Silent Cinema

Silent Cinema is a must-have book for everyone interested in cinema of all eras … If you’re not a silent fan, this giddy ride can make you one. * Observations on Film Art *
Paolo Cherchi Usai, renowned film curator, filmmaker, and programmer, has created an engaging saga of the diverse ways in which people have made films—and rescued them for others to enjoy. Silent Cinema is a rare feast of information, ideas, and insights. Using Méliès’ moon-shot as a recurring example, Cherchi Usai surveys everything from perforations and acting performances to musical accompaniment, each treated with clarity and wit. Particularly valuable are the nuanced accounts of how digital technology has transformed our attitudes toward silent films. The reader comes away with a deeper appreciation of the patient curators who have dedicated themselves to making ‘old cinema’ perpetually new. * David Bordwell, Jacques Ledoux Professor Emeritus of Film Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA *
For decades, Paolo Cherchi Usai’s book had been a definitive and inspiring guide to silent cinema—and stays so today when this formerly out-of-the-way and obscure field of study has entered the realm of mainstream entertainment. It stays so because Cherchi Usai has kept it up to date—by way of questioning rather than going along with contemporary dogmas and illusions. Silent film was a performative rather than a technologically reproductive medium; digitization of the photochemical is a deadly remedy instead of a hoped-for panacea. No stone unturned. I fully endorse Paolo Cherchi Usai’s daringly cautionary guide. * Yuri Tsivian, William Colvin Emeritus Professor at the University of Chicago, USA *
This third edition of an already classic introduction to cinema’s ‘silent’ era may be the best of all. Instead of merely updating his pioneering text, Paolo Cherchi Usai has re-thought what the early period means to us today, and addresses the ‘digital natives’ who will be its main readers. It’s hard to imagine a more enthusiastic or authoritative introduction. * Ian Christie , Anniversary Professor of Film and Media History, Birkbeck, University of London, UK *