Ben-Hur, in full Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, American silent film, released in 1925, about ancient Rome and Jerusalem at the time of Jesus that set new standards for action scenes. Judah Ben-Hur (played by Ramon Navarro) is a young Jewish man from a family of privilege who is betrayed by his Roman boyhood friend Messala (Francis X. Bushman) and sold into slavery. Through grit, determination, and religious fate, he overcomes seemingly insurmountable obstacles to save his family.

With a budget of nearly $4 million, Ben-Hur was the most expensive silent film ever made. This adaptation was the second screen version of American soldier Lew Wallace’s massive novel (1880) of the same name. In 1907 the story had been condensed into a one-reel short. The highlight of the 1925 version is the famed chariot race.

In 1997, Ben-Hur was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Detailed information:

Directed by: Fred Niblo, Charles Brabin, J.J. Cohn

Starring: Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Betty Bronson, Claire McDowell

Release date: Dec 25, 1925

Budget: $3.9 Million

Box office: $10.7 Million

The General is a 1926 American silent film released by United Artists. It was inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase, a true story of an event that occurred during the American Civil War. The story was adapted from the 1889 memoir The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger. The film stars Buster Keaton who co-directed it with Clyde Bruckman.

The film is about Jonathan "Johnny", the driver of an engine called "The General" faced with a big war striking his town. He must run with his train to survive this disaster and goes on a huge ancient great action-packed slapstick train locomotive railway adventure comedy with train chases, bridge collapses and more.

It is considered as the best silent film ever made in the world. It is also famous for one of the most expensive scenes in the films. The train crash scene was only made with the budget of $42,000. In this film, there was a largely allotted budget used and which raised its whole budget as well. This entire budget is according to that time that is now in millions because of change in currency values.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman

Starring: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender

Release date: Dec 31, 1926

Budget: $42,000 of one scene

Box office: $1 Million

Intolerance is a very old and black & white film which was released in 1916. It was also a very long film of almost 3 hours and thirty minutes. It is considered as the longest film ever made in the world till now. The film is about the story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Estimated at close to $2 million dollars to make in 1916, Intolerance was one of the most expensive silent films to date. Even though it had a poor showing at the box office, directors have been influenced by it ever since, especially in the way that the scenes are cut - going back and forth through time.

Detailed information:

Directed by: D. W. Griffith

Starring: Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh

Release date: Sep 5, 1916

Budget: 2 Million

Box office: 1 Million

The Great Dictator was popular with audiences, becoming Chaplin's most commercially successful film. Modern critics have praised it as a historically significant film, one of the greatest comedy films ever made and an important work of satire.

The Great Dictator is a tale of two worlds: the palace, where dictator Adenoid Hynkel rules, and the ghetto, where a Jewish barber struggles to make a living and survive The comedic device of the film is the resemblance between the Dictator and the Barber, who is later mistaken for the Dictator. The theme of the story, at its basic level, is the struggle between good and evil, reflected in the balance between the two worlds.

The Great Dictator cost $2 million dollars making it one of Chaplin’s most expensive silent films. It was an enormous gamble, as the film did not have the international distribution his silent films had enjoyed. The film was banned throughout occupied Europe, in parts of South America, and in the Irish Free State. Nevertheless, The Great Dictator became Chaplin’s most profitable film up to that time earning $3.5 million dollars worldwide in its original release.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Charlie Chaplin

Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie

Release date: Oct 31, 1940

Budget: 2 Million

Box office: $3.5 Million

City Lights is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) and develops a turbulent friendship with an alcoholic millionaire (Harry Myers).

City Lights was a pure silent film with no dialogues in it. It is a comedy movie, but it is still considered as the most emotional movie in the history of movies. In this movie, there was pure Chaplin style used in it which increased the budget of the movie and also increased the time to complete this movie. The total cost of making this movie was almost $1.5 million and earned about $4.25 million after its release, which shows it was very successful as in the past there was not much trend of watching films.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Charlie Chaplin

Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill

Release date: Mar 7, 1931

Budget: 1.5 Million

Box office: $4.25 Million

This influential German science-fiction film presents a highly stylized futuristic city where a beautiful and cultured utopia exists above a bleak underworld populated by mistreated workers. When the privileged youth Freder (Gustav Fröhlich) discovers the grim scene under the city, he becomes intent on helping the workers. He befriends the rebellious teacher Maria (Brigitte Helm), but this puts him at odds with his authoritative father, leading to greater conflict.

