Questions for Kevin Brownlow

Past chats with our guests.
KevinBrownlow
Posts: 36
Joined: April 10th, 2008, 10:32 am

Post by KevinBrownlow »

moirafinnie
Dear Moira
Thank you for asking me.
1) The press got hold of the idea that Colin Jordan was in IT HAPPENED HERE, which he never was. The chief home-grown Nazi we use was Frank Bennett, formerly Group Leader for the British Union of Fascists in the Isle of Ely. He's the one that looks a bit like Hitler. tHe discussion sequence was removed on orders of United Artists in 1964 - either it went or they wouldn't release the film. i restored it for the DVD which Milestone put out.
2) About ten years ago, I heard from a fellow in California who wanted to remake it. But you know what the picture business is like. When my David Lean biography came out, i got a letter from a Hollywood producer who wnated to make it into a feature film. Hooray, I thought - I am going to make some money. I never heard from him again. Why do they do it? Is it to make a good impression? It has exactly the opposite effect.
3) In 1970 I wrote a script about the making of films in the silent era, called SHOOTING TOMORROW ON THE WESTERN STREET. Sanford Lieberson was the producer for Warner Bros. Believe it or not, I was toild that Robert Redford sat in an agent's office for a while considering it. But he decided against and the film that Warner's finally made on the subject was Peter Bogdanovich's NICKELODEON.
KevinBrownlow
Posts: 36
Joined: April 10th, 2008, 10:32 am

Post by KevinBrownlow »

ILzcutter
1) the inspiration for PARADE? I had no intention of writing a book - far too much like hard work. I went to America to see my girlfriend. She was an actress in NY and had rehearsals, so I began to seek out people to interview. I told them I was writing a book, because it made me seem more legitimate. Finally, in December 1964, I went to Hollywood and met director Joseph Henabery . He toid me about his days as Griffith's assistant during the making of INTOLERANCE. Historians in England had told us that that amazing shot in which the camera comes out of the clouds and floats over Babylon was done with a captive balloon. A photo existed of DWG standing in the basket of a balloon; this approach was tried, but it made Bitzer feel sick. Henabery told me how they built a huge camera platform resembling a siege tower with an elevator in it, mounted on mining rails. I was so staggered by this piece of information that I decided I had to write that book after all. The other day I noticed in a recent book by David Thomson that Griffith shot that scene from a captive balloon...
This was the fact that surprised me the most. What delighted me the most was the enthusiasm and dedication of the players and technicians - they loved making pictures, and ye gods, doesn't that show in the results?
The hardest to interview was Josef von Sternberg. I reported the interview verbatim in the book; '(You have the most amazing paranthetical approach with everything you say that i have ever heard in my life.' ) What a pity -- for he made some of the finest of all American silent films, and I was in awe of him. Later on, I was asked to interview Sternberg for the BBC and I was so intimidated that I delivered my questions in a whisper!
Bessie Love! We took her with us on our second trip to US to do the interviews for HOLLYWOOD and as we drove up La Cienega from LAX she looked around and said 'Where are the streetcars?' We knew she could open doors that would be closed to us. When Mary Astor turned us down because she was in the hospital at the Motion Picture Home, Bessie (a Christian Scientist) charged in and informed her that she wasn't ill at all and she just had to do the interview. She did, she cheered up immensely, and went back home to her cottage. Bessie had that sort of effect on people.
I went on film-hunting trips with David Shepard, one of the world's greatest collectors - and once on an amazing expedition to the location for TOL'ABLE DAVID.
2) The trouble with an evening like that, how would you get us to stop?
KevinBrownlow
Posts: 36
Joined: April 10th, 2008, 10:32 am

Post by KevinBrownlow »

drednm
Dear Ed Lorusso
1) We need a benevolent dictator, as FDR was in the 30s!
I was knocked flat by THE BARKER, on which Bob Gitt did such a superb job of restoration. That ought to change film history - to show how good a director Fitzmaurice could be and to show how at least one 'goat-gland' pictures was remarkably sophisticated technically. But as you say, what good is that if it is not made available? A DVD would not be expensive, especially as the film is already equipped with a score for its silent sequences. But you need to market it and for that you need a company willing to take it on. Milestone etc have brought out a lot of silents, but they have seldom been profitable. If they had been, the giants like WB etc would be falling over themselves to bring out more titles to fulfil the demand. When you think of the profits these huge conglomerates make, it seems pathetic that they won't pay attention to early cinema. But it was precisely by being ruthless that they got to be giants in the first place.
I'm so glad you read Bessie Love's book; what a delightful woman she was!
drednm

