The Tribe (2014) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tribe_(2014_film) entirely in Ukrainian Sign Language
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Qatsi films
Solaris (2002)
The Last Battle (1983)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Dernier_Combat
“A scraggly, anonymous man (Pierre Jolivet) looks for love among a desolate, post-apocalyptic wasteland where almost no one speaks and roaming bands of marauders prey on the weak and unprotected. Assisted by a mad scientist (Jean Bouise), the man attempts to rebuild a broken-down airplane to expand his lonely, seemingly pointless search. At every turn the man is thwarted by well-armed, merciless thugs; however, hope rears its head he discovers one last surviving woman imprisoned by the toughs.”
Never heard of this, definitely going to watch it. Thanks
Porno
Can’t say it’s the best but a really good one is Sir Arne’s Treasure. Its a silent film (which is a misnomer because they were always accompanied by live music back in the day). But it’s beautifully shot.
There is some very incredible work in films leading up until the introduction of recorded audio which basically threw cinematography back a good 40 years in development due to the noise they created and how actors had to be blocked to just record their dialog.
Cats 🔆
Baraka (1992)
I sat next to somebody watching Son of the Mask on an airplane. It wasn’t good, but the lack of sound definitely improved things.
I saw Liar, Liar on an airplane without sound, it was hilarious.
Not exactly the same thing, but my wife and I saw Logan at a drive in theater when it came out
Towards the end when he’s all fucked up and near death, the audio started doing all kinds of weird shit, cutting in and out, getting fuzzy and distorted, etc.
We thought it was a pretty cool effect to show the sort of state he was in and we were all about it.
Then we heard some crystal clear audio coming from the cars next to us, turns out it was just my car’s battery dying from running the radio.
Still think it was a cool effect, would watch it again that way if it were an option.
I’ve since picked up a battery powered radio for future drive-ins (we try to go at least once a year)
The Wizard of Oz while listening to Dark Side of the Moon.
Not the best, but Koyaanisqatsi is pretty trippy. The music adds a lot to it, but it would still be visually interesting without it.
The Artist
I was trying to watch the original Nosferatu but the version I was watching had dogshit Casio keyboard accompaniment. I muted it and had Spotify put on a playlist based on “Danse Macabre.” Much better. That said, a proper silent movie with live accompaniment is fucking fantastic. I saw Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall that way and loved it.
Interstella 5555. It’s basically one long music video so there’s no dialog and it’s anime so the visuals are really striking
I mean, it was very clearly designed with the music in mind. Without it, you’ll notice the loops and sped up movements a lot more, and it’ll make less sense without the music.
Yes, all movies with sound typically are. I just mentioned it because I’ve been to bars that had it on TVs while other music was playing and it was really cool to look at
I’m gonna disagree with that first part. In most movies, the music is created to fit the footage. This is a rare feature-length movie where the footage is created to fit the music. As such, the visuals will warp to fit a score that, if you’re watching it silently, isn’t there.
It’ll look cool, but there will be parts that look weird and you won’t be sure why.
It’ll look cool, but there will be parts that look weird and you won’t be sure why
Like most movies designed to be viewed with sound. I think everyone reading this question assumed the asker knew silent movies exist. I offered something with engaging visuals that doesn’t need dialog to explain the premise
Baraka
