Top Ranked Films pre-1930 (all polls)
by LawrenceJoseSinclair | created - 01 Jul 2011 | updated - 01 Jul 2011 | PublicI took all the film polls I could find, and threw them all into a spreadsheet, and ranked the results. I posted the Top Ranked 1000 Films first, then an alphabetical list of all 2260 titles that made polls. I'm now posting sub-lists like this one, which is all films before 1930 that made the top 1000, 38 titles in all, these are all silent films. The complete and original lists can be found at [link]http://worldsbestfilms.blogspot.com[/link] .. "Your results may vary"
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Metropolis (1927)
Not Rated | 153 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In 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.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Votes: 185,468 | Gross: $1.24M
The first great science-fiction film in history is now #7 overall on all the polls, and is another classic from German expressionist Fritz Lang, a story of downtrodden workers vs aristocratic politicians in an impersonal mechanized future city.
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Passed | 114 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 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.
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, André Berley, Maurice Schutz
Votes: 60,636 | Gross: $0.02M
An incredibly intense performance from Renee Maria Falconetti is perhaps the finest of the silent era
3. The General (1926)
Passed | 78 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
After 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.
Directors: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley
Votes: 98,108 | Gross: $1.03M
For me, Buster Keaton was the comic genius of this era, and this is his best film, an indredible action film starring the famous Civil War train, the General. Diane and Michael Keaton are related to Buster.
4. Sunrise (1927)
Passed | 94 min | Drama, Romance
A 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.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing
Votes: 53,837 | Gross: $0.54M
To me, this is the best film of the silent era, winner of 3 Oscars the first year, including the only one ever given for 'most artistic film'; it looks like 19th century paintings in motion.
5. The Gold Rush (1925)
Passed | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A 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.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman
Votes: 118,617 | Gross: $5.45M
6. Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Passed | 45 min | Action, Comedy, Romance
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.
Director: Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, Erwin Connelly
Votes: 56,951 | Gross: $0.98M
7. Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
Not Rated | 68 min | Documentary
A man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
Director: Dziga Vertov | Stars: Mikhail Kaufman, Elizaveta Svilova
Votes: 27,970
Likely the best documentary ever made, had a slew of innovative techniques like double exposure, superimposition, montages. The often copied idea was simply 'a day in the life of Russia'. A must-see for fans of cinematic art.
8. Nosferatu (1922)
Not Rated | 94 min | Fantasy, Horror
Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder
Votes: 105,394
F.W. Murnau's original 'Dracula' story is still one of the creepiest with an absolutely frightening looking creature.
9. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Not Rated | 66 min | Drama, History, Thriller
In 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.
Director: Sergei Eisenstein | Stars: Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barskiy, Grigoriy Aleksandrov, Ivan Bobrov
Votes: 61,433 | Gross: $0.05M
Generally considered Sergei Eisenstein's masterpiece, this recreates the beginning of the Bolshevist revolution in Russia with a ship mutiny. This should be ranked far higher, a top 3 in a historic decade.
10. Intolerance (1916)
Passed | 163 min | Drama, History
The story of a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh, F.A. Turner
Votes: 16,717 | Gross: $2.18M
D.W. Griffith's attempt in this early epic was to show how civilization had been shaped by man's intolerance for each other
11. Greed (1924)
Not Rated | 140 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
The sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved.
Director: Erich von Stroheim | Stars: Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller
Votes: 10,757 | Gross: $0.16M
Eric von Stroheim's first cut of this was a nine-hour marathon that few would sit through, so the studio cut it down to just 2 hrs; now it's been partially restored using production stills to near four-hour length. What the heck was he thinking?
12. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
TV-PG | 195 min | Drama, History, War
The Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper
Votes: 26,336 | Gross: $10.00M
This is considered the first 'epic' film, from D.W. Griffith, but may be hard for some to stomach as it's about the Ku Klux Klan.
13. The Kid (1921)
Passed | 68 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
The Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put their relationship in jeopardy.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Jackie Coogan, Carl Miller
Votes: 134,788 | Gross: $5.45M
This made stars of both Charlie Chaplin and child actor Jackie Coogan.
14. Broken Blossoms or the Yellow Man and the Girl (1919)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Donald Crisp, Arthur Howard
Votes: 11,059
15. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Not Rated | 67 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Hypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
Director: Robert Wiene | Stars: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover
Votes: 70,039
16. Pandora's Box (1929)
Not Rated | 109 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer, Carl Goetz
Votes: 11,853 | Gross: $0.01M
Louise Brooks personified the term 'vamp', and in this pre-code film, she's pretty much the epitome of 'loose woman'.
17. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
Not Rated | 70 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
The effete son of a cantankerous riverboat captain comes to join his father's crew.
Directors: Charles Reisner, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Tom McGuire, Ernest Torrence, Tom Lewis
Votes: 16,184
18. October (Ten Days that Shook the World) (1927)
95 min | Drama, History
A large-scale view on the events of 1917 in Russia, when the monarchy was overthrown.
Directors: Grigoriy Aleksandrov, Sergei Eisenstein | Stars: Boris Livanov, Nikolay Popov, Vasili Nikandrov, Layaschenko
Votes: 8,446
Another Sergi Eisenstein masterpiece documenting the Bolshevist revolution in Russia. This is basically the story told by Warren Beatty in Reds in the 80s.
19. Napoleon (1927)
330 min | Biography, Drama, History
A film about the French general's youth and early military career.
Director: Abel Gance | Stars: Albert Dieudonné, Vladimir Roudenko, Edmond Van Daële, Alexandre Koubitzky
Votes: 8,795
Abel Gance's ambitious epic was the six-hr first part of an intended six-part biography of the famous emperor; unfortunately the other parts never got funded. One section has 3 side-by-side projections that predate modern ultra-widescreen.
