Silents, Please

I wasn't sure if he was gonna do it, but Jesse Walker has reached back to 1928 for his top ten films list. It's a transitional year, with sound coming in but silent films still the main thing. On the other hand, most years in the 1920s don't seem that hard to deal with, since you've generally got a Buster Keaton film or two, a Harold Lloyd film or two, and maybe a Chaplin--plus Laurel and Hardy (if you're doing shorts), Harry Langdon, and other clowns. Throw in a von Stroheim or a Murnau and a Russian or two and you're mostly done.

This isn't so far from what Jesse has. First, though, he plays the clowns a bit differently. He puts There It Is at #1. This is a funny and very bizarre short from Charley Bowers that beats the surrealists at their own game. On the other hand, the Keaton classic Steamboat Bill, Jr. makes the list, but not the other top-tier Keaton feature from 1928, The Cameraman. (For that matter, Steamboat Willie didn't make the list.) Harold Lloyd's last silent feature, Speedy, is also there, but where's Chaplin's The Circus? Actually, I know how Jesse feels about Chaplin, so I'm not surprised.

Also on the list are two versions of The Fall Of The House Of Usher and several highly regarded silent films. Most deserve to be there. But there were some other decent Hollywood offerings that might have sneaked in. There's A Girl In Every Port from Howard Hawks, The Crowd from King Vidor, The Matinee Idol from Frank Capra, The Wedding March from Erich von Stroheim, and a bunch of delightful shorts from Laurel & Hardy. (There are also a number of popular films from Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford, Emil Jannings and other stars of the day which are still fun to watch.)