One day, we will tell our grandchildren about that time in 2012 when a black-and-white French film set in the silent era, featuring only a few words of spoken dialogue, bagged five Oscars including best picture, and grossed $133m at the box office. Will they stare at us as if we’ve been bopped on the head by a Keystone Kop?
The Artist charts the rise of Peppy Miller, a young dancer whose screen ascendancy coincides with the fall of George Valentin, a matinee idol resistant to the incoming talkies. The charming comedy, directed by Michel Hazanavicius, felt like a tonic as well as an anomaly. Now the question is whether its pleasures will survive in another medium. A near-wordless picture about early-20th-century film has a certain logic. But can a silent movie work on stage?
