The War, the West, and the Wilderness

by Kevin Brownlow

Here, from one of today’s leading authorities on film history, is the  story, told brilliantly and for the first time, of the pioneering movie makers who as early as 1905 traveled beyond the studio stages to make feature films on location—and in so doing recorded the real history and real life of their time. The War, the West, and the Wilderness is the result of more than a decade of passionate research by Kevin Brownlow, whose last book, The Parade’s Gone By… (hailed by Charles Champlin as “the definitive work on the silent era”) is regarded as a classic history of early motion pictures.
 
His new book is alive with the voices of the film-makers themselves, in their logbooks, in their letters and diaries, in their firsthand accounts of their adventurous journeys and cinematic innovations, and—even more immediate—in Brownlow’s interviews with cameramen, director’s, lighting technicians, and actors who relive those days, taking us with them to the Great War, to the West, ad into the Wilderness. It is the triumph of this book to reconstruct the dramatic moments when these men and women contrived, against ordinary odds, to bring to movie audiences for the first time, the look, the feel—the actuality—of large events and distant places, from the great battles of World War I to the South Seas with Jack London aboard the Shark , and the gold rush in Tonopah, Nevada.

Genres: Film, Media Tie In, History, Nonfiction

602 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Kevin Brownlow, is a filmmaker, film historian, television documentary-maker, author, and Academy Award recipient. Brownlow is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era. Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent documenting and restoring film. He has rescued many silent films and their history. His initiative in interviewing many largely forgotten, elderly film pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s preserved a legacy of cinema. Brownlow received an Academy Honorary Award at the 2nd Annual Governors Awards given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on November 13, 2010.

Reviews

[Robin Bailes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have loved all of Kevin Brownlow's books and this one was unsurprisingly exceptional. Exhaustively researched, utterly comprehensive and, as always with Brownlow's books, loaded with the sort of fascinating anecdotes from the people who were there that you simply don't get from any other author. Must read for any film fan.

[J. J. (now on BookWyrm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A valuable document of early cinema. Completed in 1978, the book is full of photos and statements from the original filmmakers. Brownlow tracked down many of the films and journeyed far and wide to give us a book than no one else could write.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brownlow's The War The West and The Wilderness was a follow up to his landmark The Parade's Gone By. The second of what I call Brownlow's Trilogy, this book is not to be missed. What is so wonderful about this book so many years later is, many of the films Brownlow discusses may now actually be seen by a simple rental from Netflix. Scrupulously researched, as always, Brownlow is a writer one can admire for his readability, film history with him is never, ever dry and dull. A must read if you love film, period.

[Kieran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another terrific one by Kevin Brownlow. One to read and re-read.

[Greta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Discussion of silent films about WWI, westerns, and adventure documentaries.