101 Free Silent Films: The Great Classics

• Abraham Lincoln – Free – D.W. Griffith’s biography of the beloved United States president.
• A Burlesque On Carmen – Free – Original two-reel parody of Bizet’s Carmen by Charlie Chaplin. Also stars Leo White & Edna Purviance. (1915)
• A Christmas Carol – Free – Marc McDermott stars as Ebenezer Scrooge in this 1910 version of Dickens’ classic ghost story.
• A Dog’s Life – Free – This endearing short film tells the story of underdogs, hunan and canine, succeeding despite the odds. (1918)
• A Fair Exchange – Free – Originally released as Getting Acquainted, the film’s plot has been summarized as follows: “Charlie and his wife are walking in the park when they encounter Ambrose and his wife. The partners become fond of their counterparts and begin chasing each other around. A policeman looking for a professional Don Juan becomes involved, as does a Turk.” (1914)
• A Man with a Camera – Free – Dziga Vertov’s experimental film about life as it is lived. A Sight and Sound magazine poll named it the 8th best movie ever made. (1929)
• Aelita – Free – A silent film directed by Soviet filmmaker Yakov Protazanov. One of the earliest full-length films about space travel, the most notable part of the film remains its remarkable constructivist Martian sets and costumes designed by Aleksandra Ekster. (1924)
• After the Ball – Free – One of the first “adult” films in cinema history. By the pioneering director Georges Méliès.
• Alice in Wonderland – Free – The first-ever film version of Lewis Carroll’s tale. Based on Sir John Tenniel’s original illustrations. (1903)
• Anémic Cinéma – Free – Marcel Duchamp’s avant-garde film combines whirling optical illusions, known as Rotoreliefs, with spiraling puns and complex word play. (1926)
• Battleship Potemkin – Free – Directed by the great Russian director, Sergei Eisenstein. One of the most influential propaganda films of all time. Alternative version here. (1925)
• Behind the Screen – Free – A short film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin, the film is long on slapstick, but it also gets into themes dealing with gender bending and homosexuality. (1916)
• Between Showers – Free – A short Keystone film from 1914 starring Charlie Chaplin, Ford Sterling, and Emma Bell Clifton.
• Broken Blossoms – Free – Silent film directed by D.W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. (1919)
• Champagne – Free – A silent comedy film based on an original story by English writer and critic Walter C. Mycroft. (1928)
• Charlie Shanghaied – Free – Charlie Chaplin and his Tramp character gets shanghaied by crooks. (1915)
• Charlie’s Recreation – Free – Out of costume, Charlie is a clean-shaven dandy who, somewhat drunk, visits a dance hall. There the wardrobe girl has three rival admirers: the band leader, one of the musicians, and now Charlie. (1914)
• Cinderella – Free – This film by George Méliès is the oldest known film adaptation of the 1697 fairy tale. It was also apparently the first movie to use a “dissolve transition” between scenes. (1899)

• Das Wandernde Bild – Free – A silent, black and white film directed by Fritz Lang released in 1920.
• Der Golum – Free – Paul Wegener’s German expressionist classic, says Roger Ebert, “is a vivid piece of darkly toned fantasy that exerted a powerful influence over both European cinema and Hollywood.” (1920)
• Die Nibelungen – Free – A series of two silent fantasy films created by Fritz Lang in 1924. Runs 5 hours.
• Don Quixote – Free – Classic adaptation of the Miguel de Cervantes’ novel (find in our collection of Free eBooks), directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, and starring the famous operatic bass Feodor Chaliapin. (1933)
• Downhill – Free – In this silent Hitchcock film, a public schoolboy takes the blame for a friend’s theft and his life falls apart in a series of misadventures. Also released under the title, When Boys Leave Home. (1927)
• Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde – Free – Horror film based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. (1912)
• Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde – Free – John Barrymore stars in the renowned silent adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic. (1920)
• Easy Street – Free – Charlie Chaplin steps forward and keeps the peace. (1917)
• Easy Virtue – Free – Early silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Loosely based on a play by Noël Coward. (1928)
• Emak-Bakia – Free – Features filming techniques used by Man Ray, including rayographs, double exposures, soft focus and ambiguous features. (1926)
• Entr’Acte – Free – René Clair’s Dadaist masterpiece. Great early avant-garde film. Features scenes with Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray. (1924)
• Faust – Free – German expressionist filmmaker F.W. Murnau directs film version of Goethe’s classic tale. This was Murnau’s last German movie. (1926)
• Frankenstein – Free – The first time Mary Shelley’s literary was brought to the big screen. (1910)
• Ghosts Before Breakfast (Vormittagsspuk) – Free – Silent avant-garde film by Hans Richter. The nazis destroyed the sound version of the film, deeming it “degenerate art.” (1928)
• Greed – Free – Erich von Stroheim’s silent drama originally ran 10 hours, but was eventually hacked down to two. It follows a dentist whose wife wins a lottery ticket, only to become obsessed with money. (1924)
• Harakiri – Free – Early silent film by Fritz Lang. (1919)
• Häxan – Free – Swedish/Danish silent horror film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen. (1922)
• Hell W10 – Free – The Clash stars in 1980s gangster parody. Written and directed by Joe Strummer. (1983)
• Intolerance – Free – D.W. Griffith’s most ambitious silent film is one of the landmarks in cinematic history. (1916)
• La Souriante Madame Beudet – Free – Early feminist film by Germaine Dulac. Features a woman trapped in a loveless marriage. (1922)
• Joyless Street – Free – Greta Garbo stars in her second major role. One of the first films of the “New Objectivity” movement. (1925)
• Kid Auto Races at Venice – Free – It’s the first film in which Charlie Chaplin’s iconic “Little Tramp” character makes his appearance. (1914)
• L’Arrivée D’un Train En Gare De La Ciotat – Free – One of the most famous early silent films shot by Auguste and Louis Lumière. (1895)
• La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc – Free – Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and starring Renée Jeanne Falconetti, this film is considered a masterpiece from the silent era. (1928)
• Laughing Gas – Free – Film starring Chaplin is sometimes known as ”Busy Little Dentist”, “Down and Out”, “Laffing Gas”, “The Dentist”, and “Tuning His Ivories”.
