Here we are again, guys. Another poll, and the biggest if not in terms of expected participation, then certainly in terms of anticipation from yours truly and with the longest countdown.
Put simply, this Silents poll is covering a far greater timespan than any other poll, incorporating the eligibility of any film, of whatever length, first shown prior to 1st January 1930. The term Silents poll is a bit of a misnomer on two counts. Firstly in that early talkies from 1927-1929 (The Jazz Singer, Applause, The Love Parade, to name three usual suspects) are eligible, while silent films released after 1929 aren’t (Earth, City Lights, Modern Times, The Goddess, I Was Born But…, etc were eligible for our first poll for the 1930s back in what already seems like the distant past).
The reason this poll is so looked forward to, however, is because it gives me the opportunity to don my missionary’s hat and point you in the direction of some masterworks from this embryonic era that you may not have heard of.
As the countdown itself is raised to 100 entries, beginning tomorrow, it’s only fair the nearlies should double, too. So here’s no 200 down to 101, including some just missing the cut that may surprise…but when have I disappointed on that score. Prepare to have your Eyes opened.
| 200 | The Life Story of David Lloyd George (UK 1918…Maurice Elvey) |
| 199 | Blind Husbands (US 1919…Erich Von Stroheim) |
| 198 | The White Hell of Pitz Palu (Germany 1929…Arnold Fanck, G.W.Pabst) |
| 197 | Les Mystères du Château du Dé (France 1929…Man Ray) |
| 196 | Aelita (USSR 1924…Yakov Protazanov) |
| 195 | Dynamite (US 1929…Cecil B.de Mille) |
| 194 | The Jazz Singer (US 1927…Alan Crosland) |
| 193 | Civilization (US 1916…Thomas H.Ince, Raymond B.West, Reginald Barker) |
| 192 | Alraune (Germany 1928…Henrik Galeen) |
| 191 | Heimkehr (Germany 1928…Joe May) |
| 190 | Applause (US 1929…Rouben Mamoulian) |
| 189 | Destiny (Germany 1921…Fritz Lang) |
| 188 | True Heart Susie (US 1919…D.W.Griffith) |
| 187 | The Seashell and the Clergyman (France 1928…Germaine Dulac) |
| 186 | Fièvre (France 1921…Louis Delluc) |
| 185 | The Three Must-Get-Theres (US 1922…Max Linder) |
| 184 | City Girl (silent version) (US 1929…Friedrich W.Murnau) |
| 183 | Ingeborg Holm (Sweden 1913…Victor Sjöstrom) |
| 182 | The Magician (US 1926…Rex Ingram) |
| 181 | The Smiling Madame Beudet (France 1923…Germaine Dulac) |
| 180 | The Chronicles of the Grey House (Germany 1925…Arthur Von Gerlach) |
| 179 | Ella Cinders (US 1926…Alfred E.Green) |
| 178 | La Glace à Trois Faces (France 1927…Jean Epstein) |
| 177 | Waxworks (Germany 1924…Paul Leni) |
| 176 | The Queen of Spades (Russia 1916…Yakov Protazanov) |
| 175 | La Terre (France 1921…André Antoine) |
| 174 | Sparrows (US 1926…William Beaudine) |
| 173 | La Femme et le Pantin (France 1928…Jacques de Baroncelli) |
| 172 | Daydreams (US 1922…Buster Keaton) |
| 171 | The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (USSR 1924…Lev Kuleshov) |
| 170 | Wings (US 1927…William A.Wellman) |
| 169 | The Cheat (US 1915…Cecil B.de Mille) |
| 168 | The Circus (US 1928…Charles Chaplin) |
| 167 | A Woman of Paris (US 1923…Charles Chaplin) |
| 166 | The Cat and the Canary (US 1927…Paul Leni) |
| 165 | El Dorado (France 1921…Marcel l’Herbier) |
| 164 | The End of St Petersburg (USSR 1927…Vsevelod I.Pudovkin) |
| 163 | The Girl With the Hatbox (USSR 1927…Boris Barnet) |
| 162 | The Manxman (UK 1929…Alfred Hitchcock) |
| 161 | Crainquebille (France 1922…Jacques Feyder) |
