Criteria: These Greatest Movies with first public release before 1920 (most silent movies) are ranked according to their initial and lasting acclaim, influence as well as initial and lasting popularity.
Edited By: Tim, pauldrach
- The Birth of a Nation - D. W. Griffith (1915)
- A Trip to the Moon - Georges Méliès (1902)
- Intolerance - D. W. Griffith (1916)
- L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat - Auguste & Louis Lumière (1896)
- Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory - Louis Lumière (1895)
- The Great Train Robbery - Edwin S. Porter (1903)
- Cabiria - Giovanni Pastrone (1914)
- L'arroseur arrosé - Louis Lumière (1895)
- Gertie the Dinosaur - Winsor McCay (1914)
- Broken Blossoms - D. W. Griffith (1919)
- Tillie's Punctured Romance - Mack Sennett (1914)
- The Impossible Voyage - Georges Méliès (1904)
- Roundhay Garden Scene - Louis Le Prince (1888)
- A Dog's Life - Charles Chaplin (1918)
- La fée aux choux - Alice Guy-Blaché (1896)
- Rescued by Rover - Lewin Fitzhamon & Cecil Hepworth (1905)
- The Immigrant - Charles Chaplin (1917)
- Blacksmith Scene - William K. L. Dickson (1893)
- J'accuse - Abel Gance (1919)
- Shoulder Arms - Charles Chaplin (1918)
- The Dickson Experimental Sound Film - William K. L. Dickson (1894)
- The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots - Alfred Clark (1895)
- The Tramp - Charles Chaplin (1915)
- Cinderella - Georges Méliès (1899)
- Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine - Louis Feuillade (1913)
- The Assassination of the Duke of Guise - Charles le Bargy & André Calmettes (1908)
- The Kiss - William Heise (1896)
- Easy Street - Charles Chaplin (1917)
- The Cheat - Cecil B. DeMille (1915)
- The Big Swallow - James Williamson (1901)
- The House of the Devil - Georges Méliès (1896)
- Fantasmagorie - Émile Cohl (1908)
- Frankenstein - J. Searle Dawley (1910)
- L'inferno - Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe De Liguoro & Adolfo Padovan (1911)
- Little Nemo - Winsor McCay (1911)
- The Student of Prague - Stellan Rye (1913)
- Traffic in Souls - George Loane Tucker (1913)
- The Kiss in the Tunnel - George Albert Smith (1899)
- A Man There Was - Victor Sjöström (1917)
- Départ de Jérusalem en chemin de fer - Alexandre Promio (1897)
- The Musketeers of Pig Alley - D. W. Griffith (1912)
- Kid Auto Races at Venice - Henry Lehrman (1914)
- The Man with the Rubber Head - Georges Méliès (1901)
- Life of an American Fireman - Edwin S. Porter (1903)
- Regeneration - Raoul Walsh (1915)
- The Lonedale Operator - D. W. Griffith (1911)
- Démolition d'un mur - Louis Lumière (1896)
- Fred Ott's Sneeze - William K. L. Dickson (1894)
- The Vanishing Lady - Georges Méliès (1896)
- The Abyss - Urban Gad (1910)
- Dream of a Rarebit Fiend - Wallace McCutcheon, Sr. & Edwin S. Porter (1906)
- The Story of the Kelly Gang - Charles Tait (1906)
- The Enchanted Drawing - J. Stuart Blackton (1900)
- The Cure - Charles Chaplin (1917)
- A Fool There Was - Frank Powell (1915)
- Suspense - Phillips Smalley & Lois Weber (1913)
- Repas de bébé - Louis Lumière (1895)
- A Corner in Wheat - D. W. Griffith (1909)
- From the Manger to the Cross - Sidney Olcott (1912)
- Monkeyshines, No. 1 - William K. L. Dickson & William Heise (1890)
- Male and Female - Cecil B. DeMille (1919)
- The Outlaw and His Wife - Victor Sjöström (1918)
- Blind Husbands - Erich von Stroheim (1919)
- Pauvre Pierrot - Émile Reynaud (1892)
- The Four Troublesome Heads - Georges Méliès (1898)
- Humorous Phases of Funny Faces - J. Stuart Blackton (1906)
- Ingeborg Holm - Victor Sjöström (1913)
- Fantômas: Juve vs. Fantômas - Louis Feuillade (1913)
- Bluebeard - Georges Méliès (1901)
- Santa Claus - George Albert Smith (1898)
- The Kingdom of the Fairies - Georges Méliès (1903)
- The Poor Little Rich Girl - Maurice Tourneur (1917)
- Princess Nicotine; or, the Smoke Fairy - J. Stuart Blackton (1909)
- Judith of Bethulia - D. W. Griffith (1914)
- Sir Arne's Treasure - Mauritz Stiller (1919)
- Mary Jane's Mishap - George Albert Smith (1903)
- Tess of the Storm Country - Edwin S. Porter (1914)
- The Dying Swan - Yevgeni Bauer (1917)
- The Astronomer's Dream - Georges Méliès (1898)
- Ben Hur - Sidney Olcott & Frank Oakes Rose (1907)
- Alice in Wonderland - Cecil Hepworth & Percy Stow (1903)
- The Doll - Ernst Lubitsch (1919)
