Report on Kevin Brownlow weekend in San Francisco
Jo...@silentechoes.net
Brownlow was in the bay area this weekend, screening The Iron Mask at
the Castro Theater, his recent Cecil B. DeMille documentary (which I
missed) at the Kabuki Theater, and a variety of silent clips at the
Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Patrick Stanbury from Photoplay
Production also attended the screenings, projecting The Iron Mask in
synchronization to the Carl Davis score. Kevin was awarded the
Festival's Mel Novikoff Award earlier that day.
Preceding the screening of The Iron Mask, film scholar Russell Merritt
interviewed Kevin on stage for a solid hour. Kevin relayed stories
about how he fell into his life's work. As a young child during World
War II, Kevin was kept out of harm's way in a rural boarding school
where they showed silent films as weekend entertainment. He later
began collecting 9.5 mm films. Using his library's sole book on film
history, he discovered a photograph allowing him to identify the
actors in a 1911 film he had purchased. The "villain" in the film
later became a theatrical agent in London. Young Kevin phoned the
man, explained he possessed an old film the man had once starred in,
and was immediately invited to the man's house for dinner to screen
the film. Several famous actors were invited to attend as well. As
such, Kevin soon met James Mason and other local celebrities.
Further, the agent would call Kevin whenever a famous American actor
or director came to London. It all unfolded for Kevin as if it was
meant to be.
Kevin's involvement with Napoleon was similarly serendipitous. Once
he was bed-ridden with a cold, and having seen all the other prints
held in a lending archive, decided to check out the only remaining
available film, a couple of reels from Napoleon. Kevin was hesitant
because he had read contemporary reviews panning the film. Of course
the film was a revelation to Kevin, launching a lifelong quest to
complete its restoration.
The Berkeley program was fascinating because it featured elements from
several films that have appeared either in The Parade's Gone By
(TPGB), or in the Hollywood series, but which I had never before
seen. The 1913 Lois Weber vehicle Suspense, featured in TPGB for its
triptych split screen effect, was quite intense. I genuinely felt
concern for the house-bound mother threatened by a tramp. The
imaginative camera angles were quite advanced for its day. The fire
rescue sequence from The Fire Brigade, used to good effect to open the
Hollywood series to dispel the notion that silent films are clunky
antiques, was another pulse-quickening sequence, as Charles Ray
rescues a toddler from a burning orphanage. It was also a treat to
see a beautiful print of Buster Keaton's One Week on the big screen.
Many scenes looked as if they could have been filmed yesterday.
For me the first clip shown in Berkeley was the most memorable of the
weekend. Kevin showed a clip filmed in 1900 on 68mm film stock
(almost the size of modern IMAX film) taken from the roof of a double-
deck trolley traveling along a London street. The effect was
completely mesmerizing. The image was so clear, the details of a
former life so vivid, the shop windows, the women with their parasols,
the boys running beside the horse carts, the bicyclists, that it was
simply breath-taking. I have never before felt so transported in time
watching a vintage film. It was such an unexpectedly moving
experience that my eyes began to well up. You almost felt as if you
could call out to the people across eleven decades and they would
respond. I will remember that profound sensation of timelessness for
the rest of my life.
Just as you would expect, Kevin showed himself to be articulate, kind,
modest, humorous, and exceedingly generous. It was a delight to spend
some moments in his company.
John Bengtson
sir michael cat
wrote:
I hope that the 68mm clip of the London Street scene in 1900 will be
shared with all people in the world and not relegated to an expensive
DVD . It should be immediately uploaded to a site such as the
Internet Archive.
John Mc Keown
John