| 160 | The Scarlet Letter (US 1926…Victor Sjöstrom) |
| 159 | The Marriage Circle (US 1924…Ernst Lubitsch) |
| 158 | Exit Smiling (US 1926…Sam Taylor) |
| 157 | The Life and Death of 9713 a Hollywood Extra (US 1927…Robert Florey, Slavko Vorkapich) |
| 156 | L’Inhumaine (France 1924…Marcel l’Herbier) |
| 155 | The Cameraman’s Revenge (Russia 1912…Wladyslaw Starewicz) |
| 154 | Crossways (Japan 1928…Teinosuke Kinugasa) |
| 153 | Neighbors (US 1920…Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline) |
| 152 | Orphans of the Storm (US 1921…D.W.Griffith) |
| 151 | Erotikon (Sweden 1920…Mauritz Stlller) |
| 150 | The Beloved Rogue (US 1927…Alan Crosland) |
| 149 | The Late Mathias Pascal (France 1926…Marcel l’Herbier) |
| 148 | The Wonderful Life of Nina Petrowna (Germany 1929…Hanns Schwarz) |
| 147 | Kino Eye (USSR 1924…Dziga Vertov) |
| 146 | The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (US 1927…Ernst Lubitsch) |
| 145 | L’Arrivée d’un train en Gare de la Ciotat (France 1895…Auguste Lumière, Louis Lumière) |
| 144 | Noah’s Ark (US 1928…Michael Curtiz) |
| 143 | The Strong Man (US 1926…Frank Capra) |
| 142 | Tumbleweeds (US 1925…William S.Hart, King Baggott) |
| 141 | Male and Female (US 1919…Cecil B.de Mille) |
| 140 | The Great Train Robbery (US 1903…Edwin S.Porter) |
| 139 | King of Kings (US 1927…Cecil B.de Mille) |
| 138 | Le Voyage dans la Lune (France 1902…Georges Méliès) |
| 137 | The Iron Mask (US 1929…Allan Dwan) |
| 136 | The Garage (US 1919…Fatty Arbuckle) |
| 135 | The Dying Swan (Russia 1916…Evgenii Bauer) |
| 134 | Regeneration (US 1915…Raoul Walsh) |
| 133 | Cabiria (Italy 1914…Giovanni Pastrone) |
| 132 | Robin Hood (US 1922…Allan Dwan) |
| 131 | Flesh and the Devil (US 1926…Clarence Brown) |
| 130 | Nerven (Germany 1919…Robert Reinert) |
| 129 | Gertie the Dinosaur (US 1914…Winsor McCay) |
| 128 | Gösta Berlings Saga (Sweden 1924…Mauritz Stiller) |
| 127 | The Adventurer (US 1917…Charles Chaplin) |
| 126 | October (USSR 1928…Sergei M.Eisenstein) |
| 125 | Terje Vigen (Sweden 1917…Victor Sjöstrom) |
| 124 | The Navigator (US 1924…Buster Keaton, Donald Crisp) |
| 123 | Menilmontant (France 1926…Dimitri Kirsanov) |
| 122 | The Cure (US 1917…Charles Chaplin) |
| 121 | An Italian Straw Hat (France 1927…René Clair) |
| 120 | The Cameraman (US 1928…Edward Sedgwick) |
| 119 | The Iron Horse (US 1924…John Ford) |
| 118 | Peter Pan (US 1924…Herbert Brenon) |
| 117 | Nanook of the North (US 1922…Robert J.Flaherty) |
| 116 | Barbed Wire (US 1927…Rowland V.Lee) |
| 115 | The Black Pirate (US 1926…Albert Parker) |
| 114 | For Heaven’s Sake (US 1926…Sam Taylor) |
| 113 | Steamboat Willie (US…Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney) |
| 112 | One Week (US 1920…Buster Keaton) |
| 111 | The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (US 1921…Rex Ingram) |
| 110 | The Unknown (US 1927…Tod Browning) |
| 109 | The Love Parade (US 1929…Ernst Lubitsch) |
| 108 | Berlin, Symphony of a Great City (Germany 1927…Walter Ruttmann) |
| 107 | Der Golem (Germany 1920…Paul Wegener, Carl Boese) |
| 106 | Show People (US 1928…King Vidor) |
| 105 | Way Down East (US 1920…D.W.Griffith) |
| 104 | The Paleface (US 1922…Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline) |
| 103 | Broken Blossoms (US 1919…D.W.Griffith) |
| 102 | Storm Over Asia (USSR 1928…Vsevelod I.Pudovkin) |
| 101 | The Phantom of the Opera (US 1925…Rupert Julian, Edward Sedgwick, Lon Chaney) |
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Writers/Founders
