When you speak to Kevin Brownlow, you have a direct link to some of the greatest silent film directors who ever lived. The British film historian, now 80, interviewed and befriended many early film veterans when he was just in his twenties. He then spearheaded early efforts to preserve and restore silent films at a time when silent film was often derided. To say Brownlow has some stories about those early directors would be an understatement.
“King Vidor would say to me, ‘Every time I saw a Cecil B. DeMille picture, it made me want to quit the business,’” Brownlow said during a phone interview with IndieWire from his home in London — a sentiment about the “Ten Commandments” filmmaker Brownlow disagrees with. In the 1960s, he also encountered Josef von Sternberg, Allan Dwan, and Abel Gance, whose 1927 epic “Napoleon” Brownlow spent over 12 years restoring before debuting a reconstituted print of the...
“King Vidor would say to me, ‘Every time I saw a Cecil B. DeMille picture, it made me want to quit the business,’” Brownlow said during a phone interview with IndieWire from his home in London — a sentiment about the “Ten Commandments” filmmaker Brownlow disagrees with. In the 1960s, he also encountered Josef von Sternberg, Allan Dwan, and Abel Gance, whose 1927 epic “Napoleon” Brownlow spent over 12 years restoring before debuting a reconstituted print of the...
- 4/20/2019
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Film preservationist Kevin Brownlow will receive the Robert Osborne Award at the 2019 TCM Classic Film Festival, which this year runs April 11-14 in Hollywood. The honor, recognizing an individual who has helped keep the cultural heritage of classic film alive for future generations, is in its second year; Martin Scorsese won the inaugural award last year.
This Osborne award, named after the longtime Turner Classic Movies host and journalist who died in 2017, will be presented April 13 before a screening at the fest of 1965’s It Happened Here, the alt-history World War II pic directed and written by Brownlow (his first feature film) and Andrew Mollo that took six years to make.
Like Scorsese, Brownlow is revered for his work in restoration of classic film, with a focus on documenting and preserving the silent film era. The writer-director founded Photoplay Productions to make documentaries and revive classics including 1927’s Napoleon, which...
This Osborne award, named after the longtime Turner Classic Movies host and journalist who died in 2017, will be presented April 13 before a screening at the fest of 1965’s It Happened Here, the alt-history World War II pic directed and written by Brownlow (his first feature film) and Andrew Mollo that took six years to make.
Like Scorsese, Brownlow is revered for his work in restoration of classic film, with a focus on documenting and preserving the silent film era. The writer-director founded Photoplay Productions to make documentaries and revive classics including 1927’s Napoleon, which...
- 2/21/2019
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo were teenagers when filming began on this superlative wartime thriller. Taking over eight years to complete, it imagines life in an England occupied by Nazi Germany and run by home-grown English collaborators. The film’s realism outdoes any big-studio picture — the period detail and military hardware are uncannily authentic. It also pushes the limit of the documentary form by using the ugly testimony of real English fascists in a fictional context. Mr. Brownlow opens up his behind-the-scenes film archive for this dual-format release.
It Happened Here
Region A+B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Bfi (UK)
1964 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 100 min. / Street Date July 23, 2018 / available through Amazon UK / £14.99
Starring: Pauline Murray, Sebastian Shaw, Bart Allison, Reginald Marsh, Frank Bennett, Derek Milburn, Nicolette Bernard, Nicholas Moore, Rex Collett, Michael Passmore, Peter Dyneley.
Cinematography: Kevin Brownlow, Peter Suschitzky
Film Editor: Kevin Brownlow
Costumes and Military Consultant: Andrew Mollo
Written,...
It Happened Here
Region A+B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Bfi (UK)
1964 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 100 min. / Street Date July 23, 2018 / available through Amazon UK / £14.99
Starring: Pauline Murray, Sebastian Shaw, Bart Allison, Reginald Marsh, Frank Bennett, Derek Milburn, Nicolette Bernard, Nicholas Moore, Rex Collett, Michael Passmore, Peter Dyneley.
