It is being heavily tipped for Oscars glory next month after taking the Golden Globes by storm and racking up 12 Bafta nominations, but it seems not everyone has found themselves wowed by the nostalgic charms of The Artist, French film-maker Michel Hazanavicius's much-hyped hymn to Hollywood's golden era. A cinema in Liverpool has been forced to offer refunds after filmgoers complained that they had not realised the movie was silent and in black and white.

A spokesperson for Odeon Liverpool One confirmed to the Daily Telegraph that the first award-winning silent film in more than 90 years had not been to everybody's taste. There were also suggestions that cinemagoers felt short-changed by the movie's reduced screen size, intended as a tribute to the look of silent films from the early part of the 20th century.

"Odeon Liverpool One can confirm it has issued a small number of refunds to guests who were unaware that The Artist was a silent film," said the spokesperson. "The cinema is happy to offer guests a refund on their film choice if they raise concern with a member of staff within 10 minutes of the film starting."

The Artist, which centres on the romance between a fading star of the silent era and a young ingenue who rises to the top following the arrival of the talkies, picked up Golden Globes for best actor in a musical or comedy (Jean Dujardin), best musical or comedy film and best score at the weekend. For all the hype, it has not so far proved a major box-office smash, taking just $27m worldwide.

That could change if the film triumphs at next month's Academy Awards: previous big winners such as Slumdog Millionaire and last year's The King's Speech experienced a significant box-office bounce after carrying all before them. The nominations for this year's Oscars are announced next Tuesday ahead of the ceremony on 26 February.