Top 100 of Each Decade
UPDATE:
I decided to update this list and make a top 100 instead of top 50. Now, each decade is on a separate page which makes viewing each one easier.
PS: I'm working right now on this list so there might slight problems with the rankings.
UNDER CO.
PS: I'm combining these decades together:
The 1900's & 1910's with the 1920's
The 2010's with the 2000's
The Silent Era
The 30's
The 40's
The 50's
The 60's
The 70's
The 80's
The 90's
The 21st Century
And if you're interested, check out the directors that I like by clicking here
I decided to update this list and make a top 100 instead of top 50. Now, each decade is on a separate page which makes viewing each one easier.
PS: I'm working right now on this list so there might slight problems with the rankings.
UNDER CO.
PS: I'm combining these decades together:
The 1900's & 1910's with the 1920's
The 2010's with the 2000's
The Silent Era
The 30's
The 40's
The 50's
The 60's
The 70's
The 80's
The 90's
The 21st Century
And if you're interested, check out the directors that I like by clicking here
Log in to copy items to your own lists.
1.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
(1927)
A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife. (94 mins.)
Director: F.W. Murnau
2.
The General
(1926)
When Union spies steal an engineer's beloved locomotive, he pursues it single handedly and straight through enemy lines. (107 mins.)
Director: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton
3.
The Passion of Joan of Arc
(1928)
A chronicle of the trial of Jeanne d'Arc on charges of heresy, and the efforts of her ecclesiastical jurists to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions. (110 mins.)
Director: Carl Th. Dreyer
4.
Metropolis
(1927)
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences. (153 mins.)
Director: Fritz Lang
5.
Les vampires
(1915)
An intrepid reporter and his loyal friend battle a bizarre secret society of criminals known as The Vampires.
Director: Louis Feuillade
6.
Pandora's Box
(1929)
The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her. (109 mins.)
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst
7.
Greed
(1924)
The sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved. (140 mins.)
Director: Erich von Stroheim
8.
Napoleon
(1927)
A film about the French Field Marshal's youth and early military career. (240 mins.)
Director: Abel Gance
9.
The Docks of New York
(1928)
A blue-collar worker on New York's depressed waterfront finds his life changed after he saves a woman attempting suicide. (76 mins.)
Director: Josef von Sternberg
10.
Nosferatu
(1922)
Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife. Silent classic based on the story "Dracula." (94 mins.)
Director: F.W. Murnau
11.
Battleship Potemkin
(1925)
A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resulting street demonstration which brought on a police massacre. (75 mins.)
Director: S.M. Eisenstein
12.
The Gold Rush
(1925)
The Tramp goes the Klondike in search of gold and finds it and more.
Director: Charles Chaplin
13.
The Last Laugh
(1924)
An aging doorman, after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious Hotel is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbours and society. (77 mins.)
Director: F.W. Murnau
14.
Siegfried
(1924)
Siegfried, son of King Sigmund, hears of the beautiful sister of Gunter, King of Worms, Kriemhild. On his way to Worms... (97 mins.)
Director: Fritz Lang
15.
Kriemhild's Revenge
(1924)
After Siegfried's dead, Kriemhild marries Etzel, the King of the Huns. She gives birth to a child, and invites her brothers for a party... (129 mins.)
Director: Fritz Lang
16.
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
(1916)
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history. (163 mins.)
Director: D.W. Griffith
17.
The Cameraman
(1928)
After becoming infatuated with a pretty office worker for MGM Newsreels, Buster trades in his tintype...
Director: Edward Sedgwick
18.
Spies
(1928)
The mastermind behind a ubiquitous spy operation learns of a dangerous romance between a Russian lady in his employ and a dashing agent from the government's secret service.
Director: Fritz Lang
19.
The Wind
(1928)
Letty moves to West Texas from the East and it seems that the wind always blows and the sand gets everywhere... (95 mins.)
Director: Victor Seastrom
20.
The Crowd
(1928)
The life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles and downfalls.
Director: King Vidor
21.
Sherlock Jr.
(1924)
A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch. (45 mins.)
Director: Buster Keaton
22.
Un Chien Andalou
(1929 Short Film)
In a dream-like sequence, a woman's eye is slit open--juxtaposed with a similarly shaped cloud obsucuring... (16 mins.)
Director: Louis Bunuel
23.
