Silent Era : The silent film website

Added review of the
Film Reserve / Maltese Film Works
Blu-ray Disc edition of
The Johnstown Flood (1926)

Added review of the
Kino Lorber
UltraHD / Blu-ray Disc edition of
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Added review of the
Undercrank Productions
Blu-ray Disc edition of
The Bat (1926)

Added review of the
D&D Productions
Blu-ray Disc collection
Billy Bevan:
Silent Comedian
(1917-1929)

Added review of the
Milestone Films
Blu-ray Disc edition of
The Dragon Painter (1919)

Added review of the
Milestone Films
Blu-ray Disc edition of
His Birthright (1918)

Added review of the
Milestone Films
Blu-ray Disc edition of
The Man Beneath (1919)

Added review of the
Kino Lorber
Blu-ray Disc edition of
Annie Laurie (1927)

Added review of the
Kino Lorber
Blu-ray Disc edition of
Madame Dubarry (1919)

Added review of the
Eureka Entertainment
US Blu-ray Disc edition
of The Cat and the Canary (1927)

Added review of the
Kino Lorber
Blu-ray Disc edition of
The Road to Ruin (1928)

Added review of the
Undercrank Productions
Blu-ray Disc edition of
The Craving (1918)

Added review of the
Undercrank Productions
Blu-ray Disc collection
Accidentally Preserved, Volume 5 (1925-1929)

Added review of the
Milestone Films
Blu-ray Disc edition of
Piccadilly (1929)

Added review of the
Kino Lorber
Blu-ray Disc edition of
Oh! Doctor! (1925)

Added review of the
Cohen Film Collection
Blu-ray Disc edition of
Robin Hood (1922)

Added review of the
Cohen Film Collection
Blu-ray Disc edition of
The Black Pirate (1926)

Added review of the
Milestone Films
Blu-ray Disc edition of
The Spanish Dancer (1923)

Added review of the
Kino Classics
Blu-ray Disc edition of
Poker Faces (1926)

Added review of the
Undercrank Productions
Blu-ray Disc edition of
You’d Be Surprised (1926)

Added review of the
VCI Entertainment
Blu-ray Disc / DVD
edition of
Johanna Enlists (1918)

Added review of the
Kino Classics
Blu-ray Disc edition of
Michael (1924)

Added review of the
Undercrank Productions
Blu-ray Disc edition of
The Big Diamond Robbery (1929)

Added review of the
Flicker Alley
Blu-ray Disc / DVD
edition of
Foolish Wives (1922)

Added review of the
Kino Classics
Blu-ray Disc edition of
Where the North Begins (1923)

Added review of the
Kino Classics
Blu-ray Disc edition of
Sumurun (1920)

Added review of the
Undercrank Productions
Blu-ray Disc edition of
Paths to Paradise (1925)

Added review of the
Kino Classics
Blu-ray Disc edition of
The Wildcat (1921)

Added review of the
Kino Classics
Blu-ray Disc edition of
Asphalt (1929)

Added review of the
Eureka Entertainment
4K Ultra HD edition of
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Added and updated dozens of home video reviews, added and updated hundreds of film listings, and repaired broken links and page interfaces.

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Top 10
Silent Era Films

1. The General (1926)
2. Metropolis (1927)
3. Sunrise (1927)
4. City Lights (1931)
5. Nosferatu (1922)
6. The Gold Rush (1925)
7. La Passion et la Mort de Jeanne d’Arc (1928)
8. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920)
9. Bronenosets ‘Potyomkin’ (1925)
10. Greed (1924)

COMPLETE
TOP 100 LIST

Questions About Silent Films?

Answers may be on our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Have You
Explored These
Silent Film
Topics?

A biography of actress Anna May Wong by Joseph Worrell.

A filmography of Roscoe Arbuckle silent era films.

A 1913 appraisal of early sound film technologies.

A review of The Keystone Kid: Tales of Early Hollywood by Coy Watson Jr.

A list of German silent era films released on home video.

An article on actress Virginia Bradford by her husband, Cedric Belfrage.

A review of the 30th Annual Pordenone Festival of Silent Film by Lokke Heiss.

A list of silent era theaters in Portland, Oregon.

