Questions for Kevin Brownlow

[KevinBrownlow]

Ann Harding

I saw a soupy l6mm dupe of WHITE SISTER years ago and would love to see a superior version. Thanks for the opportunity! The Photoplay address is 21 Princess Rd LONDON NW1 8JR.

[Ann Harding]

I took a note. I'll send you the DVD-R ASAP.
You'll be amazed by the wonderful quality of the print!

[KevinBrownlow]

silentscreen
Dear Brenda

Thank you very much.

When you are actually doing the work, if you don't consider it the most important thing while you are doing it, then you've made the wrong choice. But I still regret I never became a feature film director. Although the experience i gained from the two features I directed made it much easier to be a film historian. Really, they are all part of the same thing - a passion for motion pictures. I have done everything connected with films except work in a lab.

[KevinBrownlow]

drednm

Dear Ed

Thanks for email address.

[Gagman 66]

Mr. Brownlow,

That is fabulous news to learn that THE EAGLE has been restored! I have the Thames version you produced, on Laser-disc, and I thought it already looked great! How Wonderful to learn that more has been done! I am a massive Laura La Plante Fan, and I just love SMOULDERING FIRES what a great film! Pauline Frederick gives such a stunning performance! It's fantastic to hear that both it, along with THE GOOSE WOMAN are being restored too! Wow!

Ed, and I are big John Gilbert fans, and I'm so excited about BARDELY'S THE MAGNIFICENT (1926), having been found, and being restored! I keep hoping that Warner's will likewise restore King Vidor's HIS HOUR (1924), Monta Bell's MAN WOMAN, AND SIN (1927) and Roy Hill's THE COSSACKS (1928). The later since I am also such a huge Renee Adoree fan! Do they have nice prints to work with of these films?

I remember you using the one with Jeanne Eagels in HOLLYWOOD. But I don't think HIS HOUR had been found yet, and there was no mention of THE COSSACKS? I did see Vidor's WINE OF YOUTH (1924) with it's incredible cast, and of course I love Eleanor Boradman, but not much has been with any of these titles as far as I know?

And Fox offering us both restored prints of STREET ANGEL, and LUCKY STAR! That is indeed a dream come true! Hopefully, some time in the future maybe WHAT PRICE GLORY? and some of the other Raoul Walsh titles such as THE RED DANCE as well? Maybe Howard Hawks FAZIL? and Murna's CITY GIRL?

If only Paramount would only do the same with the Von Sternberg's, and Rowland V. Lee's BARBED WIRE (1927) with Pola Negri, and Clive Brook! Such a powerfully moving film, and it is just not being seen! What a wonderous visit this has been! No wonder I can't Sleep! Thank you so very much Sir!

[drednm]

Jeff... I have a lousy copy of THE GOOSE WOMAN but can't remember if I've sent it to you.....

[catherine]

Thank you SSO for hosting this terrific conversation with Kevin Brownlow. Apologies for all the book talk below...

Mr. Brownlow, your book MARY PICKFORD REDISCOVERED, written in collaboration with Robert Cushman, is full of wonderful goodies for a Pickford fan, which leads me to your reference to Charles Rosher whom Mary described as "the dean of cameramen." He left you his stills camera when he died in 1974 and I wonder if you had ever considered finding 8X10 nitrate film negatives and taking a few pictures with it? (At tremendous risk to life and limb!) Those rare, glittering early photographs in the book are so utterly exquisite and it would be a privilege to see a portrait of Kevin Brownlow taken with Charles Rosher's camera.

Secondly, I would like to thank you for the reassurance in the book's film commentary that no children were lost to the alligators in the harrowing swamp crossing in SPARROWS. That is one of the most astonishing, nail-biting scenes of any film, any era and the universal themes of abandonment, rescue, caring, poverty and despair, hope and self respect, found in Mary Pickford's films, remain relevant for all generations. Would you know if there are plans to make THE HOODLUM available on DVD?

And finally, you generously acknowledge the people who crossed your path early on, those who perhaps suggested to you there would be no turning back—the die was cast and here you are today—people such as Bert Langdon, Monte Brice, William K. Everson and others, as well as James R.Quirk's frank reporting in Photoplay which supported your research. Will there be a companion book to THE PARADE'S GONE BY that will include the remaining interviews that didn't make it into that publication?

Attn: Sentimentality Alert!
Fortunately, silent films are the future; a vast new horizon to recent fans like me, lucky me! They will always be considered by some to be musty, prehistoric oddities, but I'm optimistic the fan base will grow, thanks to restoration efforts by you and your colleagues and discussions like this. Thank you for your time here this week—truly memorable and very fun.

P.S. You dedicated THE PARADE’S GONE BY to Abel Gance and I’m looking forward to seeing why when TCM broadcasts your documentary and a few of his films. Gance’s BEETHOVEN sounds like a remarkable film, and not unlike your life's work -‘Un Grand Amour.’

[rudyfan]

Nice to see you posting on a message board! Hope you are doing well!
Cordially
Donna Hill

[movieman1957]

For "CharlieChaplinfan"


The following are some of the questions that one of
our members, charliechaplinfan asked to have submitted
to Mr. Brownlow prior to her vacation:

"It's just my luck to be away on holiday when you've
come to visit Mr Brownlow. I just want to thank you
for the wonderful documentaries you've done which I've
been lucky enough to buy or borrow. I have loved every
single one of them (Unknown Chaplin and Cinema Europe
I still have to watch).

