The Top 10 (Possible) Hit Films of 1924
As 2024 is drawing to a close, I’m reminded that a number of iconic silent films are now 100 years old: Sherlock Jr, The Thief of Bagdad, Greed. These kinds of milestones always spark my curiosity: were these films as popular back then as they are today? What were the U.S.A.’s top 10 highest-grossing films from 1924?
Last year I wrote a similar list focusing on 1923, and like last year I’ll caution that it can be very difficult to figure out silent film box office numbers. Some films were released in specific regions, some were more expensive to exhibit than others, and others were rented by exhibitors for a flat fee and shown multiple times without anyone keeping exact track. Thus, 1920s box office numbers will always be somewhat muddled. So perhaps our list can start with the “best bets” for inclusion on the list (consider the following box office numbers “rough estimates”), followed by some possible contenders.
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Best Bets:
Girl Shy – $1.5 million
Not for nothing was Harold Lloyd one of the 1920s’ biggest box office draws! Lloyd plays a bashful young man who can’t bring himself to talk to girls, but nevertheless wants to publish a “how-to” book about winning over the opposite sex. Then, of course, he just happens to cross paths with the lovely Mary Buckingham. This was the first full-length motion picture Lloyd released under his own production company, and it features a number of his own dangerous stunts.
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Hot Water – $1.35 million
Another winning comedy from Lloyd, this followup to Girl Shy had an episodic structure featuring Lloyd as a family man. The first part focuses on his exploits trying to get a live turkey home after winning it in a raffle, while the next two show him at odds with his in-laws. More of a series of comedy shorts than your typical feature, Hot Water was nevertheless a huge hit.
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The Iron Horse – $943,000
John Ford’s romantic tale of the “taming of the west” recreated the building of the trans-continental railroad. Cast and crew endured freezing temps and blizzards while filming on location in Nevada. Described today as “the Grandfather of the Western epic,” it was a major success for Fox and only cost half as much to make as Paramount’s The Covered Wagon blockbuster from the year before.
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America – $1.75 million
D.W. Griffith’s epic telling of the American Revolution might appear to have been a success, but its budget of nearly a million dollars made it more of a flop. While grand in scale, its earnest tone, jumbled timeline and liberal use of title cards made it seem quaint next to the jazzy comedies and sophisticated dramas that were more in vogue.
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The Thief of Bagdad – $1.5 mill
All-American megastar Douglas Fairbanks spared no expense in making this lavish adaptation of the Arabian Nights, full of lush costumes and magical special effects. Considered his finest film today, The Thief of Bagdad was a mega hit–and if you count Canadian box office receipts, it grossed around 3million.
And the #1 champ of the box office in 1924? That was most likely:
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The Sea Hawk – $2 million
Milton Sills is the star of this seafaring adventure about the baronet Oliver Tressilian who is shanghaied, sold into slavery, and then escapes to become the pirate leader Sakr-el-Bahr. Director Frank Lloyd insisted on building full size replicas of 16th century ships. His battle sequences were so well done that when The Sea Hawk was remade in 1940 several of the 1924 action scenes were simply spliced into the film.
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Possible Contenders:
Secrets: – $1.5 million?
This touching historical drama, showing an elderly woman reflecting back on her decades living in the frontier, shows up in a number of online sources about 1924 hit films. The “1.5 million” statistic might stem from the unreliable 1937-8 Motion Picture Almanac edited by historian Terry Ramsaye, and the film itself was treated pretty routinely by 1920s trade magazines. At any rate, it does feature a masterful performance by Norma Talmadge, one of the era’s brightest stars.
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Feet of Clay – $900,000
Shot on Catalina Island, this Cecil B. DeMille society drama apparently had a bit of everything–romance, tragedy, scandal, and touches of light comedy. Ads declared it “had a story so modern it might have been written an hour ago.” And if its reported box office is any indication, it must have had something for nearly everyone.
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He Who Gets Slapped – $880,000
Audiences marveled at Lon Chaney’s acting skills and incredible ability to transform himself into freakish characters. He Who Gets Slapped is the sorrowful drama of a man who loses both his life’s work and his beloved wife, who betrays him. He begins working in a circus, where he creates a comedic clown act where he’s repeatedly slapped in the face. It received rave reviews, with some critics considering it a near-perfect film.
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The Navigator – $680,000
Buster Keaton’s brilliant, breezy comedy was the biggest hit of his silent career. Following the adventures of a rich but naive young man who ends up adrift on a ship with his former sweetheart, it’s every bit as funny today as it was 100 years ago.
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Peter Pan – $630,000
Lastly, let’s forget one of the finest film versions of this popular tale. Hollywood was buzzing about it long before it entered theaters, and many young actresses vied to be cast as Peter Pan. Betty Bronson was eventually awarded the role, reportedly thanks to J.M. Barrie himself. Beautifully photographed and full of charm and warmth, it was a hit in its time and it’s still an excellent family film today.
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–Lea Stans for Classic Movie Hub
You can read all of Lea’s Silents are Golden articles here.
Lea Stans is a born-and-raised Minnesotan with a degree in English and an obsessive interest in the silent film era (which she largely blames on Buster Keaton). In addition to blogging about her passion at her site Silent-ology, she is a columnist for the Silent Film Quarterly and has also written for The Keaton Chronicle.
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