Up until this fifth episode of "Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood", I was surprised that I had already seen about 90% of the films discussed in this series on mostly silent European films. However, something strange happened in this one on the British film industry. The majority of the films were completely unknown to me. It turned out, to my surprise, that the British films of the silent era (particularly the middle period) were few in number and are regarded as, at best, second-rate films. I'd never thought about why I'd never seen that many British silents. It turns out there just aren't that many and few were deemed worth preserving. It is only in the later silent era that the industry began to take off--though its output never came close to rivaling the French or Germans until after sound came into vogue.
This episode had more interviews and archival footage of the then elderly film makers looking back at their work--and so this episode had a nice look and feel to it. Sure, it had the Kenneth Branagh narration and the film clips--but it improved with many early film actors and directors giving their insights. Well worth seeing and interesting--and you understand where the phrase "opportunity lost" came from in the title.
This episode had more interviews and archival footage of the then elderly film makers looking back at their work--and so this episode had a nice look and feel to it. Sure, it had the Kenneth Branagh narration and the film clips--but it improved with many early film actors and directors giving their insights. Well worth seeing and interesting--and you understand where the phrase "opportunity lost" came from in the title.