Like other people, I found the sound track to be rather annoying.I think that the main problem with this and similar films is that it appears that the actors forgot that they were making a silent movie and that no one could hear what they were saying.You have much too long sequences where two people are talking to each other, generally with not even many gestures, and only occasional subtitles.Of course this was a very early film, and people were feeling their way, but lacking both sound and any interesting settings, this turns out to be pretty dull.The peculiar movement of the barge as it moves on and off scene does give it a surrealist appearance.