Seven Chances
(1925)
A man learns he will inherit a fortune if he marries. By 7 p.m. Today. (56 mins.)
Director: Buster Keaton
24.
Foolish Wives
(1922)
"Count" Karanzim, a Don Juan is with his cousins in Monte Carlo, living from faked money and the money he gets from rich ladies... (117 mins.)
Director: Erich von Stroheim
25.
7th Heaven
(1927)
A street cleaner saves a young woman's life, and the pair slowly fall in love until war intervenes. (110 mins.)
Director: Frank Borzage
26.
The Big Parade
(1925)
The idle son of a rich businessman joins the army when the U.S.A. enters World War One. He is sent to France... (141 mins.)
Director: King Vidor
27.
Diary of a Lost Girl
(1929)
Thymiane is a beautiful young girl who is not having a storybook life. Her governess, Elizabeth, is thrown out of her home when she is pregnant... (104 mins.)
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst
28.
Our Hospitality
(1923)
A man returns to his Appalachian homestead. On the trip, he falls for a young woman. The only problem is her family has vowed to kill every member of his family. (65 mins.)
Director: Jack Blystone, Buster Keaton
29.
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl
(1919)
A frail waif, abused by her brutish boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences. (90 mins.)
Director: D.W. Griffith
30.
Lonesome
(1928)
Two lonely people in the big city meet and enjoy the thrills of an amusement park, only to lose each other in the crowd after spending a great day together. Will they ever see each other again? (69 mins.)
Director: Paul Fejos
31.
The Love Parade
(1929)
The queen of mythical Sylvania marries a courtier, who finds his new life unsatisfying. (107 mins.)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
32.
33.
Faust
(1926)
God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist... (85 mins.)
Director: F.W. Murnau
34.
Living Russia, or The Man with a Camera
(1929 Documentary)
A cameraman travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness. (68 mins.)
Director: Dziga Vertov
Stars: Mikhail Kaufman
35.
Queen Kelly
(1932)
Prince Wolfram is the betrothed of mad Queen Regina V of Kronberg. Supreme ruler, her word is law and he is a playboy... (101 mins.)
Director: Erich Von Stroheim
“ This is was actually made in the 20's but wasn't released until 1932 ” - JohnnyGray
36.
The Last Command
(1928)
A former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary. (88 mins.)
Director: Josef von Sternberg
37.
The Merry Widow
(1925)
Prince Danilo falls in love with dancer Sally O'Hara. His uncle, King Nikita I of Monteblanco forbids the marriage because she is a commoner... (137 mins.)
Director: Erich von Stroheim
38.
The Phantom Carriage
(1921)
It's New Year's Eve. Three drunkards evoke a legend. The legend tells that the last person to die in a year... (93 mins.)
Director: Victor Sjöström
39.
Orphans of the Storm
(1921)
Henriette and Louise, a foundling, are raised together as sisters. When Louise goes blind, Henriette swears to take care of her forever... (150 mins.)
Director: D.W. Griffith
40.
The Navigator
(1924)
Two spoiled rich people find themselves trapped on an empty passenger ship. (59 mins.)
Director: Donald Crisp, Buster Keaton
41.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
(1920)
Dr. Caligari's somnambulist, Cesare, and his deadly predictions. (71 mins.)
Director: Robert Wiene
42.
Strike
(1925)
In Russia's factory region during Czarist rule, there's restlessness and strike planning among workers; management brings in spies and external agents... (82 mins.)
Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein
43.
Destiny
(1921)
As a young couple stops and rests in a small village inn, the man is abducted by Death and is sequestered behind a huge doorless... (114 mins.)
Director: Fritz Lang
44.
Fantômas - À l'ombre de la guillotine
(1913)
Fantômas makes it as the emperor of Crime. First is the robbery at the Royal Palace Hotel. Then he abducts Lord Beltham...
Director: Louis Feuillade
“ And it's sequels ” - JohnnyGray
45.
Show People
(1928)
Colonel Pepper brings his daughter, Peggy, to Hollywood from Georgia to be an actress. There she meets...
Director: King Vidor
46.
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
(1928)
The effete son of a cantankerous riverboat captain comes to join his father's crew. (70 mins.)
Director: Chas. F. Reisner
47.
The Circus
(1928)
The Tramp finds work and the girl of his dreams at a circus. (71 mins.)