20. Les vampires (1915)
Not Rated | 421 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
An intrepid reporter and his loyal friend battle a bizarre secret society of criminals known as The Vampires.
Director: Louis Feuillade | Stars: Musidora, Édouard Mathé, Marcel Lévesque, Jean Aymé
Votes: 5,428
21. Strike (1925)
Not Rated | 82 min | Drama
A group of oppressed factory workers go on strike in pre-revolutionary Russia.
Director: Sergei Eisenstein | Stars: Grigoriy Aleksandrov, Maksim Shtraukh, Mikhail Gomorov, I. Ivanov
Votes: 8,620
Another of the commie workers films from Sergei Eisenstein, so I guess this borders on propaganda, like many films.
22. A Trip to the Moon (1902)
TV-G | 13 min | Short, Action, Adventure
A group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Georges Méliès, Victor André, Bleuette Bernon, Brunnet
Votes: 55,743
I kept this short film on the list because it's so important in film history, and such a silly but imaginitive early fantasy about a trip to the moon, which is alive and gets poked in the eye by man's rocket ship! It's now been restored in full color as originally intended.
23. The Crowd (1928)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Romance
The life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles, and downfalls.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Eleanor Boardman, James Murray, Bert Roach, Estelle Clark
Votes: 9,167
24. The Last Laugh (1924)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
An 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.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Max Hiller, Emilie Kurz
Votes: 15,200 | Gross: $0.09M
Another F.W. Murnau classic, this one with a twist ending.
25. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
Not Rated | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A Jewish prince seeks to find his family and revenge himself upon his childhood friend who had him wrongly imprisoned.
Directors: Fred Niblo, Charles Brabin, Christy Cabanne, J.J. Cohn, Rex Ingram | Stars: Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Betty Bronson
Votes: 7,974 | Gross: $12.45M
The first film of this novel was also a highly regarded epic in its time, but it pales beside the 1959 William Wyler version, obviously.
26. Nanook of the North (1922)
Passed | 78 min | Documentary
In 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.
Director: Robert J. Flaherty | Stars: Allakariallak, Alice Nevalinga, Cunayou, Allegoo
Votes: 13,446
Given credit as the 'first feature documentary', whether that's accurate, it's still a riveting and well-made film of an Eskimo hunter.
27. Faust (1926)
Not Rated | 107 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
The demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Frida Richard
Votes: 16,617
F.W. Murnau's 4th film ranked in this decade is the first filming of the classic legend.
28. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
Not Rated | 242 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Arch-criminal Dr. Mabuse sets out to make a fortune and run Berlin. Detective Wenk sets out to stop him.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede-Nissen, Gertrude Welcker, Alfred Abel
Votes: 9,172
Another Fritz Lang masterpiece, as German expressionists dominated this decade.
29. The Wind (1928)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A frail young woman from the East moves in with her cousin in the West, where she causes tension within the family and is slowly driven mad.
Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cumming
Votes: 7,159
30. The Cameraman (1928)
Passed | 76 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Hopelessly 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.
Directors: Edward Sedgwick, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin, Sidney Bracey
Votes: 13,177
More classic Buster Keaton
31. The Navigator (1924)
Unrated | 59 min | Action, Comedy, Romance
Two spoiled rich people find themselves trapped on an empty passenger ship.
Directors: Donald Crisp, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Frederick Vroom, Clarence Burton
Votes: 11,063 | Gross: $1.48M
Keaton's 5th ranked film of the decade
32. The Wedding March (1928)
Passed | 113 min | Drama
A young impoverished aristocrat falls in love with an inn-keepers daughter, but has to marry money.
Director: Erich von Stroheim | Stars: Erich von Stroheim, Fay Wray, Zasu Pitts, Matthew Betz
Votes: 1,899
33. Mother (1926)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama
A story about a family torn apart by a worker's strike. At first, the mother wants to protect her family from the troublemakers, but eventually she realizes that her son is right and the workers should strike.
Director: Vsevolod Pudovkin | Stars: Vera Baranovskaya, Nikolay Batalov, Aleksandr Chistyakov, Anna Zemtsova
Votes: 3,069
34. Our Hospitality (1923)
Passed | 65 min | Comedy, Romance, Thriller
A 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.
Directors: John G. Blystone, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Natalie Talmadge, Joe Keaton, Joe Roberts
Votes: 12,495 | Gross: $1.17M
Keaton's 6th ranked film of the decade..
35. Piccadilly (1929)
Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama
A young Chinese woman working in the kitchen at a London dance club is given the chance to become the club's main act, which leads to a plot of betrayal, forbidden love, and murder.
Director: Ewald André Dupont | Stars: Gilda Gray, Anna May Wong, Jameson Thomas, Charles Laughton
Votes: 1,839
The first Asian film star, Anna Mae Wong, in a racy pre-code film.
36. Seven Chances (1925)
Passed | 56 min | Comedy, Romance
A man learns that he will inherit a fortune if he marries by 7PM that evening.
Director: Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Ruth Dwyer, T. Roy Barnes, Snitz Edwards
Votes: 11,728 | Gross: $1.30M
37. Foolish Wives (1922)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama, Thriller
A con artist masquerades as Russian nobility and attempts to seduce the wife of an American diplomat.
Director: Erich von Stroheim | Stars: Rudolph Christians, Miss DuPont, Maude George, Mae Busch
Votes: 4,021 | Gross: $0.40M
Many I've talked to on the net think this is von Stroheim's best film.
38. The Circus (1928)
Passed | 72 min | Comedy, Family, Romance
The Tramp finds work and the girl of his dreams at a circus.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia, Harry Crocker
Votes: 36,033
Tell Your Friends