“Do you know anything about silent films?" "Sure," I said. "The first ones were developed in the late nineteenth century and sometimes had live musical accompaniment, though it wasn't until the 1920s that sound became truly incorporated into films, eventually making silent ones obsolete in cinema.”

“Do you know anythingabout silent films?”“Sure,” I said. “The first ones were developed in the latenineteenth century and sometimes had live musicalaccompaniment, though it wasn’t until the 1920s that soundbecome truly incorporated into films, eventually makingsilent ones obsolete in cinema.”Bryan gaped, as though that was more than he’d beenexpecting. “Oh. Okay. Well, um, there’s a silent film festivaldowntown next week. Do you think you’d want to go?”I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. I respect it as anart form but really don’t get much out of watching them.”“Huh. Okay.” He smoothed his hair back again, and Icould almost see him groping for thoughts. Why on earthwas he asking me about silent films? “What about Starship30? It opens Friday. Do you want to see that?”“I don’t really like sci-fi either,” I said. It was true, I found itcompletely implausible.Bryan looked ready to rip that shaggy hair out. “Is thereany movie out there you want to see?”I ran through a mental list of current entertainment. “No.Not really.” The bell rang, and with a shake of his head,Bryan slunk back to his desk. “That was weird,” I muttered.“He has bad taste in movies.” Glancing beside me, I wasstartled to see Julia with her head down on her desk whileshe shook with silent laughter. “What?”“That,” she gasped. “That was hilarious.”“What?” I said again. “Why?”“Sydney, he was asking you out!”I replayed the conversation. “No, he wasn’t. He wasasking me about cinema.”She was laughing so hard that she had to wipe away atear. “So he could find out what you wanted to see and takeyou out!”“Well, why didn’t he just say that?”“You are so adorably oblivious,” she said. “I hope I’maround the day you actually notice someone is interested inyou.” I continued to be mystified, and she spent the rest ofclass bursting out with spontaneous giggles.”

“Today, I demand that a film express either the joy of making cinema or the agony of making cinema. I am not at all interested in anything in between; I am not interested in all those films that do not pulse.”

“On the whole, Flora liked it better when they were silent, though it did rather give her the feeling that she was acting in one of the less cheerful German highbrow films.”

“If all histories have a period known as The Golden Age, somewhere betweenThe Beginning and The End, I suppose those Sundays during Fall Semesterat Hannah's were just that, or, to quote one of Dad's treasuredcharacters of cinema, the illustrious Norma Desmond as she recalled the lostera of silent film: "We didn't need dialogue. We had faces.”

“...I studied English Literature. I wasn't a very good student, but one thing I did get from it, while I was making films at the same time with the college film society, was that I started thinking about the narrative freedoms that authors had enjoyed for centuries and it seemed to me that filmmakers should enjoy those freedoms as well.”