This work gives the film buff a good overview of the silent film era by examining some of the most creative minds of that period including Griffith, Murnau, and Chaplin. Rather than being remembered as the time of choppy, silly film footage that was shown at the wrong speed, the author puts the era in the proper framework of the history of cinema as a whole. The cinematic aspects of the silent era were phenomenal given the available technology, and this work will help the average film lover come to have a better appreciation for the gems that era has to offer.