Top Ranked Films by Year: Pre-1930

[2011 Edition, 2nd version]

We sorted the entire list of Top Ranked Films on the Net 2011 Edition by year, and will post them here decade by decade.

This first post is all films before 1930, since nearly all are silent.
Total for the decade: 38

Year, Title, Overall Rank, Director
- [1902] -
1. Voyage dans la lune, Le (Trip to the Moon) #459 - Méliès, Georges

- [1915] -
1. Birth of a Nation, The #162 - Griffith, D.W.

- [1916] -
1. Intolerance #148 - Griffith, D.W.
2. Les Vampires #388 - Feuillade, Louis

- [1919] -
1. Broken Blossoms #246 - Griffith, D.W.
2. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The #290 - Wiene, Robert

 - [1921] -
1. Kid, The #226 - Chaplin, Charles
[Gone: The Phantom Carriage]

- [1922] -
1. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens #112 - Murnau, F.W.
2. Nanook of the North #601 - Flaherty, Robert
3. Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler #639 - Lang, Fritz
4. Foolish Wives #837 - von Stroheim, Erich

- [1923] -
1. Our Hospitality #738 - Keaton, Buster/John Blystone
[Gone: Safety Last! - Newmeyer, Fred C. & Taylor, Sam]

 - [1924] -
1. Sherlock Jr. - Keaton, Buster #69
2. Greed - von Stroheim, Erich #161
3. Strike - Eisenstein, Sergei #452
4. Last Laugh - Murnau, F.W. #505
5. Navigator, The - Keaton, Buster/Donald Crisp #685

- [1925] -
1. Gold Rush, The - Chaplin, Charles #48
2. Battleship Potemkin - Eisenstein, Sergei #123
3. Ben-Hur - Niblo, Fred #592
4. Seven Chances - Keaton, Buster #825

- [1926] -
1. Faust - Murnau, F.W. #617
2. Mother (Mat,1926) Pudovkin, Vsevolod #712

- [1927] -
1. Metropolis - Lang, Fritz #7
2. General, The - Keaton, Buster/Clyde Bruckman #35
3. Sunrise - Murnau, F.W. #43
4. October - Eisenstein, Sergei #345
5. Napoléon - Gance, Abel #352

- [1928] -
1. Passion of Joan of Arc, The - Dreyer, Carl Theodor #34
2. Pandora's Box - Pabst, G.W. #317
3. Steamboat Bill, Jr. - Keaton, Buster/Charles F. Reisner #329
4. Crowd, The - Vidor, King #499
5. Wind, The - Sjöström, Victor #673
6. Cameraman, The - Keaton, Buster/Edward Sedgwick #675
7. Wedding March, The - von Stroheim, Erich #690
8. Circus, The - Chaplin, Charles #893
[Gone: Storm Over Asia]
Best Picture Oscar®: Wings

- [1929] -
1. Man With a Movie Camera, The - Vertov, Dziga #95
2. Piccadilly - Dupont, Ewald André #790
[Gone: Hallelujah! - Vidor, King, Queen Kelly - von Stroheim, Eric]
Best Picture Oscar®: Broadway Melody

Top Ranked for the Decade:
1. Metropolis (1927) Lang, Fritz #7
2. Passion of Joan of Arc, The (1928) Dreyer, Carl Theodor #34
3. General, The (1927) Keaton, Buster/Clyde Bruckman #35
4. Sunrise (1928) Murnau, F.W. #43
5. Gold Rush, The (1925) Chaplin, Charles #48
6. Sherlock Jr. (1924) Keaton, Buster #69
7. Man With a Movie Camera, The (1929) Vertov, Dziga #95
8. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) Murnau, F.W. #112
9. Battleship Potemkin (1925) Eisenstein, Sergei #123
10. Intolerance (1916) Griffith, D.W. #148
11. Greed (1924) von Stroheim, Erich #161
12. Birth of a Nation, The (1915) Griffith, D.W. #162
13. Kid, The (1921) Chaplin, Charles #226
14. Broken Blossoms (1919) Griffith, D.W. #246
15. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The (1919) Wiene, Robert #290
16. Pandora's Box (1928) Pabst, G.W. #317
17. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) Keaton, Buster/Charles F. Reisner #329
18. October (1927) Eisenstein, Sergei #345
19. Napoléon (1927) Gance, Abel #352
20. Les Vampires (1915-16) Feuillade, Louis #388
21. Strike (1924) Eisenstein, Sergei #452
22. Le Voyage dans la lune (Trip to the Moon, 1902) Méliès, Georges #459
23. Crowd, The (1928) Vidor, King #499
24. Last Laugh (1924) Murnau, F.W. #505
25. Ben-Hur (1926) Niblo, Fred #592
26. Nanook of the North (1922) Flaherty, Robert #601
27. Faust (1926) Murnau, F.W. #617
28. Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler (1922) Lang, Fritz #639
29. Wind, The (1928) Sjöström, Victor #673
30. Cameraman, The (1928) Keaton, Buster/Edward Sedgwick #675
31. Navigator, The (1924) Keaton, Buster/Donald Crisp #685
32. Wedding March, The (1928) von Stroheim, Erich #690
33. Mother (Mat, 1926) Pudovkin, Vsevolod #712
34. Our Hospitality (1923) Keaton, Buster/John Blystone #738
35. Piccadilly (1929) Dupont, Ewald André #790
36. Seven Chances (1925) Keaton, Buster #825
37. Foolish Wives (1922) von Stroheim, Erich #837
38. Circus, The (1928) Chaplin, Charles #893


I haven't seen many silent films, but of all the films on this list, I was most impressed by F.W. Murnau's Sunrise, winner of three Oscars® for 1928, including the only one ever given for "Artistic Film".

I was also very impressed by the innovative editing and cinematography in Dziga Vertov's 1929 classic Man With the Movie Camera, still dazzling by today's standards, and very fast-moving. [photo below]