Post by drednm »

1. Mr. Brownlow... my email is [email protected] for Marion Davies references (wow thanks). Altho I earned a PhD in modern American/British lit (restoring the writings of Robert McAlmon), somehow OIL escaped me and I have not read it. THERE WILL BE BLOOD was awfully good and Daniel Day-Lewis was magnificent. My book will focus on the Marion Davies films and not dredge up (yet again) the Hearst stuff. I have every Davies film available although there are always rumors that films like TILLIE THE TOILER are out there someplace. IT'S A WISE GIRL also exists and was shown in Washington a couple years ago but is mired in legal issues. Marion Davies has a lot of current-day fans, and I hope on some cosmic level she knows that.

2. I certainly see no "benevolent dictator" on the political horizon, as least as far as the arts are concerned. George Fitzmaurice was a major director in silents and a favorite of Rudolph Valentino. He seems quite forgotten now.

3. I am oddly fascinated by the "goat glands" and early talkies as well as silents. THE BARKER has long been on my wish list but as you say, if there's no money in silents, the giant corps won't bother marketing them. MILESTONE did a great job with Swanson's BEYOND THE ROCKS, but I'm not aware of any new projects there.

4. I just love Bessie Love and have most of her available 20s and 30s films. She's hugely underrated and did astonishing work in THE BROADWAY MELODY. I also just watched GOOD NEWS the other night; she's so full of good cheer and talent! And even in "minor" films like RUBBER TIRES, DRESS PARADE, and YOUNG APRIL she's just a joy to watch.

5. Regarding Eastman House: they seem to have money and some marketing savvy. So is it only legal issues that keep them from marketing films or working with an organization like Milestone? It seems that if they actually made films available (like the Gloria Swanson films I saw there), there might be more interest. It just boggles the mind that TCM hasn't managed to work with Eastman House in showing Swanson's films like THE TRESPASSER, FINE MANNERS, STAGE STRUCK, ZAZA, or FOR BETTER FOR WORSE. What a sad waste.

6. Thanks so much, Mr. Brownlow, for sharing your time with us here, and for all your wonderful and important work.
User avatar
silentscreen
Posts: 701
Joined: March 9th, 2008, 3:47 pm

Post by silentscreen »

Mr.Brownlow,

I just want to second everyone's comments about how generous you are to share your time with us and the importance your work has had on the film community! You shouldn't be concerned about the technology, you have done a fine job! :)

I have one final question: What do you consider your most fulfilling role, that of film historian, television documentary -maker, or author ?

Regards,

Brenda
"Humor is nothing less than a sense of the fitness of things." Carole Lombard
User avatar
Ann Harding
Posts: 1246
Joined: January 11th, 2008, 11:03 am
Location: Paris
Contact:

Post by Ann Harding »

Mr Brownlow,
Thanks so much for your very interesting answers to all our questions. First of all, it's really terrible how big companies and TV channel disregard silents. :( But somewhere there must be some intelligent and cultured sponsor waiting to help people like you to build up some lasting and insightful project. :)

I am really pleased that you mention George Fitzmaurice as a great director. He is often overlooked by film historians. I guess it comes from the fact that many of his silents are lost. I have a great interest in your fellow countryman Ronald Colman. He made 8 pictures with Fitzmaurice when he was under contract with Samuel Goldwyn. Among the 5 silents he made with him, it seems that only one has survived: The Night of Love (1927). Apparently Frances Goldwyn had the silents destroyed in the 70s to get more shelf space in her vaults..... :? I wished somebody could find a print somewhere of the lost ones: Tarnish (1924), A Thief in paradise (1924), His Supreme Moment (1925) and The Dark Angel (1925).
ImageImage
These two seem particularly interesting melodramas from the vintage programmes I have read. michael Powell mentions The Dark Angel in his memoirs. Have you ever heard about these silents?
As for his (early) talkies, they are all little gems particularly The Devil to Pay (1930). It was a favourite of William K. Everson. Same with me! :)

