# Recommend some good silent films! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831 "2006-02-23T19:06:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/41 "2012-07-16T18:08:08Z")
Welcome, **bette**! I agree with the Buster Keaton stuff, especially _The General_. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/42 "2012-07-16T18:42:05Z")
The 1928 version of **The Cat and the Canary**. If it isn’t the first Old Dark House mystery movie, it’s an entertaining early example. **A Cottage on Dartmoor.** A British silent film, and an early work by Anthony Asquith. It’s about a manicurist who is stalked by a barber whom she works with, and who doesn’t take her engagement to a regular customer at all well. Worth seeing for the sequence where these characters in a silent film go to see a talky, and for the achingly suspenseful scene where the manicurist obliviously flirts with her fiance while he’s sitting in the barber’s chair and the jealous barber is shaving him with a straight razor. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/43 "2012-07-16T19:08:09Z")
Many great recommendations here. Let me add Josef von Sternberg’s [_Underworld_](http://ebertfest.com/ten/underworld.html). ---
**Author:** ![Bilbo1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bilbo1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilbo1967)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/44 "2012-07-16T19:29:58Z")
For sheer feel-good comedy, I heartily recommend Jaques Tati’s **Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday**. It includes background noise, but no dialogue, so I guess it depends on how strict your definition is as to whether it’s silent or not. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/45 "2012-07-16T19:33:36Z")
_Gold Rush, City Lights_ and _Modern Times_ from Charlie Chaplin. He also did _The Circus_, but it seems to land on fewer lists of favorites than the others. Netflix doesn’t have any of those, but does have a collection of his better-known comedy shorts. Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., was good for any film where they’d let him go shirtless and fling himself off a third-floor balcony. _The Three Musketeers, Thief of Bagdad_ and his version of _Robin Hood_ are his best-known. John Barrymore did a version of _Sherlock Holmes_ in 1922 which was long thought lost, but has recently been restored to its full length. Opinions are divided over whether it’s any good, but Barrymore plays Holmes as a sort of a deadpan snarker, or as close as you can get in intertitles, and I found it enjoyable. Particularly notable for being a Holmes film that was made while the stories will still coming out – Doyle didn’t put out the last volume until a few years afterward. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/46 "2012-07-16T23:25:24Z")
This is indeed a good time for this thread to be resurrected, because TCM is playing some dandies tonight and tomorrow: 3:45 a.m. (Eastern): _The Thief of Baghdad_ (1924), Douglas Fairbanks 6:15 a.m.: _The Sheik_ (1921), Rudolf Valentino. Seminal. 7:45 a.m.: _Our Modern Maidens_ (1929), Joan Crawford, rushed into production to capitalize on her marriage to costar Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Also set your DVR for July 22 at 12:30 a.m. (actually July 23 a.m.) for 1928’s _The Mating Call_, in which a WWI vet takes on the Klan. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/47 "2012-07-17T00:47:34Z")
_The General_ with Buster Keaton is a great film. It’s very funny, but it also has brilliant (not to mention gutsy) action sequences. It’s a silent film that shows how effective silents could be to those of us used to sound film. It’s engaging enough that sound would be superfluous. _Broken Blossoms_ directed by DW Griffith and starring Lilian Gish. This movie (as all of DW Griffith’s films) features old fashioned acting styles and direction. But if you can adjust to that, it’s a gripping film with a terrific performance by Gish. ---
**Author:** ![Ritter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ritter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ritter)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/48 "2012-07-17T07:00:26Z")
I strongly recommend **M** , from 1931. Peter Lorre is incredible as a child-murdering, pedophiliac creep. Clara Bow is my favorite actress of all time, silent or talkie. Like others here, I recommend **It** , and frankly anything you can find with her in it. She made poor material worth watching. **Call Her Savage** has an outrageous scene where she wrestles with a Great Dane in a sheer shirt, through which you can clearly see her nipples. I think this was spoofing some malicious newspaper gossip which said she was such a nymphomaniac that when no-one else was available, she would turn to her Great Dane instead. Tabloids today are pretty shocking, but I’ve yet to see anything top _that_. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/49 "2012-07-17T07:18:15Z")
