The 1920s were one of the most defining decades in the history of cinema, an incredibly transformative ten years marked by the rise of Hollywood’s studio system, the peak of silent films, the standardization of filmmaking, and major technological leaps, including sound in 1927. But right before talkies came into the picture, 1926 saw the release of several of the greatest silent movies ever made. This year, all of the decade’s best pictures are turning 100, and watching them is the best possible way to celebrate that milestone.
From grand adaptations of important novels to hilarious slapstick comedies to revolutionary modern masterpieces, these truly are some of the greatest films from cinema’s infancy. Of course, they all have dated elements, but none of them detracts from the enjoyment that a cinephile can draw from them. These are masterpieces from back when the art form was still finding its voice, and they’re all a must-watch for those who love cinema.
10
‘The Scarlet Letter’
Directed by Swedish actor and filmmaker Victor Sjöström, The Scarlet Letter is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s seminal 1850 novel of the same title. Like it, it’s about a young Puritan woman who is pressured to reveal the name of her lover after having a child out of wedlock. Starring the legendary Lillian Gish delivering one of the greatest performances in the history of silent cinema, it’s a worthy adaptation of Hawthorne’s classic.Much like its source material, The Scarlet Letter is poetic and tenderly sad in equal measure. It deals with the religious themes of its narrative surprisingly well for a silent film, dodging the era’s infamous censorship tendencies (though still some years before the Hays Code became enforced) in all manner of admirable ways. It was a film far ahead of its time, and it’s just as powerful today as it surely must have been back in ’26.
9
‘Battling Butler’
There were two icons who defined the entirety of silent comedy: Charlie Chaplin and the legendary Buster Keaton. Popular for his death-defying stunts and deadpan brand of slapstick comedy, Keaton made several exceptional gems throughout his career, including two in 1926. One of them was Battling Butler, the tale of a love-struck weakling who must pretend to be a boxer in order to gain respect from the family of the girl he loves.Battling Butler is one of Buster Keaton’s best movies, a must-watch boxing movie unlike any other that the genre has put out in more recent years. It’s a perfect blend between the sports genre formula, Keaton’s signature comedy style, and his distinctly sharp storytelling tendencies, making for a thoroughly enjoyable experience that hasn’t aged a day despite being a hundred years old.
8
‘Mother’
Soviet cinema had some of the most historic importance of any national film industry, particularly during the ’20s. One of the decade’s best Soviet films is Mother, depicting the radicalization of a mother during the Russian Revolution of 1905, after her husband is killed and her son is imprisoned. It’s the first installment in Vsevold Pudovkin‘s Revolutionary Trilogy, one of the greatest of the ’20s.
The Soviets were far less morally censorious than Hollywood during the ’20s, which often resulted in films as shockingly gritty and grim as Mother. It’s basically propaganda, there’s no denying that, but it’s the kind that ages like fine wine as a motion picture in its own right. Mother is a deeply tragic and moving experience, building tension and pathos through some of the most intense editing of the decade.
7
‘Flesh and the Devil’
The tragic romance drama Flesh and the Devil is about a pair of childhood friends who are torn apart when one of them marries the woman the other fiercely loves. Gorgeously directed by Clarence Brown and bolstered by a mesmerizing Greta Garbo performance, it’s one of the best romantic drama movies from cinema’s infancy.Garbo was the tragic femme fatale par excellence during Hollywood’s silent era, and this revered drama features one of her most memorable performances. But Garbo is not all that Flesh and the Devil has going for it: It’s a grand, searing drama that’s masterfully melodramatic and surprisingly steamy. When people say “they don’t make ’em like they used to,” they’re usually talking about films like this.
6
‘By the Law’
By the Law was directed by Lev Kuleshov, a Soviet filmmaker and film theorist, perhaps best known for the Kuleshov effect, a mental phenomenon he demonstrated by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in a vacuum. It is Kuleshov’s best and most popular movie, an action drama where a team of gold prospectors in the Yukon has just begun to enjoy great success when one of the members snaps, suddenly killing two of the others.
