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Best Movies of the 1920s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
418 films from the 1920s are in our catalog; the 100 best are ranked below. Top of the list is Man with a Movie Camera ('1929), at 8.3 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.7. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Battleship Potemkin, 7.9 on IMDb against 97 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man with a Movie Camera '1929 | Documentary | 8.3 | 98% | 96 | 7.8 | Dziga Vertov |
| 2 | Metropolis '1927 | Drama / Sci-Fi | 8.2 | 97% | 98 | 8.1 | Fritz Lang |
| 3 | The Kid '1921 | Comedy / Drama | 8.2 | 100% | - | 8.1 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 4 | The General '1926 | Comedy / War / Romance | 8.1 | 92% | - | 7.9 | Clyde Bruckman |
| 5 | The Gold Rush '1925 | Comedy / Drama | 8.1 | 98% | 90 | 8.0 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 6 | The Passion of Joan of Arc '1928 | Drama | 8.1 | 98% | 98 | 8.0 | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
| 7 | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans '1927 | Drama / Romance | 8.1 | 98% | 95 | 7.8 | F. W. Murnau |
| 8 | Sherlock Jr. '1924 | Action / Comedy / Mystery | 8.1 | 87% | - | 8.0 | Buster Keaton |
| 9 | The Circus '1928 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 8.1 | 97% | 90 | 7.9 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 10 | Napoleon '1927 | Drama / War | 8.2 | 87% | - | 7.9 | Abel Gance |
| 11 | Faust '1926 | Fantasy / Drama / Horror | 8.1 | 91% | - | 7.9 | F. W. Murnau |
| 12 | The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari '1920 | Drama / Horror / Thriller / Crime | 8.0 | 96% | - | 7.9 | Robert Wiene |
| 13 | Safety Last! '1923 | Comedy / Romance / Thriller | 8.1 | 97% | - | 7.7 | Fred C. Newmeyer |
| 14 | The Crowd '1928 | Drama / Romance | 8.1 | 96% | - | 7.6 | King Vidor |
| 15 | One Week '1920 | Comedy | 8.1 | 100% | - | 7.9 | Buster Keaton |
| 16 | The Cameraman '1928 | Comedy / Romance / Drama | 8.0 | 100% | - | 7.8 | Edward Sedgwick |
| 17 | The Last Laugh '1924 | Drama | 8.0 | 100% | - | 7.8 | F. W. Murnau |
| 18 | The Phantom Carriage '1921 | Drama / Fantasy / Horror | 8.0 | 100% | - | 7.7 | Victor Sjöström |
| 19 | Battleship Potemkin '1925 | Drama / War | 7.9 | 100% | 97 | 7.6 | Sergei Eisenstein |
| 20 | Die Nibelungen: Siegfried '1924 | Drama / Fantasy | 8.1 | 93% | - | 7.7 | Fritz Lang |
| 21 | Greed '1924 | Drama / Crime | 8.0 | 96% | - | 7.3 | Erich von Stroheim |
| 22 | The Wind '1928 | Drama / Western / Romance / Thriller | 8.0 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Victor Sjöström |
| 23 | Nosferatu '1922 | Horror / Fantasy | 7.8 | 97% | - | 7.7 | F. W. Murnau |
| 24 | Steamboat Bill, Jr. '1928 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 96% | - | 7.6 | Charles Reisner |
| 25 | The Adventures of Prince Achmed '1926 | Animation / Fantasy / Romance | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Lotte Reiniger |
| 26 | The Big Parade '1925 | Romance / War / Drama | 7.9 | 100% | - | 7.6 | King Vidor |
| 27 | The Last Command '1928 | Drama / War | 7.9 | 95% | - | 7.4 | Josef von Sternberg |
| 28 | Seven Chances '1925 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 94% | - | 7.5 | Buster Keaton |
| 29 | Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge '1924 | Drama / Fantasy | 7.9 | 89% | - | 7.6 | Fritz Lang |
