Image: TMDB
About This Quiz
The Library of Congress estimates that 70% of all silent films have been lost. Considered the first major film movement, the silent film era lasted from 1895 to 1936. While these movies played with no recorded sound, techniques such as facial and body gestures, mime, and title cards delivered what a lack of dialogue did not. Do you consider yourself a fan of silent films? Take this quiz to see much you really know.
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Which film is this?
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)
Suspense
Mest’ kinematograficheskogo operatora (The Cameraman’s Revenge)
Mest’ kinematograficheskogo operatora (The Cameraman’s Revenge) is a tale of jealousy and infidelity, starring animated dead insects living in real-looking miniature sets! It was filmed by Polish-Russian animator Vladislav Starevich, who obviously was incredibly creative and had a wry sense of humor.
Foolish Wives
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Which film is this?
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (German: Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) is a 1920 German silent horror film that is considered to be the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema. This story is about the insane hypnotist, Dr. Caligari, who uses a somnambulist to commit murders.
The Water Magician
Sir Arne’s Treasure
Mighty like a Moose
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Which film is this?
La Sirène
Sherlock, Jr.
Sherlock, Jr. is an American silent comedy film released in 1924. In 1991, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry because it was "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In 2000, the American Film Institute ranked this film #62 in its list of the funniest films of all time.
Prästänkan (The Parson’s Widow)
Foolish Wives
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Which film is this?
Mighty like a Moose
Prästänkan (The Parson’s Widow)
Foolish Wives
The Crowd
The Crowd is a 1928 American silent film that shows the love between a man and woman in a large, impersonal metropolis. This film is an influential and famous feature that was nominated for the Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Production.
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Which film is this?
Un Chien Andalou
Un Chien Andalou is a 1929 silent surrealist short film created by the Spanish director Luis Buñuel and artist Salvador Dalí. This feature has no plot as we know it: the chronology of the film is disjointed, jumping from the "once upon a time" to "eight years later" without the events or characters really changing. The title means "An Andalusian Dog."
Flesh and the Devil
A Cottage on Dartmoor
Battling Butler
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Which film is this?
Gösta Berling's Saga (The Saga of Gosta Berling)
The Cook
Prästänkan (The Parson’s Widow)
Sunrise
Sunrise (also known as Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans) is a 1927 American silent romantic drama film that tells the story of a man fighting the good and evil inside him. He has to make a hard choice between a sophisticated woman he is attracted to and his wife.
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Which film is this?
Happiness
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Steamboat Bill, Jr. is a 1928 comedy silent film, featuring Buster Keaton. Even though it's not the best of Buster Keaton's silent features, it nonetheless contains some of Keaton's best and most famous sight gags.
The Last of the Mohicans
Gertie the Dinosaur
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Which film is this?
A Trip Down Market Street
The Boat
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Passion of Joan of Arc is widely regarded as a landmark of cinema for its production, Carl Theodor Dreyer's direction, and Renée Jeanne Falconetti's performance, which is often referred as one of the finest in cinema history. This silent French film was released in 1928 and is based on the actual record of the trial of Joan of Arc.
Il Fuoco (The Flame)
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Which film is this?
Umarete wa mita keredo (I Was Born, But…)
One of Yasujirō Ozu’s most popular films, I Was Born, But . . . is a story of the financial and psychological problems of one family, as told by two stubborn little boys. For two brothers, the daily struggles in school are nothing compared to the mortification they feel when they realize their kind and well-tempered father’s low social status.
The Nail in the Boot
Dragnet Girl
Il Fuoco (The Flame)
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Which film is this?
The Docks of New York
The Lodger: A Story of London Fog
Dans La Nuit (In the Night)
Our Hospitality
Our Hospitality is a silent comedy, directed by Buster Keaton. A man returns to his Appalachian homestead, where he falls in love with a young woman. The only problem is, her family hates him and vows to kill every member of his family.
