Lyrical Nitrate, a compilation of film fragments dating from 1905-1915, is more than a paean to the rich colors unique to nitrate (though it certainly is that): this is an emotional approach to film history, an investigation of mood. (It both is about the "primal screen" experience and offers one!). In a period often associated with "slapstick and honky-tonk," director Peter Delpeut finds "the melodrama, the romance, the lyricism..." His obvious pleasure in the early filmmakers' mastery of mise-en-scène, color and lighting, acting and gesticulation is infectious, intimate and inviting: like the best of film historians, he asks us to use this old film material anew. The soundtrack is taken from old recordings, ranging from Caruso to the thin but insistent sounds of a glass harmonica.