Cats 🔆

The Artist

Not the same thing, but the first time I saw District 9 there were no subtitles for the prawns. I didn't even know there was supposed to be any. I think I liked that version better.

Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie. I guess you’ll miss the best bit in it though, where the only person who speaks is the mime Marcel Marceau.

Metropolis - 1927

Not the best, but Koyaanisqatsi is pretty trippy. The music adds a lot to it, but it would still be visually interesting without it.

Star Wars has a silent version released in the 70’s, with descriptive captions and all

https://youtu.be/_zj3ayw-ZtI?si=avF5RxcnMrxdFPdW

This is of Ep. 3 I think but you can find them for all the episodes

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.

Any of the original Indiana Jones films.

They were storyboarded almost like a comic book. I once heard a University professor online talking about how you can watch any of the three original movies in black and white with no sound and still have a perfect understanding of the story; that's how strong they are . If you ever want an entertaining evening, invite some friends over and do just that.

A movie with lots of space battles - turning of the sound should be more realistic.

A Quiet Place

So, here's a weird anecdote: Me and my ex were watching The Lighthouse together online (long distance relationship). Neither of us had watched it before. Turns out for some reason, VLC was not able to decode the audio codec properly on my end - I only had some athmospheric parts of ambience and music, but most interestingly no voice at all. Up until the very end, I thought they just went extra-avant-guarde and emulated a silent film in addition to the monochrome aesthetics. Only after we talked about it and she told me something about some dialogue scenes I realised that there was actually supposed to be audible dialogue.

Funnily enough, turns out it was still super enjoyable for me because I love artsy movies and surreal experiences, and I was able to piece together the plot and character interactions pretty accurately.

The Artist (2011)

The Wizard of Oz while listening to Dark Side of the Moon.

Hush

Interstella 5555. It's basically one long music video so there's no dialog and it's anime so the visuals are really striking

Koyaanisqatsi

Porno

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)

A scanner darkly

Tom and Jerry

any movie with ben afleck in it

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.

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.

I watched the sequel to 300 without sound on an airplane. Def didn't need it. I don't feel I missed much of the "plot"

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

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."

Baraka (1992)

Baraka

Rubber

The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter)

The Red Turtle was designed for this.

Thief of Baghdad (1924) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thief_of_Bagdad_(1924_film)

2001: A Space Odyssey

The Qatsi films

Solaris (2002)

Anything starring Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd - much more palatable than Chaplin's stuff.

I like Steamboat Bill, Jr. and The General best.