Top 250 films of the 1920's
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- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinEdna PurvianceJackie CooganThe Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put their relationship in jeopardy.
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsWerner KraussConrad VeidtFriedrich FeherHypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
- DirectorRupert JulianLon ChaneyErnst LaemmleStarsLon ChaneyMary PhilbinNorman KerryA mad, disfigured composer seeks love with a lovely young opera singer.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonBartine BurkettCharles DoretyA drifter at an amusement park finds himself both the bodyguard and hit man of a man targeted by a criminal gang.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsGösta EkmanEmil JanningsCamilla HornThe demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.
- DirectorPaul WegenerCarl BoeseStarsPaul WegenerAlbert SteinrückErnst DeutschIn 16th-century Prague, a rabbi creates the Golem - a giant creature made of clay. Using sorcery, he brings the creature to life in order to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsLon ChaneyNorma ShearerJohn GilbertA bitter clown endeavors to rescue the young woman he loves from the lecherous count who once betrayed him.
- DirectorFred C. NewmeyerSam TaylorStarsHarold LloydJobyna RalstonJohn AasenA hypochondriac vacations in the tropics for the fresh air - and finds himself in the middle of a revolution instead.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsAllakariallakAlice NevalingaCunayouIn this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinMack SwainTom MurrayA prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune, and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall.
- DirectorClyde BruckmanBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMarion MackGlen CavenderAfter being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.
- DirectorWallace WorsleyStarsLon ChaneyPatsy Ruth MillerNorman KerryIn 15th-century Paris, the brother of the archdeacon plots with the gypsy king to foment a peasant revolt. Meanwhile, a freakish hunchback falls in love with a gypsy dancer.
- DirectorFred C. NewmeyerSam TaylorStarsHarold LloydMildred DavisBill StrotherA boy leaves his small country town and heads to the big city to get a job. As soon as he makes it big his sweetheart will join him and marry him. His enthusiasm to get ahead leads to some interesting adventures.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsEmil JanningsMaly DelschaftMax HillerAn aging doorman is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbors and society after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel.
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonRuth DwyerT. Roy BarnesA man learns that he will inherit a fortune if he marries by 7PM that evening.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsMaria FalconettiEugene SilvainAndré BerleyIn 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsAleksandr AntonovVladimir BarskiyGrigoriy AleksandrovIn the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorFred NibloStarsDouglas FairbanksMarguerite De La MotteNoah BeeryA seemingly idiotic fop is really the courageous vigilante Zorro, who seeks to protect the oppressed.
- DirectorYakov ProtazanovStarsYuliya SolntsevaIgor IlyinskyNikolai TsereteliEngineer Mstislav Sergeyevich Los travels to Mars where he leads a popular uprising against the ruling group of Elders with the support of Queen Aelita who has fallen in love with him after watching him through a telescope.
- DirectorFred NibloCharles BrabinChristy CabanneStarsRamon NovarroFrancis X. BushmanMay McAvoyA Jewish prince seeks to find his family and revenge himself upon his childhood friend who had him wrongly imprisoned.
- DirectorTeinosuke KinugasaStarsMasuo InoueAyako IijimaYoshie NakagawaA man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.
- DirectorBenjamin ChristensenStarsBenjamin ChristensenElisabeth ChristensenMaren PedersenFictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.
- DirectorPaul SloaneStarsRichard DixFrank CurrierAlbert TavernierRichard Gaylord, Jr. is a modern Lothario who has so many sweethearts that his father does not know what to do with him. Tired of paying to get his son out of one romantic entanglement after another, the elder Gaylord sends his son to the Basque region of France, believing that the women there will accept attentions only from their own people. Almost immediately, a local girl, Yvonne Hurja becomes infatuated with Richard, whom she sees as being able to help her break free from the unwanted attention of local guardsman Julio. A rivalry grows between Richard and Julio.
- DirectorJohn S. RobertsonStarsJohn BarrymoreMartha MansfieldBrandon HurstDr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsLon ChaneyMarceline DayHenry B. WalthallThe abandoned home of a wealthy man who supposedly committed suicide five years earlier is taken over by ghoulish figures - could they be vampires?
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRichard BarthelmessMrs. David LandauA naive country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild her life despite the taint of having borne a child out of wedlock.
