The 40 most popular 1920s comedy movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


The Gold Rush
1925 · 1h 35m
country: United States
A gold prospector in Alaska struggles to survive the elements and win the heart of a dance hall girl.


The Kid
1921 · 1h 8m
country: United States
A tramp cares for a boy after he's abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son.


The General
1926 · 1h 19m
country: United States
During America’s Civil War, Union spies steal engineer Johnny Gray's beloved locomotive, 'The General'—with Johnnie's lady love aboard an attached boxcar—and he single-handedly must do all in his power to both get The General back and to rescue Annabelle.


Sherlock Jr.
1924 · 45m
country: United States
A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meager skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.


All Wet
1927 · 7m
country: United States
Oswald takes a job as a lifeguard to keep an eye on Miss Rabbit, who in turn stages a boating accident hoping Oswald will come to save her.


The Circus
1928 · 1h 12m
country: United States
Charlie, a wandering tramp, becomes a circus handyman - soon the star of the show - and falls in love with the circus owner's stepdaughter.


Safety Last!
1923 · 1h 13m
country: United States
When a store clerk organizes a contest to climb the outside of a tall building, circumstances force him to make the perilous climb himself.


Trolley Troubles
1927 · 6m
country: United States
Oswald, the trolley conductor gets stopped in the tracks by a cow who refuses to move. He then faces a steep hill, which the trolley has trouble with. When it finally gets over the hill, the trolley speeds wildly out of control. Can Oswald's lucky rabbit's foot save him?
The Old Man Bezousek
The Old Man Bezousek
1927
country: Czechoslovakia
A Carl Lamac directed movie based on a novel by Karel Václav Rais.


Steamboat Willie
1928 · 8m
country: United States
Mickey Mouse, piloting a steamboat, delights his passenger, Minnie Mouse, by making musical instruments out of the menagerie on deck.


The Navigator
1924 · 1h 5m
country: United States
The wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O'Brien. Although Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts to go on the cruise that he intended as their honeymoon. When circumstances find both Rollo and Betsy on the wrong ship, they end up having adventures on the high seas.


The Cameraman
1928 · 1h 14m
country: United States
A photographer takes up newsreel shooting to impress a secretary.


The Fake Sweetheart
1926
country: Czechoslovakia
The film depicts the troubles of Herr Verner (Karel Hasler), a middle-aged bachelor dentist who wants to marry.


Our Hospitality
1923 · 1h 13m
country: United States
A young man falls for a young woman on his trip home; unbeknownst to him, her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.


The Skeleton Dance
1929 · 5m
country: United States
The clock strikes midnight, the bats fly from the belfry, a dog howls at the full moon, and two black cats fight in the cemetery: a perfect time for four skeletons to come out and dance a bit.


L'Arpète
1929 · 1h 47m
country: France
This light-hearted comedy takes place at and around a Parisien haute-couture fashion house and tells a love triangle story.


Seven Chances
1925 · 56m
country: United States
Struggling stockbroker Jimmie Shannon learns that, if he gets married by 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday -- which is today -- he'll inherit $7 million from an eccentric relative.
Faulty Brides
Faulty Brides
1929
country: Soviet Union
No overview available


Steamboat Bill, Jr.
1928 · 1h 10m
country: United States
The just-out-of-college, effete son of a no-nonsense steamboat captain comes to visit his father whom he's not seen since he was a child.


The Cocoanuts
1929 · 1h 33m
country: United States
During the Florida land boom, the Marx Brothers run a hotel, auction off some land and thwart a jewel robbery.


Musclebound Music
1926 · 18m
country: United States
Bill and Oscar are musicians but they can't make enough to pay their room-and-board, and they are both in love with the landlady's daughter. However, she is in love with Horace, a wrestler, and Bill gets a world's championship match with him in hopes of securing the needed-boardinghouse bill, and the hand of the daughter of the house.


Sharp Shooters
1928 · 1h
country: United States
A "love-'em-and-leave-'em" sailor hooks up with a dance-hall girl in Paris while waiting for his ship to sail. She falls in love with him, and when his ship leaves port she decides to show up at its next stop and reunite with her lover. However, when she arrives at the ship's next destination, she discovers that her "lover" has already found another local girl to spend his time with. Complications ensue.


The Tomboy
1921 · 50m
country: United States
Minnie, the village tomboy, meets a handsome Stranger after playing ball one afternoon. She invites him to see a bridge model her father has designed; but finding her intoxicated father in the act of destroying the model, she swears vengeance on the local bootleggers and joins a newspaper as sportswriter so as to expose their activities. Pike, the station agent, leader of the bootleggers, spreads a scandal about Minnie when she rejects him, but through the help of the Stranger everything is cleared up.


Los granujas
1925
country: Spain
No overview available


Show People
1928 · 1h 19m
country: United States
Hollywood hopeful Peggy Pepper arrives at a major studio, from Georgia, to become a great dramatic star. Things don't go entirely according to plan.


Sold Appetite
1928
country: Soviet Union
After eating too much, the glutton-millionaire realizes that he has ruined his stomach. The hired scientist, Professor Fuchs, proposes a new surgical treatment that would separate the processes of satiety and digestion. To do this, you need to find a healthy person who agreed to provide the stomach. He is found, and soon the millionaire showed fantastic food absorption abilities. The painful sensations of an overloaded stomach were experienced not by the glutton, but by the unemployed driver, Emil. Lost movie.


