Why is the action in old silent movies so fast?

[Dr.Khron]

Interesting article from the Straight Dope:

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_067.html


It talks about the evolution of film, and how movie frame rates eventually became standardized at 24 FPS. It also discusses the difficulties in digitizing old silent film, and the way they telecine it.

Bear in mind that this was written in 1991.

[foxyshadis]

The resource I found several years ago covers the history a little more thoroughly, and may even have been a reference to that article: http://www.cinemaweb.com/silentfilm/bookshelf/18_kb_2.htm