• Le Ballet Mécanique – Free – Historic cinematic collaboration between Fernand Legér and George Antheil. (1924)
• Le Retour à la Raison – Free – A film from the avant-garde Cinéma Pur movement shot by Man Ray in 1923.
• Mabel’s Strange Predicament – Free – Watch lots of lots of high jinks go down in a hotel. (1914)
• Making a Living – Free – Premiering on February 2, 1914, Making a Living marks the first film appearance by Charlie Chaplin.
• Menilmontant – Free – When Pauline Kael, longtime New Yorker film critic, was asked to name her favorite film, this was it. French silent film. (1925)
• Metropolis – Free – Fritz Lang’s fable of good and evil fighting it out in a futuristic urban dystopia. An important classic. An alternate version can be found here. (1927)
• Nosferatu – Free – German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau. An unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. (1922)
• October: Ten Days That Shook the World – Free – Originally called Oktyabr, Sergei Eisenstein’s film documents the Russian Revolution of 1917. A masterpiece by a pioneering filmmaker. (1928)
• Old and New – Free – Also called The General Line, Sergei Eisenstein’s film has been called a “bucolic epic about the Soviet struggle to collectivize agricultural production.” Find alternate version at the Internet Archive here. (1929)
• One A.M. – Free – The first silent film Charlie Chaplin starred in alone. (1916)
• Pandora’s Box – Free – G.W. Pabst’s tragic melodrama about the fate of a carefree seductress, memorably played by Louise Brooks. (1929)
• Romance Sentimentale – Free – Directed by Sergei Eisenstein. (1930) Alternate version here.
• Sherlock Jr. – Free – A comic masterpiece from the silent era. Stars Buster Keaton (1924)
• Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon – Free – Sherlock Holmes rescues an inventor of an new bomb site before the Nazis can get him. (1943)
• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans – Free – Made by the German expressionist director F.W. Murnau. Voted in 2012, the 5th greatest film of all time. (1927)
• The Adventurer – Free – Charlie Chaplin plays an escaped convict who falls into favor with a wealthy family after he saves a young lady. (1917)
• The Birth of a Nation – Free – Directed by DW Griffith. A landmark work in film history (1915) with racist undertones. (1915)
• The Bond – Free – A propaganda film created and funded by Charlie Chaplin for theatrical release to help sell U.S. Liberty Bonds during World War I. (1918)
• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari – Free – This silent film directed by Robert Wiene is considered one of the most influential German Expressionist films and perhaps one of the greatest horror movies of all time. Watch the restored version. (1920)
• The Count – Free – The Count was Charlie Chaplin’s 5th film for Mutual Films. Co-starring Eric Campbell and Edna Purviance, it is a story about Charlie and his boss finding an invitation to a party from a real Count. (1916)
• The Cure – Free – Chaplin plays a drunk who checks into a health spa to dry out and comedy ensues. (1917)
• The Devilish Tenant – Free –  In this Georges Méliès, a new tenant moves in and fills the room with furniture taken from his suitcase. (1909)
• The Dreyfus Affair – Free – Georges Méliès’ created a short docudrama on The Dreyfus Affair, as it unfolded in France. The film was banned and not seen until the 1970s. (1899)
• The Fireman – Free – Charlie Chaplin’s second short for Mutual continued his focus on gags and situations—as the title suggests, Chaplin plays the role of an inept firefighter. (1916)
• The Floorwalker – Free – Filmed for the Mutual Film Corporation, the film featured the first “running staircase” in cinema history. (1916)
• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Free – Hugely popular silent film that made Rudolph Valentino a star. (1921)
• The General – Free – Orson Welles said that Buster Keaton’s The General is “the greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made. Alternate version here (1926)
• The Goddess – Free – A classic from the Golden Age of Chinese Cinema, starring the silent film icon Ruan Lingyu. (1934)
• The Gold Rush – Free – Charlie Chaplin wrote, produced, directed and starred in The Gold Rush. Chaplin repeatedly said that this is the film he most wanted to be remembered for. (1925)
