The Best Short Films Ever Made
There are a number of great classic short films out there that have truly stood the test of time. These are the films that have influenced generations of filmmakers and continue to not only entertain audiences but also teach and inspire future lovers of the cinematic arts. From sci-fi adventures by cinema’s first magician Georges Méliès to surrealist splendor by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, these short films have it all. Here are some of the best short films ever made… in chronological order.
LE VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE (A TRIP TO THE MOON) (1902)
Written and Directed by Georges Méliès (18 minutes)
Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) is the first truly great short film and arguably the short film that has had the greatest influence on the history of cinema. 21st-century viewers still recognize its most iconic image: a rocket-ship landing in the eye of the Man on the Moon. Indeed, that remains probably the single most iconic image in all of science-fiction cinema, a brilliant visual summation of the dangers inherent in space exploration, both for the explorers and the new worlds being explored.
THE IMMIGRANT (1917)
Written by Charlie Chaplin, Vincent Bryan, and Maverick Terrell, and Directed by Charlie Chaplin (22 minutes)
Le Voyage dans la Lune was the first great short film, but the first great short film star, or indeed film star of any description, was Charlie Chaplin, the English vaudevillian who conquered America and then the world with his archetypal Tramp character: always out of luck but none the less indefatigable. Among Chaplin’s many classic films – initially short and eventually longer – is The Immigrant, in which he recreated his own journey to the US as a penniless economic migrant, in the process creating a visual language for transatlantic travel that has been hugely influential ever since, even in much later films such as The Godfather Part II.
