Indescribably essential. Kevin Brownlow, the late David Gill, and their superlative production and support staff at Thames Television created the absolute apotheosis of film documentary in this series. AND, to boot, they provided undoubtedly the greatest single service ever rendered to film history in seeking out these amazing pioneers and capturing their recollections and memories, shortly before they all passed forever from the scene. I have seen this innumerable times, yet I still fall back in awe at sequences such as director Allan Dwan describing his entry into the film industry in 1911, or cameraman Karl Brown speaking of the 1915 opening night of "Birth of a Nation". I also highly recommend Brownlow's predecessor book "The Parade's Gone By" (1969), and the companion book to the series "Hollywood, the Pioneers" (out of print). Also, the subsequent Brownlow documentaries on Chaplin, Keaton, Harold Lloyd, DW Griffith, and Lon Chaney are all of equal quality, and beautifully augment original the series. I can only hope that when the DVD version of Hollywood is released, it will include unedited interviews with the participants.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Stark Love
(1927)
Stark Love - Best Source of Information
19 July 2005
The most informational and scholarly accounts of the making of Stark Love are an extensive multi-article review in the Winter 1991 issue of the Appalachian Journal, and a more recent article by by George Ellison published in the Smokey Mountain News on February 28, 2001. The latter article is available at the archives of the Smokey Mountain News website (www.smokymountainnews.com).
These clarify many of the inaccuracies that have been passed along in written accounts, most of which stem from the film's obscurity. Most notably, documentation from the late director Karl Brown indicates the film was shot in the Santeetlah area of Graham County, southwestern North Carolina, near the town of Robbinsville.
Stark Love is not commercially available, but a mute video copies made from the only surviving Czech archival print are available for viewing at the UCLA film library, and (presumably) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It is a great film, and offers priceless glimpses of a unique, lost way of life.
These clarify many of the inaccuracies that have been passed along in written accounts, most of which stem from the film's obscurity. Most notably, documentation from the late director Karl Brown indicates the film was shot in the Santeetlah area of Graham County, southwestern North Carolina, near the town of Robbinsville.
Stark Love is not commercially available, but a mute video copies made from the only surviving Czech archival print are available for viewing at the UCLA film library, and (presumably) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It is a great film, and offers priceless glimpses of a unique, lost way of life.
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