What did you think of Kevin Brownlow's Oscar speech?

[SilentEchoes57]

http://www.oscars.org/video/watch/ga_20 ... wnlow.html

[ChaneyFan]

I could listen to Kevin talk for hours. Anyone know if the entire ceremony will be televized, or made available online? I didn't know that they gave these months before the Oscar show in February. I was hoping to see him on that.

[Scatter]

He wasted no time castigating The Industry (diplomatically referred to as "Your predecessors") for their corrosive neglect (and a LESS than diplomatic shot directly at the neck of that idiot Coppola) . Good for you Kevin.

Loved the anecdote about the great Harold Lloyd. As mentioned previously, I could listen to Brownlow ad infinitum.

To that end, does anyone know of any podcasts, lecture series, interviews........ANYTHING about the silent era that can be downloaded online??

Donna Hill's excellent podcast has simply dropped off the planet, and I can't find anything else anywhere for any price dealing with the subject.

[gjohnson]

If Brownlow had appeared on the main Oscar telecast he would only had been given a fraction of this time to speak.

"My wife is wearing jewelry given her by Alice Terry. Match that!"

What did everyone think of the 'copy write laws' comment?

Gary J.

[Scatter]

If Brownlow had appeared on the main Oscar telecast he would only had been given a fraction of this time to speak.

"My wife is wearing jewelry given her by Alice Terry. Match that!"

What did everyone think of the 'copy write laws' comment?

Gary J.

I saw that as a shot at Coppola veiled thinly as a general broadside.

[ChaneyFan]

If Brownlow had appeared on the main Oscar telecast he would only had been given a fraction of this time to speak.

"My wife is wearing jewelry given her by Alice Terry. Match that!"

What did everyone think of the 'copy write laws' comment?

Gary J.

I saw that as a shot at Coppola veiled thinly as a general broadside.

I doubt it. I am pretty sure he was referring to the copyright laws, which keep getting extended and prevent collectors from trotting out their copies of some much sought after movies. Besides, I don't think it is Kevin's style to take a public potshot at someone like that.

[Penfold]

I wouldn't say that it was his style to take a potshot like that in private, either. It was what it was; "Your predecessors were careless of their legacy" subtext; "Are you being any more careful with yours??" and "If you haven't yet, get to see a silent film while you can"

[Rollo Treadway]

I too could listen to Brownlow for hours.

Wouldn't it be fitting if someone made a solid documentary film about this great documentary filmmaker?

[westegg]

Can anyone give me a clue of what sought after silent films would appear if there was some sort of US copyright amnesty? I'm sure Brownlow has quite a "secret" list of titles we'd be boggled by, but would anyone have an idea which ones he might be referring to?

Seems the latest status report from him is that 73% of silents are gone, which sounds better than the 90% I once would hear referenced. I hope the percentage can still be improved upon.

[Marilyn Slater]

Kevin Brownlow, November 13, 2010 received an Honorary Oscar. It was so nice to have them in my home town, Virginia and Kevin are a delightful couple.
http://looking-for-mabel.webs.com/brownlow2010award.htm

[drednm]

As I've always said, Kevin is a class act. Wonderful speech!

I'd have liked to see Alice Terry's jewelry...

One note of irony. As soon as Kevin finished his speech, the copyright blurb about the Oscar statuette came on! A town obsessed by owning everything.....

[Mazamette]

To that end, does anyone know of any podcasts, lecture series, interviews........ANYTHING about the silent era that can be downloaded online??

I don't know anything about how to actually download from YouTube, but there's a good deal of Brownlow stuff that can be viewed there. A sampling:

Kevin Brownlow on silent films and musical accompaniment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGUmxccJ5ec

Kevin Brownlow at Killruddery Silent Film Festival 2009 (Part 1): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaA8NGXq ... re=related

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_jNJAax ... re=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwxPsw8T ... re=related

Kevin Brownlow Discusses Abel Gance ca. 1980: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ2kRzJajyo

...more at the source.

[rollot24]

I was thinking it was very gracious of him to NOT take a pot shot at Coppola

[Gagman 66]

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.

[drednm]

I started the Kevin on TCM thread... I can't imagine why he's (apparently) never been on. If he has, I sure missed it.

And I must say Kevin looks great at 72!

[sepiatone]

Kevin was on the money in everything he said. He paid homage to his late partner David Gill and some others. Perhaps mentions of Everson, Rohauer, Iris Barry, Eileen Bowser would've been sweet, sort of taking us down the rememberance path of a few great collectors/preservationists who have passed on. But his speech was just fine. You got to remember a lot of the audience are not privy to film preservation whether silent films or more recent talkies ie for instance TOM JONES(1963). His reference to relaxing copyright laws is in conjunction with the fact that time is of the essence. The films can't wait over the haggling of who should turn over what and so forth. For instance the fate of the last known print of Nazimova's THE RED LANTERN(1919) is in a fragile state from what I've read in a book on Anna May Wong, who debuted in the film. This sole remaining print is in a European archive and is on the verge of disintegration. A swift rescue of the film is tantamount. The eccentric & humorous elderly Dutch man in The Netherlands held a copy of BEYOND THE ROCKS(I recently viewed the excellent DVD) amongst hundreds of cans of nitrate. I believe it's illegal to store or possess nitrate in the United States and certainly not to the degree that fellow, his name was Joop, did. So it's amazing what is being found outside the US but nevertheless people are still cautious about being caught with the print of a film that most likely should've been returned to a distributor somewhere. Kevin's reference to the copyright laws just states that the films' can't wait and that many of the 'Joops' out there may be apprehensive about coming out into the open for fear of some sort of persecution.

