Introduction -- The primitive years -- Early days at Vitagraph -- The experimenters -- Early Hollywood -- From Birth of a nation to Intolerance -- Directors -- D.W. Griffith -- Allan Dwan -- Henry King -- Mary Pickford -- Clarence Brown -- The lost work of Edward Sloman -- William Wellman -- Cecil B. De Mille -- Josef von Sternberg -- The cameraman -- Charles Rosher -- Art direction -- Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood -- The golden path; or, The curse of melodrama -- Scenario -- Editing: the hidden power -- Two unique processes: tinting and titling -- Margaret Booth -- William Hornbeck -- Stunt men of silent pictures -- You can't make a picture without 'em -- It was a tough life -- The silents were never silent -- Acting -- The stars -- Geraldine Farrar -- Gloria Swanson -- Betty Blythe -- The heroic fiasco: Ben-Hur -- Producers -- Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg -- David O. Selznick -- We're not laughing like we used to -- Reginald Denny -- Harold Lloyd -- Buster Keaton -- Chaplin -- The silent film in Europe -- Abel Gance -- The talking picture -- Where do we go from here?