Last year I took The Parade's Gone By away with me on
holiday and this year I have packed Behind The Mask Of
Innocence despite it's size. I'm already halfway
through it

Moira is kindly putting my question forward.
Unsurprisingly considering my username it's about
Charlie Chaplin. I have been a fan for twenty years, I
have a five year old daughter who is now a big fan
too. Did you ever have chance to meet the great man or
correspond with him. If you did what were your
impressions of the man? If not what kind of impression
did you get of him from talking to people who knew
him?

Thank you so much for coming to the Oasis. I know many
of us have been counting the days until you came.


1. Which are the silents you would like to see found?

2. Do you have any favorite silent stars?

3. What has given you your biggest sense of
achievement in the world of silents?"


moira (and me)

[jondaris]

Mr. Brownlow,

As our week with you draws to a close, I'd like to once again thank you for your willingness to spend time here. To be completely honest, it was the idea of getting you to come that was the original inspiration for the guest program in the first place.

The work you have done has been brilliant and important. Silent film preservation and our knowledge of the era would be much poorer without your work.

One last question. What was for you the most fulfilling of your projects and why?

And last, please feel welcome to come back informally anytime you'd like some silent film discussion, to promote a new project (or one that interests you) or to get an ego boost from some very appreciative fans.

[jondaris]

Another fan question from Grbrpix:

"What does Mr. Brownlow consider to be the best classic film sites on the internet?"

[KevinBrownlow]

Jondaris

I'm ashamed to admit that I don't know any of them -I am only gradually getting accustomed to the internet. Far too often, I will type in a website and get 'This page cannot be displayed'.

[KevinBrownlow]

Jondaris II

Thank you very much for those heartwarming words.

The most enjoyable and fulfilling job I ever did was to edit Tony Richardson's CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1968). I had turned it down but was taken on halfway through the shooting because TR couldn't get on with the editor. He never came into the cutting room - all his decisions were made in the projection room. I was delightfully overpaid. The walk to his theatre from my cutting room was one of the loveliest in London (since torn down). He was always enthusiastic and encouraging and we all thought we were working on a masterpiece. Alas, the public didn't agree. (I have only just discovered the US version had 7 minutes lopped out of it - and sadly that's the version the BFI has just released on DVD). It has a silent film connection; TR had shot the Charge in Turkey. His cannon did not recoil - they seemed to squirt smoke and were not threatening enough. I showed TR the battle scene from THE CHESS PLAYER (1926) with its powerful shots of recoiling cannon and he hired another set of cannon with hydraulic recoil mechanism and reshot them on Chobham Common. The sequence was greatly improved.

[KevinBrownlow]

movieman1957

CharlieChaplinfan

I remember hearing that Chaplin was in London, at the Savoy Hotel and ringing him nineteen times. When I finally got through, I was so tongue-tied I couldn't remember what it was I wanted to ask. I did manage to enquire whether, as was rumoured, he had made a film in England before leaving for the US with the Karno troupe, and he denied that emphatically. And he courteously sidestepped the idea of doing an interview. Several years later, I managed to watch him at work on the set of COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG, and I always thought that if someone had filmed him directing Loren and Brando, we'd have had another Chaplin masterpiece - he was so much better at doing them than they were! When you see UNKNOWN CHAPLIN you will get my impression of the man - charming, charismatic, and as ruthless as a great artist has to be.

1) I would love to see James Cruze's HOLLYWOOD, which features cameos with everyone imaginable from that era; THE DEVIL'S PASSKEY of von Stroheim, THERESE RAQUIN by Jacques Feyder, the film which persuaded Thalberg to bring Feyder to Hollywood and two films by Wellman, LEGION OF THE CONDEMNED and LADIES OF THE MOB with Clara Bow. Oh, Seastrom's TOWER OF LIES and Raoul Walsh's THE HONOR SYSTEM.
2( I have hundreds of favourite silent stars and i tried to make a list of them yesterday but kept overlookng more favourites. I forgot the splendid Tully Marshall and the even more impressive, Ernest Torrence, who was absolutely convincing whether playing a psychopath (TOL'ABLE DAVID) or a charming rogue (FIGHTING COWARD)
3) Apart from NAPOLEON, i would say recording all those interviews for posterity which were included in HOLLYWOOD (1980)[size=18][/size][size=7][/size][size=7][/size]

[moviemagz]

Mr. Brownlow, I was happy to see Owen Moore and Jack Pickford among your favorites - I think both of them are often unfairly dismissed by many Mary Pickford biographers.

Mary is my alltime favorite silent star and I couldn't tell you how many times I've pulled your MARY PICKFORD REDISCOVERED book off my shelf! I really love this book! Which ones of Miss Pickford's rarer films do you feel should be seen by more people? Do you know of any plans of the Mary Pickford Foundation for further DVD releases?

I was happy to see you comment favorably on Laura La Plante on one of the posts, I think she's wildly underrated and her "talkie" films I've seen she is so natural and delightful it's hard to understand her sound era career wasn't more successful.

I would love to see Lillian Gish one day get the treatment accorded to Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd with a boxed set with rare silents, early television appearances like THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL and the Grandma Moses biography, filmed interviews over the years, etc. especially something like the Keaton set of two years ago (already deleted from circulation!!) of all sorts of rare television appearances and oddities. Any chance you might someday be interested in doing something on the career of Miss Gish be it a film, a collection, or a book?

I really have you and Lillian Gish to thank for my interest in silent films. In the 1970's Miss Gish hosted a PBS program THE SILENT YEARS in which she introduced silent movies, I stumbled on to it one day when I was around ten and I became a devoted weekly viewer. Several years later I found your book THE PARADE'S GONE BY at the library and it opened up a new door to silent films via books. So thank you very much!