Hypocritical fools as critics-

Rating: 10/10 (14 June 2003)

Few things are more amusing than reading the comments on this site by people who go out of their way to claim that they despise political correctness on the one hand, but that they believe that no one should see this film and that they wish that every copy were destroyed.
It's funny to read how these open-minded sorts are in favor of censorship to a degree whose closest parallel is Nazi book-burning.
This is a truly great film from the standpoint of the sheer mechanics involved in creating it. Everyone interested in film history ought to see it. It wipes-away the view of "the Silents" as having consisted of either overheated melodramas or "screwball comedies" played out against cardboard sets.
I bought a DVD version of this several months ago and I will admit that it's difficult to watch, simply because it has so little in common with our modern films- black-and-white, no sound, no totally gratuitous violence or sex, no fast-cuts or digital special effects. It takes getting used to, but if you love the history of film, it's still a must-see.