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