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The Best Silent Films

Cinema's first three decades still rank among its greatest. The silent canon, ordered by composite score across critics' polls and registries.

Silent film is not primitive cinema — by the mid-1920s it was a mature international art the talkies interrupted: Chaplin and Keaton perfected physical comedy, Murnau's Sunrise and Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc pushed the camera and the face as far as they have ever gone, and Eisenstein's montage experiments in Battleship Potemkin became film theory itself. The canon's respect is measurable — Sunrise, Potemkin and Man with a Movie Camera all sit in the Sight & Sound top twenty a century on.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) leads with a composite score of 3.77. Top 100 of 296 films in our library.

Masters of the genre

  1. 1
    Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans1927 · F. W. Murnau · United States · drama, silent, romance
    3.77

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1928 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #11 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #33

  2. 2
    Modern Times1936 · Charlie Chaplin · United States · comedy, romance, drama
    2.97

    Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #72 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #78 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1938 #4

  3. 3
    The Passion of Joan of Arc1928 · Carl Theodor Dreyer · France · drama, silent
    2.62

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #21 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #30 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1929 #7

  4. 4
    The Gold Rush1925 · Charlie Chaplin · United States · silent, comedy, romance
    2.55

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1926 #1 · AFI 100 (2007) #58 · AFI 100 (1998) #74

  5. 5
    The Artist2011 · Michel Hazanavicius · France / Belgium · comedy, romance, drama
    2.35

    Oscar Best Picture winner 2011 · BAFTA Best Film winner 2012 · César Best Film winner 2012

  6. 6
    Metropolis1927 · Fritz Lang · Weimar Republic · silent, drama, sci-fi
    2.18

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #67 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1929 #4 · TIME All-TIME 100

  7. 7
    Man with a Movie Camera1929 · Dziga Vertov · Soviet Union · documentary, silent
    2.13

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #9 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #30 · TIME All-TIME 100

  8. 8
    Wings1927 · William A. Wellman, Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast · United States · war, romance, drama
    2.11

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1928 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1928 #5 · National Film Registry (inducted 1997)

  9. 9
    Seventh Heaven1927 · Frank Borzage · United States · drama, silent, romance
    1.79

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1927 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1928 · National Film Registry (inducted 1995)

  10. 10
    A Woman of Paris1923 · Charlie Chaplin, A. Edward Sutherland · United States · drama, silent, romance
    1.66

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1924 #1 · Sarris's annual top 10 1976 #1 · Criterion Collection spine #1253

  11. 11
    The General1926 · Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman · United States · comedy, romance, war
    1.51

    AFI 100 (2007) #18 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #95 · National Film Registry (inducted 1989)

  12. 12
    The Docks of New York1928 · Josef von Sternberg · United States · romance, silent, drama
    1.50

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1929 #1 · National Film Registry (inducted 1999) · Criterion Collection spine #531

  13. 13
    Meshes of the Afternoon1943 · Maya Deren, Alexandr Hackenschmied · United States · silent
    1.46

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #16 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #62 · National Film Registry (inducted 1990)

  14. 14
    Sherlock, Jr.1924 · Buster Keaton, Roscoe Arbuckle · United States · comedy, action, romance
    1.46

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #54 · TIME All-TIME 100 · Letterboxd Top 250 #91

  15. 15
    Battleship Potemkin1925 · Sergei Eisenstein · Soviet Union · silent, drama
    1.40

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #54 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #93 · Empire 500 (2008) #313

  16. 16
    The Thief of Bagdad1924 · Raoul Walsh · United States · fantasy, silent, drama
    1.34

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1925 #1 · National Film Registry (inducted 1996) · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  17. 17
    Intolerance1916 · D. W. Griffith · United States · drama, silent
    1.29

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #225 · AFI 100 (2007) #49 · National Film Registry (inducted 1989)

  18. 18
    The Last Laugh1924 · F. W. Murnau · Germany / Weimar Republic · silent, drama
    1.25

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1926 #2 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #243 · Roger Ebert's Great Movies

  19. 19
    Nosferatu1922 · F. W. Murnau · Germany · silent, horror, drama
    1.20

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #196 · Scorsese's 39 essential foreign films · Vatican film list

  20. 20
    Safety Last!1923 · Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor · United States · comedy, romance, silent
    1.13

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1924 #3 · National Film Registry (inducted 1994) · Criterion Collection spine #662

  21. 21
    Un Chien Andalou1929 · Luis Buñuel · France · silent, horror, fantasy
    1.11

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #169 · Empire 500 (2008) #354 · Kurosawa's 100 favorite films

  22. 22
    The Covered Wagon1923 · James Cruze · United States · romance, western, silent
    1.11

