Kevin Brownlow | |
|---|---|
 Brownlow in 2019 | |
| Born | Robert Kevin Brownlow (1938-06-02)2 June 1938 (age 86) Crowborough, Sussex, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Haileybury |
| Occupation(s) | Film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, film preservationist, author, and film editor |
| Years active | 1953–present |
| Known for | It Happened Here (1964);Winstanley (1975);Hollywood (1980); the restoration of dozens of silent films such asNapoléon (1927) |
| Spouse | Virginia Keane (1969–present) |
| Relatives | Peggy Fortnum (aunt) Molly Keane (mother-in-law) |
Kevin Brownlow (bornRobert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a Britishfilm historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor.[1][2] He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become interested insilent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent documenting and restoring film. Brownlow has rescued many silent films and their history. His initiative in interviewing many largely forgotten, elderly film pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s preserved a legacy of early mass-entertainment cinema. He received anAcademy Honorary Award at the 2nd AnnualGovernors Awards given by theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on 13 November 2010.[3] This was the first occasion on which an Academy Honorary Award was given to a film preservationist.[4]
Brownlow was born inCrowborough,Sussex, the only child of Thomas Brownlow, an Irish commercial artist making film posters forThe Rank Organisation andDisney, and his wife Ninya (née Fortnum), also an artist, who was the daughter of aGovernor of Trinidad and Tobago. He grew up inFinchley Road, north London. His first exposure to films came at prep school, where films rented fromWallace Heaton were screened. He attendedHaileybury, where his contemporaries includedJohn Howard Davies. He was rejected fromnational service owing to short-sightedness. He began collecting silent films at the age of 11, and aged 15, he began apprenticing in the British film industry: he began as an office boy, and within five days was assigned as a trainee assistant editor, becoming an editor in 1958, working on a string of documentaries. Writing fan letters to silent film directors, he began to strike up a correspondence with figures from silent-era cinema.[5]
Brownlow's interest in theSecond World War prompted the creation of his alternative-history filmIt Happened Here, premised upon theNazis having conquered Britain. Brownlow began work on the film at the age of 18 and soon began to collaborate with a 16-year-old friend,Andrew Mollo. After eight years of struggle, during which the film's content changed dramatically, it was completed in 1964 with the last-minute aid ofTony Richardson.[6] The film was widely seen in the UK at film festivals, and it was picked up for major distribution byUnited Artists (UA). There were negative reactions in the media to parts of the film, complaints from some Jewish groups, and in October 1965, UA's American president,Arthur B. Krim, said the film would not see theatrical release unless the offending parts were cut out. Brownlow and Mollo tried to persuade UA to run the film complete, but they were outmanoeuvred. The film finally began its theatrical run in May 1966, minus the disputed scenes. It was seen inLondon,New York,Copenhagen,Paris,Stockholm,Los Angeles andHaifa, and was reviewed positively. After the run, UA reported to Brownlow and Mollo that all of the box-office receipts had been used to pay the advertising and distribution costs. The two filmmakers did not make any money from the film.[7]
In 1968, Brownlow published a book,How It Happened Here, which described the making of the film, and the reception it received. Not only does it explain how two teenage boys made a feature film: it also explores the provocativesocial issues raised by the film. Brownlow had allowed genuineBritish Fascists to play themselves in the film, which angered some Jewish organizations. The book contained almost 100 pictures, mostly stills from the film and an introduction by film critic and authorDavid Robinson. A new edition was published byUKA Press in 2007.[8]
After this, Mollo and Brownlow began another project,Winstanley,[9] aboutGerrard Winstanley and theDiggers' commune following theEnglish Civil War. The duo spent several years trying to gain support and following a long and difficult shoot, the film was released in 1975. In 2009,UKA Press publishedWinstanley: Warts and All, a making-of book. Brownlow had written it shortly after completing work on the film, but the manuscript sat on the shelf for 34 years before being published.
Brownlow's first book on silent film,The Parade's Gone By..., was published in 1968. The book features many interviews with the leading actors and directors of the silent era, and began his career as a film historian. He spent twenty years gaining support for the restoration ofAbel Gance's French epic,Napoléon (1927), a then-mutilated film that used many novel cinematic techniques. Brownlow's championing of the film succeeded, and the restored version, with a newscore byCarl Davis, was shown in London in 1980,[10] and again in London in 2013 with the Philharmonia Orchestra.[11] Gance lived to see the acclaim for his restored film. TheSan Francisco Silent Film Festival presented the complete 2000 restoration of the film, with Davis conducting his score, at theParamount Theatre Oakland in March 2012.[12]
Brownlow also began a collaboration withDavid Gill, with whom he produced several documentaries on thesilent era. The first wasHollywood (1980), a 13-part history of the silent era in Hollywood, produced byThames Television. This was followed byUnknown Chaplin (1983) (Charlie Chaplin),Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow (1987) (Buster Keaton),Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius (1989) (Harold Lloyd) andCinema Europe: the Other Hollywood (1995),[13] among others. They also restored and released many classic silent films through theThames Silents series (later viaPhotoplay Productions) in the 1980s and 1990s, generally with new musical scores byCarl Davis.The Search for Charlie Chaplin (2005; new version: 2010,UKA Press), a making-of book forUnknown Chaplin, was published in 2010.
Since Gill died in 1997, Brownlow has continued to produce documentaries and conductfilm restoration withPatrick Stanbury. These includeLon Chaney, A Thousand Faces (2000),Garbo, a documentary produced for Turner Classic Movies to mark the centenary of actressGreta Garbo's birth, andI AmKing Kong (2005) about filmmakerMerian C. Cooper.
In August 2010, Brownlow received anHonorary Academy Award[14] for his role in film and cinema history preservation.
On 13 November 2016, Brownlow was featured in an episode ofThe Film Programme entitled "Napoleon and I", dedicated toAbel Gance's 1927 filmNapoléon onBBC Radio 4. It tells how Brownlow has spent 50 years of his life piecing together the lost sequences into the latest restoration of the silent movie and about his meeting the dapper Gance when still a schoolboy.[15] On 9 August 2018, Brownlow again featured onThe Film Programme, in which he discussed the making of and initial responses toIt Happened Here.
In April 2019, Brownlow was honored at the Turner Classic Movie Festival inHollywood at a screening ofIt Happened Here atGrauman's Egyptian Theatre.[16]
Brownlow is married to Virginia Keane, the daughter ofMolly Keane.[5]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Interviews and articles by Brownlow