| 30 | Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ '1925 | Drama / Romance / Action | 7.8 | 96% | - | 7.3 | Fred Niblo |
| 31 | Pandora's Box '1929 | Drama / Crime / Romance | 7.7 | 93% | - | 7.4 | G.W. Pabst |
| 32 | Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler '1922 | Crime / Thriller | 7.8 | 94% | - | 7.7 | Fritz Lang |
| 33 | Diary of a Lost Girl '1929 | Drama | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.3 | G.W. Pabst |
| 34 | The Unknown '1927 | Thriller / Romance / Horror | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Tod Browning |
| 35 | Un Chien Andalou '1929 | Fantasy / Thriller / Horror | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.4 | Luis Buñuel |
| 36 | The Thief of Bagdad '1924 | Romance / Fantasy | 7.7 | 97% | - | 7.3 | Raoul Walsh |
| 37 | Ménilmontant '1926 | Drama | 7.8 | - | - | 7.4 | Dimitri Kirsanoff |
| 38 | Our Hospitality '1923 | Comedy / Romance / Thriller | 7.7 | 97% | - | 7.5 | John G. Blystone |
| 39 | The Scarecrow '1920 | Comedy | 7.8 | - | - | 7.4 | Edward F. Cline |
| 40 | The Man Who Laughs '1928 | Drama / Romance / Horror | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Paul Leni |
| 41 | Häxan '1922 | Documentary / Horror | 7.6 | 93% | - | 7.6 | Benjamin Christensen |
| 42 | The Goat '1921 | Comedy | 7.7 | - | - | 7.2 | Malcolm St. Clair |
| 43 | He Who Gets Slapped '1924 | Drama / Thriller / Romance | 7.7 | - | - | 7.5 | Victor Sjöström |
| 44 | Nanook of the North '1922 | Documentary / Drama | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Robert Flaherty |
| 45 | Strike '1925 | Drama | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.4 | Sergei Eisenstein |
| 46 | Flesh and the Devil '1926 | Drama / Romance | 7.6 | 94% | - | 7.2 | Clarence Brown |
| 47 | The Skeleton Dance '1929 | Animation / Musical / Comedy / Horror | 7.6 | - | - | 7.4 | Walt Disney |
| 48 | Destiny '1921 | Drama / Fantasy / Thriller | 7.6 | 79% | - | 7.4 | Fritz Lang |
| 49 | Lonesome '1928 | Romance / Drama | 7.7 | 71% | - | 7.5 | Pál Fejős |
| 50 | The Phantom of the Opera '1925 | Horror | 7.5 | 90% | - | 7.1 | Rupert Julian |
| 51 | Wings '1927 | Drama / Action / War / Romance | 7.5 | 94% | 78 | 7.2 | William A. Wellman |
| 52 | Speedy '1928 | Comedy / Action | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Ted Wilde |
| 53 | The Kid Brother '1927 | Comedy / Drama | 7.6 | 92% | - | 6.9 | Ted Wilde |
| 54 | Berlin: Symphony of a Great City '1927 | Documentary | 7.6 | 86% | - | 7.5 | Walter Ruttmann |
| 55 | Show People '1928 | Comedy / Romance | 7.6 | 92% | - | 7.1 | King Vidor |
| 56 | The Great White Silence '1924 | Documentary | 7.9 | - | - | 7.8 | Herbert G. Ponting |
| 57 | The Navigator '1924 | Comedy / Action / Romance | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Buster Keaton |
| 58 | Girl Shy '1924 | Comedy / Romance | 7.6 | - | - | 6.9 | Fred C. Newmeyer |
| 59 | Neighbors '1920 | Comedy / Romance | 7.6 | - | - | 7.1 | Buster Keaton |
| 60 | The Docks of New York '1928 | Drama / Romance | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.0 | Josef von Sternberg |
| 61 | Big Business '1929 | Comedy | 7.6 | - | - | 6.7 | James W. Horne |
| 62 | Cops '1922 | Comedy | 7.6 | - | - | 7.2 | Edward F. Cline |
| 63 | Spies '1928 | Thriller / Romance | 7.5 | 95% | - | 7.3 | Fritz Lang |
| 64 | The Freshman '1925 | Comedy / Romance | 7.5 | 95% | - | 7.0 | Sam Taylor |
| 65 | The High Sign '1921 | Crime / Comedy | 7.6 | - | - | 7.1 | Edward F. Cline |
