Japan: The appeal of silents here was very strong, especially among the first-ranked directors. Kenji Mizoguchi made his first talkie, "Hometown," in 1930--but then he turned around and made SEVEN more silents in a row, including the classic "The Water Magician" (1933).

Also, the narrator’s union was very strong. In the silent days, storytellers (benshi) described the action and helped explain the foreign films. They were as popular as radio personalities in their day and moviegoers would often decide which film to see based on who was narrating that evening.