AllMovie

Lyrical Nitrate is a valentine to the European cinema pioneers of the early 1900s. The film is a lovingly assembled compilation of vignettes saved from the brink of extinction when discovered among the personal effects of a Dutch film exhibitor. Among the highlights is the hand-tinted crucifixion scene from the 1906 French production The Life of Christ. Also worth noting is a near-Pirandellian silent romance, depicting two pretty young filmgoers who luxuriate in a movie about a handsome man shipwrecked on a desert isle. While not geared for a mass audience, Lyrical Nitrate is sheer ambrosia for anyone whose love of films borders on the obsessive (like your humble correspondents).