The MoFo Top 50 Pre-1930 Countdown: The List

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A BIG thank you to Chyp for hosting this! You did one helluva rock solid job, cool presentation and always on time. I enjoyed it!...I'm SO glad you championed a Pre 30s Top Countdown, it was needed. Without you we might never have even done this, and for your support of this countdown I'm grateful.



metropolis is sick, i had it at #3

1. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
2. The Last Laugh (1924)
3. Metropolis (1927)
4. Sunrise (1927)
5. Faust (1926)
6. The General (1926)
7. Sherlock Jr. (1924)
8. The Gold Rush (1925)
9. The Docks of New York (1928)
10. Safety Last! (1923)
11. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
12. A Dog's Life (1918)
13. The Lodger (1927)
14. Lonesome (1928)
15. Un Chien Andalou (1929)
16. Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)
17. The Immigrant (1917)
18. Blackmail (1929)
19. A Trip to the Moon (1902)
20. The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
21. They Had to See Paris (1929)
22. Humoruos Phases of Funny Faces (1906)
23. The King of Kings (1927)
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  1. Sunrise (1927) (3)
  2. Pandora's Box (1929) (17)
  3. Gold Rush (1925) (4)
  4. The Unknown (1927) (28)
  5. Chang A Drama of the Wilderness (1927)
  6. Metropolis (1927) (1)
  7. A Trip to the Moon (1902) (16)
  8. HAXAN (1922) (25)
  9. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) (6)
  10. The Phantom of the Opera (1925) (19
  11. Nanook of the North (1922) (35)
  12. Intolerance (1916) (21)
  13. The Imigrant (1917)
  14. A Dog's Life (1918)(39)
  15. Birth of a Nation (1915) (38)
  16. Nosferatu (1922) (7)
  17. The Lodger (1927) (20)
  18. The Last of the Mohicans (1920)
  19. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) (5)
  20. Tillies Punctured Romance (1914)
  21. The Viking (1928)
  22. Broken Blossums (1919) (34)
  23. An Impossible Voyage (1904)
  24. Run Girl Run (1928)
So eight of my films didn't make the cut...here they are.











Fun list follow. Metropolis would have been my #1. If I am honest I wasn't looking forward to a three hour silent sci-fi. It blew me away with how engaging it was. Really fun visuals. Great fulm.
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Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Great job with the countdown, Chypmunk.

This was my full list, all of the top three were on there:

1. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
2. Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
3. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
4. Safety Last! (1923)
5. Orphans of the Storm (1921)
6. Mikael (1924)
7. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920)
8. The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen) (1921)
9. The General (1926)
10. Way Down East (1920)
11. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
12. A Trip to the Moon (1902)
13. The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912)
14. It (1927)
15. Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
16. Broken Blossoms (1919)
17. Metropolis (1927)
18. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
19. Nosferatu (1922)
20. Greed (1924)
21. The Passion of Joan of arc (1928)
22. Pandora’s Box (1929)
23. The Last Laugh (1924)
24. The Arrival of a Train (1896)
25. The Big Swallow (1901)

Seen 30/50 overall.



Metropolis was my #1. One of the most incredible movies ever made, and the godfather of all science fiction movies. When they show us the outside of the city with the airplanes and the long highways cutting through the sky, you can see the blueprint for films such as Blade Runner or even Star Wars. The stated theme can be a little corny but the overriding theme of technology, how it can be used both to keep us alive and be used to divide the classes and oppress the less fortunate still resonates today. There's a certain irony to the scene where they try to burn Maria at the stake, overcome with centuries old superstition, only for the fire to reveal it's the "machine-man" of the future. I love when it goes all surreal, with the trippy dancing Maria robot and the lustful workers and the delusions of Freder. Great stuff.


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I may go back to hating you. It was more fun.



Qualified but off the list

39 points
The Big Parade (King Vidor, 1925) - 4 lists (11, 17, 18, 19)
The Docks of New York (Josef von Sternberg, 1928) - 2 lists (4, 9)
Napoleon [Napoléon vu par Abel Gance] (Abel Gance, 1927) - 2 lists (5, 8)

37 points
Laugh, Clown, Laugh (Herbert Brenon, 1928) - 4 lists (8, 17, 21, 21)
The Thief of Bagdad (Raoul Walsh, 1924) - 4 lists (10, 12, 20, 25)
The Lost World (Harry O. Hoyt, 1925) - 4 lists (12, 14, 17, 24)

36 points
The Immigrant (Charles Chaplin, 1917) - 3 lists (11, 14, 17)
Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge [Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache] (Fritz Lang, 1924) - 2 lists (5, 11)

35 points
Speedy (Ted Wilde, 1928) - 3 lists (13, 14, 16)

