Rating: 
Summary: Silent Flim Buffs: Don't let this Parade Pass You By!
Review: Kevin Brownlow's great book on the silent film world is over thirty years old but holds up well. Browlow is a British writer who was able to interview many of the silent film people while he gained first hand knowledge on their contributions to a lost world.
Each chapter of the book deals with either a famous actor/director of the era or covers an aspect of fliming.
Brownlow has outstanding chapters on such luminaries as D.W.
Griffith, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Abel Gance, Irving Thalberg, Gloria Swanson. C.B. DeMille Mary Pickford/Doug Fairbanks as well as several others.
His chapter on the making of Ben-Hur is a classic account of the making of this great film. Brownlow deals in other chapters with the lives of stunt-mens, silent comedy, the importance of the art director/production personnel as well as letting us see how the medium has grown technically over the decades.
If you read one book on the silent film era this should be the one to do it for you. A college course on film should include this outstanding work.
Kevin Brownlow loves movies and has done a superb job in this
page turning tour of silent movieland. As Charlie Chaplin walks through our memories as the little Tramp so too will this fine
book shine in our memories as we thank Brownlow for a beautiful trip through the splendors of early moviemaking.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect Start Or Addition To An Existing Library
Review: This book is great for two types of people. Those who know nothing about silent films and want to learn more, or those who are already enthusiasts. For beginners the book gives a great amount of detail and background to the entire silent film era. For enthusiasts it's a great addition to your library. Chapters are dedicated to various artists and aspects of the era (such as Buster Keaton, stunts, and so forth). Kevin Brownlow is not only an enjoyable and insightful writer, but his own enthusiasm shines through. The edition that I read was also dedicated to Abel Gance, a French film-maker who should never be forgotten. I thought that was a nice touch to a wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect Start Or Addition To An Existing Library
Review: This book is great for two types of people. Those who know nothing about silent films and want to learn more, or those who are already enthusiasts. For beginners the book gives a great amount of detail and background to the entire silent film era. For enthusiasts it's a great addition to your library. Chapters are dedicated to various artists and aspects of the era (such as Buster Keaton, stunts, and so forth). Kevin Brownlow is not only an enjoyable and insightful writer, but his own enthusiasm shines through. The edition that I read was also dedicated to Abel Gance, a French film-maker who should never be forgotten. I thought that was a nice touch to a wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood, a celebration of the american silent film
Review: this book is indeed a masterwork....BUT...when is the counterpart of this book, the sensational documentary series Bronlow did in 1980 "Hollywood, a celebration of american silent film" going to be issued on DVD!???It not only includes a vaste amount of very rare filmclips but also totally unique interviews with the silent film makers themselves....the series mezmerized me totally when I first saw it way back , it is as unique and precious as this book and deserves a dvd box..infact I lknow that if it were to be issued it would be in great demand!
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood, a celebration of the american silent film
Review: this book is indeed a masterwork....BUT...when is the counterpart of this book, the sensational documentary series Bronlow did in 1980 "Hollywood, a celebration of american silent film" going to be issued on DVD!???It not only includes a vaste amount of very rare filmclips but also totally unique interviews with the silent film makers themselves....the series mezmerized me totally when I first saw it way back , it is as unique and precious as this book and deserves a dvd box..infact I lknow that if it were to be issued it would be in great demand!
Rating:
Summary: Silent Film History through the eyes of those who lived it
Review: This book is the first to give an actual feel of what Silent Film was and still is. Excellently organized and with outstanding photographs not only of films, but gives an insight into the process of how these films were made. A must for every Silent Film enthusiast.
Rating:
Summary: Brownlow is One of Silent's Champions
Review: This is one of two "must-haves" for fans of silent film, the other is "Silent Clowns" by Walter Kerr.Brownlow (as usual) researches well, provides great narrative, and treats his subject with the respect it deserves. Anyone who has seen his documentary collaborations with David Gill, or his restorations of great classics will be familiar with his thoroughness. This book is very easy to read, but insightful, helpful...makes you wish there were still silents, particularly in the wake of movies overdone with Dolby Surround.
Rating:
Summary: Brownlow is One of Silent's Champions
Review: This is one of two "must-haves" for fans of silent film, the other is "Silent Clowns" by Walter Kerr. Brownlow (as usual) researches well, provides great narrative, and treats his subject with the respect it deserves. Anyone who has seen his documentary collaborations with David Gill, or his restorations of great classics will be familiar with his thoroughness. This book is very easy to read, but insightful, helpful...makes you wish there were still silents, particularly in the wake of movies overdone with Dolby Surround.
Rating:
Summary: Quiet Pleasures
Review: This will be the book you want to start with I you are beginning to get interested in silent movies. Beautiful stills and interviews with the pioneers. If you can find a hardback copy, the photographs are even better.
Rating:
Summary: An essential book for silent fans
Review: We all have a few books that we plan to read every few years for the rest of our lives: this is one of mine. Brownlow's elegiac oral
history of the days of silent film was done at the perfect time, when the battles were over but while there were still enough living
survivors to tell the tale. Brownlow captures the weird collision
of calculation and exuberance that defined early Hollywood. One
history of recent events in Hollywood paints a typical picture
of life in the executive suite as being "a bunch of tiny men in designer jeans giving each other high fives." T'was not always
so.
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