The Horse’s Head 8th Anniversary: A Moment of Silents

The 8th anniversary gift is tin. Get it? ’cause it’s the Tin Man. From that movie.

Today the Horse’s Head celebrates 8 years, aka 2 terms! We’ve hit a lot of milestones along the way (and we should clear 750 movies this summer), but there’s one I wanted to acknowledge today.

It recently came to my attention that, with a few hard-to-find exceptions, I have seen every silent film on the National Film Registry. This got me thinking about conversations I’ve noticed out there in Film Discourse Land regarding where silent films stand with the movie lovers of today. While there are those who enjoy and champion this early form of film, most people steer clear of them, preferring “talkies” (these people also tend to avoid black and white movies in general, but that’s a discussion for another day). While admittedly most silent films lose their entertainment value well before they hit the century milestone, I think it’s important to keep these movies in the conversation. With this, I have challenged myself to compile a list of silent films that I could recommend to people interested in giving these flickers a shot. To help streamline things, I am focusing only on silent films on the National Film Registry, specifically narrative features and shorts (no documentaries or “actualities”, though those are great too). Most of these movies come from the late 1920s, when silent films were at their artistic peak, and most of them are comedies because physical humor tends to hold up better than two people talking via intertitles. So, without further ado:

The Horse’s Head 8th Anniversary List of Recommended NFR Silent Movies (arbitrarily categorized)

Starring Charlie Chaplin: The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931)

Starring Buster Keaton: The Navigator (1924), Sherlock Jr. (1924), The Cameraman (1928)

Starring Harold Lloyd: Safety Last! (1923), The Freshman (1925), The General (1926)

Familiar IP: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1916), The Mark of Zorro (1920), Peter Pan (1924), The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Epics (three of which feature Jesus!): From the Manger to the Cross (1912), Intolerance (1916), Greed (1924), Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), The Big Parade (1925), Wings (1927)

Strong Female Leads: A Fool There Was (1915), The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917), Ella Cinders (1926), 7^th Heaven (1927), It (1927), Sunrise (1927), Show People (1928), The Wind (1928)

Westerns: The Bargain (1914), Hell’s Hinges (1916), Wild and Woolly (1917)

Kinda Sorta Westerns: Jubilo (1919), Sky High (1922), Clash of the Wolves (1925), Hands Up! (1926)

Silent Movies with Dinosaurs!: Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), The Lost World (1925)

Comedy shorts: Mabel’s Blunder (1914), Fatty’s Tintype Tangle (1915), One Week (1920), Cops (1922), KoKo’s Earth Control (1928)

Grab Bag: Suspense (1913), The Cheat (1915), The Dragon Painter (1919), Within Our Gates (1920), The Crowd (1928)

And finally: WTF (Silent films that defy categorization): Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906), Princess Nicotine (1909), HE Who Gets Slapped (1924), The Fall of the House of Usher (1928), There It Is (1928)

Honorable Mention: Modern Times (1936). Not a silent movie, but filmed as such with a synchronized soundtrack of music, sound effects, and the occasional dialogue.

While we’re on the subject, I highly recommend “Hollywood” the 1980 miniseries devoted to silent filmmaking. Featuring interviews with many of the people who were there, plus narration by the comforting voice of James Mason and a wonderful score by Carl Davis. Leave it to the Brits to make the definitive documentary on American film.