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1924 #1 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  23. 23
    I Was Born, But...1932 · Yasujirō Ozu · Japan · comedy, drama, silent
    1.11

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1932 #1 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  24. 24
    Passing Fancy1933 · Yasujirō Ozu · Japan · silent
    1.11

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1933 #1 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  25. 25
    Greed1924 · Erich von Stroheim · United States · drama, silent
    1.04

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #185 · National Film Registry (inducted 1991) · Empire 500 (2008) #399

  26. 26
    Napoléon1927 · Abel Gance · France / Germany / Italy · biography, drama, silent
    1.01

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #225 · Scorsese's 39 essential foreign films · Vatican film list

  27. 27
    La Galerie des monstres1924 · Jaque Catelain · France · silent, drama
    1.00

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1925 #1

  28. 28
    The Woman Who Touched The Legs1926 · Yutaka Abe · Japan · silent
    1.00

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1926 #1

  29. 29
    Asphalt1929 · Joe May · Germany · drama, silent
    1.00

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1930 #1

  30. 30
    What Made Her Do It?1930 · Shigeyoshi Suzuki · Japan · silent, drama
    1.00

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1930 #1

  31. 31
    A Story of Floating Weeds1934 · Yasujirō Ozu · Empire of Japan · silent, drama
    1.00

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1934 #1

  32. 32
    The Crowd1928 · King Vidor · United States · drama, silent
    0.98

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #225 · TIME All-TIME 100 · National Film Registry (inducted 1989)

  33. 33
    Pandora's Box1929 · Georg Wilhelm Pabst · Germany · silent, drama, crime
    0.86

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #243 · Empire 500 (2008) #248 · Criterion Collection spine #358

  34. 34
    Peter Pan1924 · Herbert Brenon · United States · fantasy, silent, adventure
    0.84

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1925 #3 · National Film Registry (inducted 2000) · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  35. 35
    The Big Parade1925 · King Vidor, George W. Hill · United States · drama, silent, war
    0.84

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1927 #3 · National Film Registry (inducted 1992) · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  36. 36
    The Circus1928 · Charlie Chaplin · United States · comedy, silent, drama
    0.79

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1928 #3 · Criterion Collection spine #996 · Roger Ebert's Great Movies

  37. 37
    Underworld1927 · Josef von Sternberg · United States · crime, silent, drama
    0.79

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1928 #2 · Criterion Collection spine #529

  38. 38
    The Phantom of the Opera1925 · Rupert Julian, Lon Chaney, Edward Sedgwick · United States · horror, drama, silent
    0.71

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1925 #6 · National Film Registry (inducted 1998) · Roger Ebert's Great Movies

  39. 39
    The Freshman1925 · Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor · United States · comedy, silent
    0.69

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1926 #9 · National Film Registry (inducted 1990) · Criterion Collection spine #703

  40. 40
    Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ1925 · Fred Niblo · United States · drama, silent, action
    0.66

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1928 #4 · National Film Registry (inducted 1997)

  41. 41
    The Last Command1928 · Josef von Sternberg · United States · romance, war, silent
    0.65

    TIME All-TIME 100 · National Film Registry (inducted 2006) · Criterion Collection spine #530

  42. 42
    Broken Blossoms1919 · D. W. Griffith · United States · romance, silent, drama
    0.65

    National Film Registry (inducted 1996) · Kurosawa's 100 favorite films · Roger Ebert's Great Movies

  43. 43
    The Birth of a Nation1915 · D. W. Griffith · United States · drama, silent
    0.63

    AFI 100 (1998) #44 · National Film Registry (inducted 1992) · Roger Ebert's Great Movies

  44. 44
    Nanook of the North1922 · Robert J. Flaherty · United States / France · documentary, drama, silent
    0.63

    National Film Registry (inducted 1989) · Criterion Collection spine #33 · Roger Ebert's Great Movies

  45. 45
    Kean ou Désordre et génie1924 · Alexandre Volkoff · France · silent, drama
    0.63

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1925 #2

  46. 46
    The Marriage Circle1924 · Ernst Lubitsch, James Flood · United States · drama, silent
    0.63

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1924 #2

  47. 47
    Variety1925 · Ewald André Dupont, Nicolas Farkas · Germany · drama, silent
    0.63

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1927 #2

  48. 48
    Storm over Asia1928 · Vsevolod Pudovkin · Soviet Union · silent, drama, war
    0.63

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1930 #2

  49. 49
    Young Miss1930 · Yasujirō Ozu · Japan · silent
    0.63

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1930 #2

  50. 50
    The Water Magician1933 · Kenji Mizoguchi · Japan · drama, silent
    0.63

