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© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
I've seen a few old silent movies lately. And I've noticed a disturbing trend. Besides adding music, there is often added sound effects. I think this is a big mistake, akin to colorizing black and white movies.
I think that a large part of the charm of these silent movies is the exaggerated reaction of the actors to the implied sound. When a gun or firecracker goes off, the actors over-react, jumping more than they would in real life. This becomes stupid if we actually hear the "bang." It is much more effective, when we do not hear the "bang."
I saw Harold Lloyd's The Freshman. When Harold kissed the girl, two steam locomotives collided. The version that I saw had the sound of the crash. If you imagine the scene with no sound, it is much more effective. He used a crash because it was so dramatic visually, that you could easily imagine the sound. The actual sound ruins it.
But there will always be people who force their bad taste upon us.