Isn't some of this talk about silent movies just a little bit romanticized? i mean we are talking about the technical limits of an industry, not actual critical or aesthetic choices, otherwise the contemporary silent films would not be as infrequent as they are. (Has there been a *commmercial* silent film released since since Brooks did Silent Movie?) i've always been under the impression that the presentation of silent movies usually included a musical background of some kind, at least when silents are reissued they usually seem to come complete with a brand new performance of music written especially for the movie (Gance's Napoleon). i don't know, it just seems like we're confusing watching 8mm home movies with Melies et al., and those memories of living room ambience with Cagian satori. Which may not be a bad idea. -mike breiner