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Ask HN: Recommend me some silent movies
I would love silent movies which are very well detailed
- eimrine 2y agoAndrey Tarkovsky - Stalker (1979) - one of the best films ever. Aleksey German - Hard to Be a God (2013) - definitely silent but not exactly well detailed. Both films were made according to brothers Strugatskys' novels.
- p1esk 2y agoStalker is not a silent movie.
- smidgeon 2y agoL'Argent by Marcel L'Herbier is rather splendid https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019646/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019646/
- helph67 2y agoRecommend Buster Keaton's "The General"! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_(1926_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_(1926_film)
- moffkalast 2y agoCertainly a contender for the best silent movie of all time. Also it's free to watch on youtube [0], the perks of being in the public domain by now. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzspLWK9FEc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzspLWK9FEc
- markus_zhang 2y agoThe Cthulhu ones are pretty good.
- sky2224 2y agoMetropolis (1927). It was pretty ground breaking for the time.
- 9o1d 2y agoEngelein (1914) with Asta Nielsen , Joyless Street (1925) , The Illusionist (2010) some music
- andrei_says_ 2y agoM by Fritz Lang, 1931. It does have a soundtrack but very minimal. Music is an essential part of this movie. Metropolis. 1 o’clock in the morning with Charlie Chaplin. Also his: the Gold Rush, the Kid, the Great Dictator.
- l33tbro 2y agoDon't forget City Lights. His silent masterpiece inho.
- maroonblazer 2y ago+100 for "City Lights". I used to not really consider myself much of a silent film fan, except for a few Harold Lloyd comedies. "City Lights" converted me. Truly a masterpiece of filmmaking.
- croo 2y agoBaraka movie is a colorful vivid beautiful impactful movie without any narrative. Babies movie (1 hour documentary) is about 4 newborns in different locations of the world, again colored, beautiful shots and without any narrative.
- mkbkn 2y agoPushpak (also named as Pushpaka Vimana) is a silent Indian film. Have watched it multiple times.
- Brajeshwar 2y agoOne of my favorites. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushpaka_Vimana_(1987_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushpaka_Vimana_(1987_film)
- laserstrahl 2y agoI can recommend Samsara [1] by Ron Fricke which is a collaboration of Barakat [2] [1] https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0770802/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0770802/ [2] https://m.imdb.com/title/tt11564468/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt11564468/
- saladdays 2y agoThe Artist
- closetkantian 2y agoI like Battleship Potemkin (1925)
- 3by7 2y agoNosferatu
- supernikita 2y agoThe Last Laugh (Der letzte Mann) 1924, Murnau
- nicbou 2y agoRobot Dreams! It’s new, but it’s technically a silent movie.
- tyronehed 2y agoBuster Keaton
- MgD74 2y agoThe Phantom of the Opera (1925) The Man Who Laughs The Cabinet of Dr Caligari The Lodger
- liendolucas 2y agoThe Tribe (Plemya), 2014. Though I can't remember if it is 100% a silent movie as I watched long time ago.
- matchamatcha 2y agoI watched Murnau's Faust movie some years ago, accompanied by a live music performance, which was great. I liked the staging and the set design. It's available on YouTube with subtitles.
- scott01 2y agoHighly recommend a short movie “Meshes of the Afternoon” (1943). Watched it in a local cinema right after Mulholland Drive, that was quite an experience :)
- mllobet 2y agoMust watch “The General” (1926) by Buster Keaton. Silent acting class act and fun, I find myself rewatching it over the years.
- mongol 2y agoYesterday my parents were visiting and while we were discussing after dinner, the TV was on though muted. It showed a movie (Max Manus) and we happened to see all of it but with sound off. Discussing what happened on screen, commenting and so on. Sometimes discussing other things, then turning back attention to the movie. It was actually quite nice. It worked because it was subtitled.
- frereubu 2y agoThe 1927 film L'Aurore / Sunrise by FW Murnau with the 2004 soundtrack by Lambchop is wonderful.
