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Movies: Best "silent film" Movies

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when necessary, be conveyed by the use of inter-title cards. The term "silent film" is something of a misnomer, as these films were almost always accompanied by live sounds. During the silent era that existed from the mid-1890s to the late 1920s, a pianist, theater organist—or even, in larger cities, an orchestra—would play music to accompany the films. Pianists and organists would play either from sheet music, or improvisation. Sometimes a person would even narrate the inter-title cards for the audience. Though at the time the technology to synchronize sound with the film did not exist, music was seen as an essential part of the viewing experience. "Silent film" is typically used as a historical term to describe an era of cinema prior to the invention of synchronized sound, but it also applies to such sound-era films as City Lights, Modern Times and Silent Movie which are accompanied by a music-only soundtrack in place of dialogue. The term silent film is a retronym—a term created to retroactively distinguish something from later deve... ()

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3,278 movies found (page 1/110):

Silent Night(2023)

FSK: 18+ years
| 1h 44min | Action, Crime, Thriller

A tormented father witnesses his young son die when caught in a gang's crossfire on Christmas Eve. While recovering from a wound that costs him his voice, he makes vengeance his life's mission and embarks on a punishing training regimen in order to avenge his son's death.

City Lights(1931)

FSK: 6+ years
| 1h 27min | Comedy, Romance / Love, Drama
4.2/5 (with 992 votes)

In this sound-era silent film, a tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower seller.

Metropolis(1927)

FSK: 6+ years
| 2h 29min | Drama, Science Fiction
4.1/5 (with 1,145 votes)

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

A Trip to the Moon(1902)

4.0/5 (with 740 votes)

Professor Barbenfouillis and five of his colleagues from the Academy of Astronomy travel to the Moon aboard a rocket propelled by a giant cannon. Once on the lunar surface, the bold explorers face the many perils hidden in the caves of the mysterious planet.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari(1920)

FSK: 6+ years
| 1h 17min | Drama, Horror, Thriller, Crime
4.0/5 (with 704 votes)

Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep.

The Kid(1921)

FSK: 0+ years
| 53min | Comedy, Drama
4.1/5 (with 876 votes)

A tramp cares for a boy after he's abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son.

Modern Times(1936)

FSK: 6+ years
| 1h 27min | Comedy, Drama
4.2/5 (with 1,636 votes)

The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.

The Triplets of Belleville(2003)

FSK: 6+ years
| 1h 20min | Animation, Comedy, Drama, Kids & Family
3.7/5 (with 398 votes)

When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters—an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire—to rescue him.

Directed by Sylvain Chomet

Wonderstruck(2017)

1h 55min | Drama
3.0/5 (with 180 votes)

The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.

Man with a Movie Camera(1929)

1h 8min | Documentary
3.9/5 (with 291 votes)

A cameraman wanders around Moscow, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Odesa with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.

Directed by Dziga Vertov

Napoleon(1927)

5h 33min | Drama, History, War
3.8/5 (with 68 votes)

A biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797. Originally intended to be the first of six films, director Abel Gance realized the full project would be nigh impossible, and never raised the money to complete the other five. The film's legendary reputation is due to the astonishing range of techniques that Gance uses to tell his story, culminating in the final twenty-minute triptych sequence, which alternates widescreen panoramas with complex multiple- image montages projected simultaneously on three screens.

Easy Virtue(1928)

1h 25min | Romance / Love, Drama
2.6/5 (with 28 votes)

Larita Filton is named as correspondent in a scandalous divorce case. She escapes to France to rebuild her life where she meets John Whittaker. They are later married, but John's well-to-do family finds out Larita's secret.

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The Phantom of the Opera(1925)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 41min | Drama, Horror
3.6/5 (with 138 votes)

A grotesquely disfigured composer known as "The Phantom" haunts Paris' opera house, where he's secretly grooming Christine Daae to be an opera diva. Luring her to his remote underground lair, The Phantom declares his love. But Christine loves Raoul de Chagny and plans to elope with him. When The Phantom learns this, he abducts Christine.