34 points
The Doll [Die Puppe] (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919) - 3 lists (12, 14, 18)
Asphalt (Joe May, 1929) - 2 lists (2, 16)
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler [Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler] (Fritz Lang, 1922) - 2 lists (4, 14)

33 points
One Week (Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton, 1920) - 2 lists (8, 11)
The Jazz Singer (Alan Crosland, 1927) - 2 lists (9, 10)

29 points
The Beloved Rogue (Alan Crosland, 1927) - 2 lists (3, 20)
The Kid Brother (Ted Wilde, 1927) - 2 lists (6, 17)

27 points
Ben Hur: A Tale Of The Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925) - 2 lists (3, 22)




Honourable mentions

25 points
Judex (Louis Feuillade, 1916) - 1 list (1)

24 points
The Freshman (Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, 1925) - 3 lists (9, 21, 24)
The Cameraman's Revenge (Wladyslaw Starewicz, 1912) - 3 lists (13, 18, 23)
The Penalty (Wallace Worsley, 1920) - 2 lists (9, 19)

23 points
The Broadway Melody (Harry Beaumont, 1929) - 2 lists (4, 25)
Show People (King Vidor, 1928) - 2 lists (6, 23)

22 points
The Great White Silence (Herbert G. Ponting, 1924) - 2 lists (7, 23)
Mighty Like a Moose (Leo McCarey, 1926) - 1 list (4)
The Black Pirate (Albert Parker, 1926) - 1 list (4)

21 points
Flesh and the Devil (Clarence Brown, 1926) - 2 lists (10, 21)
Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1927) - 1 list (5)
Orphans of the Storm (D.W. Griffith, 1921) - 1 list (5)

20 points
The Navigator (Donald Crisp & Buster Keaton, 1924) - 2 lists (12, 20)
Michael [Mikael] (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1924) - 1 list (6)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Rex Ingram, 1921) - 1 list (6)

19 points
Battling Butler (Buster Keaton, 1926) - 1 list (7)
Shoes (Lois Weber, 1916) - 1 list (7)
The Son of the Sheik (George Fitzmaurice, 1926) - 1 list (7)

18 points
Lonesome (Pál Fejös, 1928) - 2 lists (14, 20)
Ballet mécanique (Fernand Léger, 1924) - 2 lists (16, 18)
The Epic of Everest (J.B.L. Noel, 1924) - 1 list (8)

17 points
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (Fritz Lang, 1924) - 1 list (9)
Frankenstein (J. Searle Dawley, 1910) - 1 list (9)
The Cocoanuts (Robert Florey & Joseph Santley, 1929) - 1 list (9)
The Iron Horse (John Ford, 1924) - 1 list (9)
When the Clouds Roll By (Victor Fleming, 1919) - 1 list (9)

16 points
A Man There Was [Terje Vigen] (Victor Sjöström, 1917) - 1 list (10)
Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics aka Little Nemo (Winsor McCay & J. Stuart Blackton, 1911) - 1 list (10)
Sallie Gardner at a Gallop (Eadweard Muybridge, 1878) - 1 list (10)
The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra (Robert Florey & Slavko Vorkapich, 1928) - 1 list (10)
The Seashell and the Clergyman [La coquille et le clergyman] (Germaine Dulac, 1928) - 1 list (10)
The Sheik (George Melford, 1921) - 1 list (10)

15 points
A Page of Madness [Kurutta ippêji] (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926) - 1 list (11)
A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (Charles Chaplin, 1923) - 1 list (11)
Monkeyshines No. 1 (William K.L. Dickson & William Heise, 1890) - 1 list (11)
The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch, 1929) - 1 list (11)

14 points
The Big Swallow (James Williamson, 1901) - 2 lists (13, 25)
Seven Chances (Buster Keaton, 1925) - 2 lists (14, 24)
October (Ten Days that Shook the World) [Oktyabr] (Grigoriy Aleksandrov & Sergei M. Eisenstein, 1927) - 2 lists (19, 19)
Help! [Au Secours!] (Abel Gance, 1924) - 1 list (12)
Homecoming [Heimkehr] (Joe May, 1928) - 1 list (12)
The Kiss (William Heise, 1896) - 1 list (12)
The Red Spectre [Le spectre rouge] (Segundo de Chomón & Ferdinand Zecca, 1907) - 1 list (12)

13 points
Variety [Varieté] (Ewald André Dupont, 1925) - 2 lists (17, 22)
The Mark of Zorro (Fred Niblo, 1920) - 2 lists (19, 20)
Lucky Star (Frank Borzage, 1929) - 1 list (13)
Strike [Stachka] (Sergei M. Eisenstein, 1925) - 1 list (13)
The Starfish [L'étoile de mer] (Man Ray, 1928) - 1 list (13)