Another director which I find really tremendous in silents is Henry King. Tol'able David, The White Sister (TCM France showed a gorgeous 35 mm print in 2006), Stella Dallas and The Winning of Barbara Worth are all fascinating. Again, I lament the loss of The Magic Flame that he made in 1927.
Image
I am currently translating a French novelization of the film on this board, hoping that one day somebody might find a copy somewhere. According to some sources, GEH is supposed to have the first 5 reels. Do you know anything about it?
Last edited by Ann Harding on April 16th, 2008, 9:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ollie
Posts: 908
Joined: January 18th, 2008, 3:56 pm

Post by Ollie »

(moved to other comment section) Brownlow obviously stands as a champion for films, and Silent Films in particular. Thank you for that, Mr. B.
SSO Admins
Administrator
Posts: 810
Joined: April 5th, 2007, 7:27 pm
Contact:

Post by SSO Admins »

Like everyone else on this thread, I'm grateful and amazed by the work you have done, and owe you a great debt.

I'd like to ask about Behind the Mask of Innocence. I bought it solely because you wrote it, and was completely captivated (I've read it three times). But it was a very different book in that so many of the films are completely unavailable, and those that exist are largely unavailable to the readers.

I'd like to know what motivated you to do this book, and how much harder it was to research than the others.
moviemagz
Posts: 62
Joined: April 15th, 2008, 10:27 pm

Post by moviemagz »

Mr. Brownlow, may I ask who are some of your personal favorite stars of the silent screen, particularly actresses?

Corinne Griffith is one of my favorites but it's near impossible for the general public to see anything beyond THE GARDEN OF EDEN, THE DIVINE LADY, and her talkie BACK PAY. (Do you happen to know if her British talkie LILY CHRISTINE from 1932 still exists? I haven't seen any evidence anywhere to suggest it does.)

Mae Murray is another star who has so little of her work in circulation. When her DELICIOUS LITTLE DEVIL movie surfaced recently she impressed many with a comedic ability that latterday silent fans had no idea existed. It's a vivid example of how most of us (at least in the movie buff general public) can't quite grasp the level of talent of so many of the silent stars when much of their film work is lost or unavailable to us.

I loved your book on Mary Pickford's film career, would you consider a sequel covering her earliest work in short films?
KevinBrownlow
Posts: 36
Joined: April 10th, 2008, 10:32 am

Post by KevinBrownlow »

moviemagz

1) Favourites among the silent stars? Here are some names chosen at random...Garbo, the Gish sisters, the Talmadge sisters, Mary Pickford, Eleanor Boardman, Louise Brooks, Clara Bow, Florence Vidor, Colleen Moore, Pola Negri, Priscilla Dean, Mae Marsh, Constance Bennett, Bessie Love, Marion Davies, Lois Wilson, Viola Dana, Betty Compson, Baclanova, Louise Fazenda, Belle Bennett, Lois Moran, Patsy Ruth Miller, Louise Dresser...and tomorrow morning I could come up with a similarly lengthy list. As for the men, Douglas Fairbanks sr and jr, Chaplin, Keaton , Lloyd, Langdon, John Gilbert, Valentino, Ramon Novarro, Lon Chaney, Conway Tearle, Clive Brook, Wm S Hart, Jack Pickford, Milton Sills, Thomas Meighan, James Murray, Buck Jones, Hoot Gibson, Art Acord, Tom Moore, Matt Moore, Owen Moore, George Beban, Charles Ray, Wm Haines, and again, there will be a lot I've momentarilly forgotten.
2) I have seen BLACK OXEN with Corinne Griffith, which is outstanding. It is preserved at Geo Eastman House. I haven't heard of LILY CHRISTINE surviving
3) I think Mae Murray is superb in von Stroheim's MERRY WIDOW, and some of her early work is splendid although in A MORMON MAID she bounces around as though trying to mimic Mae Marsh. Later on, she became too much The Grand Star for my taste.
4) Writing film books is an unrewarding occupation in my experience and I avoid it whenever i can.
KevinBrownlow
Posts: 36
Joined: April 10th, 2008, 10:32 am

