Criteria: These Greatest Movies of the 1920s are ranked according to their initial and lasting acclaim, influence as well as initial and lasting popularity.
Edited By: Tim, pauldrach, ManPerson, Bruno, Luuk
- Battleship Potemkin - Sergei M. Eisenstein (1925)
- Metropolis - Fritz Lang (1927)
- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans - F. W. Murnau (1927)
- The Passion of Joan of Arc - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928)
- The Gold Rush - Charles Chaplin (1925)
- The Kid - Charles Chaplin (1921)
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Robert Wiene (1920)
- Man with a Movie Camera - Dziga Vertov (1929)
- Nosferatu - F. W. Murnau (1922)
- The General - Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman (1926)
- Un chien andalou - Luis Buñuel (1929)
- Sherlock Jr. - Buster Keaton (1924)
- Safety Last! - Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor (1923)
- Nanook of the North - Robert J. Flaherty (1922)
- The Big Parade - King Vidor (1925)
- The Jazz Singer - Alan Crosland (1927)
- Napoléon - Abel Gance (1927)
- Greed - Erich von Stroheim (1924)
- The Crowd - King Vidor (1928)
- Steamboat Willie - Walt Disney & Ub Iwerks (1928)
- The Last Laugh - F. W. Murnau (1924)
- Our Hospitality - Buster Keaton & John G. Blystone (1923)
- Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, Part 1: The Great Gambler - Fritz Lang (1922)
- Häxan - Benjamin Christensen (1922)
- The Phantom Carriage - Victor Sjöström (1921)
- Wings - William A. Wellman (1927)
- The Phantom of the Opera - Rupert Julian (1925)
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Rex Ingram (1921)
- Pandora's Box - G. W. Pabst (1929)
- Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ - Fred Niblo (1925)
- The Thief of Bagdad - Raoul Walsh (1924)
- Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, Part 2: Inferno - Fritz Lang (1922)
- The Circus - Charles Chaplin (1928)
- The Cameraman - Edward Sedgwick & Buster Keaton (1928)
- Faust - F. W. Murnau (1926)
- Steamboat Bill, Jr. - Charles Reisner & Buster Keaton (1928)
- Strike - Sergei M. Eisenstein (1925)
- The Broadway Melody - Harry Beaumont (1929)
- 7th Heaven - Frank Borzage (1927)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Wallace Worsley (1923)
- The Navigator - Buster Keaton & Donald Crisp (1924)
- The Wind - Victor Sjöström (1928)
- Seven Chances - Buster Keaton (1925)
- Destiny - Fritz Lang (1921)
- Way Down East - D. W. Griffith (1920)
- One Week - Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline (1920)
- Foolish Wives - Erich von Stroheim (1922)
- The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog - Alfred Hitchcock (1927)
- The Golem: How He Came into the World - Paul Wegener & Carl Boese (1920)
- Die Nibelungen: Siegfried - Fritz Lang (1924)
- La roue - Abel Gance (1923)
- The Ten Commandments - Cecil B. DeMille (1923)
- Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge - Fritz Lang (1924)
- Blackmail - Alfred Hitchcock (1929)
- Hallelujah! - King Vidor (1929)
- October: Ten Days That Shook the World - Grigori Aleksandrov & Sergei M. Eisenstein (1928)
- The Unknown - Tod Browning (1927)
- The Last Command - Josef von Sternberg (1928)
- The Love Parade - Ernst Lubitsch (1929)
- Cops - Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline (1922)
- Orphans of the Storm - D. W. Griffith (1921)
- The Mark of Zorro - Fred Niblo (1920)
- The Sheik - George Melford (1921)
- In Old Arizona - Irving Cummings & Raoul Walsh (1928)
- The Docks of New York - Josef von Sternberg (1928)
- Within Our Gates - Oscar Micheaux (1920)
- Diary of a Lost Girl - G. W. Pabst (1929)
- The Man Who Laughs - Paul Leni (1928)
- He Who Gets Slapped - Victor Sjöström (1924)
- Underworld - Josef von Sternberg (1927)
- The Freshman - Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor (1925)
- Flesh and the Devil - Clarence Brown (1926)
- The Iron Horse - John Ford (1924)
- The Lost World - Harry O. Hoyt (1925)
- The Adventures of Prince Achmed - Lotte Reiniger (1926)
- Entr'acte - René Clair (1924)