Cinematography: Kevin Brownlow, Peter Suschitzky
Film Editor: Kevin Brownlow
Costumes and Military Consultant: Andrew Mollo
Written,...
- 8/7/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Nope, this isn’t Et, The Extraterrestrial, not by a long shot. Guest reviewer Lee Broughton offers an assessment of Harry Bromley Davenport’s British cult sci-fi shocker of modest means, a show that would be pure exploitation if not for some creditable performances. It’s nasty but has a basic competence and is not just more cynical grist for the mill. ‘Phone Home,’ my Aunt Fannie: sometimes the difference between a thriller like this and a higher-profile classic is just pretension.
Xtro
Region Free Blu-ray + CD
Second Sight (UK)
1982 / Color / 1.85 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date, 18 June 2018 / £29.99
Starring: Philip Sayer, Bernice Stegers, Danny Brainin, Maryam d’Abo, Simon Nash, Susie Silvey, Peter Mandell, Anna Wing, Tim Dry, Sean Crawford, Robert Pereno, David Cardy.
Cinematography: John Metcalfe
Film Editor: Nicolas Gaster
Production Designer: Andrew Mollo
Original Music: Harry Bromley Davenport
Written by Iain Cassie, Robert Smith, Michel Parry, Harry Bromley Davenport, Jo Ann Kaplan...
Xtro
Region Free Blu-ray + CD
Second Sight (UK)
1982 / Color / 1.85 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date, 18 June 2018 / £29.99
Starring: Philip Sayer, Bernice Stegers, Danny Brainin, Maryam d’Abo, Simon Nash, Susie Silvey, Peter Mandell, Anna Wing, Tim Dry, Sean Crawford, Robert Pereno, David Cardy.
Cinematography: John Metcalfe
Film Editor: Nicolas Gaster
Production Designer: Andrew Mollo
Original Music: Harry Bromley Davenport
Written by Iain Cassie, Robert Smith, Michel Parry, Harry Bromley Davenport, Jo Ann Kaplan...
- 7/7/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Recommended Viewinga light and bright start: here's the first trailer for Andrew Bujalski's marvelous workplace comedy Support the Girls. We cannot recommend this movie enough.The ecstatic first trailer for writer-director Josephine Decker's avidly anticipated Sundance hit, Madeline's Madeline. Andrei Tarkovsky's sophomore masterpiece needs no further introduction—here's the trailer for the sublime restoration of Andrei Rublev (1966) by Janus Films. Finally, the long awaited restoration for one of the most seminal films of the 1970s is here: Barbara Loden's Wanda, which by our estimation is a zenith of independent cinema.Yet another restoration we're thrilled by: Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo's sly alternate history It Happened Here (1965). Here's a refreshed version of the original trailer.Furthering the topic of restorations, here's Martin Scorsese in conversations with Italian filmmakers Jonas Carpignano,...
- 6/27/2018
- MUBI
Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
It Happened Here
A film by Kevin Brownlow &
Andrew Mollo
Dual Format Edition release, 23 July 2018
Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s immensely powerful It Happened Here depicts an alternative history in which England has been invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany. Coming to Blu-ray for the first time, on 23 July 2018, the film is presented in a new 2K remaster (from the original camera negative) by the BFI National Archive, supervised by Kevin Brownlow, to mark his 80th birthday. A raft of exceptional extras include previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage, new interviews, news items, trailers and more.
‘The German invasion of England took place in July 1940 after the British retreat from Dunkirk. Strongly resisted at first, the German army took months to restore order, but the resistance movement, lacking outside support, was finally crushed. Then, in 1944, it reappeared.’
That is what happened when history...
It Happened Here
A film by Kevin Brownlow &
Andrew Mollo
Dual Format Edition release, 23 July 2018
Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s immensely powerful It Happened Here depicts an alternative history in which England has been invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany. Coming to Blu-ray for the first time, on 23 July 2018, the film is presented in a new 2K remaster (from the original camera negative) by the BFI National Archive, supervised by Kevin Brownlow, to mark his 80th birthday. A raft of exceptional extras include previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage, new interviews, news items, trailers and more.
