Adventures with D.W. Griffith

by Karl Brown

Dust jacket "Karl Brown, who became a famous cameraman (The Covered Wagon) and film director (Stark Love, the lyrical silent film about North Carolina mountaineers), was in his youth an eyewitness to and participant in the most momentous occasions in the history of films - the production of D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. Having been employed as an assistant to the great cameraman, G. W. Bitzer, he was on the firing line of all the major Griffith films until Broken Blossoms. As the introduction says, 'His extraordinary story represents the most exciting, and the most perceptive, volume of reminiscence ever published on the cinema.' When he went to work in 1914, in the Griffith studio at the corner of Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards, Karl Brown was still a teenager, with a sharp and penetrating eye. Recently discovered in obscure retirement in Hollywood, he was persuaded by Kevin Brownlow to set down his story. His memory proved to be he has provided so much new and detailed information on this early period that the published sources have become outdated. Brownlow calls this narrative 'a dramatic, and often hilarious, story of a boy trying to cope with a complex technical process, and helping to make history....Everyone who loves films should be grateful that, when D. W. Griffith was working on his greatest pictures, Karl Brown was there - on our behalf.' Kevin Brownlow, film director and author of the widely praised film book, The Parade's Gone By, has edited the text and written the introduction. There is a generous selection of photographs, many of them provided by Karl Brown, as well as a few diagrams and maps he has drawn."

Genres: Biography, Media Tie In, Film, Nonfiction, History

251 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Kieran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at early Hollywood from somebody who was right there while it was still developing into what it is today. I don't believe all of his stories, but they make for a worthwhile read if the subject is to your liking.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely informative and interesting book about cameraman Karl Brown’s work with Griffith in California, about 1914-16. Brown was a very good writer, and it’s an essential book for research on Griffith or Bitzer.

[Tom Newth · Rating 4 out of 5]

utterly invaluable first-hand accounts, occasionally overly ironic or just a bit dull, but mostly thrilling.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very entertaining read, and from it I also learned where the word "influenza" comes from.