- Berlin: Symphony of a Great City - Walter Ruttmann (1927)
- It - Clarence G. Badger (1927)
- Robin Hood - Allan Dwan (1922)
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - John S. Robertson (1920)
- A Woman of Paris - Charles Chaplin (1923)
- Girl Shy - Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor (1924)
- Tol'able David - Henry King (1921)
- The Black Pirate - Albert Parker (1926)
- The Cocoanuts - Robert Florey & Joseph Santley (1929)
- The Fall of the House of Usher - Jean Epstein (1928)
- The Merry Widow - Erich von Stroheim (1925)
- Mother - Vsevolod Pudovkin (1926)
- Michael - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1924)
- Applause - Rouben Mamoulian (1929)
- Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life - Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack (1925)
- The Playhouse - Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline (1921)
- Peter Pan - Herbert Brenon (1924)
- The Boat - Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline (1921)
- Don Juan - Alan Crosland (1926)
- Cœur fidèle - Jean Epstein (1923)
- The Kid Brother - Ted Wilde (1927)
- The Cat and the Canary - Paul Leni (1927)
- Ballet mécanique - Fernand Léger & Dudley Murphy (1924)
- Ménilmontant - Dimitri Kirsanoff (1926)
- Storm over Asia - Vsevolod Pudovkin (1928)
- A Page of Madness - Teinosuke Kinugasa (1926)
- Lady Windermere's Fan - Ernst Lubitsch (1925)
- The Smiling Madame Beudet - Germaine Dulac (1923)
- The King of Kings - Cecil B. DeMille (1927)
- The Marriage Circle - Ernst Lubitsch (1924)
- The Saga of Gösta Berling - Mauritz Stiller (1924)
- The Unholy Three - Tod Browning (1925)
- Show People - King Vidor (1928)
- Woman in the Moon - Fritz Lang (1929)
- The Last of the Mohicans - Maurice Tourneur & Clarence Brown (1920)
- The Penalty - Wallace Worsley (1920)
- Street Angel - Frank Borzage (1928)
- Spione - Fritz Lang (1928)
- Blood and Sand - Fred Niblo (1922)
- Grandma's Boy - Fred C. Newmeyer (1922)
- Big Business - James W. Horne (1929)
- The Three Musketeers - Fred Niblo (1921)
- Sadie Thompson - Raoul Walsh (1928)
- Three Ages - Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline (1923)
- The Covered Wagon - James Cruze (1923)
- Arsenal - Alexander Dovzhenko (1929)
- Piccadilly - E. A. Dupont (1929)
- The Skeleton Dance - Walt Disney (1929)
- Gold Diggers of Broadway - Roy Del Ruth (1929)
- The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg - Ernst Lubitsch (1927)
- The Joyless Street - G. W. Pabst (1925)
- Variety - E. A. Dupont (1925)
- For Heaven's Sake - Sam Taylor (1926)
- The Scarlet Letter - Victor Sjöström (1926)
- Moana - Robert J. Flaherty (1926)
- Go West - Buster Keaton (1925)
- Master of the House - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1925)
- The Wedding March - Erich von Stroheim (1928)
- The Parson's Widow - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1920)
- The End of St. Petersburg - Vsevolod Pudovkin & Mikhail Doller (1927)
- Lonesome - Paul Fejos (1928)
- The High Sign - Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline (1921)
- The Great White Silence - Herbert Ponting (1922)
- The Hands of Orlac - Robert Wiene (1924)
- Kino Eye - Dziga Vertov (1924)
- La Bohème - King Vidor (1926)
- Aelita - Yakov Protazanov (1924)
- Waxworks - Paul Leni (1924)
- Sparrows - William Beaudine (1926)
- Manhatta - Charles Sheeler & Paul Strand (1921)
- Lucky Star - Frank Borzage (1929)
- The Goat - Buster Keaton & Malcolm St. Clair (1921)
- Erotikon - Mauritz Stiller (1920)
- The Scarecrow - Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline (1920)
- Why Worry? - Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor (1923)
- The Pilgrim - Charles Chaplin (1923)
- What Price Glory? - Raoul Walsh (1926)
- Scaramouche - Rex Ingram (1923)
- Battling Butler - Buster Keaton (1926)
- The Son of the Sheik - George Fitzmaurice (1926)
- Pay Day - Charles Chaplin (1922)
- The Winning of Barbara Worth - Henry King (1926)
- Paris qui dort - René Clair (1925)
