A collection of news and information pertaining to silent era films. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The Top 100 Silent Era Films

	Buster Keaton in The General (1926). Photograph: Silent Era image collection.

While all lists that intend to empirically state the ranked value of motion pictures are ultimately indefensible flummery, we nonetheles recklessly offer the following list as a guide to whose who are discovering the pleasures of the silent film era.

The list is not limited to features exclusively. There are several short silent film masterpieces, and they are considered equally with feature films. And while our definition of the silent cinema timeline usually spans from about 1891 to 1929, we accept votes for later true silents like City Lights (1931) or Japanese and Chinese silent films from the early 1930s, for example. (We firmly judge Modern Times [1936] to be a mute sound film.) Films receiving votes must still exist somewhere and in some viewable form. Without surviving prints there is no way to validate the true value of a film, and no lost film can fairly be included on the list based solely on its reputation. We limit the list to films that were produced to be silent films exclusively (synchronized music tracks are acceptible, but part-talkies and talkies that have only survived as silents are out).

Very few of the films on this list are unavailable to be viewed on home video. Because of home video, more people have an opportunity to enjoy these silent masterpieces and can make informed judgments on each film’s historic and aesthetic value.

We would like to thank the people who took a few moments to vote for their favorite silent era films over the past years, you are the ones who make this project work through your involvement.