In Chris Marker’s accompanying text for his 1995 exhibition Silent Movie called “The Rest is Silent,” he writes about the role of the ‘benshi’, the Japanese term for a live narrator of silent cinema originating in the 1920’s, who would stand by the side of the screen providing
background on the story and ongoing commentary. According to Akira Kurosawa, whose brother was one such performer, the benshi “not only recounted the plot of the films, they enhanced the emotional content by performing the voices and sound effects and providing the evocative descriptions of the events and images on the screen.” (quoted in Marker's text)