Post by KevinBrownlow »

jondaris

Thanks so much! Yes, I know. But I felt driven to do that book because the subject was so important and because the films were so little known. I hoped that by writing about them, they would start to appear. I never thought I would live to see Lewis Milestone's gangster filmTHE RACKET, but Jeff Masino of Flicker Alley restored that for TCM along with a film I knew little about, but which turned out to be brilliant - THE MATING CALL, directed by James Cruze. It exposes the non-racial activities of the KKK! Milestone (the DVD company, not the director) was brave enough to put out THE BLOT on DVD and David Shepard put out REGENERATION through Kino. (I think that another of the most important discoveries of recent years.) The latest box set of TREASURES OF THE AMERICAN FILM ARCHIVES is full of social films, some of which i had never heard of and I wish i could have included. It also has REDSKIN which i described at length in THE WAR, THE WEST AND THE WILDERNESS and which was partly shot in two-colour Technicolor. (How did i miss Richard Dix off that list of stars?!) The sad thing is that neither THE HONOR SYSTEM nor HUMAN WRECKAGE ever turned up. But this is a strange world and if you don't write about these films, they tend not to be taken seriously when they do turn up. I can think of an enormous number of outstanding silent films which sit on the shelf because their titles do not appear in the approved history books. Has anyone heard of THE HOMEMAKER, with Clive Brook and Alice Joyce ? (Oh, I missed her off that list - one of my favourites!), directed by King Baggot. Bob Gitt restored it recently and it is a masterpiece - King Baggot directing as well as King Vidor. A husband is injured and he and his wife swap roles, the husband becoming the home maker, the wife the ambitious careerist. What treasures there are among the Universal Jewels!
The research was complicated by the fact that most of the silent film people had died by the time I started writing it, but a lot more films had been found. I received inestimable help from William Drew, who ploughed through trade papers like The New York Dramatic Mirror which were not available to me in England. Actually, I love the research stage and only wish i could leave it at that and not have to write anything.
User avatar
Gagman 66
Posts: 613
Joined: April 19th, 2007, 11:34 pm
Location: Nebraska

Post by Gagman 66 »

Mr. Brownlow,

:) I guess I really should say something about THE PARADES GONE BY as well. This was one of the first books that I bought about Silent film in 1979. I also bought the companion book to your outstanding Thames HOLLYWOOD documentary series, HOLLYWOOD: THE PIONEERS around the same time. How I loved both of these wonderful volumes, and I still have them to this very day!

:D I first saw HOLLYWOOD on PBS in 1981, or 1983, and I still have the original tapes! I held on to them for years, and years! As I held on to that first PBS broadcast of the version you restored, and produced of Fairbanks THE THIEF OF BAGDAD. So Magical! Will we ever see this version of the film on DVD?

:? You mentioned something about a possible compromise being reached between the Davis and Coppalla camps regarding Abel Gance NAPOLEON? Did I understand this correctly? If so that is certainly encouraging news!

:) Wanted to mention quickly, that I had read awhile back that one of the first Silent features you saw that really impressed you, was Clarence Brown's THE GOOSE WOMAN. I have long wanted to see this film, I know it made a Screen Star out of Louise Dresser who was a popular Stage actress. And I have not seen any of Constance Bennett's Silent's to date, I am very sorry to say. Was this a film that you ever considered perhaps producing a version of? Does it still belong to Universal?

:roll: It is encouraging to hear that Fox may finally be ready to release 7TH HEAVEN. I think that's wonderful, but I also feel that STREET ANGEL is just as deserving, and I have longed to see a nicely restored print of this great film! I also would hope that the original Movie-tone tracks be kept in tact, and also restored.

8) You are a Treasure to us all Mr. Brownlow, and our lives are so very much richer for the experience of hosting you here! Oh to be in London for BEN HUR with Live Orchestra! Thank you so much for making this week such a Special one for all of us! :wink:
KevinBrownlow
Posts: 36
Joined: April 10th, 2008, 10:32 am

Post by KevinBrownlow »

Ann Harding
It just shows how unreliable those lists can be -- how could I overlook Ronald Colman on my list of favourite stars? A wonderful screen presence. I remember when Juliet Colman was writing her biography of her father, Eileen Bowser of the Museum of Modern Art generously loaned her a beautiful 16mm amber print of THE NIGHT of LOVE, pure Hollywood hokum, but so cleverly done by Fitzmaurice. When I met Hitchcock, he told me Fitzmaurice was at the Famous Players-Lasky studio in Islington, London, when he began. 'He was an interesting director because he belonged to that period of American films when all the sets were enormous. Fitzmaurice actually - I won't guarantee this - but somebody once told me he was a window dresser. He was a man who had tremendous influence on the art direction of his sets. Actually, Mrs Hitchcock was the cutter for Fitzmaurice.' (She edited THE MAN FROM HOME.

