My Top 10 Favorite Silent Films (So Far)

So I’ve been thinking: good ol’ Internet listicles are fun. And depending on the context, they can tell you a little about the writer, too. Here I’ve been publishing posts on our beloved old films week in and week out, and never thought to write the most basic one of all–a “my favorite silents” list. So allow me to tell you a little about myself.

Needless to say, picking just ten films was a task akin to scaling Mount Everest. I don’t know if my list is the most surprising one in the world (no worries, it’s not smugly crammed with obscure social dramas from Finland or something), but here it is, in no particular order–except for #1! (Links are included for the ones I’ve reviewed so far.)

10. Metropolis (1927)

1920s Teens And Their Favorite “Pictures”

“Kids these days!” you lament. “All they ever want to do is sit around and watch T.V. On their phones. With the T.V. on in the background. In my day I had to walk barefoot thirty miles just to look at a picture of a T.V.! And phones? Our town had only one gasoline-powered phone and if you wanted to use at 6 p.m. you had to get in line at 6 a.m. And you prayed the phone would work, because sometimes it ran out of gasoline.”

Okay, maybe you have a point as far as cell phones go. Teens and twenty-somethings could probably stand to put their phones down for awhile…just a little while…try 15 minutes…take some deep breaths first…I believe in you…no?  Try again in an hour?

I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I take it all back!! Sheesh…

But contrary to what you might think, we millennials aren’t the first to be hypnotized by new technology and the latest entertainment. Oh no, not by a long shot.