Silent cinema was never truly silent. Performances were more often than not accompanied by live music – whether from a solo pianist or a small orchestra – and the noise of audiences more than made up for the lack of a soundtrack accompanying the film. Yet silent cinema is regarded as a specific era in the history of the medium and often as a separate art form in its own right.

It was from the origins of cinema onwards to the coming of sound in 1929 with The Jazz Singer that so many of the ground rules of cinema were laid and film-making techniques developed, including editing and special effects, styles of acting, filming on location and much more.

Through a study of the earliest origins of cinema to the stars, comedians and directors who became popular from the late-Victorian era to the end of the 1920s, and including a look at the earliest Hollywood scandals of the time, Silent Cinema, will be a handy guide to the art of cinema’s silent years in Hollywood and across the globe.

Brian J. Robb is a writer and biographer whose previous books have included a New York Times Best-Selling biography of Leonardo DiCaprio; Screams & Nightmares, the definitive book on horror director Wes Craven; biographies of Johnny Depp and Ewan McGregor; and Counterfeit Worlds, a study of the films of Philip K. Dick. He is currently Managing Editor at Titan Magazines, a publisher of film and TV related titles. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Official Star Wars Insider Magazine, and oversees magazines for Lost, Stargate, Smallville, Star Trek and Supernatural, as well as being Managing Editor on Total Sci Fi, an international cult film and television web site.