- The Electric House - Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline (1922)
- El Dorado - Marcel L'Herbier (1921)
- The Eagle - Clarence Brown (1925)
- The Idle Class - Charles Chaplin (1921)
- Never Weaken - Fred C. Newmeyer (1921)
- When Knighthood Was in Flower - Robert G. Vignola (1922)
- Salomé - Charles Bryant (1922)
- Little Old New York - Sidney Olcott (1923)
- Warning Shadows - Arthur Robison (1923)
- My Best Girl - Sam Taylor (1927)
- College - Buster Keaton & James W. Horne (1927)
- The General Line - Grigori Aleksandrov & Sergei M. Eisenstein (1929)
- A Cottage on Dartmoor - Anthony Asquith (1929)
- Rain - Mannus Franken & Joris Ivens (1929)
- 3 Bad Men - John Ford (1926)
- By the Law - Lev Kuleshov (1926)
- Beau Geste - Herbert Brenon (1926)
- Asphalt - Joe May (1929)
- The Iron Mask - Allan Dwan (1929)
- The Girl with the Hat Box - Boris Barnet (1927)
- The Wild Cat - Ernst Lubitsch (1921)
- Phantom - F. W. Murnau (1922)
- L'Atlantide - Jacques Feyder (1921)
- Anna Boleyn - Ernst Lubitsch (1920)
- Stella Dallas - Henry King (1925)
- Body and Soul - Oscar Micheaux (1925)
- The Virginian - Victor Fleming (1929)
- The Italian Straw Hat - René Clair (1928)
- Zvenigora - Alexander Dovzhenko (1928)
- The New Babylon - Grigori Kozintsev & Leonid Trauberg (1929)
- Speedy - Ted Wilde (1928)
- On with the Show! - Alan Crosland (1929)
- L'homme du large - Marcel L'Herbier (1920)
- Neighbors - Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline (1920)
- Merry-Go-Round - Rupert Julian (1923)
- The Battle of the Century - Clyde Bruckman (1927)
- Flaming Youth - John Francis Dillon (1923)
- The Extra Girl - F. Richard Jones (1923)
- Souls for Sale - Rupert Hughes (1923)
- The Flapper - Alan Crosland (1920)
- Humoresque - Frank Borzage (1920)
- Pollyanna - Paul Powell (1920)
- The Paleface - Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline (1922)
- Crainquebille - Jacques Feyder (1922)
- Dr. Jack - Fred C. Newmeyer (1922)
- Beyond the Rocks - Sam Wood (1922)
- The Toll of the Sea - Chester M. Franklin (1922)
- L'argent - Marcel L'Herbier (1928)
- Leaves from Satan's Book - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1920)
- From Morn to Midnight - Karlheinz Martin (1920)
- The Devil's Pass Key - Erich von Stroheim (1920)
- Rosita - Ernst Lubitsch (1923)
- A Sailor-Made Man - Fred C. Newmeyer (1921)
- The Affairs of Anatol - Cecil B. DeMille (1921)
- Lichtspiel Opus I - Walter Ruttmann (1921)
- The Patsy - King Vidor (1928)
- Seven Years Bad Luck - Max Linder (1921)
- The Strong Man - Frank Capra (1926)
- Chess Fever - Vsevolod Pudovkin & Nikolai Shpikovsky (1925)
- The Patriot - Ernst Lubitsch (1928)
- Rhythmus 21 - Hans Richter (1923)
- The Sea Hawk - Frank Lloyd (1924)
- The Gaucho - F. Richard Jones (1927)
- The Monster - Roland West (1925)
- The Blizzard - Mauritz Stiller (1923)
- Tell It to the Marines - George W. Hill (1926)
- The Prisoner of Zenda - Rex Ingram (1922)
- The Ring - Alfred Hitchcock (1927)
- Love - Edmund Goulding (1927)
- Oliver Twist - Frank Lloyd (1922)
- Alice's Wonderland - Walt Disney (1923)
- Old Ironsides - James Cruze (1926)
- The Ace of Hearts - Wallace Worsley (1921)
- The Blot - Lois Weber (1921)
- The Way of All Flesh - Victor Fleming (1927)
- Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness - Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack (1927)
- The Karnival Kid - Walt Disney & Ub Iwerks (1929)
- London After Midnight - Tod Browning (1927)
- Hot Water - Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor (1924)
- The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks - Lev Kuleshov (1924)
- The Temptress - Fred Niblo (1926)
- Little Annie Rooney - William Beaudine (1925)
- Outside the Law - Tod Browning (1920)
- Down to the Sea in Ships - Elmer Clifton (1922)
- Faces of Children - Jacques Feyder (1925)
- Tartuffe - F. W. Murnau (1925)
- Bed and Sofa - Abram Room (1927)
- The Better 'Ole - Charles Reisner (1926)
- L'inhumaine - Marcel L'Herbier (1924)
- Le retour à la raison - Man Ray (1923)
- Beau Brummel - Harry Beaumont (1924)