Best of the 1920s (decade line-ups).

I've only seen 18 movies from the 20s so I'll just go with wins

Best Picture (I'll just rank the 18)

10/10
Greed
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Faust
9/10
Metropolis
The Phantom of the Opera
8/10
Battleship Potemkin
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The General
Sherlock, Jr.
7/10
Speedy
The Devil's Wheel
Storm Over Asia
Seven Years Bad Luck
Spies
Our Hospitality
Strike
The Golem
6/10
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried

Best Director: Erich von Stroheim - Greed

Best Actor: Gibson Gowland - Greed

Best Actress: Maria Falconetti - The Passion of Joan of Arc

Best Supporting Actor: Emil Jannings - Faust

Best Supporting Actress: Brigitte Helm - Metropolis

Best Original Screenplay: Battleship Potemkin

Best Adapted Screenplay: Greed

Best Foreign Film: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Best Original Score: Metropolis

Best Production Design: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Best Cinematography: Storm Over Asia

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Faust

Best Costume Design: Faust

Best Film Editing: Battleship Potemkin

Best Visual Effects: Metropolis

stephen - If it makes you feel better, two of her performances are my win for their respective years (Flesh and the Devil and Joyless Street). It was mostly just a lack of how much I saw of her. Her projects never seemed interesting enough for me to put ahead of other actresses I preferred or other films I felt necessary. But! I do have a feeling her 1930s work will turn me around, she's got some nice looking projects lined up.

Joaquim - That's a pretty solid line-up I'd say. I do remember us discussing our differences on Faust, but I do still think it's a visual masterpiece from F.W. Murnau, and obviously I appreciate your love for Jannings' performance as well. If you loved him there, I absolutely recommend checking out The Last Command. It totally subverted my expectations. Felt like early shades of Hitchcock, Wilder, and Spielberg rolled into one - and I think that's the magic of Josef von Sternberg. Also surprised you missed out on Sunrise. Priority #1, my friend. At least, as far as 1920s goes. Oh, and such a severe lack of Lillian Gish in your viewings! Her films aren't always great, and sometimes kind of long (I blame D.W. Griffith), but she makes it worth it every single time. At least check out The Wind, which features a trio of some of the 1920s best (Gish, Lars Hanson, and director Victor Sjostrom).

Tommen_Saperstein - Well, it's certainly better than 0, which is where I was at before I started this whole thing. In total, before I did this, I had probably only seen maybe 50 movies that were older than 1980. And yet for the year 2011, I have almost 150 total movies registered. So this felt like a necessity. To give you some pointers, my two 10/10 films are Sunrise and The Phantom Carriage, but The Last Command is so close to a 10, might as well include that too. The first two are essential though, as well as a lot of the works from Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and especially Chaplin. Those are definitely good starting points.

tobias

I'm very happy to see we share so much in common, and looking at your list on IMDB, I'm surprised someone else has seen Monastery of Sendomir, so that makes me happy. Still disappointed I skipped over Storm Over Asia and Nibelungen, but I know I'll come back around to them for sure.

Also glad to see we agree on Dr. Mabuse for ensemble, that truly is one hell of a cast and nearly every single one delivers. I even typically find Klein-Rogge to be extremely over-the-top with his acting, but he was top-notch there, right outside my top ten for the decade. The only thing I can dispute with your line-up is Conrad Veidt in Dr. Caligari. I had heard so much about him in that film, but he didn't do a whole lot for me.

Very excited to start the 1930s.

tobias

That makes sense. I'm sure that's why a lot of people love Schreck as well, even though I felt Alexander Granach did a lot more in Nosferatu than him as well (and he's my supporting win for 1922). It's more Murnau and Weine's doing on both accounts to me. Without such strong direction, the performances wouldn't have been as memorable. But of course, I do agree that Veidt is an excellent actor in his own right. I thought his work on The Hands of Orlac is probably his best.

As for Abel, I suppose I blocked him out of my mind with Dr. Mabuse but amazingly, I thought his performance in Metropolis was one of the best of the year, and certainly the best of the cast for me (though Brigitte Helm is close). He pretty much ditches his entire over-the-top acting style and his subtle work there really resonated with me.

demille

Well, thanks for getting back around to it! So far, I prefer this decade to the 1930s, just because of the sheer amount of creativity and lack of studio controls present in most of the films. Seems like the invention of sound was a success, but a huge hindrance to what creativity a director could have. Thankfully, some directors of the 1930s managed to use it well (like Rene Clair), but a lot of silent directors (save Chaplin) sort of fell flat.

Still have quite a few to see from your lists, but out of what you've listed, I've liked them. The only ones that I was a bit disappointed by was October (the only Eisenstein I've truly disliked thus far), A Woman of Paris (just the weakest Chaplin I've seen so far), and Joyless Street (though considering you have Garbo supporting, you must have seen the full version whereas I only saw one that was less than 90 minutes and had Garbo as the lead).

Wish there was more love for Sunrise outside of Gaynor (though I think she's damn fantastic in it), but I can settle for The Phantom Carriage which is practically neck-and-neck with it for my top spot.

Also makes me happy seeing so much love for Lars Hanson as well. Sad that he, like Emil Jannings, didn't have a very prosperous career after the silent era because they were two of the best actors of the decade.

Will most certainly be checking out those Ivan Mozzhukhin films you listed because his Burning Brazier was my favorite of 1923 and barely missed my top 10. Thanks!

demille

Certainly very true about the political and social climate creating a drastic effect on the foreign film industry. Even in America, there was a lot of propaganda around the end of the decade and early in the 1940s (I've already watched two or three and I'm not even into 1941 yet). But I very much agree on the MGM stuff being better in the early part of the 1930s. The only one that seemed to thrive beyond that was Lubitsch. Which I had no idea Chaplin's A Woman of Paris was a big inspiration. Will definitely need to check it out again down the road then.

Will definitely seek out more from Lars Hanson as well, and I've only seen Mata Hari with Novarro and I thought he was fine. Suppose maybe there are some recommendations you could provide for me to check out? I highly recommend checking out The Burning Brazier with Mozzhukhin. It's damn brilliant. Can feel early shades of Wilder, Kubrick, and Gilliam in it. Gets a bit too sentimental in the third act, so it's not perfect, but it's close.

Glad you agree on Sjostrom, and I hope my line-ups can also serve as a bit of a foundation to seek out any more 1920s films you haven't yet!