- Joan of Arc - Georges Méliès (1900)
- Twilight of a Woman's Soul - Yevgeni Bauer (1913)
- Quo Vadis - Enrico Guazzoni (1913)
- The Adventurer - Charles Chaplin (1917)
- True Heart Susie - D. W. Griffith (1919)
- Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge - Louis Le Prince (1888)
- The One-Man Band - Georges Méliès (1900)
- Hearts Adrift - Edwin S. Porter (1914)
- Bataille de neige - Louis Lumière (1897)
- The Fall of Troy - Giovanni Pastrone & Luigi Romano Borgnetto (1911)
- One A.M. - Charles Chaplin (1916)
- The Cameraman's Revenge - Ladislas Starevich (1912)
- Stella Maris - Marshall Neilan (1918)
- The Black Imp - Georges Méliès (1905)
- Enoch Arden: Part I - D. W. Griffith (1911)
- Enoch Arden: Part II - D. W. Griffith (1911)
- Newark Athlete - William K. L. Dickson (1891)
- The Land Beyond the Sunset - Harold M. Shaw (1912)
- The House of Ghosts - Segundo de Chomón (1906)
- The Melomaniac - Georges Méliès (1903)
- Fire! - James Williamson (1901)
- The Oyster Princess - Ernst Lubitsch (1919)
- Barque sortant du port - Louis Lumière (1896)
- Grandma's Reading Glass - George Albert Smith (1900)
- The Rink - Charles Chaplin (1916)
- The Haunted Hotel - J. Stuart Blackton (1907)
- Come Along, Do! - Robert W. Paul (1898)
- Histoire d'un crime - Ferdinand Zecca (1901)
- Fantômas: The Murderous Corpse - Louis Feuillade (1913)
- Panorama du grand Canal pris d'un bateau - Alexandre Promio (1896)
- The Sinking of the Lusitania - Winsor McCay (1918)
- The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight - Enoch J. Rector (1897)
- Hell's Hinges - Charles Swickard (1916)
- The Mothering Heart - D. W. Griffith (1913)
- Dickson Greeting - William K. L. Dickson (1891)
- L'enfant de Paris - Léonce Perret (1913)
- The Pawnshop - Charles Chaplin (1916)
- The Merry Frolics of Satan - Georges Méliès (1906)
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Stuart Paton (1916)
- La vie et la passion de Jésus Christ - Lucien Nonguet & Ferdinand Zecca (1903)
- The Battle of Gettysburg - Charles Giblyn & Thomas H. Ince (1913)
- El hotel eléctrico - Segundo de Chomón (1908)
- The Cook in Trouble - Georges Méliès (1904)
- The Bangville Police - Henry Lehrman (1913)
- The Blue Bird - Maurice Tourneur (1918)
- Where Are My Children? - Phillips Smalley & Lois Weber (1916)
- The Coronation of Edward VII - Georges Méliès (1902)
- Star Theatre - Frederick S. Armitage (1901)
- Madame DuBarry - Ernst Lubitsch (1919)
- Mabel's Strange Predicament - Mabel Normand (1914)
- Different from the Others - Richard Oswald (1919)
- Tunnelling the English Channel - Georges Méliès (1907)
- The Adventures of Dollie - D. W. Griffith (1908)
- The Butcher Boy - Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (1917)
- Civilization - Reginald Barker, Thomas H. Ince & Raymond B. West (1916)
- The Life of Moses - J. Stuart Blackton (1909)
- An Adventurous Automobile Trip - Georges Méliès (1904)
- The Lonely Villa - D. W. Griffith (1909)
- New York Subway - Billy Bitzer (1905)
- The Diabolic Tenant - Georges Méliès (1909)
- Hearts of the World - D. W. Griffith (1918)
- After Death - Yevgeni Bauer (1915)
- The Infernal Cauldron - Georges Méliès (1903)
- As Seen Through a Telescope - George Albert Smith (1900)
- The Avenging Conscience - D. W. Griffith (1914)
- The Squaw Man - Oscar Apfel & Cecil B. DeMille (1914)
- Attack on a China Mission - James Williamson (1900)
- Le spectre rouge - Segundo de Chomón & Ferdinand Zecca (1907)
- Hypocrites - Lois Weber (1915)
- Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost - Walter R. Booth (1901)
- Atlantis - August Blom (1913)
- Mickey - F. Richard Jones & James Young (1918)
- The Thieving Hand - J. Stuart Blackton (1908)
- A Daring Daylight Burglary - Frank Mottershaw (1903)
- Carmen - Cecil B. DeMille (1915)
- The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon - Georges Méliès (1907)
- Shoes - Lois Weber (1916)
- The Unchanging Sea - D. W. Griffith (1910)
- Raja Harishchandra - Dadasaheb Phalke (1913)
- Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show - Edwin S. Porter (1902)
- Behind the Screen - Charles Chaplin (1916)
- Fat and Lean Wrestling Match - Georges Méliès (1900)
- The Queen of Spades - Yakov Protazanov (1916)
- Explosion of a Motor Car - Cecil Hepworth (1900)
- Cleopatra - Charles L. Gaskill (1912)
- The Mysterious X - Benjamin Christensen (1914)