Director: Charlie Chaplin
48.
Neighbors
(1920 Short Film)
The Romeo and Juliet story played out in a tenement neighborhood with Buster and Virginia's families... (18 mins.)
Director: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton
49.
Three Ages
(1923)
The misadventures of Buster in three separate historical periods. (63 mins.)
Director: Eddie Cline, Buster Keaton
50.
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
(1925)
Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with Roman officer Messala as conqueror and Judah as a wealthy... (143 mins.)
Director: Fred Niblo
51.
The Wedding March
(1928)
A young impoverished aristocrat falls in love with an inn-keepers daughter, but has to marry money. (113 mins.)
Director: Erich von Stroheim
52.
The Birth of a Nation
(1915)
The Civil War divides friends and destroys families, but that's nothing compared to the anarchy in the black-ruled South after the war. (165 mins.)
Director: D.W. Griffith
53.
The Kid
(1921)
The Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put that relationship in jeopardy. (68 mins.)
Director: Charles Chaplin
54.
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler
(1922)
Arch-criminal Dr. Mabuse sets out to make a fortune and run Berlin. Detective Wenk sets out to stop him. (242 mins.)
Director: Fritz Lang
55.
The Fall of the House of Usher
(1928)
Allan has a hard time finding the Usher's house, which is known to be cursed... But he is a personal friend of Roderick Usher... (63 mins.)
Director: Jean Epstein
56.
Way Down East
(1920)
A naive country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild her life despite the taint of having borne a child out of wedlock. (145 mins.)
Director: D.W. Griffith
57.
The Horse Ate the Hat
(1928)
On his way through the woods to his marriage, Fadinard's horse eats the hat of a married lady spending here a few moments with her lover... (60 mins.)
Director: René Clair
58.
October (Ten Days that Shook the World)
(1928)
In documentary style, events in Petrograd are re-enacted from the end of the monarchy in February of...
Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov
59.
True Heart Susie
(1919)
Susie, a plain young country girl, secretly loves a neighbor boy, William. She believes in him and sacrifices...
Director: D.W. Griffith
60.
One Week
(1920 Short Film)
Buster and Sybil exit a chapel as newlyweds. Among the gifts is a portable house you easily put together in one week... (19 mins.)
Director: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton
62.
Michael
(1924)
Triangle story: painter, his young male model, unscrupulous princess. (93 mins.)
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
63.
Easy Street
(1917 Short Film)
A reformed tramp becomes a police constable who must fight a huge thug who dominates an inner city street. (19 mins.)
64.
Go West
(1925)
A young man who doesn't find a job in his small hometown, tries his luck in New York, but is overwelmed by the life of the city... (69 mins.)
Director: Buster Keaton
65.
My Lady Margarine
(1919)
Oyster-king Quaker cannot be impressed anymore. He is so rich that he even has a special butler holding his cigar while he is smoking... (47 mins.)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
66.
It
(1927)
A salesgirl with plenty of "it" (sex appeal) pursues a handsome playboy. (72 mins.)
Director: Clarence G. Badger
67.
Underworld
(1927)
Boisterous gangster kingpin Bull Weed rehabilitates his former lawyer from his alcoholic haze, but complications arise when he falls for Weed's girlfriend. (80 mins.)
Director: Josef von Sternberg
68.
Tartuffe
(1925)
Young man shows his millionaire grandfather a film based on Molière's Tartuffe, in order to expose the old man's hypocritical governess who covets his own inheritance. (74 mins.)
Director: F.W. Murnau
69.
Cops
(1922 Short Film)
A series of mishaps manages to make a young man get chased by a big city's entire police force. (18 mins.)
Director: Eddie Cline, 'Buster' Keaton
70.
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
(1927)
A landlady suspects her new lodger is the madman killing women in London.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
71.
The Scarecrow
(1920 Short Film)
Farmhands Keaton and Roberts share a cottage full of mechanical devices for making life easy. They are rivals for the farmer's daughter...
Director: Eddie Cline, 'Buster' Keaton
72.
The Pilgrim
(1923)
The Tramp is an escaped convict who is mistaken as a pastor in a small town church. (59 mins.)
73.
He Who Gets Slapped
(1924)
Story of an inventor who, suffering betrayal in life, makes a career of it by becoming a clown whose... (95 mins.)
