Silents, Please

I love silent movies. Maybe you do too. Try telling that to someone.

Looking through Intolerance and some Harold Lloyd comedies the other night, it occurred to me how difficult it is to explain to almost anyone---even those who consider themselves 'knowledgeable' film buffs---the appeal (or even the sanity!) of watching silent movies.

To me, silent film represents a lost art form, perhaps even a lost language, and the greatest silent movies tell their stories with as much, and often more, power and emotion and meaning as the most up-to-date modern films.

Try explaining this, and you're likely to get a blank stare. Or a laugh. Some may even question your sanity.

Only the most devoted and *truly* knowledgeable films buffs will understand.

The reason for this, I believe, has to do with deeply ingrained beliefs and attitudes that we as Americans hold.

Which is to say, our belief in 'progress'.

That, as technology advances, the old becomes ipso facto 'obsolete' and 'useless'. What was achieved under the old technology is now fit only for the trash can.

The reasoning goes something like this: "Movie companies produced silent features only because they had no way to synchronize sound. Once they had the technology to synchronize sound with picture, then silent films became obsolete and sound features became the standard." End of story.

So, in this view, watching a silent movie makes as much sense as filling an old rain barrel with water, poking some holes in the lid, hanging it upside down from the ceiling, and trying to take a shower that way.

The same argument has been applied to color vs. black & white. Once color became affordable and feasible for all films, it became the standard. Old films *would* have been made in color if he studios could have afforded it, so no reason not to colorize them now.

All of which is true to an extent. But what this view doesn't take into account is that, within the confines and admitted limitations of silent cinema, a number of true artist could have produced a number of true masterpieces---masterpieces that hold up today as artistic creations, and indeed far surpass most of the crap that fills the modern cineplex today.

A true artist will work within the limitations of whatever medium he or she chooses. Not only that, but an artist will even turn those limitations to her advantage, creating works of art that can only exist *within* those limitations.

And of all these masterpieces, the aforementioned Intolerance stands as perhaps the greatest artistic achievement of the silent era, as well as one of the greatest American works of all time.

And certain forms of physical comedy---Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Turpin, etc.---actually play better in silent cinema than sound.

In short, what our all-pervasive faith in 'progress' will not allow us to do is to enjoy many great and entertaining films that happened to be produced under now 'obsolete technology.

Too bad for us.