- DirectorOscar MicheauxStarsEvelyn PreerFlo ClementsJames D. RuffinAbandoned by her fiancé, an educated black woman with a shocking past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished black youths.
- DirectorDonald CrispStarsDouglas FairbanksMary AstorJack McDonaldDon Cesar, son of Zorro, is framed for murder while visiting Spain, and becomes the whip-wielding outlaw Don Q.
- DirectorClarence BrownMaurice TourneurStarsWallace BeeryBarbara BedfordAlan RoscoeIn the midst of the French and Indian War, the eldest daughter of a British officer develops an attraction towards an Indian ally who is the last living warrior of his tribe, the Mohicans.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsWallace ReidGloria SwansonElliott DexterSocialite Anatol Spencer seeks a better relation than he has with his wife. He sets up the friend of his youth Emilie in an apartment and she two-times him; he comforts near-suicidal Annie and she robs him.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsIrene RichMay McAvoyBert LytellA society woman believes her husband is having an affair, a misconception which may have dire personal consequences for all involved.
- DirectorPaul LeniStarsMary PhilbinConrad VeidtJulius MolnarWhen a proud noble refuses to kiss the hand of the despotic King James in 1690, he is cruelly executed and his son surgically disfigured.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPhyllis AllenMack SwainAfter a difficult day at work, a bricklayer tries to enjoy his pay day without his wife knowing.
- DirectorLeo BirinskyPaul LeniStarsEmil JanningsConrad VeidtWerner KraussA wax museum hires a writer to give the sculptures stories. The writer imagines himself and the museum owner's daughter in the stories.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsRudolf Klein-RoggeGerda MaurusWilly FritschThe mastermind behind a ubiquitous spy operation learns of a dangerous romance between a Russian lady in his employ and a dashing agent from the government's secret service.
- DirectorHarry O. HoytStarsWallace BeeryBessie LoveLloyd HughesThe first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonTom McGuireErnest TorrenceThe effete son of a cantankerous riverboat captain comes to join his father's crew.
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsAl JolsonMay McAvoyWarner OlandThe son of a Jewish Cantor must defy the traditions of his religious father in order to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz singer.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsIvor NovelloBen WebsterNorman McKinnelBound by honor, a successful schoolboy takes the blame for his roommate's indiscretion, and it's all downhill from there.
- DirectorDonald CrispBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonKathryn McGuireFrederick VroomTwo spoiled rich people find themselves trapped on an empty passenger ship.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsGeorge O'BrienJanet GaynorMargaret LivingstonA sophisticated city woman seduces a farmer and convinces him to murder his wife and join her in the city, but he ends up rekindling his romance with his wife when he changes his mind at the last moment.
- DirectorEdward SedgwickBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMarceline DayHarold GoodwinHopelessly in love with a woman working at MGM Studios, a clumsy man attempts to become a motion-picture cameraman to be close to the object of his desire.
- DirectorErich von StroheimStarsGibson GowlandZasu PittsJean HersholtThe sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved.
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsFern AndraHans Heinrich von TwardowskiErnst GronauGenuine is an ancient and cruel divinity, who seduces men and induce them to kill as a proof of love.
- DirectorFred NibloMauritz StillerStarsGreta GarboAntonio MorenoMarc McDermottAn architect tries suppressing his passion for a seductive woman.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsJohn GilbertGreta GarboLars HansonChildhood friends are torn apart when one of them marries the woman the other fiercely loves.
- DirectorGeorge MelfordStarsRudolph ValentinoAgnes AyresRuth MillerA charming Arabian sheik becomes infatuated with an adventurous, modern-thinking Englishwoman and abducts her to his home in the Saharan desert.
- DirectorLawrence C. WindomStarsBabe RuthRuth TaylorWilliam SheerThe "true story" of baseball great Babe Ruth; Ruth plays himself.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsHenny PortenEmil JanningsPaul HartmannThe story of the ill-fated second wife of the English king Henry VIII, whose marriage to the Henry led to momentous political and religious turmoil in England.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJune TrippIvor NovelloMarie AultA landlady suspects that her new lodger is the madman killing women in London.
- DirectorWallace WorsleyStarsLeatrice JoyJohn BowersLon ChaneyA romantic rivalry among members of a secret society becomes even tenser when one of the men is assigned to carry out an assassination.