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1933 #2

  51. 51
    Trifling Women1922 · Rex Ingram · United States · romance, silent
    0.60

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1924 #8 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1924 #10

  52. 52
    The Black Pirate1926 · Albert Parker · United States · action, adventure, silent
    0.56

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1926 #7 · National Film Registry (inducted 1993)

  53. 53
    Limite1931 · Mário Peixoto · Brazil · drama, silent
    0.55

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #211 · Criterion Collection spine #877

  54. 54
    A Page of Madness1926 · Teinosuke Kinugasa · Japan · silent, drama
    0.54

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1926 #4 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  55. 55
    The Son of the Sheik1926 · George Fitzmaurice · United States · drama, silent, adventure
    0.54

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1926 #8 · National Film Registry (inducted 2003)

  56. 56
    The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari1920 · Robert Wiene · Germany · silent, horror, crime
    0.53

    Kurosawa's 100 favorite films · Roger Ebert's Great Movies · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  57. 57
    The Wedding March1926 · Erich von Stroheim · United States · drama, romance, silent
    0.53

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1928 #9 · National Film Registry (inducted 2003)

  58. 58
    Dr. Mabuse the Gambler1922 · Fritz Lang · Germany · silent, thriller, crime
    0.52

    Scorsese's 39 essential foreign films · Kurosawa's 100 favorite films · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  59. 59
    Camille1921 · Ray C. Smallwood · United States · silent, drama, romance
    0.50

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1924 #3

  60. 60
    Stella Dallas1925 · Henry King · United States · drama, silent
    0.50

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1926 #3

  61. 61
    The Salvation Hunters1925 · Josef von Sternberg · United States · drama, silent
    0.50

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1925 #3

  62. 62
    Sonno Joi1927 · Tomiyasu Ikeda · Japan · silent
    0.50

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1927 #3

  63. 63
    Homecoming1928 · Joe May · Germany · silent, drama
    0.50

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1930 #3

  64. 64
    Tokyo Chorus1931 · Yasujirō Ozu · Japan · silent, drama
    0.50

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1931 #3

  65. 65
    Every-Night Dreams1933 · Mikio Naruse · Japan · drama, silent
    0.50

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1933 #3

  66. 66
    Woman of Tokyo1933 · Yasujirō Ozu · Japan · drama, silent
    0.50

    Hoberman's annual top 10 1982 #1

  67. 67
    The Kid1921 · Charlie Chaplin · United States · comedy, drama, silent
    0.50

    National Film Registry (inducted 2011) · Criterion Collection spine #799 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  68. 68
    The Cameraman1928 · Edward Sedgwick, Buster Keaton · United States · comedy, romance, drama
    0.50

    National Film Registry (inducted 2005) · Criterion Collection spine #1033 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  69. 69
    Earth1930 · Oleksandr Dovzhenko · Soviet Union · silent, drama
    0.49

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #243 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  70. 70
    Decasia2002 · Bill Morrison · United States · silent
    0.48

    Hoberman's annual top 10 2003 #3 · National Film Registry (inducted 2013)

  71. 71
    The General Line1929 · Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov · Soviet Union · silent, drama
    0.47

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1931 #6 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  72. 72
    The Patriot1928 · Ernst Lubitsch · United States · biography, drama, silent
    0.45

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1929

  73. 73
    The Racket1928 · Lewis Milestone · United States · drama, crime, silent
    0.45

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1928

  74. 74
    Beau Geste1926 · Herbert Brenon · United States · silent, drama, action
    0.43

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1927 #4

  75. 75
    The Sea Beast1926 · Millard Webb · United States · silent, drama
    0.43

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1926 #4

  76. 76
    Sozenji Baba1928 · Masahiro Makino · Japan · silent
    0.43

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1928 #4

  77. 77
    Ikeru Ningyō1929 · Tomu Uchida · Japan · silent
    0.43

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1929 #4

  78. 78
    Oatsurae Jirokichi Koshi1931 · Daisuke Itō · Japan · silent, drama
    0.43

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1932 #4

  79. 79
    Apart from You1933 · Mikio Naruse · Japan · drama, silent
    0.43

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1933 #4

  80. 80
    Body and Soul1925 · Oscar Micheaux · United States · drama, silent
    0.39

    National Film Registry (inducted 2019) · Criterion Collection spine #371

  81. 81
    La Roue1922 · Abel Gance · France · silent, drama
    0.39

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1926 #5

  82. 82
    Sherlock Holmes1922 · Albert Parker · United States / United Kingdom · crime, mystery, drama
    0.39

