The War, West & Wildernes

Kevin Brownlow, author of the definitive history of the silent film era, THE PARADE'S GONE BY . . . , has attempted in THE WAR, THE WEST, AND THE WILDERNESS to honor the work of silent-film cameramen, directors, and actors who, often inadvertently, recorded history on film. It is a fascinating study and unique among silent-film histories in its focus on the intrepid, the unsung, the non-self-aggrandizing among film industry pioneers. These are people whose contributions to film history--and to history itself--had fallen through the cracks. Brownlow's incredible achievement is in having researched and assembled their stories before they vanished for good, like the thousands of silent films that are themselves so much nitrate dust. Very, very few of the 350 photographs that accompany the text have appeared in any other history of this era. Priceless.

Silent film historian Kevin Brownlow documents the silent film newsreel and documentary cameramen who traveled to the far ends of the earth and risked their lives to record history. "The War" concerns films about World War I and America's and Britian's involvment in it. My only complaint here is that the book does not cover more of the war and "Hun" fictional films that came out during the war. There is a large-section on anti-war and preparedness films that appeared before America entered the war. The second section deals with western films. There are sections on movie cowboys like William S. Hart and Tom Mix, as well as actual outlaws and cowboys who appeared in early films. The last section concerns "nature" and exploration films. While some might feel that the large subject-matter covered by this book keeps it meandering from one topic to another, it is still a great book about silent film history.