[SilentEchoes57]

delete

[westegg]

I consider the urgent collecting of long unseen/hidden silents the last great crusade of Brownlow's epic influence on film preservation. It's now been nearly a half century since he began interviewing silent film participants, during a time when almost any silent film was treated like a badly faded Keystone Kop short. What a great revelation it'd be this decade to have, as he said, these surviving silents rejoin "the canon" again, whatever they are. It's so damn tantalizing.

[ChaneyFan]

Deleted.

[ChaneyFan]

Deleted

[urbanora]

Seems the latest status report from him is that 73% of silents are gone, which sounds better than the 90% I once would hear referenced. I hope the percentage can still be improved upon.

Kevin credited David Pierce (an occasional Nitratevillian) with the 73% figure. Any figure that David has devised will have been rigorously produced, but it will be good to know the criteria involved (fiction films only or non-fiction as well? How do the rates vary according to time period - in 1993 the Library of Congress gave figures of 7-12% surviving for each year of the teens (feature films only), moving to 15-25% for the 1920s). I look forward to the official announcement of these figures.

[Harlett O'Dowd]

Seems the latest status report from him is that 73% of silents are gone, which sounds better than the 90% I once would hear referenced. I hope the percentage can still be improved upon.

Kevin credited David Pierce (an occasional Nitratevillian) with the 73% figure. Any figure that David has devised will have been rigorously produced, but it will be good to know the criteria involved (fiction films only or non-fiction as well? How do the rates vary according to time period - in 1993 the Library of Congress gave figures of 7-12% surviving for each year of the teens (feature films only), moving to 15-25% for the 1920s). I look forward to the official announcement of these figures.

73% sounds about right for me for American features.

I believe the 90% figure is for *everything* (newsreels, shorts, cartoons, the earliest Edisons, foreign film, etc.)

FWIW, that 90% figure sounds about right, too.

[Susann]

[quote="Gagman 66"] By the way, Who introduced him, and who were some of the other luminaries on hand?


The introduction was delivered by Kevin Spacey:
http://www.oscars.org/video/watch/ga_20 ... pacey.html

[rudyfan]

By the way, Who introduced him, and who were some of the other luminaries on hand?


The introduction was delivered by Kevin Spacey:
http://www.oscars.org/video/watch/ga_20 ... pacey.html

James Karen is, I believe, an old friend of Kevin (and Patrick). He's seen as a talking head on several of Photoplay's documentaries (and an actor in many a film). He's also a fine gentleman, a movie buff and big fan of Buster Keaton. I believe Mr. Karen was also very close with Eleanor Keaton as any of the Damfinos on N-Ville can elaborate/confirm.

[azjazzman]

James Karen is, I believe, an old friend of Kevin (and Patrick). He's seen as a talking head on several of Photoplay's documentaries (and an actor in many a film). He's also a fine gentleman, a movie buff and big fan of Buster Keaton. I believe Mr. Karen was also very close with Eleanor Keaton as any of the Damfinos on N-Ville can elaborate/confirm.

Jim Karen worked with Buster in a touring company of "Merton Of The Movies" and he remained friends with Buster and Eleanor for the rest of their lives.

Someone else who was a dear friend of the Keatons...Richard Deacon. Yup, Mel Cooley from the Dick Van Dyke Show.

[Rodney]

James Karen is, I believe, an old friend of Kevin (and Patrick). He's seen as a talking head on several of Photoplay's documentaries (and an actor in many a film). He's also a fine gentleman, a movie buff and big fan of Buster Keaton. I believe Mr. Karen was also very close with Eleanor Keaton as any of the Damfinos on N-Ville can elaborate/confirm.

Jim Karen worked with Buster in a touring company of "Merton Of The Movies" and he remained friends with Buster and Eleanor for the rest of their lives.

Jim Karen also attended the Iola, Kansas Buster Keaton Celebration several years running some years back. He gave a nice introduction to Samuel Beckett's "Film," which helped much to put it in context. He appears in the film as one of the shocked and disgusted faces, and as I remember he was involved in getting Keaton that particular gig.

I remember James talking about how Buster explained to Beckett how a particular gag with a cat would be funny if done in the right way, leading to the presence of one funny moment in an otherwise pretty obtuse film.

[kndy]

Wonderful speech! Bravo Kevin!!!

[ben7778]

If you looked at the audience shots, they looked as if they either couldn't care less or don't get it--perhaps both. Can't call it unexpected.

Let's leave it at that.

[Paul Penna]

I respect and admire Kevin Brownlow, and have ever since my watching his "Hollywood" series back in the 1970s was a revelation to me. Since then, I've seen his other films and read his books. Film preservation owes him an enormous debt of gratitude and support for his further work. I'd love to hear him talk more about his experiences. The trouble with giving that speech on that occasion is that when he wasn't preaching to the choir (who don't need converting) he was scolding. It's difficult to believe that anyone ignorant of or indifferent to silent film (those who do need converting) came away from it with it anything but a hazy memory of disconnected anecdotes about people they never heard of, and of being lectured, but certainly not with a heightened awareness of the importance of preserving the silent heritage. Of course, he could not have turned the tide entirely in just eight minutes, but nevertheless, I think he missed an opportunity to generate at least a spark of interest. I'm sure some of us were gratified to hear some of our axes being ground, but I really don't think he made any friends for the cause. That's why I was sad and even somewhat embarrassed watching it.

[Marilyn Slater]

As Kevin Brownlow was speaking “truth to power” there were many powerful people listening. Were his sharp words on the FBI knocking of the doors of film collectors pointed at Francis Ford Coppola and the Napoleon controversy? I added a few photos of the dinner at the Looking for Mabel post
http://looking-for-mabel.webs.com/brownlow2010award.htm