More Than Words: Silent Movies That Put the Talkies to Shame

For forty years, before sound first burst into film with the 1928 classic “The Jazz Singer”, the only noise to be heard in the cinema was a live piano accompaniment. Today, silent movies have a reputation for being amateurish, badly made pieces with over the top acting, but that’s not entirely true. This was a period of experimentation and innovation, and many of the films produced between 1888 and 1928 have been studied and remade, influencing some of the most famous filmmakers in every genre. This article lists some of the finest pieces of silent cinema, at least, the finest I have seen; films that put later talkies to shame! Where possible, I’ve included the films themselves in embedded videos.

The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1919)

Stars: Werner Kraus, Conrad Veidt

Director: Robert Weine

See this if you like… psychological thrillers with arty production

Though it’s only 50 minutes long, this film, made entirely in one sound stage in Germany, is still influential today. It tells the sinister story of a carnival quack whose exhibit is a fortune-telling somnambulist, sleep-walking his way through a series of ghastly murders. The story is intricate and well paced, but it’s the design of the film that makes it impressive. Caligari is one of the most famous of the German Expressionist artworks; it’s stylised sets, heavy makeup and emotive acting all designed to gel together for unsettling emotional impact. Is it an allegory for governmental control? Is it the first horror film? Is it the first film noir? All I can say is it’s a truly beautiful piece of cinema.

Nosferatu (1922)

Stars: Max Shreck, Greta Schroder, Gustav von Wangenheim

Director: F W Murnau

See this if you like gothic horror

Another German Expressionist movie, and an even more famous one, Nosferatu is an unauthorised retelling of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and was almost completely lost as Stoker’s widow sued Murnau and his team for their efforts. Thankfully a print survived and the film has since been remade, copied, studied and paid homage; with references appearing in everything from the 1931 version of Dracula to the blackly comic 2000 film “Shadow of a Vampire”. Murnau’s decision to use real settings with an expressionistic edge gives the film an eerie sense of hyper realism, while Shreck’s appearance and dance-like acting style is deeply unsettling to this day.

The Gold Rush (1925)

Stars: Charlie Chaplin

Director: Charlie Chaplin

See this if you like comedy

Chaplin at his best. This was one of the highest grossing films of the silent era, and of Chaplin’s career, it’s reputation is only surpassed by his first talkie “The Great Dictator”. With such famous scenes as the boot-eating sequence or the famous “roll dance”, since replicated by Buster Keaton, Fatty Arbuckle and later even Johnny Depp, it’s easy to see why it was so popular.

The “roll dance” scene

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Stars: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin

Director: Robert Julian

See this if you like gothic horror and very clever makeup

Though this film was plagued by problems, script changes, arguments and messy finances, it secured Universal Studios a place in the big league. The Studio had long been a small-scale one, but a handful of successes lead by Chaney’s phenomenal acting and makeup skills (so gifted he was known as the “Man of a Thousand Faces”), gained it the place it holds today. It also secured a place on the classics list for the book that inspired it, Gaston Leroux’s novel of the same name, placing it so firmly in the public consciousness that everyone from Brian De Palma to Andrew Lloyd Webber, from Terry Pratchett to writers of Doctor Who, have drawn on elements of the film for their Phantom-related tales. And rightly so; the supporting cast may be shaky, but Chaney’s presence and grotesque appearance really sell the show. Add to that an incredible set (Julian had the interior of the Opera Palais Garnier replicated on the Universal backlot, and the stage still stands today) and some effective early two-strip colour and you have a truly unforgettable piece.

The Eagle (1925)

Stars: Rudolph Valentino

Director: Clarence Brown

See this if you like romantic comedies

One of Valentino’s less well known films, this is an adorably sweet and surprisingly effective tale of swashbuckling and love, following the adventures of a young Cossack turned Robin Hood, trying to free the peasants from an evil nobleman and win the heart of his true love while spurning the advances of the over-amorous Czarina. It’s witty, endearing and in parts quite suspenseful and was well received at the time. Valentino was one of the biggest heart-throbs of early cinema, the original “Latin Lover”, best known today for the romantic melodrama “the Sheik”, but this is a far better display of his charms.