I also interview Arthur Miller, his cameraman, who thought the world of him. If only a complete print of THE ETERNAL CITY would turn up - shot in Rome as Mussolini took charge! One of the first people from this period I met in NY was Ouida Bergere, the former wife of Fitz. She read me her memoirs -- I wonder what happened to those? There was so much about Fitz. I seem to remember he was part French, part Irish, brought up in India!
I tell you what i did see recently; HER SISTER FROM PARIS, directed by Sidney Franklin, another forgotten talent. it is hilarious and Colman is brilliant. This, along with Clarence Brown's KIKI, should be making its reappearance soon, courtesy of the Douris Corp. and the LoC. And STELLA DALLAS - another of the masterpieces that seldom get revived - ought to be brought out on a top-quality DVD by court order!
Henry King was one of the most impressive men i ever met. (I included an interview with him in PARADE'S GONE BY..)As a director, though, he was variable. ROMOLA, though beautiful to look at , was much too slow. But who cares when he made such brilliant films as TOL'ABLE DAVID and STELLA DALLAS? I suspect 23 AND A HALF HOURS LEAVE would be a knockout if only it would turn up. I thought THE MAGIC FLAME was one of the titles Frances Goldwyn reprieved because it had Banky and Colman in it? (Oh, I forgot Vilma Banky from my list!!) But it doesn't appear in the FIAF database. Fervent good wishes for your attempts to find it. Let me know anytime if I can help.
User avatar
Ann Harding
Posts: 1246
Joined: January 11th, 2008, 11:03 am
Location: Paris
Contact:

Post by Ann Harding »

Mr Brownlow,

Thanks for your reply. I know that Colman is overlooked because his silent films are so difficult to see.... :(
I do know that Kiki was restored recently to its full-length. I haven't had a chance to see the full version yet! Her Sister from Paris and Her Night of Romance, both comedies with Constance Talmadge and Ronald Colman are also preserved. I am really dying to see those, but they don't get shown on this side of the Atlantic....
You do not mention The White Sister (1923). Have you ever seen it? I mean in a very good print. I have a DVD-R of the french TCM broadcast: it's just absolutely gorgeous. If you're interested, I can send a copy.
Regarding Frances Goldwyn, I heard she saved only The Winning of BW because of Gary Cooper. I don't think she cared one bit about Colman & Banky. Of the 5 films they made together, only two survived.... :cry:
The Magic Flame's partial print is supposed to be at GEH, though I have been told GEH denied having them. Plus, Mr Shepard told us recently there might be at the MOMA.....Well, it just shows how confusing the whole story is!
Last edited by Ann Harding on April 17th, 2008, 4:32 am, edited 2 times in total.
KevinBrownlow
Posts: 36
Joined: April 10th, 2008, 10:32 am

Post by KevinBrownlow »

gagman 66
1) I am thrilled to know the books had such an effect. Thank you!
2) Patrick Stanbury was over at Fremantle yesterday trying to help them unpick the problems over the rights for HOLLYWOOD. But THIEF - there's always a possibility, but it needs re-mastering. As we have no financial involvement, we have no power to make it happen.
3) Yes, after nearly thirty years, I think something will happen. (What a strange business this is!)
4) Yes, I have long wanted to bring out Clarence Brown's silent films because I think he is an exceptionally talented director whose work has been buried for too long. He was an even better silent director than he was in talkies. I also want to do a documentary on Maurice Tourneur and Clarence Brown - an unusual partnership in which a veteran director from abroad trains a young assistant. I have wonderful footage for this. THE GOOSE WOMAN is going to be restored in co-operation with UCLA, who have already done BUTTERFLY. I have THE SIGNAL TOWER - there was a brief moment when Martin Scorsese took an interest in this - and SMOULDERING FIRES, which exists in two surprisingly different versions.(with two more names I forgot from my list - Pauline Frederick and Laura la Plante!). We restored The EAGLE for Douris from the camera neg and Turner have TRAIL OF '98 and have already put out FLESH AND THE DEVIL in the Garbo boxed set. Our documentary on Garbo is an extra on that DVD and in it you can see an interview with Clarence Brown which I shot in l969; there is a moment where he watches the film (we projected it on to a baking tray so it would reflect back on to his face!). And in Ireland, Gwenda Young is writing his biography. One thing that holds up this project, apart from the lack of sponsorship, is the fact that Universal renewed their rights to THE GOOSE WOMAN.
5) I am almost certain STREET ANGEL is in the box set that Fox is working on.
6) Thank you for your marvellous welcome.
Locked