Paul Rotha's "Silent But Not Forgotten: The Best Silent Films"
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TOP 50 (plus ties)
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THE REST (#54-#187)
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THE REST (#188-#338) |
Source: http://www.imdb.com/list/N02VMyOGo2k/
Source Quote 1: "From a poll of 63 critics and film experts conducted in the 1970s by film critic and director Paul Rotha, each asked for a list of their 30 top silent films. This makes for a list of the Top 338 Silent Films. Ties are sorted by IMDb original title."
Source Quote 2: "Several movies are considered lost: (1) Shadows of Fear; (2) Uneasy Money; (3) The Last Moment; (4) 4 Devils"
Carville Note #1: Although I have found numerous references to this Paul Rotha silent film list on the internet, I have been unable to find the original manuscript/list (which I am assuming would show details on ties, etc.). I am continuing to try to locate.
Carville Note #2: This list is ordered exactly the same as the one included in the source above.
Carville Note #3: Based on the fact that "Ties are sorted by IMDb original title", I have attempted to establish which films comprise groups of ties based on the cycles of alphabetization within the list. The groupings are quite obvious at the bottom of the list moving upwards (#338 up to #93) given the extremely large sizes of the alphabetized A-to-Z groups (i.e. 103, 48, 35, 34, 26). However, they become increasingly less certain above that (#92 up to #50) when the alphabetized A-to-Z groups are significantly smaller in size (i.e. 11, 14, 8, 6, 4?). Although there are almost certainly small groupings of ties within the top 49 films, they are ignored due to the high level of uncertainty, and because they (along with the four films presumed tied at #50) essentially comprise a "Top 50" list.
Carville Note #4: Note that some silent films go by a number of different titles; note also that IMDb has changed the "official" title of some silent films through the years (most notably changing from the foreign title to the USA title); and note finally that some titles within "The Film-Lover's Check List" differ from what IMDb has for those movies. Therefore, a current/previous/original IMDb title does not necessarily match the title as listed within this "The Film-Lover's Check List" list. I point this out to explain why some titles above deviate from smooth alphabetization patterns. I established the alphabetization groupings using my master spreadsheet for this list which includes all of the different titles a movie can go by. Using this spreadsheet I was able to confirm the alphabetization patterns above are perfectly in order within each and every alphabetization grouping when an alternate title for the same film is assumed to have been the "original IMDb title".