Table of Contents

* A Survey * The Beginnings * The Birth of Film Grammar * The Early Features * Griffith and The Birth of a Nation * Intolerance * Stabilization * The Art of the Sub-Title * The Directors * The Early Twenties * The Mid-1920s: The New Dominance of the Female Star * Genres * The Western * Comedy * The Peak Years * Art Direction and Production Design * European Influences * Transition to Sound: Early Talkies * Appendix: The State of Film Scholarship in AmericaThe Silent Film: Books, Films, Archives, and Other Reference Tools * Chronology: The Movies in America; Art and IndustryA Chronological Survey of Highlights of the Silent Period

About the Author

William K. Everson (1929-1996) was the author of The Art of W. C. Fields, Classics of the Horror Film, and The Western.