‘The German invasion of England took place in July 1940 after the British retreat from Dunkirk. Strongly resisted at first, the German army took months to restore order, but the resistance movement, lacking outside support, was finally crushed. Then, in 1944, it reappeared.’
That is what happened when history...
- 6/23/2018
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
It Happened Here
A film by Kevin Brownlow &
Andrew Mollo
Dual Format Edition release, 23 July 2018
Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s immensely powerful It Happened Here depicts an alternative history in which England has been invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany. Coming to Blu-ray for the first time, on 23 July 2018, the film is presented in a new 2K remaster (from the original camera negative) by the BFI National Archive, supervised by Kevin Brownlow, to mark his 80th birthday. A raft of exceptional extras include previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage, new interviews, news items, trailers and more.
‘The German invasion of England took place in July 1940 after the British retreat from Dunkirk. Strongly resisted at first, the German army took months to restore order, but the resistance movement, lacking outside support, was finally crushed. Then, in 1944, it reappeared.
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
It Happened Here
A film by Kevin Brownlow &
Andrew Mollo
Dual Format Edition release, 23 July 2018
Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s immensely powerful It Happened Here depicts an alternative history in which England has been invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany. Coming to Blu-ray for the first time, on 23 July 2018, the film is presented in a new 2K remaster (from the original camera negative) by the BFI National Archive, supervised by Kevin Brownlow, to mark his 80th birthday. A raft of exceptional extras include previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage, new interviews, news items, trailers and more.
‘The German invasion of England took place in July 1940 after the British retreat from Dunkirk. Strongly resisted at first, the German army took months to restore order, but the resistance movement, lacking outside support, was finally crushed. Then, in 1944, it reappeared.
- 6/23/2018
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a precedent! Barbet Schroeder’s documentary gets up close and personal with a narcissistic dictator consumed by his own ego. Idi Amin rants and raves incoherently and demands to be the center of all attention while taking his country down a road to ruin. This is Africa in 1973, where Uganda has been converted into ‘The Idi Amin Reality Show’ — and where a minion in disfavor might be fed to the crocodiles.
General Idi Amin Dada: A Self-Portrait
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 153
1974 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 90 min. / Général Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 12, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Idi Amin
Cinematography: Néstor Almendros
Film Editor: Denise de Casabianca
Original Music: Idi Amin
Produced by Jean-Francois Chauvel, Charles-Henri Favrod and Jean-Pierre Rassam
Written and Directed by Barbet Schroeder
Criterion’s decision to bump Barbet Schroeder’s daring 1970s documentary to Blu-ray at this...
General Idi Amin Dada: A Self-Portrait
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 153
1974 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 90 min. / Général Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 12, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Idi Amin
Cinematography: Néstor Almendros
Film Editor: Denise de Casabianca
Original Music: Idi Amin
Produced by Jean-Francois Chauvel, Charles-Henri Favrod and Jean-Pierre Rassam
Written and Directed by Barbet Schroeder
Criterion’s decision to bump Barbet Schroeder’s daring 1970s documentary to Blu-ray at this...
- 12/5/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Actor known for his Shakespearean roles, but who also appeared on TV and in films including Winstanley and Orlando
Jerome Willis, who has died at the age of 85, was an actor who might have described himself, without bitterness, as an "attendant lord". He was a natural Shakespearean, in possession of a strong physique and the ability to speak verse with enviable confidence. In a distinguished career spanning almost 60 years, he brought to every part he undertook a perceptive intelligence that illuminated even the smallest cameo. He also became a familiar face on television from 1974 to 1978 as Charles Radley, the deputy governor of Stone Park prison in Within These Walls, with Googie Withers as his boss.
Jerome began his career as a disc jockey, newsreader and actor by turns, posted to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1946 for his national service in the Raf and serving in communications for the Ceylonese station Radio Seac.
