The Best 1920s Silent Movies, Ranked

Ranker Film
Updated April 13, 2024 48 items
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Vote up your favorite silent films that were released in the 1920s.

If not for the greatest silent movies of the '20s, we wouldn't have the same cinematic knowledge and techniques that we do today. The 1920s saw an explosion of film making, with feature-length films taking precedence over short films, or “two-reelers.” Smaller film studios were incorporated into much larger enterprises, giving birth to the Studio System that would dominate Hollywood for the rest of the century.


What are the best ‘20s silent movies? This list includes some of the most classic, iconic films of all time. Megastars like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin did some of their best work in this decade, starring in films such as The General, The Gold Rush, and Sherlock Jr.

Foreign filmmakers also had a massive influence on film making in the 1920's. Many of the top ‘20s silent movies were helmed by foreign directors. German expressionist films like Nosferatu, directed by F.W. Murnau, showed American filmmakers the power of symbolism and lighting.


Also on this list, you’ll find Un Chien Andalou, Luis Buñuel’s surrealist short film containing that infamous shot of an eyeball being sliced by a razor. Vote up the best silent films of the '20s, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comment section.
  • Metropolis
    1

    Metropolis

    Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich
    150 votes
    This influential German science-fiction film presents a highly stylized futuristic city where a beautiful and cultured utopia exists above a bleak underworld populated by mistreated workers. When the privileged youth Freder (Gustav Fröhlich) discovers the grim scene under the city, he becomes intent on helping the workers. He befriends the rebellious teacher Maria (Brigitte Helm), but this puts him at odds with his authoritative father, leading to greater conflict.
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  • Nosferatu
    2

    Nosferatu

    Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim
    134 votes
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    In the chilling silent film Nosferatu, Count Orlok (Max Schreck), a vampire, sets his sights on the beautiful, innocent Ellen (Greta Schroeder). Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim), her husband, unwittingly brings the creature into their lives when he visits Orlok's castle. A sinister game of cat and mouse ensues, with Ellen's life hanging in the balance. The movie is a masterpiece of German Expressionist cinema, captivating audiences with its eerie imagery and unnerving performances. This classic horror tale weaves an unforgettable narrative of fear, love, and sacrifice that remains impactful even today.
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  • The General
    3

    The General

    Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender
    115 votes
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    One of the most revered comedies of the silent era, this film finds hapless Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton) facing off against Union soldiers during the American Civil War. When Johnny's fiancée, Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), is accidentally taken away while on a train stolen by Northern forces, Gray pursues the soldiers, using various modes of transportation in comic action scenes that highlight Keaton's boundless wit and dexterity.
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  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame
    4

    The Hunchback of Notre Dame

    Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller, Ernest Torrence
    42 votes
    In 15th-century Paris, Jehan (Brandon Hurst), the evil brother of the archdeacon, lusts after a Gypsy named Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller) and commands the hunchback Quasimodo (Lon Chaney) to capture her. Military captain Phoebus (Norman Kerry) also loves Esmeralda and rescues her, but the Gypsy is not unsympathetic to Quasimodo's condition, and an unlikely bond forms between them. After vengeful Jehan frames Esmeralda for the attempted murder of Phoebus, Quasimodo's feelings are put to the test.
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  • Sherlock, Jr.
    5

    Sherlock, Jr.

    Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Ward Crane
    92 votes
    A kindly movie projectionist (Buster Keaton) longs to be a detective. When his fiancée (Kathryn McGuire) is robbed by a local thief (Ward Crane), the poor projectionist is framed for the crime. Using his amateur detective skills, the projectionist follows the thief to the train station -- only to find himself locked in a train car. Disheartened, he returns to his movie theater, where he falls asleep and dreams that he is the great Sherlock Holmes.
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  • The Kid
    6

    The Kid

    Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance
    94 votes
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    Chaplin's first full-length feature is a silent masterpiece about a little tramp who discovers a little orphan and brings him up but is left desolate when the orphanage reclaims him. Chaplin directed, produced and starred in the film, as well as composed the score.
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  • The Gold Rush
    7

