I think I've seen only half a dozen silent movies and none that haven't already been mentioned. As Winters_Sorrow said, "sharp dialogue is one of the things I look for in movies, so Silent films aren't what I'm after!" (generally). I actually have a very hard time not falling asleep during a truly silent movie. It's my understanding that they were originally accompanied by music and, as several others have said, having the right music with the film makes a huge difference.
As far as what I've seen, I very much disliked
Pandora's Box although, as j.d. indicates, it's nothing against Louise Brooks. I just thought the theme was very poor and poorly delivered. I much prefer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "Reptile Boy" where Buffy says, "I told one lie, I had one drink," and Giles replies, "Yes, and you were very nearly devoured by a giant demon snake. The words 'let that be a lesson' are a tad redundant at this juncture."
I'm less taken by
Phantom of the Opera than some. My version does have the color segments (which seemed wrong to me) but it has no music. Still, it's definitely worth seeing at least once.
Nosferatu is kind of neat. Like the 1931
Dracula talkie, I have to make allowances, but I can appreciate it.
Metropolis is very impressive but really requires great music which I don't have. The 80s soundtrack one might be cool but really seems all kinds of wrong. I'd like Ministry or White Zombie or somebody if it was "rock"-type music, or some kind of Mahler sledge-hammer orchestral music (despite not actually liking Mahler). I also probably have one of the less complete prints on a very budget-DVD.
But my favorites, and a couple of my favorites silent or not, are Buster Keaton's
Steamboat Bill, Jr. and, especially,
The General. Deadpan Keaton in a vortex of craziness. I don't know that I've seen a full Chaplin or Lloyd film or any of the other similar "names" and I want to but, based on snippets, I can't imagine any of them hitting me the way Keaton does. I'll see. Mine has an Alloy Orchestra soundtrack which sounds a bit anachronistic, but suits the films really well and helps give whatever auditory/verbal portion of my brain that keeps me awake something to do.
I recently read that Sterling has a collection coming out called "Gothic High Tech" and that's actually a pretty good description of aspects of
Metropolis. People have mentioned other Lang films but are there other "high tech gothic" Metropolitan movies?
And I'll probably get whatever Keaton I come across next regardless, but does anyone have suggestions for a #3?