At the time of its release, Metropolis was the most expensive silent film ever made, costing the equivalent of something like 1.2 million U.S. dollars. Watching the film, you're liable to think $1.2 million - in 1926 - was a bargain. Lang had huge sets constructed, assembled massive crowds of extras, and basically designed an entire fictional world from the ground up. For the locales that were too large or ornate to be created in full, Lang's special effects guru, Eugen Schufftan, employed what came to be known as the "Shufftan process," using mirrors to "project" actors into miniature models or drawings.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Fritz Lang

Starring: Brigitte Helm, Gustav Fröhlich

Release date: Mar 13, 1927

Budget: 1.3 Million

Box office: $1.2 Million

The Gold Rush is a 1925 American silent comedy film written, produced, and directed by Charlie Chaplin. The story follows a lone prospector ventures into Alaska looking for gold. He gets mixed up with some burly characters and falls in love with the beautiful Georgia. He tries to win her heart with his singular charm.

The entire production cost $923,886.45, making The Gold Rush one of the most expensive silent films ever made. More than 230,000 feet of film were exposed (on one camera). In post-production, Chaplin spent nine weeks - from April 20, 1925, to the day of the world premiere in Hollywood on June 26, 1925 - editing the film to a length under 10,000 feet.

Detailed information:
Directed by: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Tom Murray, Georgia Hale
Release date: Jun 26, 1925
Budget: $923,886
Box office: $4 Million

The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 American silent horror film adaptation of Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, directed by Rupert Julian and starring Lon Chaney in the title role of the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

From the beginning, The Phantom of the Opera was meant to be a blockbuster. Universal hired French artist Ben Caray, who had worked at the Palais Garnier, to recreate the backstage and the cellars of the opera house. It should then come as no surprise that the sets for The Phantom of the Opera (1925) would prove to be very expensive, but then the movie would prove to be very expensive overall.

That having been said, much of the reason for the sheer expense of the film was not simply the lavishness of its sets. Quite simply, director Rupert Julian did not get along particularly well with the cast. Things became so tense between star Lon Chaney and director Rupert Julian that director of photography Charles Van Enger had to serve as a go-between for the two men. In the end Lon Chaney directed many of his own scenes himself. Things went from bad to worse when the first cut was previewed on January 7 and January 25 1925 in Los Angeles. Met with a poor reception for the film, Universal canceled the film's set release date and then ordered that most of it be reshot. As a result Rupert Julian ultimately left the project.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Rupert Julian

Starring: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry

Release date: Nov 15, 1925

Budget: $632,357

Box office: $2 Million

Greed is a 1924 American silent psychological drama film written and directed by Erich von Stroheim and based on the 1899 Frank Norris novel McTeague. It stars Gibson Gowland as Dr. John McTeague, ZaSu Pitts as Trina Sieppe, his wife, and Jean Hersholt as McTeague's friend and eventual enemy Marcus Schouler. The film tells the story of McTeague, a San Francisco dentist, who marries his best friend Schouler's girlfriend Trina.

The film was edited a lot to make it shorter but could not and still the film was of 2 hours and 30 minutes. The basic theme of Greed was about money, and the whole story revolves around it, and all monetary instruments were also shown in this film. In this film, they also showed how the life of people changes when they win any lottery.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Erich von Stroheim

Starring: Erich von Stroheim, ZaSu Pitts, Gibson Gowland, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller

Release date: Dec 4, 1924

Budget: $546,883

Box office: $274,827

The Birth of a Nation, originally called The Clansman, is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr. 's 1905 novel and play The Clansman.

The Birth of a Nation is a landmark of film history, lauded for its technical virtuosity. It was the first American 12-reel film ever made and, at three hours, also the longest up to that point. Its plot, part fiction and part history, chronicles the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth and the relationship of two families in the Civil War and Reconstruction eras over the course of several years - the pro-Union (Northern) Stonemans and the pro-Confederacy (Southern) Camerons. It was originally shown in two parts separated by an intermission, and it was the first American-made film to have a musical score for an orchestra.

The film was controversial even before its release and has remained so ever since; it has been called "the most controversial film ever made in the United States" and "the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history". In spite of its divisiveness, The Birth of a Nation was a huge commercial success across the nation - grossing more than any previous motion picture - and profoundly influenced both the film industry and American culture.

Detailed information:

Directed by: D. W. Griffith

Starring: Lillian Gish, Henry B. Walthall

Release date: Feb 8, 1915

Budget: $110,000

Box office: $50–100 Million