    The Gold Rush

    Charlie Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray
    114 votes
    In this classic silent comedy, the Little Tramp (Charles Chaplin) heads north to join in the Klondike gold rush. Trapped in a small cabin by a blizzard, the Tramp is forced to share close quarters with a successful prospector (Mack Swain) and a fugitive (Tom Murray). Eventually able to leave the cabin, he falls for a lovely barmaid (Georgia Hale), trying valiantly to win her affections. When the prospector needs help locating his claim, it appears the Tramp's fortunes may change.
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  • The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
    8

    The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

    Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
    109 votes
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    The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 German silent horror film, directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. Considered the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema, it tells the story of an insane hypnotist. The film features a dark and twisted visual style, with sharp-pointed forms, oblique and curving lines, structures and landscapes that lean and twist in unusual angles, and shadows and streaks of light painted directly onto the sets.
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  • Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
    9

    Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

    Janet Gaynor, Fletcher Henderson, George O'Brien
    106 votes
    Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, also known as Sunrise, is a 1927 American silent film directed by German film director F. W. Murnau. The story was adapted by Carl Mayer from the short story "Die Reise nach Tilsit" by Hermann Sudermann. Sunrise won an Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Production at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929 and sixty years later was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress for films that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The 10th anniversary update of the American Film Institute's best 100 films in 2007 placed it #82, while the decennial Sight and Sound poll of 2012 for the British Film Institute named it the fifth-best film in the history of motion pictures by critics, and 22nd by directors. Murnau chose the new Fox Movietone sound-on-film system, so it is one of the first with a soundtrack of music and sound effects. It incorporated Charles Gounod's Funeral March of a Marionette, which was later used as the theme for the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
  • Seven Chances
    10

    Seven Chances

    Buster Keaton, T. Roy Barnes, Snitz Edwards
    41 votes
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    Struggling stockbroker Jimmie Shannon (Buster Keaton) learns that, if he gets married by 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday -- which is today -- he'll inherit $7 million from an eccentric relative. But, after Mary Jones (Ruth Dwyer), whom he's mooned over for years, turns him down, he has only hours to find a woman who'll marry him. When his friends try to help by placing an ad in the afternoon newspaper, the shy Jimmie finds himself chased through the streets by hundreds of marriage-minded women.
  • The Phantom of the Opera
    11

    The Phantom of the Opera

    Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry
    65 votes
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    In this silent horror classic, aspiring young opera singer Christine Daaé (Mary Philbin) discovers that she has a mysterious admirer intent on helping her become a lead performer. This enigmatic masked presence is Erik, also known as the Phantom (Lon Chaney), a horribly disfigured recluse who lives underneath the Paris Opera House. When the Phantom takes Christine prisoner and demands her devotion and affection, her suitor, Vicomte Raoul de Chagny (Norman Kerry), sets out to rescue her.
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  • Pandora's Box
    12

    Pandora's Box

    Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer
    58 votes
    In this acclaimed German silent film, Lulu (Louise Brooks) is a young woman so beautiful and alluring that few can resist her siren charms. The men drawn into her web include respectable newspaper publisher Dr. Ludwig Schön (Fritz Kortner), his musical producer son Alwa (Franz Lederer), circus performer Rodrigo Quast (Krafft-Raschig) and Lulu's seedy old friend, Schigolch (Carl Goetz). When Lulu's charms inevitably lead to tragedy, the downward spiral encompasses them all.
  • The Passion of Joan of Arc
    13

    The Passion of Joan of Arc

    Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, André Berley
    88 votes
    A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc (Renee Falconetti) is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials (Eugene Silvain, Jean d'Yd). Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.
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  • The Wind
    14

    The Wind

    Lillian Gish, Montagu Love, Edward Earle
    43 votes
    The Wind is a 1928 American silent romantic drama film directed by Victor Sjöström. The movie was adapted by Frances Marion from the novel of the same name written by Dorothy Scarborough. It features Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson and Montagu Love. It was one of the last silent films released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
  • Steamboat Bill Jr.
    15

    Steamboat Bill Jr.

    Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence, Marion Byron
    75 votes
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    In this silent comedy, college boy William Canfield Jr. (Buster Keaton) reunites with his boat captain father in a Mississippi River town. Though he's flummoxed by Willie's citified appearance, the elder Canfield seems to have found an ally to help him compete with fellow riverboat owner John James King (Tom McGuire). Willie finds himself falling for King's daughter, Mary (Marion Byron), but he has more pressing concerns when the weather turns bad and his father in arrested.
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  • Safety Last!
    16

    Safety Last!

    Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother
    81 votes
    A boy (Harold Lloyd) moves to New York City to make enough money to support his loving girlfriend (Mildred Davis), but soon discovers that making it in the big city is harder than it looks. When he hears that a store manager will pay $1,000 to anyone who can draw people to his store, he convinces his friend, the "human fly," (Bill Strother) to climb the building and split the profit with him. But when his pal gets in trouble with the law, he must complete the crazy stunt on his own.
  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
    17

    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    John Barrymore, Martha Mansfield, Brandon Hurst
    31 votes
    Scientist Dr. Henry Jekyll (John Barrymore) is intelligent and diligent, but also uptight and extremely serious about his work. When his friend, Sir George Carew (Brandon Hurst), takes him to a show featuring the sensual Miss Gina (Nita Naldi), an aroused Jekyll sets out on a quest to separate man's saintly and sinful sides. His experiments succeed, and his evil alter ego, Mr. Hyde, is created. As the doctor uncontrollably alternates between Jekyll and Hyde, danger looms.
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  • The Navigator
    18

    The Navigator

    Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Frederick Vroom
    37 votes
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    In this revered silent comedy, the wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway (Buster Keaton) decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O'Brien (Kathryn McGuire). Alhough Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts go on the cruise that he intended as their honeymoon. When circumstances find both Rollo and Betsy on the wrong ship, they end up having adventures on the high seas, allowing Keaton plenty of opportunities to display his trademark agility.
  • The Man Who Laughs
    19

    The Man Who Laughs

    Conrad Veidt, Stuart Holmes, Mary Philbin
    39 votes
    The Man Who Laughs is a 1928 American silent film directed by the German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni. The film is an adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel of the same name and stars Mary Philbin as the blind Dea and Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine. The film is known for the grim carnival freak-like grin on the character Gwynplaine's face, which often leads it to be classified as a horror film. Film critic Roger Ebert stated, "The Man Who Laughs is a melodrama, at times even a swashbuckler, but so steeped in Expressionist gloom that it plays like a horror film." The Man Who Laughs is a Romantic melodrama, similar to films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The film was one of the early Universal Pictures productions that made the transition from silent films to sound films, using the Movietone sound system introduced by William Fox. The film was completed in April 1927 but was held for release in April 1928, with sound effects and a music score that included the song, "When Love Comes Stealing," by Walter Hirsch, Lew Pollack, and Erno Rapee.
  • The Cameraman
    20

    The Cameraman

    Buster Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin
    47 votes
    In this silent classic, photographer Buster (Buster Keaton) meets Sally (Marceline Day), who works as a secretary for the newsreel department at MGM, and falls hard. Trying to win her attention, Buster abandons photography in order to become a news cameraman. In spite of his early failures with a motion camera, Sally takes to him as well. However, veteran cameraman Stagg (Harold Goodwin) also fancies Sally, meaning Buster will need to learn how to film quickly before he loses his job.
  • The Circus
    21

    The Circus

    Charlie Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia
    57 votes
    Wrongfully accused of criminal acts, a tramp (Charlie Chaplin) unwittingly ducks into a big top, where his bumbling attempts to avoid pursuing police officers earn the laughter and applause of the circus-goers. Impressed, the ringmaster (Allan Garcia) decides to employ the tramp as an entertainer. In between getting trapped in a lion's cage and partaking in clumsy high wire escapades, he falls for a beautiful show rider (Merna Kennedy), who unfortunately has eyes for a daring tightrope acrobat.
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  • The Unknown
    22

    The Unknown

    Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford
    27 votes
    On the run from the law, Alonzo (Lon Chaney) hides in the circus as The Armless Wonder -- a performer who uses his feet to hurl knives. Alonzo actually has the use of his arms but keeps them concealed so that his true identity remains under wraps. Meanwhile, Alonzo falls in love with another performer, Nanon (Joan Crawford), who has a phobia against being touched by a man. But when the circus owner (Nick De Ruiz) discovers Alonzo's true identity, the performer makes a tragic decision.
  • Our Hospitality
    23