| 66 | 7th Heaven '1927 | Drama / Romance | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Frank Borzage |
| 67 | Steamboat Willie '1928 | Animation / Comedy | 7.4 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Walt Disney |
| 68 | October (Ten Days that Shook the World) '1928 | Drama | 7.4 | 92% | - | 6.9 | Sergei Eisenstein |
| 69 | Underworld '1927 | Drama / Crime / Romance | 7.5 | 90% | - | 7.1 | Josef von Sternberg |
| 70 | The Patsy '1928 | Comedy / Romance / Drama | 7.5 | 100% | - | 6.8 | King Vidor |
| 71 | The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg '1928 | Drama / Romance | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.2 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 72 | Laugh, Clown, Laugh '1928 | Drama | 7.5 | - | - | 7.4 | Herbert Brenon |
| 73 | For Heaven's Sake '1926 | Comedy / Action | 7.5 | - | - | 6.9 | Sam Taylor |
| 74 | The Scarlet Letter '1927 | Drama | 7.6 | - | - | 7.1 | Victor Sjöström |
| 75 | By the Law '1926 | Drama | 7.6 | - | - | 6.6 | Lev Kuleshov |
| 76 | Mother '1926 | Drama | 7.4 | - | - | 7.1 | Vsevolod Pudovkin |
| 77 | 3 Bad Men '1926 | Romance / Western | 7.5 | - | - | 6.9 | John Ford |
| 78 | The Play House '1921 | Comedy / Fantasy | 7.4 | - | - | 6.9 | Buster Keaton |
| 79 | The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog '1927 | Crime / Thriller / Mystery | 7.3 | 96% | 82 | 7.2 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 80 | Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life '1925 | Documentary | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.7 | Ernest B. Schoedsack |
| 81 | Beggars of Life '1928 | Drama / Crime | 7.5 | - | - | 7.1 | William A. Wellman |
| 82 | Lucky Star '1929 | Romance / Drama | 7.6 | - | - | 7.6 | Frank Borzage |
| 83 | The Wedding March '1928 | Drama / Romance | 7.4 | 64% | - | 7.1 | Erich von Stroheim |
| 84 | L'Argent '1928 | Drama | 7.5 | - | - | 7.0 | Marcel L'Herbier |
| 85 | A Page of Madness '1926 | Horror / Drama | 7.3 | - | - | 7.3 | Teinosuke Kinugasa |
| 86 | Never Weaken '1921 | Comedy | 7.5 | - | - | 6.9 | Fred C. Newmeyer |
| 87 | Entr'acte '1924 | Comedy / Fantasy | 7.3 | - | - | 7.0 | René Clair |
| 88 | Liberty '1929 | Comedy | 7.5 | - | - | 6.9 | Leo McCarey |
| 89 | Orphans of the Storm '1921 | Drama / Romance | 7.3 | 88% | - | 6.8 | D.W. Griffith |
| 90 | Street Angel '1928 | Drama / Romance | 7.3 | - | - | 7.1 | Frank Borzage |
| 91 | Way Down East '1920 | Drama / Romance | 7.3 | 96% | - | 6.9 | D.W. Griffith |
| 92 | Pay Day '1922 | Comedy | 7.4 | - | - | 7.0 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 93 | The Epic of Everest '1924 | Documentary | 7.6 | 100% | - | 6.9 | John Baptist Lucius Noel |
| 94 | Woman in the Moon '1929 | Drama / Sci-Fi / Romance | 7.3 | 80% | - | 7.2 | Fritz Lang |
| 95 | The Fall of the House of Usher '1928 | Horror | 7.2 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Jean Epstein |
| 96 | La Roue '1923 | Drama / Romance | 7.5 | 80% | - | 7.3 | Abel Gance |
| 97 | Variety '1925 | Drama / Crime / Romance | 7.4 | 100% | - | 6.7 | E.A. Dupont |
| 98 | The King of Kings '1927 | Drama | 7.3 | 73% | - | 6.4 | Cecil B. DeMille |
| 99 | Sparrows '1926 | Drama | 7.3 | - | - | 7.0 | William Beaudine |
| 100 | Sadie Thompson '1928 | Drama / Romance | 7.2 | 83% | - | 6.6 | Raoul Walsh |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
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