers that haven’t been mentioned are _Way Down East_ and _The Scarlet Letter._ Very hard to find, but worth the search if you get it, is a Dorothy Gish film called _Nugget Nell_. Has Mary Pickford been mentioned? Some really good films of hers are _Sparrows_, _My Best Girl_, and _Tess of the Storm Country_. I think people have hit on most of the Lon Chaney greats, with the exception of _The Unholy Three_. Be careful when you order it, if you do, though, because Chaney made a sound version as well. Most of what has been mentioned is pretty good. There is a sadly lost film that I would give just about anything to see. It was called _Remodeling Her Husband_, and was the only film Lillian Gish ever directed. It gets better-- her sister Dorothy starred in it-- and even better: screenplay by Dorothy Parker! I was such a nerd in intermediate & high school. I used to search catalogues of library sales for advertisements of 8mm & super8 silent films, and corresponded with a few other nerds, mostly a lot older than me–we traded films by exchanging through the mail. That’s how I got to see a lot of the silent films I’ve seen. When VHS came out, I thought it would be a great thing, but people transferred them at the wrong speed. 24 frames per second, usually almost twice as fast. DVDs and electronic files are usually at the right speed, though, and are made from restored 16mm prints. In any event, you can speed the up or slow them down as you want by playing them on a computer and projecting them to your TV. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/32 "2021-09-20T00:56:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Fairbanks stars as a coke-snorting pastiche of Sherlock Holmes. They could have left off the ‘coke-snorting’ as detective Holmes was a user himself. I remember one of the Basil Rathbone offerings ending with, “Quick, Watson, the needle!” as it faded to black. The clock is a bit much. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/33 "2021-09-20T01:28:06Z")
> **[The Call of Cthulhu (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_of_Cthulhu_(film))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Call of Cthulhu is a 2005 independent silent film adaptation of the H. P. Lovecraft short story "The Call of Cthulhu", produced by Sean Branney and Andrew Leman and distributed by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. It is the first film adaptation of the famous Lovecraft story, and uses Mythoscope, a blend of vintage and modern filming techniques intended to produce the look of a 1920s-era film. The film is the length of a featurette. > The... Only 47 minutes, but a very good film. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/34 "2021-09-20T02:22:09Z")
Really, anything by Buster Keaton is great. He did his own stunts and filmed huge amounts on location. There is a scene in The General where he has to clear railroad ties off the tracks ahead of the train is jaw dropping. The start of The Playhouse, where Keaton plays everybody on screen is amazing. Go West has a cattle drive through downtown LA. Les Vampires (1915) is a serial six hours long in total, but worth it. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/35 "2021-09-20T04:29:25Z")
For me, it’s when he sits dejected on a locomotive side rod only to get carried away when the engineer starts it up. Less spectacular as a physical stunt but hilarious is when, being alone in the cab he starts cutting wood to size for chucking into the firebox and behind him unnoticed two entire armies, one confederate and one union, pass. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/36 "2021-09-20T04:45:14Z")
> [@journeyman\_southpaw](#): > > Ben-Hur (1925) - The version with the Carl Davis score recorded in the '80s is worth tracking down, I thought that soundtrack was terrific. I love the silent Ben Hur. I’ll also add the silent King of Kings in keeping with the epic theme. The silent version of The Ten Commandments is also quite good. It’s two separate stories held together, the first part is the biblical portion. The second part is a morality tale. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/37 "2021-09-20T07:31:22Z")
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, starring Lon Chaney, Sr. Safety Last! starring Harold Lloyd ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/38 "2021-09-20T16:45:50Z")
I was going to post this (“The Call of Cthulhu” 2005 film), but you beat me to it. The movie is quite entertaining! ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/39 "2021-09-20T17:13:56Z")
[Here’s one of my favorite little bits ever](https://youtu.be/E2O5TcPoBBI?t=2943). From Keaton’s **Go West**. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880/40 "2021-09-20T17:57:29Z")
Lon Chaney made a lot of films, and a surprisingly large number of them have survived. Today, he is remembered for the monster movies, but most of them were normal dramas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-silent-feature-film/950880.md?page=3)