- The Country Doctor - D. W. Griffith (1909)
- Daddy-Long-Legs - Marshall Neilan (1919)
- The Lad from Old Ireland - Sidney Olcott (1910)
- How a Mosquito Operates - Winsor McCay (1912)
- The Countryman and the Cinematograph - Robert W. Paul (1901)
- The Vagabond - Charles Chaplin (1916)
- Uncle Tom's Cabin - William Robert Daly (1914)
- The '?' Motorist - Walter R. Booth (1906)
- The Miracle Man - George Loane Tucker (1919)
- The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ - Alice Guy-Blaché (1906)
- The Homesteader - Oscar Micheaux (1919)
- L'assommoir - Albert Capellani (1908)
- Falling Leaves - Alice Guy-Blaché (1912)
- The Cry of the Children - George Nichols (1912)
- The Eruption of Mount Pelée - Georges Méliès (1902)
- The Girl and Her Trust - D. W. Griffith (1912)
- The Beautiful Leukanida - Ladislas Starevich (1912)
- A Visit to the Seaside - George Albert Smith (1908)
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm - Marshall Neilan (1917)
- The Birth of a Flower - F. Percy Smith (1910)
- Ramona - D. W. Griffith (1910)
- The Battle of the Somme - Geoffrey Malins (1916)
- Les débuts de Max au cinéma - Louis J. Gasnier & Max Linder (1910)
- The Temptation of Saint Anthony - Georges Méliès (1898)
- Rapsodia satanica - Nino Oxilia (1917)
- Let Me Dream Again - George Albert Smith (1900)
- Wild and Woolly - John Emerson (1917)
- Le cheval emballé - Louis J. Gasnier (1908)
- Something Good, Negro Kiss - William Selig (1898)
- Fun in a Bakery Shop - Edwin S. Porter (1902)
- I Don't Want to Be a Man - Ernst Lubitsch (1918)
- After the Ball - Georges Méliès (1897)
- The House with Closed Shutters - D. W. Griffith (1910)
- The Champion - Charles Chaplin (1915)
- The Golem - Paul Wegener & Henrik Galeen (1915)
- The Devil in a Convent - Georges Méliès (1899)
- The Cook - Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (1918)
- Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants - Georges Méliès (1902)
- The Last Days of Pompeii - Arturo Ambrosio & Luigi Maggi (1908)
- Making a Living - Henry Lehrman (1914)
- The New York Hat - D. W. Griffith (1912)
- The Haunted Castle - Georges Méliès (1897)
- A Trip to Mars - Holger-Madsen (1918)
- The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England - Maurice Tourneur (1914)
- The Palace of the Arabian Nights - Georges Méliès (1905)
- The X-Rays - George Albert Smith (1897)
- The Little American - Cecil B. DeMille & Joseph Levering (1917)
- Assunta Spina - Gustavo Serena (1915)
- The Haverstraw Tunnel - unknown (1897)
- Cleopatra - J. Gordon Edwards (1917)
- The Untamable Whiskers - Georges Méliès (1904)
- Annabelle Serpentine Dance - William K. L. Dickson & William Heise (1895)
- Max prend un bain - Lucien Nonguet (1911)
- The Famous Box Trick - Georges Méliès (1898)
- Straight Shooting - John Ford (1917)
- Joan the Woman - Cecil B. DeMille (1916)
- Kidnapping by Indians - Sagar Mitchell & James Kenyon (1899)
- The Infernal Cake Walk - Georges Méliès (1903)
- Those Awful Hats - D. W. Griffith (1909)
- The Devil and the Statue - Georges Méliès (1901)
- The Little Match Seller - James Williamson (1902)
- Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine" - Georges Méliès (1898)
- Defence of Sevastopol - Vasily Goncharov & Aleksander Khanzhonkov (1911)
- The White Slave Trade - August Blom (1910)
- Going to Bed Under Difficulties - Georges Méliès (1900)
- The Miller and the Sweep - George Albert Smith (1898)
- Jeffries-Johnson World Championship Boxing Contest, Held at Reno, Nevada, July 4, 1910 - unknown (1910)
- The Humpty Dumpty Circus - J. Stuart Blackton (1898)
- Lady Helen's Escapade - D. W. Griffith (1909)
- Tarzan of the Apes - Scott Sidney (1918)
- An Interesting Story - James Williamson (1904)
- Uncle Tom's Cabin - Edwin S. Porter (1903)
- His Trust - D. W. Griffith (1911)
- The Mermaid - Georges Méliès (1904)
- Personal - Wallace McCutcheon, Sr. (1904)
- King John - William K. L. Dickson, Walter Pfeffer Dando & Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1899)
- Desperate Poaching Affray - William Haggar (1903)
- Max victime du quinquina - Max Linder (1911)
- Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb - Georges Méliès (1899)
- A Tale of Two Cities - William J. Humphrey (1911)
- Les débuts d'un patineur - Louis J. Gasnier (1907)
- Hamlet - Georges Méliès (1907)