- mindcrime 2y agoI'm not a big silent movie guy, but I'll add to the chorus of people recommending Metropolis. It's pretty interesting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(1927_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(1927_film)
- nom 2y agoIt is worth pointing out that the full movie can be watched on Wikipedia, it's embedded in the Plot section of the article :D
- lipanski 2y agoBerlin - Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (Berlin - Symphony of Metropolis) is by far my favourite.
- ttoinou 2y agoYeah non verbal movies like this one, Man with a Movie Camera, Etudes sur Paris, Baraka, Samsara etc. are my favorites !
- bandrami 2y agoWings (1927) The Passion of St Joan of Arc (1928)
- cpach 2y agoIf you get the chance, it can be quite the experience to watch a screening of a silent movie where the music is played live, like they did back in the day. Sometimes they are played with newly-composed scores. Some directors/movies that can be worth checking out are: Victor Sjöström – The Phantom Carriage Mauritz Stiller – The Saga of Gösta Berling Charlie Chaplin – The Kid Fritz Lang – The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
- fermigier 2y agoI remember watching Intolerance (1916) by D.W. Griffith at the Avignon festival as a teenager in 1986, with a score interpreted by a live symphonic orchestra (https://festival-avignon.com/fr/edition-1986/programmation/intolerance-32452 https://festival-avignon.com/fr/edition-1986/programmation/i...). The movie in itself is definitively a masterpiece for its ambitious structure, innovative editing and grandiose production design (it was a flop at the box office in 1916.) (Warning: Intolerance was Griffith's response to the widespread criticism of his earlier work, The Birth of a Nation (1915), considered "the most controversial film ever made in the United States" and "the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history" - so we're stepping into controversial territory here).
- tmdyn 2y agoDefinitely an early entry in the “cancel culture is out of control” genre. The subtext is essentially “can’t even cause a revival of a racist paramilitary organization anymore, because of woke”
- techknight 2y agoI remain haunted by the new score that Gabriel Thibaudeau created for the 2010 restoration of Metropolis. I saw it performed live in Toronto and I'm still desperate to hear it again someday, but there's never been any home media release (official or unofficial) so far as I know.
- Valgrim 2y agoHundreds of Beavers (2024)
- madphilosopher 2y agoOh, yes. A real hoot, this one! https://www.hundredsofbeavers.com/ https://www.hundredsofbeavers.com/
- jpsouth 2y agoWas going to post this myself, would absolutely recommend
- christkv 2y agoModern times with chaplin, go west with buster keaton.
- yapyap 2y agoevery movie is a silent movie if you turn the sound off
- cageface 2y agoDawson City frozen time is profound: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_City:_Frozen_Time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_City:_Frozen_Time
- pixelatedindex 2y agoI really like Safety Last! - many people here recommended Buster Keaton and I’m here to say “don’t overlook Harold Lloyd!”. I also enjoyed People On Sunday, if only to see what Berlin was like in the 20s. It was Billy Wilder’s early works, before he made some waves in Hollywood.
- nwatson 2y agoTo watch silent film in a live setting with a live audience in the SF Bay Area you can go to Niles Canyon Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, CA. They apparently still have live film screenings on the weekends. I used to go once in a while when I lived in the area. The Niles Canyon section of Fremont was an early nucleus of the film industry in the USA, before Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin's "The Tramp" was filmed there. During WW1 the film industry shifted to Hollywood. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niles_Essanay_Silent_Film_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niles_Essanay_Silent_Film_Muse...