Stick Around
1925 · 24m
country: United States
A paperhanger and his helper arrive at a sanitarium to do a job. The chubby paperhanger leaves most of the work to his thin assistant, who tries gamely but usually makes a mess. Various patients at the asylum interrupt and complicate the work, and, to the dismay of the lazy boss, a nurse is attracted to the helper. Amidst all the paste, ladders, brushes, and the images of circus and jungle animals on the wallpaper, is there any way this job gets done to the satisfaction of the sanitarium's director?


Nothing Doing
1927 · 20m
country: United States
Charley asks for his girlfriend's hand in marriage, but her father, the police chief, angrily refuses to allow her to marry anyone who is not himself a policeman. Charley then decides to join the police force, so that he can win her. But when he applies, he is rejected because he is too small. Charley doesn't give up, and he soon thinks of a way to avoid the size restriction - but simply joining the force is only the first challenge that he has to face.


The Dutch Circus
1924 · 1h 35m
country: Netherlands
After years of touring abroad with his "Cirque Hollandais", Hendrik van Dalen returns to Holland, hoping that his brother will lend him financial support. Since the death of his wife, things have gone from bad to worse with Hendrik, who drowns his sorrow in drink. Moreover, he has set his heart on the circus-equestrienne, who pretends to love him but is having an affair with the company's wrestler. By encouraging Hendrik to drink, they hope to get their hands on his possessions. Hendrik's daughter sees through their designs and, with the aid of the clown Louisot, tries to foil their plans.
The Nightmare of António Maria
The Nightmare of António Maria
1923 · 2m
country: Portugal
Considered as the first Portuguese animated film, it shows António Maria da Silva, at the time the President of the Ministery of the 1st Republic of Portugal, who is returning home after another day's work. Of this silent movie, a digital reconstitution was made in 2006, from the original drawings, accompanied by an improvised piano score by maestro António Victorino d'Almeida.


Balançoires
1928 · 25m
country: France
A young couple go to the carnival. After some savage heavy petting they meet a sinister fakir who offers to sell them Truth for six sous. A set of uncanny events follow. At worst 'avant-gardist' in the extreme, at best the counterpart to Cœur Fidèle's 'fête foraine' sequence after the abolition of melodrama. Excellent black screen cutting and chaotic camera shaking characterize the style.


The Parson's Widow
1920 · 1h 33m
country: Sweden
A newly elected village parson is required to marry his predecessor's widow. However, he's already married, and the woman is old enough to be his grandmother.


Sweet Daddy
1921 · 21m
country: Unknown
Perez plays a henpecked husband who is chained at the neck by his wife in the kitchen and when he tries to stand up for himself, she throws him out of the window where he is dangling for dear life.Once she sends him to the store, Tweedy becomes smitten by a stage actress and tries to woo her with great success until his wife shows up on the scene and all hell breaks loose with cartoon gags.


The Freshman
1925 · 1h 17m
country: United States
An unathletic college freshman ridiculed by his peers for his mannerisms strives to become popular by making the football team.


All Aboard
1927 · 1h 6m
country: United States
Finding himself discharged from a shoe store job and the girl of his affections, May, Johnny gets away from it all by becoming a tour guide for a group of travelers visiting Eygpt. Once there, he is conned into changing places with an itinerant sheik.


Shore Leave
1925 · 1h 33m
country: United States
"Bilge" Smith (Richard Barthelmess), a tough sailor, meets Connie Martin (Dorothy Mackaill), a seamstress in a small harbor who has never had a boyfriend. Connie is instantly smitten. She invites Smith to dinner, where he dances with her and gives her a kiss. Connie has a hard time letting him go, and makes him promise that he will come back.


Soft Cushions
1927 · 1h 10m
country: United States
Douglas MacLean stars as The Young Thief, who falls in love with The Girl, played by Sue Carol. Alas, the Girl has been sold into the harem of The Wazir (Albert Prisco), forcing the Thief to sneak into the palace to rescue her.


Burglar Proof
1920 · 50m
country: United States
When John Harlow loses his sweetheart Jenny Larkin as a result of poverty, he vows never to be broke again and leaves town. He moves to the city, and several years later, after pinching his pennies, he becomes financially successful. One night, while at a dance hall, he runs into Jenny who is now employed as a dance hall hostess. Jenny decides to fleece John and sets him up with Laura, one of her colleagues. Laura is innocent of the scheme, and she and John fall in love. Jenny becomes jealous and attempts to reclaim John by telling him that Laura is having an affair with Richard Crane. John believes her until he discovers that Crane has just married Laura's mother. He proposes to Laura, and she accepts on the condition that he relinquish his spendthrift ways.


Entr'acte
1924 · 22m
country: France
Stop-motion photography blends with extreme slow-motion in Clair's first and most dada film, composed of a series of zany, interconnected scenes. We witness a rooftop chess match between Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, a hearse pulled by a camel (and chased by its pallbearers) and a dizzying roller coaster finale. A film of contradictions and agreements.


Baldevins bryllup
1926 · 1h 44m
country: Norway
Baldevins bryllup (English: Baldevin's wedding) is a 1926 Norwegian comedy film directed by George Schnéevoigt, starring Einar Sissener and Victor Bernau. The film is based on a play by Vilhelm Krag, and tells the story of how Simen Sørensen (Bernau) manages to get his friend Baldevin Jonassen (Sissener) married to the lady next door. The film was renovated in 2006, for the 100-years anniversary of Kristiansand Cinema.
The 1920s were silent cinema's artistic peak, when directors had perfected a purely visual storytelling language just as sound arrived to displace it. German Expressionism and Soviet montage both date from here.
Comedy is the genre that travels least well and dates fastest, which makes the films that survive genuinely remarkable. Screwball, satire, slapstick, and cringe each have their own era and their own rules.