Porn, on Mute. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/50 "2012-07-17T08:34:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Did you watch the recent restoration of **Metropolis**? > The aforemerntioned **Nosferatu** , although the definitive restored version isn’t yet available, I understand. Always good choices. > [@zoogirl](#): > > _The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari_ - made in Germany and notable for it’s odd camera angles and sets that are best described as _bent_. An excellent choice. Did you know there is an exact shot for shot [modern duplicate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cabinet_of_Dr._Caligari_%282005_film%29) of it? I ran into it on netflix instant watch once. > [@Rodgers01](#): > > I’m surprised no one’s mentioned The Battleship Potemkin yet. One of our favorites, usually shown with [Alexander Nevsky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Nevsky_%28film%29) and [Ivan the Terrible 1 and 2.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible_%28film%29) > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > [The Gollum](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0011237/) > . Nice spelling =) but good movie. > [@Ritter](#): > > I strongly recommend **M** , from 1931. Peter Lorre is incredible as a child-murdering, pedophiliac creep. > . Probably my absolute favorite movie of all times, but not silent… Fritz Lang made a number of movies with a shared cast, M,[Dr Mabuse the Gambler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Mabuse_the_Gambler) which was silent, and [the Testiment of Dr Mabuse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Testament_of_Dr._Mabuse) which wasn’t silent. Let me also suggest [[SIZE=1]Häxan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4xan)[/SIZE] as an interesting silent. [Criterion Collection](http://www.criterion.com/) is one of my go to places for great movies. No connection to them other than being a satisfied customer! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/51 "2012-07-17T08:48:51Z")
> [@Ritter](#): > > I strongly recommend **M** , from 1931. Peter Lorre is incredible as a child-murdering, pedophiliac creep. It’s a masterpiece, but not silent. You may have seen it with subtitles. ---
**Author:** ![Ritter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ritter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ritter)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/52 "2012-07-18T06:51:01Z")
I feel very stupid right now. I filed ‘ **M** ’ under ‘silent’ for reasons which only my lizard brain understands. Forgive me! But seriously, SEE THIS FILM. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/53 "2012-07-18T17:47:53Z")
> [@Ritter](#): > > I feel very stupid right now. I filed ‘ **M** ’ under ‘silent’ for reasons which only my lizard brain understands. Forgive me! > > But seriously, SEE THIS FILM. I definitely agree =) I keep recommending it to people all the time. Seriously, I rewatch it all the time as sort of the film version of comfort food. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/54 "2012-07-18T19:44:27Z")
Re: _M_ > [@aruvqan](#): > > I definitely agree =) I keep recommending it to people all the time. Seriously, I rewatch it all the time as sort of the film version of comfort food. The first time I saw it, I had some friends I was going to recommend it to. Then it occurred to me that they had just had a baby. I’m not sure anybody needs that movie at that time in their lives. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/55 "2012-07-19T00:32:51Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Re: _M_The first time I saw it, I had some friends I was going to recommend it to. Then it occurred to me that they had just had a baby. I’m not sure anybody needs that movie at that time in their lives. Hm, perhaps it would make them more aware of how a kid can vanish. Keeping in mind I think ‘stranger danger’ is blown way out of proportion, but it does point out that you do need to keep track of your kids. Though what I like is the way it shows that the crooks are just as concerned about catching the murderer as the law abiding citizens are. ---
**Author:** ![doverpro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@doverpro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doverpro)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/56 "2012-07-19T03:34:02Z")
How about Mel Brooks’ _ **Silent Movie** _? ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/57 "2012-08-15T17:49:47Z")
Sorry to re-re-animate this 2006 zombie, but TCM is playing a dozen Lillian Gish movies today: You’ve already missed _Broken Blossoms_ (1919), _Orphans of the Storm_ (1921), and _The Scarlet Letter_ (1926), but you can catch _Intolerance_ (1912) at 8 p.m., followed at 11:30 by _The Wind_ (1928). If you don’t DVR _The Wind_, there’s no hope for ya. I say, no hope. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/58 "2012-08-16T01:46:36Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > but you can catch _Intolerance_ (1912) at 8 p.m., followed at 11:30 by _The Wind_ (1928). If you don’t DVR _The Wind_, there’s no hope for ya. I say, no hope. Seconded. The latter is one of the most magnificent movies, period. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831/59 "2012-08-16T03:50:22Z")
I came in to recommend anything by Buster Keaton but particularly _The General_ (based on a true story no less, from a book written by the actual protagonist) and my personal favorite _Seven Chances_. These have been mentioned, but really, do yourself a favor and see them. Trivia: The destruction of the train in _The General_ was the most expensive film stunt up to that time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-silent-films/345831.md?page=2)