Kevin Brownlow — British Historian born on June 02, 1938,

Kevin Brownlow is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. Brownlow is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era. Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent documenting and restoring film. He has rescued many silent films and their history. His initiative in interviewing many largely forgotten, elderly film pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s preserved a legacy of cinema. Brownlow received an Academy Honorary Award at the 2nd Annual Governors Awards given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on 13 November 2010. This marked the first time that an Academy Honorary Award was given to a film preservationist... (wikipedia)

Silent pictures show us how we lived and what our attitudes were. And as an art form, they can be wonderfully entertaining and often inspirational.
I was sent to boarding school - a grim place. The only good thing the headmaster did for us was every Sunday evening in the winter he would show us films in the chapel. He couldn't afford a sound projector, so we saw silent films, which you could then still rent from photographic shops.
'Napoleon' is pure cinema, and cinema was designed for sharing.
Some directors were brilliant in the silent era but never felt at home in sound. It's like a sculptor being forced to take up painting.
To me, film is a religion. I don't expect to get paid to make it, but I do expect total dedication.