- DirectorHarry BeaumontStarsJoan CrawfordJohnny Mack BrownNils AstherA flapper who's secretly a good girl and a gold digging floozy masquerading as an ingénue both vie for the hand of a millionaire.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanHarry d'Abbadie d'ArrastStarsClara BowCharles 'Buddy' RogersRichard ArlenTwo young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsJanet GaynorCharles FarrellBen BardA street cleaner saves a young woman's life, and the pair slowly fall in love until war intervenes.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsLon ChaneyLionel BarrymoreMary NolanA magician seeks vengeance upon the man who paralyzed him and the illegitimate daughter he sired with the magician's wife.
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsConrad VeidtAlexandra SorinaFritz StrassnyA world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. When new hands are grafted on, he doesn't know they once belonged to a murderer.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBernhard GoetzkeLil DagoverWalter JanssenWhen a woman's fiancé disappears, Death gives her three chances to save him from his fate.
- DirectorJoe MayStarsAlbert SteinrückElse HellerGustav FröhlichJoe May's sensual drama of life in the Berlin underworld is in many ways the perfect summation of German filmmaking in the silent era: a dazzling visual style, a psychological approach to its characters, and the ability to take a simple and essentially melodramatic story and turn it into something more complex and inherently cinematic.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsRudolf Klein-RoggeAud Egede-NissenGertrude WelckerArch-criminal Dr. Mabuse sets out to make a fortune and run Berlin. Detective Wenk sets out to stop him.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinMerna KennedyAl Ernest GarciaThe Tramp finds work and the girl of his dreams at a circus.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinEdna PurvianceSyd ChaplinDisguised as a priest, an escaped convict makes his way to Texas. He ends up in a small rural town where the townsfolk mistake him for their new church minister.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinEdna PurvianceCharles AberA tramp sneaks into a upper class golf resort. The tramp meets a rich woman who is having an argument with her drunken husband. Complications arise when she mistakes the tramp for her husband.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsEdna PurvianceClarence GeldertCarl MillerA kept woman runs into her former fiancé and finds herself torn between love and comfort.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsMarion DaviesWilliam HainesDell HendersonA young lady from Georgia goes to Hollywood in the hopes of becoming an actress.
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonHoward TruesdaleKathleen MyersWith little luck at keeping a job in the city a New Yorker tries work in the country and eventually finds his way leading a herd of cattle to the West Coast.
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonSnitz EdwardsSally O'NeilA love-struck weakling must pretend to be boxer in order to gain respect from the family of the girl he loves.
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonKathryn McGuireJoe KeatonA 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.
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonVirginia FoxJoe RobertsBuster helps a Native American tribe save their land from greedy oil barons.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonEdward F. ClineVirginia FoxA series of mishaps manages to make a young man get chased by a big city's entire police force.
- DirectorMaurice MarshallStarsShirley MasonBen TurpinGaston GlassAspiring inventor Tom Powers gets a position as caretaker of the Clifford Rathburn estate and invites his impoverished friends to visit him while his employer is away. Rathburn has gone to Palm Beach to visit Cyrus Dodd, millionaire automobile manufacturer whose daughter, Patricia, Rathburn would like to marry. Disliking Rathburn, Patricia slips away to New York, becomes an elevator operator, and meets Powers. They marry and honeymoon at the Rathburn estate. Patricia takes an interest in Tom's invention and persuades her parents to visit them in hopes of securing financial backing for the invention, a new type of automobile paint. Tom's friends pretend to be his servants, making a big impression on the Dodds. Clifford Rathburn arrives home. The friends tie him up in an upstairs bathroom. Freeing himself, he breaks a pipe: water floods through the ceiling and into the dining room just as Dodd is signing a sizable check. The ceiling caves in; Clifford denounces the couple; Mrs. Dodd threatens to have the marriage annulled; but Cyrus Dodd, recognizing the importance of his son-in-law's invention, is happy with his daughter's choice and makes Powers a business partner.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonWallace BeeryMonte CollinsBy accident, Buster and an intimidating woman end up married.
