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Silent Classics
The first three decades of cinema gave us some of the greatest films ever made, which had to tell their stories purely visually, giving us countless unforgettable images.
Thanks to excellent preservation and restoration efforts, these films are now available to watch in pristine condition, often with new scores by world renowned musicians.
The Passion of Joan of ArcThe Passion of Joan of Arc
Biopic 1928 80 minsSilentDirector: Carl Th. Dreyer
An incontestable masterpiece of silent cinema, Carl Dreyer's deeply moving biopic features one of the most powerful performances ever captured on film.
MetropolisMetropolis
Science Fiction 1927 150 minsSilentDirector: Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang’s expressionist, dystopian vision is one of the first science fiction feature films, and is arguably the most influential.
Battleship PotemkinBattleship Potemkin
Historical drama 1925 69 minsSilentDirector: Sergei M. Eisenstein
A fixture in the critical canon almost since its premiere, Eisenstein’s film about a 1905 naval mutiny was revolutionary in both form and content.
DecasiaDecasia
Documentary 2002 67 minsDirector: Bill Morrison
Decasia is an artful collage of found archival footage, shot pre-1950 on a cellulose nitrate base and most of it in advanced stages of decay.
London SymphonyLondon Symphony
Documentary 2017 72 minsDirector: Alex Barrett
A poetic journey through the capital, presenting an artistic snapshot of London as it stands today, and a celebration of its rich diversity of culture, architecture and religion.
BlancanievesBlancanieves
Drama 2011 105 minsDirector: Pablo Berger
Pablo Berger’s imaginative black-and-white ‘silent’ movie relocates the story of Snow White to 1920s Spain – complete with bullfighting dwarfs
Un Chien AndalouUn Chien Andalou
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1928 16 minsSilentDirector: Luis Buñuel
A scabrous study of desire, the subconscious and anti-clericalism - Buñuel and Dalí’s provocative first film is a classic of Surrealist cinema.
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Horror 1925 91 minsSilentDirector: Rupert Julian
'Man of a thousand faces' Lon Chaney stars in the first version of Gaston Leroux's oft-filmed novel.
NosferatuNosferatu
Horror 1922 89 minsSilentDirector: F.W. Murnau
This influential Dracula adaptation contains some of the most famous images of expressionist film, and remains shocking and stylish after 100 years.
The Lodger: A Story of the London FogThe Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
Crime 1926 91 minsSilentDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
Ivor Novello plays a strange lodger who may be behind a number of Jack the Ripper-style killings in Alfred Hitchcock’s silent thriller.
DownhillDownhill
Drama 1927 105 minsSilentDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock’s fifth film features an early variation on his fabled ‘wrong man’plot, as Ivor Novello stands accused of getting a girl pregnant.
The Battles of Coronel and Falkland IslandsThe Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands
War 1927 106 minsSilentDirector: Walter Summers
This dramatic reconstruction of two decisive naval battles from the First World War is one of the finest films of the British silent era.
The Birth of a NationThe Birth of a Nation
Historical drama 1915 191 minsSilentDirector: D.W. Griffith
D W Griffith's highly controversial and abhorrently racist, yet historically significant American silent epic about the American Civil War and its aftermath.
The Master of the HouseThe Master of the House
Drama 1925 107 minsSilentDirector: Carl Th. Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s richly detailed tragicomedy of domestic manners is by turns funny, intensely emotional and deeply affecting.
TurksibTurksib
Documentary 1929 75 minsSilentDirector: Viktor Turin
With bold and exhilarating flair, Turksib charts the monumental efforts to build a railway linking the regions of Turkestan and Siberia in 1920s USSR.
Shiraz: A Romance of IndiaShiraz: A Romance of India
Historical drama 1928 106 minsSilentDirector: Franz Osten
This epic silent film, telling the ravishing, romantic story behind the Taj Mahal, has been newly restored with a sumptuous new score from Anoushka Shankar.
A Cottage on DartmoorA Cottage on Dartmoor
Drama 1930 88 minsSilentDirector: Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith (Underground) directs this embroiled melodrama, a tale of love and revenge, shot on location on the bleak landscape of Dartmoor.
UndergroundUnderground
Romance 1928 93 minsSilentDirector: Anthony Asquith
The BFI National Archive restoration of one of Anthony Asquith's finest silent films set in London's Underground, with a new score.