I collected 10 lists of the best silent films from the Internet and compiled them into a single meta-list. The results are below – every film on two or more of the original source lists, arranged chronologically. Films released in the same year are arranged by rank (i.e,, number of lists the movie is on). I have included the title (in English), director, country of origin and number of lists. If I have seen the movie, I’ve also included my personal rating on a 1-10 scale.
For the same list arranged in order of which films were on the most lists, go here.
1915
The Birth of a Nation (on 4 lists) (9/10)
Dir: D.W. Griffith (US)
1916
Intolerance (on 6 lists) (10/10)
Dir: D.W. Griffith (US)
1919
Broken Blossoms (on 2 lists) (8/10)
Dir: D.W. Griffith (US)
1920
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (on 6 lists) (10/10)
Dir: Robert Wiene (Germany)
The Mark of Zorro (on 2 lists)
Dir: Fred Niblo (US)
1921
The Kid (on 5 lists) (9/10)
Dir: Charles Chaplin (US)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (on 3 lists)
Dir: Rex Ingram (US)
1922
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (on 5 lists) (8/10)
Dir: F.W. Murnau (Germany)
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (on 2 lists) (7/10)
Dir: Fritz Lang (Germany)
Cops (on 2 lists)
Dir: Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton (US)
1923
Safety Last! (on 3 lists) (9/10)
Dir: Fred Newmeyer & Sam Taylor (US)
1924
Greed (on 4 lists) (10/10)
Dir: Erich Von Stroheim (US)
He Who Gets Slapped (on 3 lists)
Dir: Victor Sjöström (US)
The Thief of Bagdad (on 3 lists) (8/10)
Dir: Raoul Walsh (US)
Sherlock, Jr. (on 3 lists) (10/10)
Dir: Buster Keaton & William Goodrich (US)
The Last Laugh (on 2 lists) (8/10)
Dir: F.W. Murnau (Germany)
1925
Battleship Potemkin (on 5 lists) (10/10)
Dir: Sergei Eisenstein (USSR)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (on 3 lists)
Dir: Fred Niblo (US)
The Gold Rush (on 3 lists) (10/10)
Dir: Charles Chaplin (US)
Strike (on 2 lists) (9/10)
Dir: Sergei Eisenstein (USSR)
The Big Parade (on 2 lists)
Dir: King Vidor (US)
The Phantom of the Opera (on 2 lists) (7/10)
Dir: Rupert Julian (US)
1926
The General (on 8 lists) (10/10)
Dir: Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman (US)
Faust (on 2 lists)
Dir: F.W. Murnau (Germany)
The Lodger (on 2 lists)
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock (UK)
Sparrows (on 2 lists)
Dir: William Beaudine (US)
The Son of the Sheik (on 2 lists)
Dir: George Fitzmaurice (US)
1927
Sunrise: A Story of Two Humans (on 8 lists) (10/10)
Dir: F.W. Murnau (US)
Metropolis (on 6 lists) (7/10)
Dir: Fritz Lang (Germany)
Flesh and the Devil (on 3 lists) (8/10)
Dir: Clarence Brown (US)
7th Heaven (on 3 lists)
Dir: Frank Borzage (US)
It (on 3 lists)
Dir: Clarence G. Badger & Josef von Sternberg (US)
Wings (on 2 lists)
Dir: William A. Wellman (US)
The Unknown (on 2 lists)
Dir: Tod Browning (US)
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (on 2 lists)
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch (US)
The King of Kings (on 2 lists)
Dir: Cecil B. DeMille (US)
1928
The Passion of Joan of Arc (on 5 lists) (10/10)
Dir: Carl Theodor Dreyer (France)
The Cameraman (on 4 lists)
Dir: Edward Sedgwick & Buster Keaton (US)
The Last Command (on 4 lists)
Dir: Josef von Sternberg (US)
The Wind (on 4 lists)
Dir: Victor Sjöström (US)
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (on 3 lists) (9/10)
Dir: Charles Reisner & Buster Keaton (US)
The Crowd (on 3 lists)
Dir: King Vidor (US)
The Circus (on 2 lists)
Dir: Charles Chaplin (US)
Show People (on 2 lists)
Dir: King Vidor (US)
The Fall of the House of Usher (on 2 lists)
Dir: Jean Epstein (France)
Queen Kelly (on 2 lists) (8/10)
Dir: Erich von Stroheim (US)
Sadie Thompson (on 2 lists)
Dir: Raoul Walsh (US)
1929
Pandora’s Box (on 4 lists) (9/10)
Dir: G.W. Pabst (Germany)
Man with a Movie Camera (on 4 lists) (10/10)
Dir: Dziga Vertov (USSR)
Un Chien Andalou (on 3 lists) (10/10)
Dir: Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dalí (France)
Diary of a Lost Girl (on 2 lists)
Dir: G.W. Pabst (Germany)
Big Business (on 2 lists)
Dir: James W. Horne & Leo McCarey (US)
1930
Earth (on 2 lists) (9/10)
Dir: Aleksandr Dovzhenko (USSR)
1931
City Lights (on 5 lists) (10/10)
Dir: Charles Chaplin (US)
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (on 2 lists)
Dir: F.W. Murnau (US)
1936
Modern Times (on 4 lists) (9/10)
Dir: Charles Chaplin (US)