Best Movies of 1926
1.
The General
5.8
During America’s Civil War Union spies steal engineer Johnnie Gray's beloved locomotive The General - his lady love, Annabelle Lee, aboard an attached boxcar - and he single-handedly must do all in his power to both get The General back and to rescue Annabelle. Released throughout most of the world in 1927, this Silent comedy-action film flopped when originally released, but now is regarded as one of the great American motion pictures. The story is based on actual historic events.
Starring:
Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley, Frederick Vroom
Directed by:
Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton
Release date:
1926-12-31
2.
Flesh and the Devil
4.3
As lifelong best friends Leo and Ulrich return home following completion of their military training, Leo sees stunning Felicitas at the railway station and, mesmerized by her beauty, is smitten. A scandal follows, for which Leo is sent away. Returning home three years later, he discovers that much has changed.
Starring:
John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, Lars Hanson, Barbara Kent, George Fawcett
Directed by:
Clarence Brown
Release date:
1926-12-25
3.
Sparrows
4.1
Evil Mr.Grimes keeps a rag-tag bunch orphans on his farm deep in a swamp in the US South. He forces them to work in his garden and treats them like slaves. They are watched over by the eldest, Molly. A gang in league with Mr. Grimes kidnaps Doris, the beautiful little daughter of a rich man, and hides her out on Grimes' farm, awaiting ransom. When the police close in, and Mr. Grimes threatens to throw Doris into the bottomless mire, Molly must lead her little flock out through the alligator-infested swamp.
Starring:
Mary Pickford, Roy Stewart, Mary Louise Miller, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Charlotte Mineau
Directed by:
William Beaudine, Tom McNamara
Release date:
1926-05-14
4.
La Bohème
4.0
It is 1830 in Paris and the rent is due, but the money is not there. An article here, a painting there and a monkey with a cup gives them enough money for the rent, but not for food. Fortunately, Musette from downstairs has enough food for everyone including Mimi - the poor little waif from next door who Rodolphe has met. But Count Paul also has his lusting eye on Mimi and uses her embroidery to get close to her. Rodolphe and Mimi fall in love and Mimi works endlessly to support Rodolphe who is writing his play with a new found passion. He does not know that he has been discharged from writing for 'Dog and Cat Fanciers'. Mimi wants to get his play produced and Count Paul offers to help, but there is a terrible fight when Rodolphe thinks that Mimi is faithless to him with Count Paul. After the fight, he seeks out a doctor as she is sick, but she has left when Rodolphe returns and will stay away until his play is finished.
Starring:
Lillian Gish, John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Roy D'Arcy, Edward Everett Horton
Directed by:
King Vidor
Release date:
1926-03-13
5.
Tell It to the Marines
3.8
U.S. Marine Sergeant O'Hara has his hands full training raw recruits, one of whom, 'Skeets' Burns, is a particular thorn in his side. If Burns's lackadaisical approach to the military were not bad enough, he also makes advances on nurse Nora Dale, whom Sergeant O'Hara secretly loves. Nora is oblivious to O'Hara's feelings and is attracted to the handsome 'Skeet.' But an indiscretion turns her against him, and it takes an expedition to China and a battle with a warlord's bandit brigade to sort things out among the nurse and her two Marines.
Starring:
Lon Chaney, William Haines, Eleanor Boardman, Eddie Gribbon, Carmel Myers
Directed by:
George W. Hill
Release date:
1926-12-23
6.
The Black Pirate
3.7
A nobleman vows to avenge the death of his father at the hands of pirates. To this end he infiltrates the pirate band. Acting in character he is instrumental in the capture of a ship, but things are complicated when he finds that there is a young woman on board whom he wishes to protect from the threat of rape.
Starring:
Douglas Fairbanks, Billie Dove, Anders Randolf, Donald Crisp, Tempe Pigott
Directed by:
Albert Parker
Release date:
1926-03-08
7.
The Son of the Sheik
3.7
Ahmed, son of Diana and Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan, falls in love with Yasmin, a dancing girl who fronts her father's gang of mountebanks. She and Ahmed meet secretly until one night when her father and the gang capture the son of the sheik, torture him, and hold him for ransom.
Starring:
Rudolph Valentino, Vilma Banky, George Fawcett, Montagu Love, Agnes Ayres
Directed by:
George Fitzmaurice
Release date:
1926-09-05
8.
Battling Butler
3.6
Meek millionaire Alfred Butler goes on a camping excursion with his faithful servant. Once in the wilderness, Alfred ignores outdoor activities in favor of trying to woo a charming mountain girl, who wants nothing to do with her spoiled suitor. Trying to impress the girl, Alfred masquerades as boxing star "Battling" Butler.
Starring:
Buster Keaton, Sally O'Neil, Walter James, Budd Fine, Francis McDonald
Directed by:
Buster Keaton
Release date:
1926-09-19
9.
Bardelys the Magnificent
3.4
Rafael Sabatini's story of the swashbuckling era and of Bardeleys, the handsome courtier who could win any woman he set his mind to...and was not above boasting about it to all who would listen.
Starring:
John Gilbert, Eleanor Boardman, Roy D'Arcy, Lionel Belmore, Emily Fitzroy
Directed by:
King Vidor
Release date:
1926-09-30
10.