Director: Victor Seastrom
74.
The 'High Sign'
(1921 Short Film)
Buster is thrown off a train near an amusement park. There he gets a job in a shooting gallery run by the Blinking Buzzards mob... (21 mins.)
Director: Eddie Cline, 'Buster' Keaton
75.
Battling Butler
(1926)
Alfred's father wants him to make of a man of himself so sends him off on a hunting and fishing trip... (71 mins.)
Director: Buster Keaton
76.
Thunderbolt
(1929)
A criminal known as Thunderbolt is imprisoned and facing execution. Into the next cell is placed Bob Morgan... (85 mins.)
Director: Josef von Sternberg
77.
Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages
(1922)
A documentary about the history of witchcraft, told in a variety of styles, from illustrated slideshow... (87 mins.)
Director: Benjamin Christensen
78.
Safety Last!
(1923)
When a store clerk organizes a contest to climb the outside of a tall building, circumstances force him to make the perilous climb himself.
Director: Fred Neymeyer, Sam Taylor
79.
Spite Marriage
(1929)
Elmer is a dry cleaner. He is madly in love with stage star Trilby Drew; for each of her 35 performances...
Director: Edward Sedgwick
80.
Flesh and the Devil
(1926)
Leo and Ulrich are life long friends. Home, on leave from their military training, Leo sees the beautiful Felicitas at the railroad station...
Director: Clarence Brown
81.
The Doll
(1919)
Because the Baron of Chanterelle wants to preserve his family line, he forces his timid nephew Lancelot to choose one of the village maidens to wed... (48 mins.)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
82.
At 3:25
(1925 Short Film)
A scientist's invisible ray freezes Paris into immobility. (35 mins.)
Director: René Clair
85.
The Three-Sided Mirror
(1927)
Psychological narrative avantgarde film about a wealthy young businessman who consecutively falls in love with a classy English woman (Pearl)... (45 mins.)
Director: Jean Epstein
87.
A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate
(1923)
Marie St. Clair believes she has been jilted by her artist fiance Jean when he fails to meet her at the railway station...
Director: Charles Chaplin
88.
The Scarlet Letter
(1926)
In Puritan Boston, seamstress Hester Prynne is punished for playing on the Sabbath day; but kindly minister Arthur Dimmesdale takes pity on her... (115 mins.)
Director: Victor Seastrom
89.
Fig Leaves
(1926)
In the modern day (1920s) story, Adam, a plumber, is happily married to Eve, a wardrobe-obsessed housewife... (70 mins.)
Director: Howard Hawks
90.
The Unknown
(1927)
Alonzo is an armless knife thrower and gun shooter for a circus---or so he appears. He is actually a burglar with his arms intact...
Director: Tod Browning
91.
The Phantom of the Opera
(1925)
A mad, disfigured composer seeks love with a lovely young opera singer. (93 mins.)
Director: Rupert Julian
92.
A Dog's Life
(1918 Short Film)
The Little Tramp and his dog companion struggle to survive in the inner city.
93.
Master of the House
(1925)
Victor Frandsen is a domestic tyrant. His wife Ida has to work as a slave for him and the rest of the family... (107 mins.)
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
94.
Arsenal
(1929)
Set in the bleak aftermath and devastation of the World War I, a recently demobbed soldier, Timosh, returns to his hometown Kiev...
Director: Aleksandr Dovzhenko
95.
Nanook of the North
(1922 Documentary)
Documents one year in the life of Nanook, an Eskimo (Inuit) and his family. Describes the trading, hunting... (79 mins.)
Director: Robert J. Flaherty
96.
Blackmail
(1929)
Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in 1920's London. Her boyfriend, Frank Webber is a Scotland... (84 mins.)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
97.
College
(1927)
To reconcile with his girlfriend, a bookish college student tries to become an athlete. (66 mins.)
Director: James W. Horne
98.
The Cure
(1917 Short Film)
An alcoholic checks into a health spa and his antics promptly through the establishment into chaos. (31 mins.)
99.
The Great Train Robbery
(1903 Short Film)
A group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.
100.
The Man Who Laughs
(1928)
Gwynplaine, son of Lord Clancharlie, has a permanent smile carved on his face by the King, in revenge for Gwynplaine's father's treachery... (110 mins.)
Director: Paul Leni
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