12 points
Alice in Wonderland (Cecil M. Hepworth & Percy Stow, 1903) - 1 list (14)
An Extraordinary Wrestling Match [Luttes extravagantes] (Georges Méliès, 1899) - 1 list (14)
Beau Geste (Herbert Brenon, 1926) - 1 list (14)
Fragment of an Empire [Oblomok imperii] (Fridrikh Ermier, 1929) - 1 list (14)
The Gay Shoe Clerk (Edwin S. Porter, 1903) - 1 list (14)
The Unholy Three (Tod Browning, 1925) - 1 list (14)

11 points
The Arrival of a Train [L'arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat] (Auguste Lumière & Louis Lumière, 1896) - 2 lists (17, 24)
Our Hospitality (John G. Blystone & Buster Keaton, 1923) - 2 lists (18, 23)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (John S. Robertson, 1920) - 2 lists (20, 21)
Hyas and Stenorhynchus, marine crustaceans [Hyas et stenorinques] (Jean Painlevé, 1929) - 2 lists (20, 21)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Stuart Paton, 1916) - 1 list (15)
Cinderella [Aschenputtel] (Lotte Reiniger, 1922) - 1 list (15)
Eveready Harton in Buried Treasure (E. Hardon, 1929) - 1 list (15)
Never Weaken (Fred C. Newmeyer, 1921) - 1 list (15)
The Moon at One Metre [La lune à un mètre] (Georges Méliès, 1898) - 1 list (15)

10 points
Sadie Thompson (Raoul Walsh, 1928) - 2 lists (18, 24)
The Fall of the House of Usher [La chute de la maison Usher] (Jean Epstein, 1928) - 2 lists (18, 24)
Seven Years Bad Luck (Max Linder, 1921) - 1 list (16)
Sex in Chains [Geschlecht in Fesseln] (William Dieterle, 1928) - 1 list (16)
The Land Beyond the Sunset (Harold M. Shaw, 1912) - 1 list (16)
The Scarlet Letter (Victor Sjöström, 1926) - 1 list (16)

9 points
A Girl in Every Port (Howard Hawks, 1928) - 1 list (17)
Destiny [Der müde Tod] (Fritz Lang, 1921) - 1 list (17)
The House of the Devil [Le manoir du diable] (Georges Méliès, 1896) - 1 list (17)
The Matrimaniac (Paul Powell, 1916) - 1 list (17)

8 points
The Golem [Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam] (Carl Boese & Paul Wegener, 1920) - 2 lists (21, 23)
Caicedo (with pole) (William K.L. Dickson, 1894) - 1 list (18)

7 points
Stella Dallas (Henry King, 1925) - 2 lists (22, 23)
The Fall of the House of Usher (James Sibley Watson & Melville Webber, 1928) - 1 list (19)
The Last of the Mohicans (Clarence Brown & Maurice Tourneur, 1920) - 1 list (19)
Where Are My Children? (Phillips Smalley & Lois Weber, 1916) - 1 list (19)

6 points
Barque sortant du port (Louis Lumière, 1895) - 1 list (20)
Cops (Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton, 1922) - 1 list (20)
The Dragonfly and the Ant (Wladyslaw Starewicz, 1913) - 1 list (20)

5 points
The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927) - 2 lists (23, 24)
College (James W. Horne, 1927) - 1 list (21)
Edison Kinetoscope Record of a Sneeze (William K.L. Dickson, 1894) - 1 list (21)
Neighbors (Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton, 1920) - 1 list (21)
Our Dancing Daughters (Harry Beaumont, 1928) - 1 list (21)
The Insects' Christmas [Rozhdestvo obitateley lesa] (Wladyslaw Starewicz, 1913) - 1 list (21)
The Play House (Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton, 1921) - 1 list (21)
They Had to See Paris (Frank Borzage, 1929) - 1 list (21)
Tillie's Punctured Romance (Mack Sennett, 1924) - 1 list (21)

4 points
Applause (Rouben Mamoulian, 1929) - 1 list (22)
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City [Berlin - Die Sinfonie der Großstadt] (Walter Ruttmann, 1927) - 1 list (22)
Humoruos Phases of Funny Faces (J. Stuart Blackton, 1906) - 1 list (22)
Max's Vacation [Les vacances de Max] (Max Linder, 1914) - 1 list (22)
Roundhay Garden Scene (Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, 1888) - 1 list (22)
The Invaders (Francis Ford & Thomas H. Ince, 1912) - 1 list (22)
The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1923) - 1 list (22)
The Viking (Roy William Neill, 1928) - 1 list (22)

3 points
Hell's Hinges (Charles Swickard, 1916) - 1 list (23)
Kid Auto Races at Venice (Henry Lehrman, 1914) - 1 list (23)
Les Vampires (Louis Feuillade, 1915) - 1 list (23)
Passage de Venus (P.J.C. Janssen, 1874) - 1 list (23)
The Black Imp [Le diable noir] (Georges Méliès, 1905) - 1 list (23)
The Winning of Barbara Worth (Henry King, 1926) - 1 list (23)