- hanshenning 2y agoD.W. Griffith - The Birth of a Nation (1915) The film led to the revival of the KKK Abel Gance - Napoleon (1927) 562 Minute epos Buster Keaton - The General (1926) as many have already pointed out Robert Siodmak - People on Sunday (1930) Captivating images of Berlin pre war The Brilliant Biograph: Earliest Moving Images of Europe (1897-1902) - Collection of Mutograph (68mm non perforated) films https://player.eyefilm.nl/nl/films/the-brilliant-biograph https://player.eyefilm.nl/nl/films/the-brilliant-biograph
- tharos47 2y agoThere is a 2024 restoration of Napoléon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napol%C3%A9on_(1927_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napol%C3%A9on_(1927_film) ). It's quite long (I think 7h in it's restored version) but it's a masterpiece with many innovative techniques and huge budget for the time. I don't know how you can watch it legally unfortunately but it was aired in France on TV at the end of summer early september iirc and released in some theather (in 2 parts) this summer.
- andrew_eu 2y agoSilent Movie (1976). https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0075222/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0075222/ Very much a comedy of the 70s rather than an earnest silent film from the 20s/30s. It's a silent movie about making a silent movie -- in my opinion, peak Mel Brooks.
- aaron695 2y agoAll Quiet on the Western Front (1933) has a silent version. It was shot differently. More - https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?num_votes=10000,&sound_mixes=silent&sort=user_rating,desc https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?num_votes=10000,&sound_mi... Also I quite liked "All Is Lost" (2013) and of course "Hundreds of Beavers" (2022) for contemporary films
- defrost 2y agoInside No. 9 S01E02 A Quiet Night In (February 2014, 30 minutes runtime) is a brilliantly crafted stand alone episode from a British anthology series. Written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, it stars the writers as a pair of hapless burglars attempting to break into the large, modernist house of a couple—played by Denis Lawson and Oona Chaplin—to steal a painting. Once the burglars make it into the house, they encounter obstacle after obstacle, while the lovers, unaware of the burglars' presence, argue. The episode progresses almost entirely without dialogue, relying instead on physical comedy and slapstick, though more sinister elements are present in the plot. Both journalists and those involved with the episode's production commented on the casting of Chaplin, a grandchild of the silent film star Charlie Chaplin, ... though her casting was not a deliberate homage. ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Quiet_Night_In https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Quiet_Night_In
- zvr 2y agoThere are already mentions of all the greats in other comments: Keaton, Lloyd, Chaplin, as well as Lang, Murnau, Griffith and others. I wanted to mention a silent film I watched recently, Lonesome (1928) https://letterboxd.com/film/lonesome/ https://letterboxd.com/film/lonesome/ Although it includes added dialogue (and color!) for a few scenes, it is still considered a silent black-and-white movie. You get a wonderful view of life in a big American city almost a century ago. It is amazing what still remains the same...
- jdmoreira 2y agoShaun the sheep https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2872750/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2872750/
- techknight 2y agoI recommend The Crowd (1928) [1] by King Vidor. Incredible cinematography and an emotional story about regular people that was unusual for the time. Absolutely blew me away. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crowd_(1928_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crowd_(1928_film)
- mike1505 2y ago“Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness, also known simply as Chang (from Thai ช้าง, "elephant") is a 1927 American silent documentary film about a poor farmer in northern Nan Province (northern Thailand) and his daily struggle for survival in the jungle.“ Can be watched on Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang:_A_Drama_of_the_Wilderness https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang:_A_Drama_of_the_Wilder...
- dackle 2y agoYou should check out Silent Sunday Nights on TCM, hosted by Jacqueline Stewart. https://www.tcm.com/articles/Programming%20Article/020683/silent-sunday-nights https://www.tcm.com/articles/Programming%20Article/020683/si... Here are the featured films for November and December: 11/3 - The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) 11/10 - The Dragon Painter (1919) 11/10 - The Tong Man (1919) 11/17 - Three Women (1924) 11/17 - The Doll (1919) 11/24 - The Scarlet Letter (1927) 12/1 - Scar of Shame (1927) 12/8 - The Life of the Party (1920) 12/8 - Fatty's Tintype Tangle (1915) 12/15 - Little Old New York (1923) 12/29 - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
- brainlessdev 2y agoThe Snowman (1982), a short Christmas animated film. I'm not sure it counts as silent, but it's a great piece of art nevertheless.