- DirectorJohn G. BlystoneBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonNatalie TalmadgeJoe KeatonA man returns to his Appalachian homestead. On the trip, he falls for a young woman. The only problem is her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsGeorge O'BrienMadge BellamyCharles Edward BullAfter witnessing the murder of his father by a renegade as a boy, the grown-up Brandon helps to realize his father's dream of a transcontinental railway.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsVictor McLaglenMyrna LoyDavid TorrenceCaptain Donald King of the British Army goes to India just as World War I breaks out, convincing his comrades that he is a coward. In reality, he is on a secret mission to rescue British soldiers held prisoner there.
- DirectorHal YatesStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyAnita GarvinHandymen (Laurel & Hardy) deliver a cumbersome washing machine to a house fronted by a huge flight of stairs.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerChristy CabanneNorman HoustonStarsConrad NagelJack BennyJohn GilbertAn all-star revue featuring MGM contract players.
- DirectorFred JackmanStarsRexBarbara KentJames FinlaysonTwo thugs plot to kill an old miner to get his claim, but one of them lusts after his beautiful daughter and wants her first.
- DirectorLarry SemonStarsDorothy DwanCharles MurrayOliver HardyDorothy, heir to the Oz throne, must take it back from the wicked Prime Minister Kruel with the help of three farmhands.
- DirectorAbel GanceStarsAlbert DieudonnéVladimir RoudenkoEdmond Van DaëleA film about the French general's youth and early military career.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsGeorge BancroftBetty CompsonOlga BaclanovaA blue-collar worker on New York's depressed waterfront finds his life changed after he saves a woman attempting suicide.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsVictor SjöströmHilda BorgströmTore SvennbergOn New Year's Eve, the driver of a ghostly carriage forces a drunken man to reflect on his selfish, wasted life.
- DirectorWallace WorsleyStarsCharles ClaryDoris PawnJim MasonA deformed criminal mastermind plans to loot the city of San Francisco as well as revenge himself on the doctor who mistakenly amputated his legs.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonSybil SeelyJoe RobertsA newly wedded couple attempts to build a house with a prefabricated kit, unaware that a rival sabotaged the kit's component numbering.
- DirectorPaul PowellStarsMary PickfordWharton JamesKatherine GriffithAn orphan's optimistic outlook brings a change to the ill-tempered town in which she resides to her aunt.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsTheodore RobertsCharles de RochefortEstelle TaylorAfter hearing the story of Moses, the sons of a devout Christian mother go their own ways, and the atheist brother's breaking of the Ten Commandments leads to tragedy.
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsKruChantuiNahA snapshot of life in the jungles of Northern Siam.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsEmil JanningsEvelyn BrentWilliam PowellA former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsLouise BrooksFritz KortnerFrancis LedererThe rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.
- DirectorPer LindbergStarsTora TejeInga TidbladRenée BjörlingAbout a group of office girls hardships in the male world set in 1907. A collective fighting for female solidarity, civil rights and the conflict between love and work.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsHildur CarlbergEinar RödGreta AlmrothA newly elected village parson is required to marry the previous parson's widow. However he's already married, and the woman is old enough to be his grandmother.
- DirectorLeo MittlerStarsLissy ArnaPaul RehkopfFritz GenschowThe quest for a sparkling pearl necklace stolen by a beggar under the gaze of a prostitute, who persuades her unemployed friend to steal it back, with tragic consequences.
- DirectorMauritz StillerStarsLars HansonSven ScholanderEllen Hartman-CederströmA drunkard priest who has been cast out by his community struggles to atone and regain his honour and dignity.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsGrigoriy AleksandrovMaksim ShtraukhMikhail GomorovA group of oppressed factory workers go on strike in pre-revolutionary Russia.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonVirginia FoxJoe RobertsStrange things ensue after a young man attempts to take his own life.
- DirectorAndré AntoineStarsMaguy DeliacPierre AlcoverLouis RavetA bargeman, his wife and sister-in-law navigate the canals of northern Belgium in their two vessels, the eponymous "L'Hirondelle et la Mésange," taking the time to appreciate the sites and landscapes they encounter along their way. Like many in his trade, the mariner supplements his income by transporting occasional contraband. The tranquil rhythms of their nautical lives are interrupted, however, when they hire an ambitious new pilot.
- DirectorTed WildeStarsHarold LloydAnn ChristyBert WoodruffHarold "Speedy" Swift, a fan of Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees, saves from extinction the city's last horse-drawn trolley, operated by his girlfriend's grandfather.