2 points
The Impossible Voyage [Le voyage à travers l'impossible] (Georges Méliès, 1904) - 1 list (24)
Body and Soul (Oscar Micheaux, 1925) - 1 list (24)
Child Bringing Bouquet to Woman (Eadweard Muybridge, 1887) - 1 list (24)
Madame DuBarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919) - 1 list (24)
The Story of the Kelly Gang (Charles Tait, 1906) - 1 list (24)
Three Ages (Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton, 1923) - 1 list (24)
You're Darn Tootin' (Edgar Kennedy, 1928) - 1 list (24)

1 point
Here



Had time so above is up ahead of schedule, hopefully no typos but I'll not be checking as I've now gone boss-eyed

A big thank you to all those that participated both in the countdown and the thread - really couldn't have done it without you



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Really interesting to see all the nominated movies. I'm surprised I was the only person to vote for Orphans of the Storm. Shame The Cameraman's Revenge didn't make it into the top 50



I sent in a partial because I really haven’t seen much pre-1930. I didn’t finish Metropolis in time though I’ve seen like an hour of it and really liked it. A shame. The General, however, as you can see, was my #2. Love it. Amazing Keaton flick.


1. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
2. The General (1927)
3. Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
4. The Circus (1928)
5. The Gold Rush (1925)
6. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1921)
7. A Dog’s Life (1919)
8. The Kid (1922)
9. Frankenstein (1910)
10. The Skeleton Dance (1929)
11. The Great Train Robbery (1903)
12. A Trip to the Moon (1906)
13. The Cameraman (1929)
14. Seven Chances (1925)
15. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)

And Chyp you did an amazing job man! Rarely seen someone be so on point about the postings. Consistent and well presented. I like it.



Cameraman's Revenge was my #18, very bizarre film but I liked it!
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If I had voted, this would likely have been my #2 or #3.
And that would have been enough for it to make the countdown proper.



ENTRY NOSTROMO



10. The Thief Of Bagdad (1924)
9. Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)
8. Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
7. Metropolis (1927)
6. Nosferatu (1922)



5. Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924)
4. The Black Pirate (1926)
3. The Phantom Of The Opera (1925)
2. He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
1. The Unknown (1927)

Whilst I've seen more of these "silents," I chose ones I'd enjoy if I watched them NOW!

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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
This was really great!! I'm so glad we got this to happen and THANK YOU @Chypmunk for Hosting and doing an amazing job of it!!
Really love the extra lists of where the ones that didn't make the list, landed. VERY cool!

I had The General at #2 and Metropolis at #4. Since this the end, I won't bore everyone with what I wrote about them and simply add my final NO SHOW which was Laugh, Clown Laugh.

MY LIST: Seen 24 out of 50 (48%)
1) The Kid (#10)
2) The General
3) The Beloved Rogue (No Show)
4) Metropolis
5) 3 Bad Men (#30)
6) 7th Heaven (#32)
7) The Phantom of the Opera (#19)
8) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (#41)
9) Nosferatu (#7)
10) Sherlock Jr (#8)
11) Charlie Chaplin - The Immigrant (No Show)
12) Pandora's Box (#17)
13) It (#27)
14) A Dog's Life (#39)
15) The Lodger (#20)
16) The Man Who Laughs (#48)
17) Laugh, Clown, Laugh (No Show)
18) HE Who Gets Slapped (#23)
19) Faust (#14)
20) The Mark of Zorro (No Show)
21) Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (No Show)

22) Underworld (#47)
24) The Adventures of Prince Achmed (#26)
25) The Iron Mask (One Pointer)
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Here's my full ballot...

1. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (#3)
2. Metropolis (#1)
3. Greed (#15)
4. The Docks of New York (DNP)
5. Un Chien Andalou (#13)
6. The General (#2)
7. Noseferatu (#7)
8. Safety Last (#11)
9. Pandora's Box (#17)
10. Man with a Movie Camera (#12)
11. Battleship Potemkin (#9)
12. Sherlock Jr. (#8)
14. Broken Blossoms (#35)
15. Intolerance (#21)
16. The Crowd (#29)
17. Variety (DNP)
18. Our Hospitality (DNP)
19. Underworld (#47)
20. The Lodger (#20)
21. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (#5)
22. The Last Laugh (#40)
23. The Phantom Carriage (#18)
24. He Who Gets Slapped (#23)
25. 3 Bad Men (#30)


Only three of mine did not place: Von Stroheim's The Docks of New York (1928), Ewald Andre Dupont's Variety, and Buster Keaton's Our Hospitality (1923).
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