2. My Best Girl
My Best Girl isn't one of the most famous silent films. Strictly speaking, it might not even be Mary Pickford's best film from a critical perspective. But it's an incredibly sweet romantic comedy, and in a lot of ways it has more in common with modern films than some of the other highly acclaimed silent films that are out there. Sure, Birth of a Nation is significant, but in terms of watchability, My Best Girl has it beat, easily. It's the story of a poor young girl who falls in love with her boss's son -- only she doesn't know it, because he's working as a stock boy to prove himself to his father. My Best Girl is noteworthy because it stars Mary Pickford, who was easily the most influential woman of the silent era, and the man who would eventually become her third husband, Buddy Rogers. Although they wouldn't marry until ten years after this film was released, they have a palpable chemistry that comes through even with the admittedly chaste relationship on screen.