Seductive cinema

From a distinguished film historian - an exhilarating celebration of silent movies, a book that offers a new understanding of the art, the directors, the cinematographers and the stars of the great silent films. In it James Card - pioneer collector of silents since the twenties, founder of the George Eastman film archive and the Telluride and Montreal film festivals - strips away the formulaic praise that has encrusted the reputations of such filmmakers as D. W. Griffith (who, he says, did not invent the close-up or film editing) and discusses their real achievements. He rescues the…