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1924 #5

  83. 83
    Girl Shy1924 · Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor · United States · comedy, romance, silent
    0.39

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1925 #5

  84. 84
    The Way of All Flesh1927 · Victor Fleming · United States · drama, silent
    0.39

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1927 #5

  85. 85
    The Living Corpse1929 · Fedor Ozep · Germany / Soviet Union · silent, drama
    0.39

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1929 #5

  86. 86
    Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary2002 · Guy Maddin · Canada · horror, silent
    0.38

    Hoberman's annual top 10 2003 #5 · Film Comment year-end poll 2003 #37

  87. 87
    The Hunchback of Notre Dame1923 · Wallace Worsley · United States · romance, horror, silent
    0.36

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1924 #6

  88. 88
    Smouldering Fires1925 · Clarence Brown, Charles Dorian · United States · drama, silent
    0.36

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1925 #6

  89. 89
    Street Angel1928 · Frank Borzage · United States · drama, romance, silent
    0.36

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1928 #6

  90. 90
    The Village Bride1928 · Heinosuke Gosho · Japan · drama, silent
    0.36

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1928 #6

  91. 91
    The Four Feathers1929 · Merian C. Cooper, Lothar Mendes, Ernest B. Schoedsack · United States · silent, war
    0.36

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1929 #6

  92. 92
    Faust1926 · F. W. Murnau · Germany / Weimar Republic · silent, drama, fantasy
    0.36

    Roger Ebert's Great Movies · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  93. 93
    A Corner in Wheat1909 · D. W. Griffith · United States · drama, silent
    0.34

    National Film Registry (inducted 1994) · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  94. 94
    The Musketeers of Pig Alley1912 · D. W. Griffith · United States · silent, drama
    0.34

    National Film Registry (inducted 2016) · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  95. 95
    The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England1914 · Maurice Tourneur · United States · comedy, drama, silent
    0.34

    National Film Registry (inducted 2012) · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  96. 96
    The Last of the Mohicans1920 · Maurice Tourneur, Clarence Brown · United States · silent, drama, adventure
    0.34

    National Film Registry (inducted 1995) · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  97. 97
    Cops1922 · Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton · United States · comedy, silent
    0.34

    National Film Registry (inducted 1997) · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  98. 98
    Foolish Wives1922 · Erich von Stroheim, Gustav Machatý · United States · drama, silent
    0.34

    National Film Registry (inducted 2008) · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  99. 99
    It1927 · Clarence G. Badger, Josef von Sternberg · United States · comedy, romance, silent
    0.34

    National Film Registry (inducted 2001) · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  100. 100
    Steamboat Bill Jr.1928 · Charles Reisner · United States · comedy, action, silent
    0.34

    National Film Registry (inducted 2016) · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

Thirty years that invented everything

Between the Lumière brothers' first public projections in 1895 and the arrival of synchronized sound in 1927, cinema went from fairground novelty to the dominant art form of the century — and nearly every tool filmmakers still use was invented in that window. Georges Méliès, a stage magician, discovered special effects and narrative fantasy almost single-handedly; A Trip to the Moon (1902) — with its rocket in the Moon's eye, one of the most reproduced images in film history — is the medium's first blockbuster and first work of science fiction. The 1910s added feature length, continuity editing and the close-up as psychological instrument; D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916), built partly in penance for the racism of his previous film, pushed crosscutting to a four-story architecture that filmmakers still study.

The 1920s were the form's high summer, and its canon is strikingly international. Germany contributed expressionism — The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), with its painted shadows and unreliable narrator, is the ancestor of every horror film and film noir. The Soviet Union contributed montage theory: Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925) and its Odessa Steps sequence remain the most-quoted editing lesson in cinema. Hollywood contributed physical comedy at a level never matched — Buster Keaton's The General (1926), an action epic performed without stunt doubles on moving locomotives — and, in F.W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927), made by a German expressionist with a Fox budget, the silent film's most complete synthesis of camera movement, design and feeling. Denmark's Carl Theodor Dreyer closed the era with The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), a trial film told almost entirely in faces, routinely ranked among the greatest films ever made.

Why the silent canon still climbs

Chaplin ignored the sound revolution for years — City Lights (1931) is a silent film released deep into the talkie era, and its final recognition scene is perhaps the most praised single ending in cinema — proof that silence was an aesthetic choice, not just a technical limitation. The critics' polls have only strengthened the silent canon over time: as recency bias fades, the era's formal daring stands out more clearly, and preservation institutions (a large share of this page sits in the National Film Registry) treat these films as the medium's founding documents. Ranked by composite score, this page is effectively cinema's constitutional convention: the films that decided what the art form would be.