silent film star

21 movies and shows

Babylon

Thu, 22 Dec 2022

A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, tracing the rise and fall of multiple characters in an era of unbridled decadence and depravity during Hollywood's transition from silent films to sound films in the late 1920s.

Sunset Boulevard

Thu, 10 Aug 1950

A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.

Singin' in the Rain

Thu, 10 Apr 1952

In 1927 Hollywood, a silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.

The Artist

Wed, 12 Oct 2011

Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

The Perils of Pauline

Fri, 04 Jul 1947

Funloving Pearl White, working in a garment sweatshop, gets her big chance when she "opens" for a delayed Shakespeare play...with a comic vaudeville performance. Her brief stage career leads her into those "horrible" moving pictures, where she comes to love the chaotic world of silent movies, becoming queen of the serials. But the consequences of movie stardom may be more than her leading man can take

The Great Buster: A Celebration

Fri, 05 Oct 2018

A celebration of the life and career of one of America's most influential and celebrated filmmakers and comedians—Buster Keaton—whose singular style and fertile output during the silent era created his legacy as a true cinematic visionary.

The Great Actor

Wed, 30 Mar 2016

A breakthrough opportunity comes when internationally - renowned director Park announces an open call for his new film, and Jang begins intense preparation for the role of his life.

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

Mon, 26 Jul 1976

A would-be filmmaker and actress shake up the industry with a trick dog who gets discovered by a studio bus driver in the 1920s.

The Comic

Wed, 19 Nov 1969

An account of the rise and fall of a silent film comic, Billy Bright. The movie begins with his funeral, as he speaks from beyond the grave in a bitter tone about his fate, and takes us through his fame, as he ruins it with womanizing and drink, and his fall, as a lonely, bitter old man unable to reconcile his life's disappointments. The movie is based loosely on the life of Buster Keaton.

Birth of the Tramp

Sun, 29 Dec 2013

A look back at Charlie Chaplin's early life and career, from his rough childhood and music hall success in England to his early Hollywood days and the development of his enormously popular character, the Little Tramp, also called Charlot.

Dreamboat

Sat, 26 Jul 1952

Thornton Sayre, a respected college professor - secretly formerly a silent films romantic action hero - is disturbed, feeling his privacy has been violated, and his professional credibility as a scholar jeopardized, when he learns his old movies have been resurrected and are being aired on TV. He sets out to demand this cease. However, his former co-star is the hostess of the TV show playing the films, and she has other plans.

You're My Everything

Fri, 22 Jul 1949

In 1924, stage-struck Boston blueblood Hannah Adams picks up musical star Tim O'Connor and takes him home for dinner. One thing leads to another, and when Tim's show rolls on to Chicago a new Mrs. O'Connor comes along as incompetent chorus girl. Hollywood beckons, and we follow the star careers of the O'Connor family in silents and talkies.

Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room

Wed, 05 Sep 2012

Documentary about an extraordinary lady, Diana Serra Cary (born Peggy-Jean Montgomery). In the early 1920s she was one of Hollywood's first major child stars, Baby Peggy.

Horror Europa with Mark Gatiss

Tue, 30 Oct 2012

Actor and writer Mark Gatiss embarks on a chilling journey through European horror cinema, from the silent nightmares of German Expressionism in the 1920s to the Belgian lesbian vampires in the 1970s, from the black-gloved killers of Italian bloody giallo cinema to the ghosts of the Spanish Civil War, and finally reveals how Europe's turbulent 20th century forged its ground-breaking horror tradition.

Character Studies

Sun, 20 Nov 1927

Carter DeHaven announces that he will perform a series of "impressions." For each we see him applying makeup and changing the combing of his hair or putting on a wig. When he tilts his head down during each supposed makeover, up pops the actual celebrity (Keaton, Lloyd, Arbuckle, Valentino, Fairbanks, Coogan) he appears to have been making himself up as.