Today Kevin Brownlow will get a special Academy Award in recognition of his work as a film historian and preservationist. It's well deserved, but I don't understand why he's getting it in November, and not as part of the regular ceremony. I also don't see why Francis Ford Coppola is getting the Irving Thalberg award today, rather than at the big show. I found Brownlow's The Parade's Gone By at the Anza Branch library while I was in grammar school. I read it through, and took it out many more times until I had enough money to buy a paperback copy. Later, I read his books about Westerns and Gance's Napoleon. I learned a lot from his television productions like Hollywood, Chaplin, and Keaton.
I blame Kevin Brownlow for my love of silent film.
This is the 800th post in my blog.
