SAN JOSE, Calif. — There is perhaps only one place in America that shows weekly silent movies on antique projectors using the original film prints, the light flickering across the screen as stories unfold.
And that is the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in the Fremont community of Niles, a historic Hollywood-type enclave where Charlie Chaplin made his early movies.
The museum is located inside a 1913 movie theater that’s been restored to its original glory, give or take some exposed lath and plaster. On a recent afternoon, a tour guide leads a group up to a projection room overlooking rows of wooden seats and an upright piano that’s played during screenings…