Silent Film

The earliest era of films, dubbed Silent Films, did not have the technology to include synchronized sound. This was the only form of film until 1927, when the first "Talkie", The Jazz Singer, was released (silent films were still made, however, notably by people such as Charlie Chaplin, who made two more silent films after the advent of sound).

The early well-known names of this era included such filmmakers as F.W. Murnau, Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Buster Keaton, Cecil B. DeMille, and others, who would influence the direction film as a medium would go on to take.

Some notable films of this era include:

- The Kid (Charlie Chaplin, 1921) - The first feature-length film of Charlie Chaplin, who had only done shorts prior to this.

- The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915) - a civil war epic considered one of the first feature-length films, and one of the most influential films of all time, though today it is regarded mainly for it's historical significance, despite it's virulently racist and offensive content.

- Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927) - the first American film of German director F.W. Murnau.

- Wings (William A. Wellman, 1927) - a World War I drama often considered to be the very first film to win the Academy Award for "Best Picture" (though, at the time, the award it won was called "Best Production" - there was another award for "Unique and Artistic Production", which was won by the aforementioned Sunrise)

- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920) - widely considered the first horror film

- The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1923) - DeMille's biblical epic that formed the basis for his more well-known 1956 remake.

- Safety Last! (Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, 1923) - the film debut of comedian Harold Lloyd, known mainly for it's climactic stunt, involving Lloyd dangling from a several-story drop, that earned Lloyd a reputation as a "daredevil comedian".

- Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) - Lang's seminal science fiction film, and his most well-known film.