Silent Movies: Top 25

image of Charlie Chaplin

Top 25 Movies This list of the top 25 silent movies of all time was compiled by aggregating the lists at the bottom of this page along with the films’ overall status in Dave’s Movie Database. 1. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) 2. Metropolis (1927) 3. The General (1927) 4. The Passion of Joan of Arc (La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc) (1928) 5. Nosferatu, a Symphony of Terror (aka “Nosferatu, the Vampire”) (Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens) (1922) 6. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari) (1920) 7. City Lights (1931) 8. The Gold Rush (1925) 9. Battleship Potemkin (Bronenosets Potyomkin) (1925) 10. Sherlock, Jr. (1924) 11. The Birth of a Nation (1915) 12. The Kid (1921) 13. The Wind (1928) 14. An Andalusian Dog (Un Chien Andalou) (1928) 15. Modern Times (1936) 16. Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916) 17. Greed (1924) 18. Man with a Movie Camera (Chelovek s Kinoapparatom) (1929) 19. Safety Last! (1923) 20. Pandora's Box (aka “Lulu”) (Die Büchse der Pandora) (1929) 21. The Cameraman (1928) 22. The Thief of Bagdad (1924) 23. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) 24. The Big Parade (1925) 25. Napoléon (1927) Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Genre Lists Audicus.com (10/6/2014). “Switch Off Your Digital Hearing Aid: The Top 5 Silent Films of All Time” CheatSheet.com (8/27/2019). “10 Silent Movies That Everyone Should See” CriterionCast.com (1/19/2012). “TCM Reveals Their List of the 10 Most Influential Silent Films” TheCultureTrip.com (11/4/2016). “Pre-Talkie Spectacles: The 10 Most Striking Silent Films” FilmSchoolRejects.com (4/14/2018). “The Silent Film Era: 30 Essential Films You Should Watch” FilmsRanked.com “100 Greatest Silent Films” FlickChart.com “The Best Silent Films of All Time” TheGuardian.com (11/13/2013). “Top 10 silent movies” Guinness Book of Film (1999). “The Top 100 Films by Genre Type” (includes top 5 silent films) Internet Movie Database (9/15/2016). “The 20 Best Silent Movies of All Time” Independet.co.uk (1/20/2012). “The 10 best silent films” ListAmaze.com “10 Greatest Silent Films Ever” ListVerse.com (1/27/2010). “Top 15 Greatest Silent Films” Paste magazine (6/8/2015). “The 100 Best Silent Films of All Time” Ranker.com “The Best 1920s Silent Movies” SilentEra.com “The Top 100 Silent Era Films” TasteOfCinema.com (11/9/2015). “The 30 Best Silent Movies in Hollywood History” WhatCulture.com “15 Silent Films That Changed Cinema Forever” Originally posted 9/3/2019; last updated 5/25/2023.