    Our Hospitality

    Buster Keaton, Natalie Talmadge, Buster Keaton
    50 votes
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    Sole heir Willie McKay (Buster Keaton) journeys by train from New York City to Kentucky to claim his fortune amid a decades-old feud with the Canfield family. En route, he meets and is smitten with young beauty Virginia (Natalie Talmadge), who invites him to dinner, but he realizes too late that she is the only daughter of patriarch Joseph Canfield (Joe Roberts). The rules of hospitality protect McKay from harm in their house, but he must outwit her brothers to resolve the feud.
  • Battleship Potemkin
    24

    Battleship Potemkin

    Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov, Aleksandr Antonov
    69 votes
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    Battleship Potemkin, sometimes rendered as Battleship Potyomkin, is a 1925 silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm. It presents a dramatized version of the mutiny that occurred in 1905 when the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin rebelled against their officers of the Tsarist regime. Battleship Potemkin has been called one of the most influential propaganda films of all time, and was named the greatest film of all time at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958.
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  • The Big Parade
    25

    The Big Parade

    John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Hobart Bosworth
    41 votes
    Wealthy young idler Jim Apperson (John Gilbert) enlists during the early days of World War I, to the worry of his mother (Claire McDowell) and the pride of his father (Hobart Bosworth). Sent to the front lines in the French countryside, Jim bonds with his working-class bunkmates Slim (Karl Dane) and Bull (Tom O'Brien) and falls in love with young French farm girl Melisande (Renée Adorée), despite having a girlfriend (Claire Adams) back home. But the romance of war is soon shattered for good.
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  • The Last Laugh
    26

    The Last Laugh

    Emil Jannings, Georg John, O. E. Hasse
    35 votes
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    Der letzte Mann is one of the most influential films in the history of cinema. It was directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau in 1924 in the studio of Universum Film AG, known as Ufa and located in Berlin. The screenplay was written by Carl Mayer, the producer was Erich Pommer and the cameraman was Karl Freund. The film was highly regarded as innovative for its psychological topic and for the innovative techniques used by the director, by the cameraman and by the creativity promoting producer. The main roles were played by Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Georg John and Hans Unterkircher. The film was produced as a silent film, but the intertitles, which were characteristic to the silent films of 1920’s, were not used. The genre of the film was known as a “chamber-camera”, which was an innovative style. The Kemmerspielfilm was essentially converted from the style of small theaters for the introduction to cinematography. Murnau and his team were the pioneers of Kemmeraspielfilm in cinematography.
  • The Crowd
    27

    The Crowd

    Eleanor Boardman, James Murray, Bert Roach
    35 votes
    Young John Sims (James Murray) weathers the death of his father and travels to New York City in search of success. Instead, he becomes a low-level worker in an enormous office of a nameless corporation. After he meets a beautiful young woman (Eleanor Boardman), things seem to be looking up, but before long the newlyweds are sullen and bickering, and the arrival of their children leaves John feeling trapped in a dead-end existence. Then tragedy strikes, causing him to reassess his life.
  • Go West
    28

    Go West

    Buster Keaton, Howard Truesdale, Kathleen Myers
    16 votes
    A greenhorn (Buster Keaton) heeds Horace Greeley, hops a freight train and befriends a cow named Brown Eyes.
  • The Freshman
    29

    The Freshman

    Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, James Anderson
    30 votes
    In hopes of making some friends, Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd) attends college at Tate University. But when the students notice his eccentric personality, he becomes the joke of the school. His fellow students convince Harold that he is popular but laugh at him behind his back, telling him that he is a player on the football team when he is actually the waterboy. Only his friend Peggy (Jobyna Ralston) knows that, to be happy, Harold must accept himself for who he really is.
  • The Thief of Bagdad
    30

    The Thief of Bagdad

    Douglas Fairbanks, Snitz Edwards, Charles Belcher
    38 votes
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    A thief sneaks into a royal palace, where he sees and falls instantly in love with a beautiful princess. Pretending to be a prince, the thief woos the princess, who becomes enamored with him, but when guilt eats at him, the thief confesses to a holy man, who commands him to find a magic chest as penance. As he battles many obstacles to win the chest, the thief uses its powers to save Baghdad from a foreign invader and rescue his beloved.
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