Customer Reviews

Cinema Europe - The Other Hollywood

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Brownlow & Gill's documentary series was originally broadcast in 1996 by the BBC to celebrate 100 years of cinema. Not only is it incredibly interesting as a history lesson but top marks must go to the archive researchers who have dug up some incredibly rare footage (such as Dietrich's screen test for THE BLUE ANGEL). All 6 episodes are on this 1 disc and although there are no extras, you do get 6 hours of pure magic, masterly narrated by the excellent Kenneth Branagh. The quality of the archive footage is amazing and anyone contemplating studying film for education or academic reasons really should start with this disc, for it starts with footage circa 1895 (including the Lumiere bros) through to the advent of sound over 30 years later. It's all very well to read about this stuff in textbooks but seeing it on your TV really does make a difference. It is truly amazing just how much stuff has survived considering the time that has elapsed and the chemical volatility of early nitrate film stock. All in all this is well worth watching, masterfully put together and nicely presented. It is also worth noting that contrary to the technical information on the page, this disc is in fact not region coded so will play in any DVD player in any country so you really have no excuse not to get it (however the U.S. appears to be the only country where this series is available as a DVD).This disc is must for any film student or historian!.

If you are interested in film and want to learn more about the early days, you will be enthralled, from start to finish, by this remarkable six-hour documentary, the last joint project by film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill. Intelligently written and wonderfully narrated by Kenneth Branagh, each hour is filled with rare film clips and fantastic interviews.

The only weakness here is a lack of extras. A documentary or commentary track about how these clips were found, etc., would have been wonderful. Also, a documentary package like this would be made even more valuable with the addition of a comprehensive index of the actors and films.

Kevin Brownlow and David Gill created wonderful documentaries together, and this, their last work together is no exception! Amazing archival footage and lively narration that will make the most jaded film buff salivate. The only problem here is omission-the pair wanted to make this a 13-hour epic like their "Hollywood" (wonderful!), but were forced to do it in 6. For example, Russian silents are hardly mentioned. But what is here is astounding.

I saw this series when it first appeared on television on TCM. Its filled with excerpts from both classic and less well known films from this genre. The commentary by Branagh is both well informed and interesting. I highly recommend it to all lovers of world cinema.

It's typical of American-centric viewers to discount the enormous contribution of foreign cinema to our own film history. Italian films like Quo Vadis and Cabiria directly inspired The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. French films like A Trip to the Moon gave way to The Great Train Robbery. German films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu gave way to film noir and the horror genre in general. Russian films gave us a lot of editing techniques used today. It's totally ignorant to claim that European silents are not special or meaningless.

With that being said, Cinema Europe is a fantastic follow-up to Hollywood. Europe was always one step ahead of American film and we were greatly inspired by their advances. I really enjoyed the German and Italian episodes since they're among the most important of developers of cinema technique. Brownlow and Gill make the series totally interesting thanks to the crisp editing, fine selection of excerpts and interviews, and magnificent narration. Hollywood helped the rebirth of interest in American silent film and I hope Cinema Europe has done the same for European silents.

This is the best documentary on early film I have ever seen-- a wonderful documentation of the parallel film-industries in the major European countries, but beyond that, a lush, transporting showcase for silent film restored to a state so like new as to make no difference. My favorite was the Swedish segment, since these films were entirely unseen by me-- Sjostrom and Stiller filmed native landscapes voraciously, and with immediate apprehension of the screen's epic essence. But Brownlow, as useful a fanatic as film studies contains, lets his footage do his arguing, in support of his belief that the first three decades of film-making contained its greatest achievements. If you've never applauded a videotape you were watching alone, this could be your initiation.

I just saw the documentary Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood.

It should appeal to anyone interested in film history, especially the silent era. Its goal is to document the birth of cinema in Europe and its development all the way to the early years of the sound film - in just 6 hours! Six hours is way to short for such an endeavor but the filmmakers manage to pack amazing amount of information in to these six hours, so much in fact that one is left with the desire to see it immediately again.

The film is in six parts. The first covering the birth of cinema in Europe, the second one is about the Swedish silent film industry, the third one about the German Masters, the fourth one about France, the fifth one about Britain and the last one about the death of silent cinema and the arrival of sound.

One would expect that the German part would be the best of the six but it was unfortunately one of the least interesting, IMO. This may have something to do with the fact that I knew the German story quite well, but I just felt that it lacked insight and a clear direction. The same goes for the Swedish part. The narrator spends most of the time retelling the plot of the films in question, including their end.

The France and English parts are pure pleasure to watch. They are full of well based social insight and focus more on techniques and experiments than story lines. The British one is admirably honest and at part quite funny.

The transfer of the films they show is exceptionally good and the collections of the shots they gather together here is a goldmine. Many of the films shown from in the documentary are still not available on VHS or DVD.

On the down side though, I felt they often chose wrong scenes from the films they picked, and left out much superior scenes, but such is always a matter of opinion.

Cinema Europe is a true gem which I'm going to revisit again and again in the future. It should be on the shelf of any serious film buff.

Why is it that the British always produce the best silent film documentaries? Thames Television produced the best documentary ever on American silent films, "Hollywood: A celebration of the American silent film," and now Great Britain has followed that with the equally fine "Cinema Europe: The other Hollywood." The British obviously have the best grasp of film history, or at least know all the best people to consult. This is ultimately an international effort, created with the active cooperation of film historians and archives from around the world.

This is a brilliant and well-organized piece of work. It's broken down by different countries and their respective specialties; I found the episodes dealing with French, German, and Swedish films to be especially interesting. (I agree with another viewer, however, that Russia's exclusion is puzzling). The French section convinced me that I had to see Abel Gance's "Napoleon," and I'm extremely glad that I did. It's one of the most astonishing and passionate films I've seen to date, a true eye-opener.

Like the "Hollywood..." documentary, this one features great film clips and interviews with people who were instrumental in the making of many of these films.

This is a must for anyone interested in silent films or the origins of the cinema. This was such a marvelous, exciting period in which everything was new and few things were viewed as impossible, so experimentation and creativity flourished. The multiculturalism of the film industry back then is sorely missing today (since foreign accents didn't matter in silent films, casts and crews were often multinational). This documentary does a fine job of recapturing that heady sense of exhilaration, the international sharing of ideas, and the pioneering spirit. It's a gem!

Not much to add to the above except to say "magnificent" and wonder how Brownlaw and Gill could track down so many rare clips! One only wishes it was longer. Grab the DVD version if you can (cheaper too), although the tapes look wonderful. A must in either format!

Cinema Europe es la serie completa de seis programas dedicados a los orígenes del cine en el continente europeo. A pesar de haber conocido algunos de estos materiales en cinetecas y otras antologías, la extraordinaria calidad (se trata de transfers directos a partir de negativos de 35 mm) de los fragmentos seleccionados es verdaderamente asombrosa. Dificilmente podrá encontrarse en otro lado la calidad fotográfica de tonos y la definición óptica original que tenía la película utilzada en los primeros filmes, como es posible disfrutarla en este DVD. Un reconocmiento a los productores Kevin Brownlow y David Gill. la única objeción a la serie es la muy notable ausencia de un programa dedicado a los cineastas soviéticos, así como la inlcusión de cinematografías de otros paises europeos menos célebres pero muy importantes como por ejemplo Hungría. Por mi parte espero que pronto aparezca Cinema Europe II.