Almost as soon as talking features started to crowd out silent movies in the final years of the 1920s, silent movies were relegated to being 'primitive' and 'melodramatic.' There were movies that met that description, but there were also enormously sophisticated works that told their tales in an almost purely visual fashion. Through the 1930s, the silents in the vaults were mined for burlesques, like MGM's GOOFY MOVIES, with the old pictures recut, with nonsensical titles, and projected at the wrong speed, burlesquing the entire industry.
In 1943, when this sentimental look at Mack Sennett's silent work came out, we were at war, and older audiences were doubtless nostalgic for a look back to an era when things were simpler, and no one was worried that the Japanese were about to invade Seattle. Gradually, silent movies were revived, their artistry gradually recognized. This may be the turning point from utter contempt to recognition that grandpa had his flaws, but he also did some very good things.
In 1943, when this sentimental look at Mack Sennett's silent work came out, we were at war, and older audiences were doubtless nostalgic for a look back to an era when things were simpler, and no one was worried that the Japanese were about to invade Seattle. Gradually, silent movies were revived, their artistry gradually recognized. This may be the turning point from utter contempt to recognition that grandpa had his flaws, but he also did some very good things.
