The Silver Screen Oasis

I know it's not the same as seeing this great filmmaker get his due from AMPAS, but on Friday night in Los Angeles, prior to the Governor's Award ceremony the next night, Mr. Brownlow appeared at the American Cinematheque to discuss his fascinating films, IT HAPPENED HERE (1965), and WINSTANLEY (1975), both made in collaboration with Andrew Mollo. Enjoy!:

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There is the link to the 8 min speech given at AMPAS by Kevin:
http://www.oscars.org/video/watch/ga_20 ... wnlow.html

Thanks so much for posting that, Christine. One good thing about this venue for awarding the Oscar separately: They allowed Kevin Brownlow to have his say at length!

That would never have happened during the regular broadcast. They are far too busy devoting precious time to "Best Song" or "spontaneous" banter between Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell or others of their ilk.

And finally, the last instalment in the interview: about Griffith & DeMille.

Christine,


I thought that Kevin was very tactful here. Good speech overall, and stresses the pertinent facts. By the way, Who introduced him, and who were some of the other luminaries on hand? It seems that real progress has been made if the number of lost titles is now down to 73% I remember reading about 15 years ago that 90% of Silents were lost forever. Granted 73% is still an appalling number, but new discoveries continue to take place all over the world which is encouraging.

Incidentally, people are asking when Kevin will be on TCM as a guest? Maybe that might be one way to ensure we might finally see the Photoplay WINGS or THE WEDDING MARCH on American television? It would be wonderful if they would give him a special evening, or even a full 24 hours of programming with a guest spot during the prime-time hours.

Last night the AMPAS restoration of WINGS was referenced after the broadcast of THE HOODLUM. So i continue to be perplexed as to why this version can not be shown? I don't know if it has anything to do with the Photoplay print, but it seemed to as the guest mentioned the original tinting and toning patterns having been replicated.

Gagman 66 wrote:By the way, Who introduced him?

Kevin Spacey.

Lzcutter wrote:Last year the Board of Governors of the Academy decided (in an effort to cut down on the length of the show) to have the "special" awards such as Kevin's, the Thalberg and others at their own award ceremony. Last year, Roger Corman and Lauren Bacall were awarded theirs in a ceremony similar to the one last night. Corman and Bacall were invited to the actual Oscar ceremonies and the camera cut to them when their awards were announced from the dais, hopefully Brownlow will be as well.

Thanks for setting me right. Hopefully this is the best of both worlds, a night to oneself and a mention at the big award show.

Thanks for posting the links.

Ann Harding wrote:There is the link to the 8 min speech given at AMPAS by Kevin:
http://www.oscars.org/video/watch/ga_20 ... wnlow.html

Thanks Christine for posting it. I loved his honest speech, in his usual unassuming way. He's such a gentleman!

The best article about Kevin's Oscar I could find so far: on the Leonard Maltin website. The coverage is the UK press is pretty scant, not to say non existant... Like we say in French 'Nul n'est prophète en son pays.' (No-one is a prophet in his own land)

I appreciate the link as well. I was glad to find the videos of Eli Wallach's tribute also.

I'll be interested to see what they get to fill up time at this year's Awards ceremony in lieu of these tributes. On second thought, perhaps I don't want to see...

I liked very much Maltin's article. Thanks again for sharing Christine.