5 Favorites #31: 5 Favorite Silent-Era Directors

Posted

June 21, 2011

Wesley Lovell

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Every week, we’ll pose a new “five favorites” question. You just list your five favorites that fit in that category (preferably in preference order) and you’re welcome to discuss and debate the selections and see just how much you do or do not have in common with others. If you want to take a look back at our past articles to comment or enjoy, here is a post set aside to track all of our articles.

Been asking for actors and performers a lot lately, so let’s do something a bit different and go for the best silent-era directors?

What are your 5 Favorite Silent-Era Directors?

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5 responses to “5 Favorites #31: 5 Favorite Silent-Era Directors”

Peter J Patrick

June 22, 2011

1. D.W. Griffith
2. F.W. Murnau
3. Frank Borzage
4. King Vidor
5. Josef von Sternberg

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Brian

June 22, 2011

It’s difficult for even the completist or obsessive to judge this era, as so many films are lost or are very hard to track down. But here’s five, from whose filmographies I’ve been able to see most or all of the major, surviving, silent-era work, and I respond strongly to:

F.W. Murnau
Yasujiro Ozu
Georges Méliès
Josef von Sternberg
Frank Borzage

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Mike Furlong

June 22, 2011

Interesting category:

1. F.W. Murnau
2. Buster Keaton
3. Charlie Chaplin
4. Fritz Lang
5. G.W. Pabst

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1. Mike Furlong
  
  June 22, 2011
  
  some runners up: Sergei Eisenstein, Carl Theodore Dreyer, Sam Taylor, Paul Leni, Erich von Stroheim, Cecil B. de Mille, D.W. Griffith, Joe May, Alan Dwan, Robert Weine, Benjamin Christiansen and V.I. Pudovkin. Wow, I like more than I thought I did.
  
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Mike Kelly

June 22, 2011

Tough category for me, as I haven’t seen that many silent films

Charles Chaplin
Buster Keaton
D.W. Griffith
F. W. Murnau

Don’t really have a fifth choice, but could pick Lang on the basis of Metropolis or von Stroheim for Greed or DeMille for his epics. Actually for keeping the traditions of silent film in his talking films I’d go with Jacques Tati.

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