The Parade's Gone By...

This book is for hardcore silent film fans. Which I am. It's very well-written and very extensive. Even though I've read a lot about the silent era, I hadn't heard of many of the people mentioned in this book. There are chapters on the stars (Gloria Swanson, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd to name a few), the directors (D W Griffith, Josef Von Sternberg, etc.), and even the technicians and cameramen. There is a lot of information about camera technique, lighting, and stunts. It was fascinating to read about how filmmakers of this time pulled off some of the most amazing shots and created special effects before CGI made creative filmmaking obsolete.

I knew this book would be a good resource since I've seen several other resources cite it, but I still cannot help but be impressed. This is a work of love and passion in chronicling the silent film era. Not only does it discuss the stars, but it goes into great detail about the technical aspects and how they evolved throughout the time period and how various people played vital roles in that process. There are photographs throughout. The hardcover book is a veritable tome--this is the kind of book you want to throw at a burglar--and while it is comprehensive, there are odd omissions. Women played a major role in the silent film industry--over half of scenario writers were women--and while Mary Pickford and Anita Loos are given show more appropriate nods, women like Clara Bow aren't present at all. I wonder at how the availability of interview subjects played a role in that aspect as well. One of the great things about this book is that Brownlow didn't simply rely on other books or issues of Photoplay. He interviewed (repeatedly, in some cases) many of the subjects as he assembled this book in the 1960s. I'm impressed that so much knowledge was preserved because of his work.

I was inspired to look on YouTube, and I was surprised to see Brownlow's work didn't end with the completion of this tome. He is one of the major figures of film preservation in the last 60 years. In particular, he seems to have devoted his life to the work of the French director Abel Gance (who he extensively examines in the last chapter of this book) and a very recent Blu-Ray re-mastered release of Napoleon is credited to him. I've said it before, I'll say it again: I'm impressed. show less

A famous 1968 history of the silent movie era with discussion of the great directors, stars, productions, cameramen, editors and title card writers, constructed largely from interviews that the author had with silent movie industry workers and excerpts from biographies and Photoplay articles. Many great photographs. Somewhat disorganized.

reference, film, history