From the premise alone, one might derive that it’s a surprisingly bleak and complex film for the time, and that would be a correct assumption. By the Law is borderline nightmarish, a masterclass in cinematography and editing full of avant-garde elements that disturb and thrill in equal measure. It’s an enthralling psychological drama that’s more than up to the level of the best psychological dramas made nowadays.
5
‘3 Bad Men’
From dramas like How Green Was My Valley to Westerns like The Searchers, John Ford was far and away one of the greatest and most groundbreaking filmmakers in world history. But before he became that icon, he was one of the most prolific directors during Hollywood’s silent era, making films as exceptional as 3 Bad Men. One of the best silent Westerns ever, it’s about three outlaws who come to the aid of a young girl after her father is killed.
Revolutionized Westerns with a rousing juggling of genres unlike any other that the genre had seen before.
It’s one of Ford’s greatest silent epics, an action-packed antihero tale that revolutionized Westerns with a rousing juggling of genres unlike any other that the genre had seen before. One hundred years later, 3 Bad Men is still every bit as exciting as it was back then, full of memorable set pieces and delightfully familiar Western iconography. It’s pure spectacle, a myth of the American Frontier that even those who don’t typically love this genre would do well to check out.
4
‘The Adventures of Prince Achmed’
Though it’s a widely held belief, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was actually not the first animated feature film in history. The oldest surviving animated feature predates Snow White by eleven years, and it’s the German fairy tale film The Adventures of Prince Achmed, based on elements from several One Thousand and One Nights stories. In it, a handsome prince rides a flying horse to faraway lands and embarks on magical adventures.
Needless to say, The Adventures of Prince Achmed is one of the most important animated movies in history. It features a silhouette animation technique invented by director Lotte Reininger with the help of several famous avant-garde animators. The movie has an impressive 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it’s well-deserved. Magical, colorful, and beautifully imaginative, it remains one of the most enjoyable animated pictures from the 20th century.
3
‘A Page of Madness’
Japan has one of the most important and prolific film industries of any country in the world, and that’s always been the case. For proof, one needn’t look any further than the experimental horror film A Page of Madness, produced by a group of avant-garde artists called the School of New Perceptions. In it, a man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.Unbelievably, A Page of Madness was lost for forty-five years, until it was rediscovered by director Teinosuke Kinugasa in his storehouse in 1971. It’s one of the most intense silent movies ever made, a challenging yet vibrant masterpiece that makes the audience feel like they’re caught in a feverish nightmare. A Page of Madness is utterly uncompromising, which is very refreshing when binging movies from the ’20s.
2
‘Faust’
From around 1905 and all the way until the rise of the Nazis, Germany went through German Expressionism, a cinematic movement characterized by twisted visuals, surreal themes, and nightmarish tones. The movement produced some of the greatest horror films of cinema’s early years, including F. W. Murnau‘s Faust. Drawing on older traditions of the legendary tale of Faust and on Goethe‘s classic version, this masterpiece is about the demon Mephisto’s wager with God that he can corrupt a mortal man’s soul.
Operatic, chilling, and as technically flawless as movies come, Faust is the kind of legendary film that, even being a century old, is still just as enjoyable and admirable. It was a flop when it was originally released, but with time, cinephiles have come to see it as one of the canonical examples of early horror cinema. Aside from having an enthralling narrative, Faust is so visually astonishing that every frame can be taken as an example of cinematographic genius.
1
‘The General’
No matter how old they become, Buster Keaton’s films will always be timeless. The question of what his best effort is will naturally draw various answers, but there’s one that’s bound to come up more than all others: The General, one of the best comedy movies of all time. Keaton plays an engineer who must recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and take it past enemy lines.
It may just be the greatest comedy of the ’20s, and it also greatly succeeds as an action picture. Before Tom Cruise made it cool, Buster Keaton was staring at Death right in the face, pulling off some of the wildest stunts of the era. Exciting, hilarious, and timeless, The General is a classic gem that should be obligatory viewing for all those even the slightest bit interested in the history of comedic cinema.
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