The latest issue of Taylorology.

A listing of world film archives.

Our listing of some of the silent era fims that are thought to be lost.

A review of the many home video editons of Nosferatu (1922).

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Kit Parker Films (USA) has announced their Blu-ray Disc and DVD collections Charley Chase: Charley Chase at Hal Roach: The Late Silents, 1927 (1927) mastered from archival print materials of 15 Chase films. / The films are accompanied by music scores by Andrew Earle Simpson. / Supplemental material includes audio commentary by film historian Richard M. Roberts; three bonus short subjects; and an extensive image gallery. / Both editions of the collection will be available 26 November 2024.

Kino Lorber (USA) has announced their double feature Blu-ray Disc edition of Buster Keaton’s Seven Chances (1925) and Sherlock, Jr. (1924) mastered from 35mm print materials in the Blackhawk Films collection. / The film is accompanied by a music score arranged and conducted by Robert Israel. / Supplemental material includes audio commentary for Seven Chances by Adam Nayman and for Sherlock Jr. by Matt Singer; a Three Stooges short A Brideless Groom (1947); and Edison short How a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through the New York Herald Personal Columns (1904) directed by Edwin S. Porter. / The edition will be available 19 November 2024.

Flicker Alley (USA) has announced their two-disc Blu-ray Disc collection Laurel & Hardy: Year Two (1927-1929) mastered from 35mm print materials. / The films are accompanied by music scores by Neil Brand, Antonio Coppola and Andrea Benz. / Supplemental material includes audio commentaries by Randy Skretvedt and Richard W. Bann; interviews with Stan Laurel, Anita Garvin, Thomas Benton Roberts and Hal Roach; a video essay by John Bengtson on selected L&H location exteriors; a one-reel fragment of Now I’ll Tell One (1927); home movies of the Roach studio; an image gallery; and an insert booklet. / The collection will be available 15 November 2024.

Kino Lorber (USA) has released their UltraHD / Blu-ray Disc edition of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) mastered at 4K high-resolution from the 2014 restoration of the film conducted by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung. / The film is accompanied by three optional music scores: an orchestral score by Jeff Beal, a music score performed by the Studio For Film Music at the University of Music, Freiburg, and a modern score by Paul D. Miller. / Supplemental material includes audio commentary by composer Jeff Beal; the documentary “Caligari: How Horror Came to the Cinema” (52 minutes, BD only); and brief restoration demonstration featurettes (BD only).

The Criterion Collection (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc and DVD editions of G.W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box (1929), starring Louise Brooks and Fritz Kortner, mastered from a 2K high-definition digital restoration of the film. / The film is accompanied by four optional music scores by Gillian Anderson, Dimitar Pentchev, Peer Raben and Stéphan Oliva. / Supplemental material includes audio commentary by Thomas Elsaesser and Mary Ann Doane; two documentaries, Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu (1998) and Lulu in Berlin (1971); an interview with Richard Leacock; an interview with Michael Pabst; and an insert booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman, and notes on the music scores.

Undercrank Productions (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc and DVD editions of Roland West’s old dark house mystery The Bat (1926), starring Emily Fitzroy and Louise Fazenda, mastered from a 2K high-definition scan of a 35mm restoration print produced by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. / The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by Ben Model. / Supplemental material includes a featurette on West; and an Alice Ardell-Gale Henry comedy short.

D&D Productions (UK) has released their two-disc Blu-ray Disc collection Billy Bevan: Silent Comedian (1917-1931), which has been mastered from 35mm and 16mm archival prints held by the Library of Congress, Eye Film Instituut Nederland, Gosfilmofond, Lobster Films, and private film collections. / The films are accompanied by music scores composed and performed by Meg Morley, Donald MacKenzie, Ethan Uslan and Jon Mirsalis. / Supplemental material includes reminiscences of Billy “Jane & Bob: Memories of Grandpa” by his grandchildren.

Milestone Films (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc edition of The Dragon Painter (1919), starring Sessue Hayakawa and Tsuru Aoki, mastered from a 4K high-resolution scan produced by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Eye Film Instituut Nederland and George Eastman Museum of the 1988 AFI restoration with additional footage from a 35mm print. / The film is accompanied by two optional music scores composed and performed by Mas Koga and Makia Matsumura. / Supplemental material includes two Hayakawa features, His Birthright (1918) and The Man Beneath (1919); and the featurette “Reconstructing The Dragon Painter” (66 minutes).