- fiftyacorn 2y agoI like david Bowie at the start doing the introduction
- pyb 2y agoI enjoyed Eraserhead (1977), Playtime (1967), The General (1926)
- randrus 2y agoKoyaanisqatsi
- quuxplusone 2y agoNobody's mentioned Lon Chaney yet! Of his movies, definitely watch "The Unknown" (1927), "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925), and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923). I recommend watching in that order, for reasons that are my own. :) I also remember "West of Zanzibar" (1928) as being good: Wikipedia tells me it's not strictly a "silent" film because it has a synchronized sound track... but if we're counting "Shaun the Sheep", then we can count "West of Zanzibar" too. Finally, "He Who Gets Slapped" (1924) is a real trip. I'll also recommend "Nosferatu" (1922). And "Metropolis" (1927) — but note that "Metropolis" is, or has been, kind of a "semi-lost" film: they're still turning up bits and pieces of it from time to time. I saw what-was-then-called "Metropolis" in the 2000s, and then again in 2024, and I felt that it had radically changed for the better and more-comprehensible. After checking Wikipedia: presumably the first version I saw was the 2001 release (124 minutes) and the second was the 2010 release (148 minutes). But also note that I was 15 or 20 years older, which might have helped. If (and, presumably, only if) you have read Dante's Inferno, then you might enjoy the film adaptation "L'Inferno" (1911). Wikipedia calls it "the first full-length Italian feature film." The full 62-minute film is available on Wikipedia [1]. Unlike all of the above films, I do not recommend "L'Inferno" as a popcorn movie, but I found it really impressive as a sort of "living tableau" shot-for-shot reenactment of Gustave Doré's famous illustrations. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dante%27s_Inferno_(1911).webm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dante%27s_Inferno_(1911)....
- FiatLuxDave 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Poor_Little_Rich_Girl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Poor_Little_Rich_Girl
- achairapart 2y agoFilms by Jean Epstein. Experimental use of close-ups, slow-motion (as a way to better explore "present time"). Must watch films: - Faithful Heart / Cœur fidèle - The Fall of the House of Usher / La chute de la maison Usher Early dramas by Ernst Lubitsch. Very distinct and sophisticated style, ahead of its time. You may start with any film starring proto-femme-fatale actress Pola Negri: - Madame DuBarry / Passion - Carmen / Gipsy Blood - Die Flamme / The Flame
- jumpoddly 2y agoI’ve enjoyed the big classics and many of the ones noted in other comments, but personally I tend toward silent comedies You’ll be well served by anything by Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton
- mitchbob 2y agoThe Passion of Joan of Arc [1] is one of the greatest films of all time. It also inspired a remarkable synthesis of music and film, Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light [2], that is well worth experiencing live if it is ever performed near you. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passion_of_Joan_of_Arc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passion_of_Joan_of_Arc [2] https://www.richardeinhorn.com/voices-of-light-1 https://www.richardeinhorn.com/voices-of-light-1
- southernplaces7 2y agoThey're not silent films in the classic cinematic history sense, but they're completely free of dialogue and fascinating to watch as dives into the richness of our human world: "Baraka" and The Qatsi Trilogy of three films (with superb music by Philip Glass to boot. For Baraka at least, Roger Ebert summed it up nicely: "If man sends another Voyager to the distant stars and it can carry only one film on board, that film might be Baraka."
- downwithdisease 2y agoDueling Cavelier Shootin’ For Love Little Neddy Grab Your Gun Those Darn Amigos! Little Neddy Goes to War Amigos! Amigos! Amigos!
- mbrezu 2y agoYasujiro Ozu, "I was born, but...".
- qilthewise 2y agoPerfect Days (2023)
- acuozzo 2y agoSherlock Jr. (1924) by Buster Keaton!
- AN_1222 2y agoNapoléon is a must
- AEVL 2y agoThe Artist (2011)