I’ve been collecting a number of BluRay and DVD silent films and have marveled at how optically clear and rich the remasters are. The soundtracks are typically engaging and do a good job of supporting the film. The BluRay versions offer uncompressed mono soundtracks.
So far, I’ve been happy with my mono Speakers Corner and Analogphonic pressings. Many 1950’s recordings used filtering techniques which can be bypassed today. I do agree however that there is a money driven craze to remaster anything and everything. It’s simple to understand that if the original source tapes aren’t in good shape, then there’s only so much that can be done. I scoff at those who make remasters from a compromised source, i.e. an original vinyl pressing rather than using the original source tapes or even the source wax cylinder for that matter.