Kino Lorber (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc edition of Annie Laurie (1918), starring Lillian Gish and Norman Kerry, mastered at 4K high-resolution from an archival 35mm print held by the Library of Congress that includes the original Technicolor sequences. / The film is accompanied by a music score composed, adapted, orchestrated and conducted by Robert Israel, and performed by a 30-piece orchestra. / Supplemental material includes an audio commentary by film historian Anthony Slide.

Kino Lorber (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc edition of The Pace That Kills (1928) mastered at 4K high-resolution from archival 35mm elements preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Library of Congress. / The film is accompanied by a music score. / Supplemental material includes the 1935 remake of The Pace That Kills also known as The Cocaine Fiends; audio commentary for The Pace That Kills by film historian Anthony Slide; audio commentary for The Cocaine Fiends by Eric Schaefer; the 1973 rerelease trailer for The Cocaine Fiends; and a gallery of exploitation trailers.

Undercrank Productions (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc and DVD editions of The Craving (1918) starring Francis Ford and Mae Gaston that has been mastered from a 35mm nitrate print held by Eye Film Instituut Nederland. / The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Ben Model. / Supplemental material includes three Ford short films; an excerpt from Screen Snapshots (1920) featuring Ford; and the mini-documentary Francis Ford, Pioneering Director and Actor of Early American Cinema (2023) directed by Kathryn Fuller-Seeley and David Granberry.

Kino Lorber (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc edition of Ernst Lubitsch’s Carmen (1918) starring Pola Negri and Harry Liedtke that has been mastered from archival film elements. / The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Tobias Schwenke, performed by the orchestral ensemble Kontraste. / Supplemental material includes audio commentary by film historian Anthony Slide; and a featurette on the film’s restoration.

Kino Lorber (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc edition of Ernst Lubitsch’s Anna Boleyn (1920) starring Emil Jannings and Henny Porten that has been mastered from archival film elements. / The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by Javier Perez de Azpeitia. / Supplemental material includes includes the documentary Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin (2006).

Kino Lorber (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc collection of Vitagraph Comedies (1907-1922) that has been mastered from archival film elements. Includes films with John Bunny, Larry Semon, Sidney Drew and others. / The films are accompanied by music scores compiled, composed and performed by various musicians. / Supplemental material includes audio commentaries by film historian Anthony Slide; and interviews with curator Rob Stone, archivists Lynanne Schweighofer and Geo. Willeman, and film historian Rob Farr.

The Criterion Collection (USA) has released their double-feature Blu-ray Disc edition of Yasujirô Ozu’s A Story of Floating Weeds (1934). / The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by Donald Sosin. / Supplemental material includes audio commentary for A Story of Floating Weeds by Japanese-film historian Donald Richie; Ozu’s color remake Floating Weeds (1959) in a gorgeous 4K digital restoration and audio commentary by film critic Roger Ebert; and an insert booklet with notes on the films by Donald Richie.

Kino Lorber (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc edition of the exploitation drama The Road to Ruin (1928). The edition has been mastered from archival 35mm print elements provided by Something Weird Video. the Sonney Amusement Enterprises Film Collection and UCLA Film and Television Archive. / The film is accompanied by a music score by Andrew Earle Simpson. / Supplemental material includes audio commentary by film historian Anthony Slide; the 1934 sound remake of the film; and a gallery of exploitation film trailers.

Eureka Entertainment (England) has released their Blu-ray Disc Special Edition prepared in HD from the original negative. / The film is presented with a music score by Robert Israel, compiled and edited by Gillian B. Anderson, based on the original music cue sheets. / Supplemental material includes two audio commentaries; a video essay by David Cairns and Fiona Watson; interviews with Pamela Hutchinson and Phuong Le; extracts from John Willard’s original play; and an insert booklet with writings by Richard Combs, Craig Ian Mann and Imogen Sara Smith.