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Which film is this?
He Who Gets Slapped
Based on the Russian play of the same name, He Who Gets Slapped is a 1924 American silent drama about a bitter clown who tries to rescue the young woman he loves. It was the first production that began filming for the recently formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
La Sirène
Foolish Wives
Dragnet Girl
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Which film is this?
Strike
Hard Luck
Jujiro (Crossroads, a.k.a. Crossways)
Also known as Crossroads, Crossways, Shadows of the Yoshiwara, or Slums of Tokyo, this silent Japanese drama was directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa and released in 1928.
Show People
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Which film is this?
Speedy
La Sortie de l’Usine (Workers Exiting the Factory)
Workers Exiting the Factory is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent documentary film, directed by Louis Lumière. It is widely known as the first real motion picture ever made, even though Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene was released 7 years earlier.
Terje Vigen (A Man There Was)
The Gold Rush
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Which film is this?
The Man Who Laughs
The Man Who Laughs is a 1928 American silent film, directed by the German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni. It's an adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel of the same name. It is often classified as a horror film, even though the critics prefer to call it a melodrama and mystery film.
The Cameraman
The Thief of Bagdad
The Gold Rush
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Which film is this?
L’Hirondelle et la Mésange (The Swallow and the Titmouse)
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)
The Thief of Bagdad
The General
The General is a 1926 American silent action-adventure-comedy that was made toward the end of the silent era. It was not well received by critics or the audience. It's an adaptation of the memoir, The Great Locomotive Chase, by William Pittenger.
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Which film is this?
Menilmontant
Ménilmontant is a 1926 silent film which does not contain any intertitles. It begins with a brutal murder of the parents of the protagonists, two girls. Surprisingly, the film uses many techniques that were new at the time, including double exposure. The film won many awards, such as the best acting award.
The Playhouse
The Great White Silence
Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora’s Box)
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Which film is this?
Hard Luck
Seven Chances
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) is a short silent horror film that tells the story of a brother and sister living under a family curse. It was inspired by the famous short story written by Edgar Allan Poe.
The Wind
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Which film is this?
The Last Laugh
The Scarecrow
The Scarecrow is a 1920 American short comedy film that runs only 19 minutes. It was written and directed by Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline. Both also act in the film, although Cline is uncredited.
L’Etoile de Mer (The Starfish)
The Last Command
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Which film is this?
The Playhouse
The Last Command
Show People
Metropolis
Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist science-fiction drama film, directed by Fritz Lang, who wrote it together with his wife. In a futuristic city strictly divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class girl who predicts the coming of a savior who will change everything.
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Which film is this?
A Page of Madness
A Page of Madness is a 1926 silent film made by Japanese film director Teinosuke Kinugasa. It was lost for forty-five years, then found in 1971. This film is the rare product of an avant-garde group of artists in Japan.
Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru (The Outlaw and His Wife)
There It Is
The Navigator
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Which film is this?
The Penalty
Panoramic View of the Morecambe Sea Front
1901's Morecambe Sea Front is an 'actual' - a popular kind of early everyday documentary that would have been made in a busy location, where the random locals and visitors were filmed. During the filming, people would have been made aware by other people shouting the news, or by a special poster that the film would be shown soon - often the same night or the following day - so they could then pay to go to a theater and see themselves appear on screen. This film was shown at the Morecambe Winter Gardens. These "actuals" were also shown in other parts of the country, or even abroad, to give an idea of life elsewhere.
The Immigrant
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
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Which film is this?
The High Sign
Diary of a Lost Girl
Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage
Faust (German: Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage) is a 1926 silent film that was the most technically elaborate and expensive production undertaken by UFA at that time. This old story is about God and Satan warring over earth. The demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul and destroy in him everything that is divine. If he succeeds, then Satan will finally win dominion over earth.
When the Clouds Roll By
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Which film is this?