Part one:

Ben Hur (1925)

Stars: Ramon Novarro, Betty Bronson

Director: Fred Niblo

See this if you like historical epics

I bet you didn’t know that the 1959 version was a remake! Based on the novel of the same name, this sprawling historical epic was another very high grossing film. With surprising effects, including a rather spooky sequence as Christ heals lepers, and a stunning chariot race scene, it’s easy to see why it was so popular. The chariot race itself has since been copied in the 1959 version and later by George Lucas in “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace”, while the immense crowd brought in for the scene includes many famous directors and actors from the time, if you’re handy with the pause button you might spot Clarence Brown, Robert Julian, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Samuel Goldwyn and Harold Lloyd cheering the chariots on.

Part One:

Metropolis (1927)

Stars: Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm

Director: Fritz Lang

See this if you like allegorical science fiction

Back to Germany again for the granddaddy of all sci-fi flicks. This stunning epic has inspired everyone from Ridley Scott and George Lucas to Queen and Nine Inch Nails. It was said to be one of Adolf Hitler’s favourite film, which is rather bizarre since amongst the futuristic and Biblical trappings is an allegory for Communism. In a futuristic Art Deco city full of flying cars and sweeping sky-scrapers, a member of the tyrannical elite falls for a beautiful underclass woman named Maria, but the man’s father has other ideas and has an inventor design a robot replacement for Maria. Visually awe-inspiring and ideologically complex, it’s a breathtaking film.

Part one:

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)

Stars: Ivor Novello, Marie Ault,

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

See this if you like thrillers and suspense movies

Yes, it’s THAT Alfred Hitchcock, directing his first thriller, and what a thriller! Based on the novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes, it follows the search for a “Jack the Ripper” like killer in contemporary London. As the number of bodies mounts, a mysterious lodger (played by Novello) arrives at the house of beautiful model Daisy Bunting, looking to rent a room from Bunting’s mother. Could this strange stranger be the killer? Hitchcock has us guessing throughout the film, while experimenting with techniques and keeping the suspense at such a level that by the end, we’re at the edge of our seats. Novello puts up an impressive performance to match the stellar direction, adding pathos to his character. It’s since been remade four times, with a fifth due out this year.

Part One

The Man Who Laughs (1928)

Stars: Conrad Veidt, Mary Philbin

Director: Paul Leni

See this if you like period melodramas that tug at your heart strings

Some familiar faces return to Universal studios for this Victor Hugo-inspired movie. Hoping to cash in on the successes of Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame, both starring Lon Chaney, Universal had hoped to bring him back for another makeup-heavy European tale, but Chaney was currently stuck in MGM. Instead, Universal hired the German star Conrad Veidt and with him German director Paul Leni, (who had already shocked and enthralled audiences with films like “Waxworks” and “the Cat and the Canary”) to bring to life the story of a disfigured and disposed young nobleman who falls for a blind circus girl. The resulting film worried critics at the time for it’s morbid tone, expressionist style and sexual boldness but today it’s seen as a classic. Veidt’s performance is simply charming, despite heavy makeup (provided by Jack Pierce, the makeup man behind Frankenstein’s Monster and the Wolfman during Universal’s golden years in the 30s and 40s). The film is probably best known today for what it inspired: comic book writer Bill Finger used a photo of Veidt in full makeup as a model for Batman villain the Joker.

Part One

Un Chien Andalou (1929)

Stars: Simone Mareuil, Pierre Batchett

Director: Luis Bunuel

See this if you like surrealist art movies

This 16 minute long journey into the mind of famous artist Salvador Dali is as disturbing as it is influential. Plotless and relatively nonsensical, it is simply a collection of bizarre and probably deeply meaningful scenes featuring a handful of nameless characters, inspired by dreams and images from Dali’s and Bunuel’s own subconscious. It’s notorious shot of a cow’s eye being sliced open has inspired and appalled countless movie fans; the opening scene was lampooned on the Simpsons and David Bowie famously used a censored version as an opening for his 1976 World Tour.

Part One