Undercrank Productions (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc and DVD collections Accidentally Preserved, Volume 5 (1925-1929) including Lorraine of the Lions (1925) starring Patsy Ruth Miller and Norman Kerry, The Fourth Commandment (1927) starring Belle Bennett, Sennett comedy Love at First Flight (1928) starring Daphne Pollard and Lige Conley, and Hoofbeats of Vengeance (1929) starring Jack Perrin and Helen Foster. / Music by edition producer Jon C. Mirsalis.

Warner Home Video (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc double-feature edition of The Boob (1926) starring Gertrude Olmstead and George K. Arthur, and Why Be Good? (1929) starring Colleen Moore and Neil Hamilton. / The Boob is accompanied by a custom music score, and Why Be Good? is accompanied by the film’s original Vitaphone soundtrack.

Kino Lorber (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc edition of the Ernst Lubitsch’s historical drama Madame Dubarry (1919) starring Pola Negri and Emil Jannings, with Harry Liedtke, Eduard von Winterstein, Reinhold Schünzel, Else Berna, Fred Immler, Gustav Czimeg and Karl Platen. / The film is accompanied by a custom music score. / Supplementary material includes audio commentary by author and film historian Joseph McBride, author of How Did Lubitsch Do It?.

Edition Filmmuseum (Germany) has released their DVD edition of Mister Radio (1924) directed by Nunzio Malasomma and starring Agnes Nero, Luciano Albertini, Magnus Stifter, Evi Eva, Fred Immler, Anna Gorilowa, Robert Scholz, Angelo Rossi and Mario Fossati. / The film is accompanied by a music score by Bernd Thewes. / Supplemental material includes two additional films accompanied with music scores by Elaine Loebenstein; and an insert booklet with essays by Oliver Hanley, Anke Mebold, Janneke van Dalen and Nadja Ičarov.

VCI Entertainment (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition of Stella Maris (1929) directed by Marshall Neilan and starring Mary Pickford, with Conway Tearle, Marcia Manon, Ida Waterman, Herbert Standing and Josephine Crowell. Two source prints were digitally cleaned and conflated to present the most-complete, best-looking version of the film possible. / The film is accompanied by a music score by the Graves Brothers. / Supplemental material includes audio commentary by film historian Marc Wanamaker, a stills gallery, and notes on the film in the insert booklet.

Cohen Film Collection (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc edition of two Buster Keaton films, Three Ages (1923) starring Keaton, Margaret Leahy, Wallace Beery and Joe Roberts, and Our Hospitality (1923) starring Keaton, Natalie Talmadge, Joe Roberts, Francis X. Bushman Jr. and Joe Keaton. Multiple film prints were utilized for the digital restoration of the two films.

Film Preservation Society (USA) has released their Blu-ray Disc edition of Wolf Lowry (1917), starring William S. Hart and Margery Wilson. The edition has been prepared in high-definition from archival materials held by the Library of Congress. / The film is accompanied by a score composed and performed by Donald Sosin. / Supplemental material includes the Hart short film “Bad Buck” of Santa Ynez (1915) from archival film materials held by the Library of Congress, and the D.W. Griffith short film The Sheriff’s Baby (1913) from archival film materials held by the Museum of Modern Art, with scores by Sosin.

The Criterion Collection (USA) has released their two-disc boxset Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers (1925-1932), including two silent era Browning films: a 2K digital restoration of The Mystic (1925) starring Aileen Pringle and Conway Tearle, and a 2K digital reconstruction and restoration of The Unknown (1927) starring Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford, and a 2K digital restoration of the early sound film cult classic Freaks (1932). / The silent films are accompanied by music scores composed and performed by Philip Carli and Dean Hurley. / Supplementary material includes audio commentary by film historian David J. Skal for The Unknown and Freaks, a documentary and other information on Freaks, and an essay by Farran Smith Nehme.

The Film Preserve and The Maltese Film Works (USA) have released their Blu-ray Disc edition of The Johnstown Flood (1929), starring George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor, with Florence Gilbert, Anders Randolf, Paul Nicholson, Paul Panzer, George Harris, Max Davidson, and (reputedly) appearances as extras by Carole Lombard, Gary Cooper and Clark Gable. / The disc includes anaglypic (red/green) stereoscopic glasses to view 3D photos in the supplemental section.

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