A Child of the Big City
A Child of the Big City is a Russian silent version of a vamp movie, with a special touch that makes it different from all other stories about poor girls who fall in love with rich men. The film was released in 1914.
Safety Last
Intolerance
The Playhouse
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Which film is this?
Downhill
The High Sign
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
The Big Parade
The Big Parade (1925) is a famous, precedent-setting war film from the silent era. It's one of the early films that neither glorified war nor ignored its human cost. As the first realistic war drama, it has served ever since as an archetypal model and has heavily influenced other war films, especially All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).
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Which film is this?
The Man with a Movie Camera
Part documentary and part cinematic art, The Man with a Movie Camera follows a city in 1920s Soviet Union throughout the day, depicting the scenes of ordinary daily life in Russia.
The Penalty
Intolerance
Foolish Wives
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Which film is this?
The Navigator
München-Berlin Wanderung (Walking from Munich to Berlin)
Cops
Cops is a 1922 comedy short silent film about a young man, played by Buster Keaton, who accidentally gets on the bad side of the entire Los Angeles Police Department and is chased all over town. It was filmed during the rape-and-murder trial of Fatty Arbuckle, a fact that may have influenced the tone of the whole movie.
Big Business
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Which film is this?
The Sinking of the Lusitania
Finis terræ
Zvenigora
Greed
Greed is a 1924 American silent film, inspired by the 1899 Frank Norris novel, McTeague. Erich von Stroheim, the director of the film, shot more than 85 hours of footage and was obsessed with accuracy during the entire process. It was one of the few films of its time to be shot entirely on location.
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Which film is this?
One Week
Napoleon
In 1927, French filmmaker Abel Gance released his black-and-white silent masterpiece, Napoleon. It was an ambitious, technically innovative picture at that time. This epic film was written, produced, and directed by Abel Gance and tells the story of Napoleon's early years. Its full title is Napoléon vu par Abel Gance, meaning "Napoleon as seen by Abel Gance,"
Rotaie (Rails)
The President
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Which film is this?
City Lights
Maldone
The President
Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror
Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror is a 1922 German Expressionist horror film, inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula. Because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel, all the names and other details in the film were changed.
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Which film is this?
City Lights
City Lights was immediately successful when it was released in 1931, with positive reviews and box office receipts of $5 million. Today, the majority of critics consider this silent film not only the highest accomplishment of Charlie Chaplin's career, but also one of the greatest films of all time.
Big Business
The Sinking of the Lusitania
Finis terræ
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Which film is this?
One Week
Zvenigora
The President
The President is a 1928 German silent drama film, directed by Gennaro Righelli and starring Ivan Mozzhukhin, Nikolai Malikoff, and Suzy Vernon.
Rotaie (Rails)
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Which film is this?
Maldone
Misdeal (or Maldone in French) is a 1928 French silent drama film, directed by Jean Grémillon. It's a story of Maldone, a canal worker, happy with his life, who falls in love with Zita, a young gypsy girl.
Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror
The President
Greed
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Which film is this?
The Man with a Movie Camera
Cops
Greed
Rotaie
The film was released as a silent picture in 1929 and re-released in a 'sonorized' version later. As a late silent, Rotaie bears witness to the social changes and intense atmosphere of that time. The title means "Rails" in English.
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Which film is this?
The Big Parade
One Week
One Week is a 1920 American short comedy film, starring comedian Buster Keaton. It was the first film Keaton made by himself. The film is about two newlyweds who receive a build-it-yourself house that can be supposedly built in "one week" as a wedding gift.
A Child of the Big City
Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage (Faust)
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Which film is this?
Zvenigora
Zvenigora (1928) is a silent movie that belongs to early Soviet cinema. This is an epic picture that mixes together Ukrainian history and legends, realism and myth.
The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna
Panoramic View of the Morecambe Sea Front
A Page of Madness
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Which film is this?
