This TV movie promotes the old Hollywood legend that Louis B. Mayer deliberately sabotaged the soundtrack of John Gilbert's first talkie out of personal spite, to ruin his career. This view was strongly advocated by Gilbert's daughter, but by few others; it is generally thought that Mayer was too hard-headed a business man to let personal enmity damage a major studio asset.
"The Silent Lovers" was part of a three-part miniseries called"Moviola," based on the novel of the same name by author Garson Kanin. The other stories portrayed were "This Year's Blonde," starring Constance Forslund as an about-to-be discovered Marilyn Monroe and Lloyd Bridges as manager/lover Johnny Hyde, and "The Scarlett O'Hara War," starring Tony Curtis and Bill Macy as brothers David O. and Myron Selznick as they searched for the perfect actress to play the "Gone With the Wind" heroine.