September 29th is National Silent Movie Day, a celebration dedicated to the preservation and appreciation of silent films. The silent film era (1889–1930) was a period of artistic experimentation and innovation, using visuals, performances, and cinematography to tell captivating stories without sound. Tragically, about 80% of silent films have been lost, making preservation efforts crucial. You can visit National Silent Movie Day’s website to learn more about film preservation and get involved in the movement.
In honor of National Silent Movie Day, here’s a list of 10 iconic silent films that showcase the artistry and innovation of the era.
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
Sure to be a revelation to animation buffs, this dazzling and visually breathtaking 1926 silent film fantasy stakes a claim to being the first animated feature. Three years in the making, this Arabian Nights adventure is brought to life with silhouette figures (which pioneering woman animator Lotte Reiniger meticulously cut herself and painstakingly manipulated frame-by frame!) played against fantastic color backgrounds and set to a captivating musical score.
Read our review of The Adventures of Prince Achmed.
Get your copy of The Adventures of Prince Achmed on Blu-ray by clicking here.
Battleship Potemkin
A cinematic milestone, this 1925 silent classic from Russian director Sergei Eisenstein vastly advanced the editing technique of montage (in Eisenstein's words: "...units of impression combined into one whole"). Battleship Potemkin celebrates the overthrow of the Czarist regime, focusing on one particular incident—the ship-wide mutiny on the titular vessel in response to brutal living conditions (including being served maggot-infested rotten meat).
Read our review of Battleship Potemkin.
Get your copy of the Battleship Potemkin DVD by clicking here.
Un Chien Andalou
No one can claim to be a true cinema buff without having seen this surrealist classic from 1929, the first film by director Luis Buñuel (and his initial collaboration with artist Salvador Dali). The 17-minute piece begins with one of the most infamous shots in all of motion pictures--in which a woman's eye is sliced by a razor (wielded, appropriately enough, by Buñuel himself) in extreme close-up--and then proceeds through a series of extravagantly imaginative images upon which many have tried (in vain) to impose a coherent narrative, but were intended merely to illustrate the essential irrationality and absurdity of human experience.
Read our review of Un Chien Andalou.
Get your copy of the Un Chien Andalou on DVD by clicking here.
City Lights
In 1931, Charlie Chaplin was the lone holdout in the transition to talkies. Chaplin was determined not to let sound turn his Little Tramp into a talking hobo, so he defied convention and created the last silent film to come from a major American studio. Mixing slapstick complications with touching sentimentality, City Lights boasts the grace and invention that made Chaplin the most popular silent comic in the world.
Read our review of City Lights.
Get your copy of the City Lights Blu-ray by clicking here.
Lights of Old Broadway
Marion Davies plays twin sisters separated at birth in the steerage compartment of a ship full of immigrants docked in New York City during the mid-19th century. This 1925, pre-sound era film features appealing sequences of gorgeous tinting and rowdy sequences that could only be produced on a spacious studio backlot (the film is an adaptation of a hit play), including an eye-popping street riot during a parade by Irish “Orangemen.”
Read our review of Lights of Old Broadway.
Get your copy of the Lights of Old Broadway Blu-ray by clicking here.
Nanook of the North
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Produced in 1922 by Robert Flaherty—considered the godfather of documentary filmmaking—Nanook of the North is a landmark of silent-era nonfiction cinema, a portrait of traditional life among the Inuit people of the Arctic Circle. Ironically, however, almost everything in the film was staged for the cameras: Flaherty discovered that the culture he wanted to show no longer existed, so he re-created scenes of fishing, hunting, building an igloo, and domestic life with the Inuit “subjects.”
Read our review of Nanook of the North.
Get your copy of the Nanook of the North DVD by clicking here.
Nosferatu
F. W. Murnau's 1922 classic silent film—an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula—features arguably the most creepy vampire performance in cinematic history by Max Schreck (who, when seeing a picture of the wife of Thomas Hutter [aka the Jonathan Harker character], exclaims on the title card: "Is this your wife? What a lovely throat!").
Read our review of Nosferatu.
Get your copy of the Nosferatu Blu-ray by clicking here.
Pandora’s Box
Opening in Weimar-era Berlin, Pandora's Box stars the luminous Louise Brooks in her signature role as Lulu, a prostitute who seduces a wealthy doctor before turning her sights on his son - a move that enrages the father, who is subsequently killed in a fight with Lulu. On the face of it, Pandora's Box sounds like a simple morality tale about a bad girl and her comeuppance, but while we cannot sanction Lulu's promiscuous behavior, we also cannot ignore the fact that she possesses a burning vitality that the milksop men in her life lack.
Read our review of Pandora's Box.
Get your copy of the Pandora's Box DVD by clicking here.
Sherlock Jr.
Sherlock Jr.—which stars Keaton as a meek projectionist who takes a logic-defying leap into the silver screen—is one of Keaton’s finest works. Sherlock Jr. toys with film's very nature (Keaton was arguably the cinema's first modernist) as the comic interacts with the film-within-a-film and then further bends reality by turning master detective with the help of a how-to handbook and a crazy imagination. The special effects are astounding, especially given the limited era-specific tools at Keaton's disposal.
Read our review of Sherlock Jr.
Get your copy of the Sherlock Jr. DVD by clicking here.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
In this silent movie masterpiece, Murnau takes a simple tale of reconciliation and renewal between an unnamed young peasant farmer, who's under the spell of a sexy urbanite, and his innocent, angelic wife and turns it into a deliriously romantic fable.
Read our review of Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.
Get your copy of the Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans Blu-ray by clicking here.
Silent films are a crucial part of cinema history, showcasing the early ingenuity and artistry that shaped modern filmmaking. National Silent Movie Day offers an opportunity to celebrate these groundbreaking works, raise awareness about film preservation, and experience the magic of the silent era. Whether you're revisiting these classics or discovering them for the first time, the silent film era holds a treasure trove of cinematic brilliance.