“It's like writing history with lightning!”

Silent cinema is not just sound film without talking. It is an art of pure motion, of metaphor, of meaning expressed through visual subtlety and magnification of detail. Elegantly, silent film conveys ideas and emotions which sound would render obvious or clumsy. The innovators and masters of this art raised storytelling to a level which remains valid, moving, and even awe-inspiring in the twenty-first century.

David Shepard, Film Preservation Associates

In the 1980s Anne Baxter came to Australia for the Logies and I had the honour not only to meet and interview her, especially about The Razor’s Edge and All About Eve, but also to appear with her on stage during the Logies function. I remember one special remark she made during our conversations:

“So many people look at films but don’t look into them.”

How true! Sometimes they listen as casually as they look. Now, Silent Cinema wants us to look at the visuals and look into the visuals.

I love the Silent Cinema and usually see two or three silent movies each week. I shall never forget the experiences of, for example, The Man Who Laughs, The Prisoner of Zenda (with Lewis Stone and Ramon Novarro), The Crowd, Greed, A Woman of Affairs (Greta Garbo) and, among others, He Who Gets Slapped, and enough movies to fill a page.

I hope that you will enjoy this year’s Australia’s Silent Film Festival – enrich your movie experiences and see beyond the multiplex!

Foxtel's Mr Movies Bill Collins
October 2009