Great Films without Dialogue

pa90210 · 02-11-2011 05:16PM #1

I'm looking for films/scenes that really succeed in telling their story without dialogue; just music, sound effects etc.

Not necessarily silent films, although these are helpful too. I'm more interested in films with specific, designed soundtracks. Anything from Wall-E to your friend's short!

Cheers!

krudler · 02-11-2011 05:21PM

Baraka or Koyaanisqatsi, not really a plot to speak of but more of a look at life itself.

Mickeroo · 02-11-2011 05:21PM

Try Terence Malick's recent film The Tree of Life, there's very little dialogue in it. Some people hated it, I thought it was really good, its worth watching for the visuals alone anyway.

Another is Valhalla Rising, there's hardly any dialogue for the last hour, I didn't like it at all but some people did, so you never know. I enjoyed the first 20 minutes or so though.

Can't think of any others at the moment. Drive didn't have very much dialogue in places either I suppose and thats a brilliant film, same director as Valhalla Rising.

johnny_ultimate · 02-11-2011 05:34PM

If you're looking for silent films, Battleship Potemkin (says most things with music and editing), Sunrise (cinema's great classic melodrama) and Metropolis (epic sci-fi) are all wonderful. They do use narrative text inserts, though, to varying degrees, as would most early films.

Recently, it's hard: there's few types less common in cinema than dialogue free films! +1 on the Quatsi films, hypnotic stuff (if basically just feature length Phillip Glass music videos :P). Le Quattro Volte was one I saw this year that is almost entirely free of speech: indeed, two of the main characters are a goat and a tree :P

The King of Moo · 02-11-2011 05:35PM

The Thief (1952) with Ray Milland has no dialogue whatsoever, and is a fantastic spy thriller.

Very tense and a bit Hitchcockian: well worth a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZiuk7OsTfU

Mickeroo · 02-11-2011 05:36PM

krudler wrote: »

Baraka or Koyaanisqatsi, not really a plot to speak of but more of a look at life itself.

Even though its technically a concert movie of sorts Sigur Ros' Heima is quite similar to these films in some ways, worth a look OP!

Laserface · 02-11-2011 05:57PM

sylvian chomet's animated films are dialogue free.. check out The Old Lady And The Pigeons

Sad Professor · 02-11-2011 06:14PM

3-Iron. Beautiful film. There is dialogue in it, but the two main characters barely speak a word.

Tenshot · 02-11-2011 06:18PM

The first 10 minutes of Pixar's Up is almost a film-within-a-film showing an entire life lived together, all without dialog. Really well done.

Nolanger · 02-11-2011 06:57PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u58TKioxsVs

Otis Driftwood · 02-11-2011 08:39PM

Aftermath and Genesis,two short films by Nacho Cerda.

Neither have any dialogue what so ever and are poles apart content wise.Aftermath is pretty hard going in places and Genesis has some beautiful visuals.

johnny_ultimate · 02-11-2011 08:45PM

Also this actually:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2uQWKleAzM

Be warned: the first third is the best and even that's hard work. And I've never seen so many cinema walkouts in my life. But it's certainly interesting.

03-11-2011 09:22AM

I don't know if you would count it, but Drive had some fantastic moments with barely any dialogue.

Dotrel · 03-11-2011 09:38AM

Rififi

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048021/

There's a bank heist sequence in it that goes on for half an hour with little or no dialogue.

R P McMurphy · 03-11-2011 09:42AM

Hunger directed by Steve McQueen, principally about the dirty protect and the hunger strikes in the H-Block. Large segments of the film do not have dialogue. Initially he did not want any dialogue at all but opted to include some

Andrew33 · 03-11-2011 09:45AM

2001

hidinginthebush · 03-11-2011 09:46AM

2001: A Space Odysseey doesn't feature any dialogue for the first 30 or so minutes, but you would never notice, it's so captivating! Wall-E struck me as tipping it's cap to that, with a largegly silent beginning too, which was just fine with me, as I also loved it.

Dotrel · 03-11-2011 09:46AM

There Will Be Blood has a good 12 minutes dialogue-free at the start (tho not the 20mins you'll see in some reviews).

p to the e · 03-11-2011 11:57AM

How about Fantasia?

Mickey Mouse in line with some magnificent classical pieces? Get in!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasia_%28film%29

SuprSi · 03-11-2011 01:10PM

Probably more dialogue than you'd like, but Apoclypto is a superb movie with very little dialogue throughout. There's a chase scene to end the movie which goes for maybe 20 minutes with only a few sentences spoken.

Corsendonk · 03-11-2011 01:24PM

The Plank, extended sketch by the great Eric Sykes, the below is the 1979 remake of the 1967 original. Very little dialogue with musical instruments used to communicate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R75WrhG4T54

03-11-2011 06:02PM

God, I had absolutely forgotten about the Plank. By far one of the funniest things I've ever seen, actual proper comedy.

Nolanger · 03-11-2011 06:37PM

Bellboy

Skinfull · 03-11-2011 11:55PM

Rendezvous - Simple short flick based in paris. Some really good shots in this.

Duel - Everyone should see this! Spielberg gold. Its got some dialogue but not much.

blue note · 04-11-2011 11:01AM

Sylvain Chomet has two anyway - The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist. Both terrific annimated films.

I also saw a short by Paddy Slattery called The Moment - about a guys last few moments in a hospital. Absolutely terrific - very powerful.

Galvasean · 04-11-2011 11:33AM

Jean-Jacques Annaud has two films like this that I have seen. Both are excellent.
Quest for Fire is about cavemen on a.... quest for fire, traversing about encountering dangerous wildlife, cannibals and neanderthals along the way.
The Bear, I would say, is even better. It's a story about an orphaned bear cub trying to survive in a harsh wilderness. There are about 3 or 4 lines of dialogue in a scene involving poachers, but it's largely irrelevant as they could be saying anything as the dialogue does not effect the storyline.

bodhrandude · 05-11-2011 09:03PM

The Pathfinder from 1987, not so much dialogue but more like grunts or really rough Lapland or Norwegian accents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSxQEmaRy_g

Edit: Just read imdb apparently its in Saami language.

Mickeroo · 05-11-2011 09:09PM

CAstaway with Tom Hanks has some very long parts with no dialogue. Must watch that film again.

brian_t · 05-11-2011 11:35PM

Hell in the Pacific Two protagonists - neither understands the other so no dialogue.

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday and Mon Oncle Two starring Jacques Tati.

latenia · 06-11-2011 01:10AM

Le Quattro Volte

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Quattro_Volte

Great Films without Dialogue

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