The Gold Rush(1925)

FSK: 6+ years
| 1h 35min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
4.0/5 (with 669 votes)

A gold prospector in Alaska struggles to survive the elements and win the heart of a dance hall girl.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans(1927)

FSK: 6+ years
| 1h 34min | Drama, Romance / Love
3.9/5 (with 336 votes)

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

The Artist(2011)

FSK: 6+ years
| 1h 40min | Drama, Comedy, Romance / Love
3.7/5 (with 1,462 votes)

Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

Battleship Potemkin(1925)

1h 15min | Drama, History
3.8/5 (with 494 votes)

A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre. The film had an incredible impact on the development of cinema and is a masterful example of montage editing.

The Passion of Joan of Arc(1928)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 22min | Drama, History
4.0/5 (with 398 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 is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. 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.

The Fall of the House of Usher(1928)

1h 3min | Drama, Horror
3.6/5 (with 50 votes)

A stranger called Allan goes to the House of Usher. He is the sole friend of Roderick Usher, who lives in the eerie house with his sick wife Madeleine. When she dies, Roderick does not accept her death, and in the dark night, Madeleine returns.

Directed by Jean Epstein - With Charles Lamy, Jean Debucourt, Abel Gance, Marguerite Gance, Luc Dartagnan

Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages(1916)

3h 17min | Drama, History
3.6/5 (with 140 votes)

The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde(1920)

3.4/5 (with 59 votes)

A doctor's research into the roots of evil turns him into a hideous depraved fiend.

Safety Last!(1923)

3.9/5 (with 200 votes)

When a store clerk organizes a contest to climb the outside of a tall building, circumstances force him to make the perilous climb himself.

Sherlock Jr.(1924)

FSK: 6+ years
| 45min | Action, Comedy, Mystery
4.1/5 (with 392 votes)

A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.

The Navigator(1924)

3.6/5 (with 86 votes)

The wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O'Brien. Although Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts to 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.

The General(1926)

FSK: 6+ years
| 1h 19min | Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, War
4.0/5 (with 507 votes)

During America’s Civil War, Union spies steal engineer Johnnie Gray's beloved locomotive, 'The General'—with Johnnie's lady love aboard an attached boxcar—and he single-handedly must do all in his power to both get The General back and to rescue Annabelle.

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

1h 31min | Drama, Thriller
3.6/5 (with 118 votes)

London. A mysterious serial killer brutally murders young blond women by stalking them in the night fog. One foggy, sinister night, a young man who claims his name is Jonathan Drew arrives at the guest house run by the Bunting family and rents a room.

Dante's Inferno(1911)

1h 12min | Adventure, Fantasy, Horror
3.2/5 (with 58 votes)

The classic tale of Dante's journey through hell, loosely adapted from the Divine Comedy and inspired by the illustrations of Gustav Doré. This historically important film stands as the first feature from Italy and the oldest fully-surviving feature in the world, and boasts beautiful sets and special effects that stand above other cinema of the era.

Directed by Giuseppe de Liguoro, Adolfo Padovan, Francesco Bertolini - With Salvatore Papa, Arturo Pirovano, Giuseppe de Liguoro, Emilise Beretta, Augusto Milla, Attilio Motta, ...

The Birth of a Nation(1915)

3h 13min | Drama, History, War
3.1/5 (with 223 votes)

Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.

The Ten Commandments(1923)

2h 16min | Drama
3.4/5 (with 28 votes)

The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf. The second part shows the efficacy of the commandments in modern life through a story set in San Francisco. Two brothers, rivals for the love of Mary, also come into conflict when John discovers Dan used shoddy materials to construct a cathedral.

A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate(1923)

1h 18min | Drama, Romance / Love
3.5/5 (with 67 votes)

When Marie St. Clair believes she has been jilted by her artist fiance Jean, she decides to leave for Paris on her own. After spending a year in the city as a mistress of the wealthy Pierre Revel, she is reunited with Jean by chance. This leaves her with the choice between a glamorous life in Paris, and the true love she left behind.

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