H2O
The Scarecrow
Metropolis
Finis Terrae
Finis Terræ is a 1929 French silent drama film, shot in a documentary-like style, with local non-actors in all roles and frequent handheld camerawork. The director of the movie, Jean Epstein, often experiments with slow motion footage.
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Which film is this?
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Sinking of Lusitania
The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918) is a silent animated short film, created by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. It runs 12 minutes and has been called the longest work of animation at the time of its release.
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
Menilmontant
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Which film is this?
Mighty like a Moose
Big Business
Big Business is a 1929 short silent Laurel and Hardy comedy film, directed by James W. Horne. The whole film is largely about tit-for-tat vandalism between Laurel and Hardy, starring as a Christmas tree salesmen and the man who doesn't like them.
Sir Arne’s Treasure
Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage (Faust)
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Which film is this?
Downhill
Downhill is a 1927 British silent drama film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This story is about rich boys who study at an expensive English boarding school, their ups and downs, their problems, and their moments of happiness. The American alternative title for this film is When Boys Leave Home.
A Page of Madness
He Who Gets Slapped
Our Hospitality
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Which film is this?
The Passion of Joan of Arc
I Was Born, But…
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Intolerance
Intolerance (1916) is widely regarded as one of the great masterpieces of the silent era, as well as one of the first art films. It's a three-and-a-half-hour epic story that has four parallel storylines.
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Which film is this?
Sunrise
Un Chien Andalou
A Page of Madness
Safety Last!
Safety Last! is a 1923 romantic comedy silent film starring Harold Lloyd. The film was highly successful and critically hailed, and it's still well-known today as one of the greatest classic film comedies of all time. It includes the famous image: Lloyd clutching the hands of a large clock as he dangles from the outside of a skyscraper.
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Which film is this?
The Crowd
When the Clouds Roll By
When the Clouds Roll By is a 1919 American silent comedy film, starring Douglas Fairbanks. A copy of the film exists in an archive.
Sherlock, Jr.
Safety Last!
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Which film is this?
Diary of a Lost Girl
Diary of a Lost Girl (German: Tagebuch einer Verlorenen) is a 1929 silent film starring famous American silent actress Louise Brooks. It is shot in black and white and there are multiple versions of the film, ranging from 79 minutes to 116 minutes in length.
The General
The Boat
Il Fuoco (The Flame)
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Which film is this?
The Nail in the Boot
Dragnet Girl
The High Sign
The High Sign is a 1921 American silent comedy film, starring famous comedian Buster Keaton. Although One Week (1920) was the first of Keaton's independent shorts to be released, The High Sign was the first one he made. Keaton himself rejected and suppressed this first film as insufficiently original, holding up release for a year.
The Lodger: A Story of London Fog
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Which film is this?
Dans La Nuit (In the Night)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
The Docks of New York
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a 1926 German animated fairytale film, based on stories taken from One Thousand and One Nights. The Adventures of Prince Achmed features a silhouette animation technique its director had invented. It involves manipulated cutouts made from cardboard and thin sheets of lead under a camera.
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Which film is this?
The Battleship Potemkin
The Immigrant
The Immigrant is a 1917 American silent romantic comedy short, starring Charlie Chaplin as an immigrant who just came to the United States. It's considered to be one of Chaplin’s finest short films and one of his personal favorites.
Strike
Hard Luck
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Which film is this?
Show People
Sir Arne’s Treasure
The Penalty
The Penalty is a 1920 American crime film. It's an extraordinary story about a double amputee criminal mastermind who plans to take over San Francisco with a gang of anarchists.
Terje Vigen (A Man There Was)
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Which film is this?
The Navigator
The Navigator is a 1924 comedy, directed by and starring Buster Keaton. After the disappointing reception of Sherlock, Jr., Keaton and his production team's hopes were low and they were looking for a project that would be both exciting and 100% successful when they stumbled upon this story.
The Gold Rush
The Cameraman
The Thief of Bagdad
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You Got:
/48
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