CINEMA EUROPE (1996) B/W & C; 60m each episode; dirs: Kevin Brownlow, David Gill
This is another series on the "silent" cinema from Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, who brought us the wonderful series HOLLYWOOD, which covers the early period of American cinema. The CINEMA EUROPE series is up to the high standards we've come to expect from these two. It will astonish you.
The notes quoted below are taken from the liner notes on the Image Entertainment DVD of the series:
"In Europe the movie industry was born in 1895 when a series of short films was shown in a Paris café by the Lumière brothers on subjects like the arrival of a train, the departure of a boat, the demolition of a wall. CINEMA EUROPE: THE OTHER HOLLYWOOD tells the story of the early films --- how they were made and how the industry developed. The series features rare film never before seen on television, and shows for the first time how such countries as France, Germany, the U.K., Denmark and Sweden formed their own national style of cinema.
"Early film thought to have been lost, but now traced by Brownlow and Gill, includes Pola Negri in The Yellow Ticket, Ivor Novello in The Constant Nymph and Spanish star Raquel Meller in Violettes Imperiales.
"Veterans of the silent era from Leni Riefenstahl to John Gielgud are interviewed, and early films with movie legends such as Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Balcon, Abel Gance and Jean Renoir has been lovingly restored.
"The final episode in the series gives a sweeping survey of what had been achieved before the silent era was overtaken by sound and the emerging film industry was threatened by the growth of fascism in Europe."
CINEMA EUROPE PART I: WHERE IT ALL BEGAN (Introductory Episode)
Narrated by Kenneth Branagh; w/Max Linder, Ernst Lubitsch, etc.
"In Paris, before the turn of the century, the first public performance of films was produced by the Lumière Brothers. By 1910, the Danes set standards both in lighting and action sequences and the Italians staged massive spectacles set in ancient Rome. The French, however, surpassed all with Zola's Germinal and the comedies of Max Linder. When the winds of World War I changed the direction of the burgeoning film industry, Great Britain created documentaries, the Germans focused on patriotism and France's Abel Gance produced his anti-war epic J'Accuse."
CINEMA EUROPE PART II: ART'S PROMISED LAND (Sweden)
Narrated by Kenneth Branagh; with Greta Garbo, Lars Hanson, etc.
"Swedish cinema's 'Golden Age' spanned nearly a decade in which Victor Sjostrom produced Ingeborg Holm and Greta Garbo rose to fame in Gosta Berling's Saga. Swedish films were distinct in their ability to relate their heroes' struggle to the harshness and beauty of the landscape. Sadly the 'Golden Age' ended in the mid 1920s with the exodus of filmmakers and stars to Hollywood."
CINEMA EUROPE PART III: THE UNCHAINED CAMERA (Germany)
narrated by Kenneth Branagh; with Alfred Hitchcock, Conrad Veidt, etc.
"After World War I, the German people suffered, but the film industry thrived and the 'German technique' astonished the world. In 1926 the Soviets unveiled Sergei Eisenstein's masterpiece Battleship Potemkin in Berlin. Fritz Lang's Metropolis created a monumental vision of the future, and G.W. Pabst's acclaimed Joyless Street featured the incomparable Greta Garbo.
"The White Hell of Pitz Palu, co-directed by Pabst and Arnold Franck, starred future director Leni Riefenstahl and Louise Brooks gave the performance of her life in Pandora's Box. Ultimately, much of Germany's top talent, including Europe's leading director, Ernst Lubitsch, was wooed by Hollywood."
CINEMA EUROPE PART IV: THE MUSIC OF LIGHT (France)
narrated by Kenneth Branagh
"During the 1920s, France pursued the dream of a European cinema industry that would surpass Hollywood. But despite turning out masterpieces, they remained locked out of the lucrative American market. The value of what would now be called the mini-series and docu-drama genres was discovered. Abel Gance's 1926 production, Napoléon, became the cornerstone of the Gallic golden age but the arrival of sound swept its innovations away."
CINEMA EUROPE PART V: OPPORTUNITY LOST (Britain)
narrated by Kenneth Branagh; with Alfred Hitchcock, John Gielgud, etc.
"Despite pioneering efforts, the British film industry lacked funds and ultimately lagged behind Germany and France. American directors came over to train apprentices and technicians, but soon gave up and withdrew. One of these apprentices, a chubby lad named Alfred Hitchcock, embarked on his stellar career. Charles Bennett, author of Hitchcock's Blackmail, and Sir John Gielgud are interviewed."
CINEMA EUROPE PART VI: END OF AN ERA (Finale)
narrated by Kenneth Branagh; with Alfred Hitchcock, Leni Reifenstahl
"Britain, Germany, France and Italy were producing their finest silent films in the late 1920s when The Jazz Singer was released and the days of the silents were numbered. René Clair and Abel Gance started making movies with sound, but in the 1930s, the world began to change. By 1933, Germany was under a new regime and the mass exodus of Jews from Germany would enrich the films of France, England and the U.S. But the Nazis ensured that all hope of a Pan-European cinema was over."