Short Note

Jesse Walker has no top ten for 1921 because he hasn't seen enough films from that year. Fair enough, but if he were into comedy shorts (and Chaplin) it might not have been that hard.

Jesse mentions The High Sign, which is fine Keaton (though he put it on the shelf because he didn't think it was good enough to be his first release), but in 1921 Keaton released a short every two months, and they're all great: Hard Luck (Keaton's personal favorite, and thought lost for decades), The Haunted House, The Goat (my personal favorite), The Playhouse (famous for multiple Keatons) and The Boat (sometimes called his greatest short).

Harold Lloyd, who'd recovered from losing a few fingers, was making his last shorts in 1921.  There's Now Or Never, Among Those Present, I Do and what I think is his best short, Never Weaken.  He also made A Sailor-Made Man, which started as a short but was working so well they didn't want to cut it so became his first feature.

Then there's Chaplin, who made a short and a feature: The Idle Class and his classic The Kid.

Then there are other big names from the era.  1921 was the year Rudolph Valentino became a star with The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse and The Sheik.  Mary Pickford made a few films, including Little Lord Fauntleroy.  Douglas Fairbanks made a couple including his classic Three Musketeers. Griffith made Orphans Of The Storm while DeMille made The Affairs Of Anatol.  There's also Tol'able David and Brewster's Millions.  I admit these features aren't as commonly shown as Chaplin, Keaton or Lloyd, but they're out there.