• The Golem: How He Came Into the World – Free – A follow-up to Paul Wegener’s earlier film, “The Golem,” about a monstrous creature brought to life by a learned rabbi to protect the Jews from persecution in medieval Prague. Based on the classic folk tale, and co-directed by Carl Boese. (1920)
• The Golem: How He Came Into the World – Free – The same film as the one listed immediately above, but this one has a score created by Pixies frontman Black Francis. (2008)
• The Good for Nothing – Free – Made at the Keystone Studios, the film involves Chaplin taking care of a man in a wheelchair. (1914)
• The Great Train Robbery – Free – Early western film by Edwin S. Porter. A landmark in narrative filmmaking. (1903)
• The Hearts of Age – Free – The first film/short film shot by Orson Welles. It’s a play on Jean Cocteau’s movie, The Blood of a Poet. (1934)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Free – With Lon Chaney. (1923)
• The Immigrant – Free – Charlie Chaplin plays an immigrant coming to the United States who gets accused of theft along the way. (1917)
• The Impossible Voyage – Free -Directed by Georges Méliès, this 1904 film, based on a Jules Verne’s play, is a satire of scientific exploration in which a group of geographers attempt a journey into the interior of the sun. (1904)
• The Kid – Free – This was Charlie Chaplin’s first full-length film as a director, and it is still considered one of his best. (1921)
• The Lady and the Hooligan – Free – Russian silent film directed by Vladimir Mayakovsky and Yevgeni Slavinsky. (1918)
• The Last Laugh – Free – F.W. Murnau’s classic chamber drama about a hotel doorman who falls on hard times. A masterpiece of the silent era, the story is told almost entirely in pictures. (1924)
• The Little Match Girl – Free –  a 40-minute silent film by Jean Renoir based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen. (1928)
• The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog – Free – One of Hitchcock’s silent classics. A landlady suspects her lodger is a murderer killing women around London. (1927)
• The Lost World – Free – The “grandaddy of monster movies,” the film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam. (1925)
• The Manxman – Free – This was Hitchcock’s last silent film.
• The Pawnshop – Free – Rich in slapstick, The Pawnshop was one of Chaplin’s more popular movies for Mutual Film, the producer of some of the greatest Chaplin comedies. (1916)
• The Phantom Carriage – Free – One of the central works in the history of Swedish cinema. Notable for its influence on Ingmar Bergman. Directed by Victor Sjöström, (1921)
• The Phantom of the Opera – Free – A classic silent film featuring Lon Chaney as the Phantom. (1925)
• The Pleasure Garden – Free – After several collaborative efforts, Hitchcock made his solo directorial debut in the German-British co-production based on a novel by Oliver Sandys.
• The Ring – Free – This silent film focuses on a love triangle between two men and a woman. One of Hitchcock’s minor works. (1927)
• The Rink – Free – The Rink, Chaplin’s 8th film for Mutual Films, showcases the actor’s roller skating skills. (1916)
• The Sealed Room – Free – Directed by DW Griffith, the film is based on based upon Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Cask of Amontillado”, with appearances by Mary Pickford and Mack Sennett.
• The Seashell and the Clergyman – Free – The first surrealist film ever. Directed by Germaine Dulac. (1928)
• The Sheik – Free – Silent film with Rudolph Valentino. (1921)
• The Toll of the Sea – Free – The first general release film in technicolor. 1922.
• The Tramp – Free – The film made Chaplin’s great Tramp character famous. (1915)
• The Vagabond – Free – A silent film by Charlie Chaplin that co-starred Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Leo White and Lloyd Bacon. Chaplin appears as The Tramp. (1916)
• The Wizard of Oz – Free – The earliest surviving film version of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel. (1910)
• The Wizard of Oz – Free – The first major film adaptation of the classic novel. Features Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodsmen. (1925)
• Tillie’s Punctured Romance – Free – Among other things, the film is notable for being the last Chaplin film didn’t write or direct by himself. (1914)
• Trip to the Moon / Le Voyage dans la lune – Free – French black & white silent sci-fi film loosely based on two novels: From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells. (1902)
• Un Chien Andalou – Free – Salvador Dali and Luis Buñuel’s short, silent surrealist film. (1929)

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