ABSTRACT
The idea for this book began taking shape when I set foot in a cinematheque for the first time to watch a silent film with live music accompaniment. It was September 2010, and I saw Buster Keaton and Donald Crisp’s The Navigator (1924) accompanied by pianist Alexander Zethson in the Bio Victor Theatre, named after Victor Sjöström, at the Stockholm Cinematheque. Keaton’s film appeared to come to life in that unique conjuncture where its projected 35mm archival print, the small audience gathered in the Bio Victor, and Zethson’s musical improvisation came together. 1 I was in awe. To my eyes, it felt like a newly rediscovered Pompeian mosaic, unearthed after centuries of being buried under volcanic dust and detritus, and presented to a new audience.
