SILENCE they say is golden, but once Al Jolson began to speak on film in The Jazz Singer the days of silent cinema were consigned to the history books.

But, turning back the clock 80 years, the bookies favourite for this season's Oscars is a modern piece of silent cinema that pays tribute to the golden age when Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks lit up the big screen.

Quad will be screening The Artist from today and cinema programmer Adam Marsh is hoping that its arrival will help awaken more cinema goers to the delights of silent films like those that are regularly screened by Quad.

He says: "We are so used to hearing and seeing films at the same time that the concept of watching a silent movie seems bizarre. Describing the Artist as a silent film is also misleading in one sense as it has got sound – music. These films weren't meant to be watched in complete silence but with a musical score.

"What we have to remember is that cinema started in the 1890s and sound didn't take over until 1929/30 so there was a big period where the visual language of cinema was being developed before sound came in. The quality of films in that period was astonishing, especially in the 1920s. It's such a shame that people won't watch those films because there's no dialogue."

We perhaps tend to forget that film is first and foremost a visual medium and that many classic movies of the sound era often have long, brilliantly effective sequences without dialogue.

For example, The Pixar animated movie Up gives us the life story of its main character in a five-minute sequence using only pictures and music.

Adam says: "We are talking about some of the greatest moments in movie history. The opening 15-20 minutes of Once Upon a Time in the West has virtually no dialogue at all.

"So it's not as strange a concept as it might seem."

Even today silent cinema has a massive influence on movie makers. For example, where would science fiction be without Fritz Lang's Metropolis – a 1926 classic that can be seen at Quad on February 11.

Adam says: "That's a landmark movie in the development of science fiction and still a big influence on film-makers in the 21st century. Another film that would be on that list is 2001: A Space Odyssey and that's practically a silent movie.

"When utilised perfectly it can be a great cinema experience."

So with The Artist getting so much attention during the awards season Adam hopes that cinema-goers will re-evaluate the silent era.

He says: "The Artist is very funny and harks back to Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Those films never go out of fashion – they are always funny and still resonate with audiences. The Artist is also like a blueprint of a classic Hollywood picture – it has comedy drama, pathos and a bit with a dog. So, hopefully, it will inspire people to check out stars like Chaplin.

"Just recently released is Martin Scorsese's Hugo which paid tribute to the visual style of Harold Lloyd – so those silent films are still informing film-makers today."