Jerome Willis, who has died at the age of 85, was an actor who might have described himself, without bitterness, as an "attendant lord". He was a natural Shakespearean, in possession of a strong physique and the ability to speak verse with enviable confidence. In a distinguished career spanning almost 60 years, he brought to every part he undertook a perceptive intelligence that illuminated even the smallest cameo. He also became a familiar face on television from 1974 to 1978 as Charles Radley, the deputy governor of Stone Park prison in Within These Walls, with Googie Withers as his boss.
Jerome began his career as a disc jockey, newsreader and actor by turns, posted to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1946 for his national service in the Raf and serving in communications for the Ceylonese station Radio Seac.
- 1/27/2014
- by Paul Bailey
- The Guardian - Film News
In 1964 Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo completed, after seven years work and on a budget of £7,000, one of the most extraordinary pictures ever made in this country. In It Happened Here, they imagined and created in considerable detail a Britain that had been occupied by the Nazis in 1940. Brownlow later wrote How It Happened Here, a riveting account of its production. Based on a novel by Owen Sheers, Resistance turns on the strategically and logistically improbable notion that D-Day failed in 1944, the Germans counter-attacked, and Britain became part of the Nazi empire. The setting is a remote Welsh valley taken over by a German company tasked with a curious secret mission, and a predictable, somewhat muffled story of exchanges with the natives, resistance and collaboration ensues. Not bad, but it falls far short of It Happened Here.
War filmsSecond world warPhilip French
guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies.
War filmsSecond world warPhilip French
guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies.
- 11/27/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Kevin Brownlow has won a lifetime-achievement Oscar and made superb films. So why isn't he better known?
On 13 November last year Kevin Brownlow received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement, alongside Francis Ford Coppola (Jean-Luc Godard didn't turn up). In his letter of nomination, Martin Scorsese declared that "Mr Brownlow is a giant among film historians and preservationists, known and justifiably respected throughout the world for his multiple achievements: as the author of The Parade's Gone By, a definitive history of the silent era, and . . . a biography of David Lean . . . and as the director with Andrew Mollo of two absolutely unique fiction films, Winstanley (1975) and It Happened Here (1964) . . . On a broader level, you might say that Mr Brownlow is film history." This sums up pretty well the extraordinary record of a remarkable Englishman.
But while Brownlow's achievements – as a historian of film, in preserving and restoring silent-era classics, and...
On 13 November last year Kevin Brownlow received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement, alongside Francis Ford Coppola (Jean-Luc Godard didn't turn up). In his letter of nomination, Martin Scorsese declared that "Mr Brownlow is a giant among film historians and preservationists, known and justifiably respected throughout the world for his multiple achievements: as the author of The Parade's Gone By, a definitive history of the silent era, and . . . a biography of David Lean . . . and as the director with Andrew Mollo of two absolutely unique fiction films, Winstanley (1975) and It Happened Here (1964) . . . On a broader level, you might say that Mr Brownlow is film history." This sums up pretty well the extraordinary record of a remarkable Englishman.
But while Brownlow's achievements – as a historian of film, in preserving and restoring silent-era classics, and...
- 7/22/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Made in 1963, Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo's classic "what if" movie, It Happened Here, was a serious fantasy for people who remembered the second world war about what life would have been like had the German invasion succeeded. Jackboots on Whitehall is a cheeky, pretty pointless yet oddly touching comedy for people for whom the last war belongs in the distant past, the audience for the 2004 comedy Churchill: The Hollywood Years or, at a slightly higher level, Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. With movie references ranging from Braveheart to Zulu, it's a stop-action puppet film featuring some of the British cinema's most distinctive voices, in which Churchill (Timothy Spall) withdraws to Hadrian's Wall for a final showdown with the Nazis after defeat in the Battle of Britain. Some of the detail is remarkable; the puppets' costumes have the rough texture of clothes run up during wartime austerity. It's overlong, though, and...
- 10/9/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
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