Nell Gwyn
3.3
An actress becomes the king's mistress and persuades him to convert the palace to a serviceman's home.
Starring:
Dorothy Gish, Randle Ayrton, Juliette Compton, Sydney Fairbrother, Donald Macardle
Directed by:
Herbert Wilcox
Release date:
1926-01-02
11.
Fine Manners
3.3
The film depicts what happens when a rich boy accidentally meets a crude girl on New Year's Eve.
Starring:
Gloria Swanson, Eugene O'Brien, Helen Dunbar, Roland Drew, John Miltern
Directed by:
Richard Rosson, Lewis Milestone
Release date:
1926-08-29
12.
Exit Smiling
3.3
Beatrice Lillie and Jack Pickford star in this silent comedy about the travails of a third-rate traveling theatre company.
Starring:
Beatrice Lillie, Jack Pickford, Doris Lloyd, DeWitt Jennings, Harry Myers
Directed by:
Sam Taylor
Release date:
1926-11-06
13.
3 Bad Men
3.2
Three outlaws come to the aid of a young girl after her father is killed. A silent film directed by John Ford.
Starring:
George O'Brien, Olive Borden, Lou Tellegen, Tom Santschi, Frank Campeau
Directed by:
John Ford
Release date:
1926-08-28
14.
Torrent
3.2
A young girl and her father are kicked out of their house by a cruel noblewoman, and the girl's heart is broken when her sweetheart, the noblewoman's son, won't go to Paris with them. After becoming an opera star in Paris, the girl returns to her homeland and finds her romance with the nobleman rekindled
Starring:
Greta Garbo, Ricardo Cortez, Gertrude Olmstead, Edward Conelly, Lucien Littlefield
Directed by:
Monta Bell
Release date:
1926-02-08
15.
So This Is Paris
3.2
Paris, Hollywood, not Paris, France, the perfect setting for Ernst Lubitsch's comedy of pretense.
Starring:
Monte Blue, Monte Blue, Patsy Ruth Miller, Patsy Ruth Miller, George Beranger
Directed by:
Ernst Lubitsch
Release date:
1926-07-31
16.
Scents and Nonsense
3.0
It's a fairly straightforward piece in which Krazy gets involved with a dance contest, a bear, a skunk and a pawnbroker.
Directed by:
William Nolan
Release date:
1926-01-02
17.
The Temptress
2.9
In a masked ball in Paris, Manuel Robledo, a young Argentinian architect, meets Elena, the Marquess of Torre Blanca. Later, the young woman is rightly accused causing the misfortune and loss of wealth of Fontenoy, a man who fell for her charms. To escape social criticism, the Marquis of Torre Blanca transfers his residence to Argentina. There, Elena meets again Manuel, when he is building a river's dam. Manos Duras, a thug, harasses Elena, and when Manuel intervenes, he defies him to a whip duel. The duel is long and vicious, both men suffering many cuts on their faces and naked chests, but in the end, the thug is vanquished and humiliated. Manos Duras sets up an ambush to murder Manuel, but the Marquis of Torre Blanca is killed instead. Now, there only two men in love for Elena, the eternal temptress
Starring:
Greta Garbo, Antonio Moreno, Marc McDermott, Lionel Barrymore, Armand Kaliz
Directed by:
Fred Niblo
Release date:
1926-10-03
18.
Don Juan
2.9
If there was one thing that Don Juan de Marana learned from his father Don Jose, it was that women gave you three things - life, disillusionment and death. In his father's case it was his wife, Donna Isobel, and Donna Elvira who supplied the latter. Don Juan settled in Rome after attending the University of Pisa. Rome was run by the tyrannical Borgia family consisting of Caesar, Lucrezia and the Count Donati. Juan has his way with and was pursued by many women, but it is the one that he could not have that haunts him. It will be for her that he suffers the wrath of Borgia for ignoring Lucrezia and then killing Count Donati in a duel. For Adriana, they will both be condemned to death in the prison on the river Tigre.
Starring:
John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Myrna Loy, Hedda Hopper, Estelle Taylor
Directed by:
Alan Crosland
Release date:
1926-08-06
19.
The Bells
2.9
Mathias, an Alsatian innkeeper, murders a rich Pole staying at his inn But Mathias' conscience will not let him rest, and the murdered man's spirit drives the innkeeper nearly mad. The victim's brother calls for an inquest and brings with him a sideshow mesmerist supposedly able to read minds. Mathias, as burgomaster, is called upon to conduct the inquest, but under the intuitive eye of the mesmerist cannot resist torment of his own conscience.
Starring:
Lionel Barrymore, Caroline Frances Cooke, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Lorimer Johnston, Boris Karloff
Directed by:
James Young
Release date:
1926-07-29
20.
The Blackbird
2.9
Two thieves, the Blackbird and West End Bertie, fall in love with the same girl, a French nightclub performer named Fifi. Each man tries to outdo the other to win her heart.
Starring:
Lon Chaney, Owen Moore, Renée Adorée, Doris Lloyd, Andy MacLennan
Directed by:
Tod Browning
Release date:
1926-01-11
Also check Best movies of 1925.
Check out our top containing the Best Movies of 1926. This top was obtained with our unique algorithm ordered by our unique ranking system.
