Behind the Mask of Innocence
Kevin BrownlowAlthough many early moviemakers ignored harsh realities, choosing to depict a society shielded by a "mask of innocence," others went behind that facade, fighting the ever-present censors & producing films that made even the most sheltered moviegoer aware of deep rents in the country's social fabric. Some films were exploitative, some serious, but together they add up to a revelation of the dark side of American life – a revelation startling to us today because it was later, in the era of the Hays Office, so thoroughly ignored, indeed denied, by Hollywood.
Broken Blossoms, The Crowd, Humoresque, Regeneration: these films that have survived & become classics are, in these pages, studied in their historical context. And although a tragic number of other films have vanished, nearly all are reclaimed from oblivion by Mr. Brownlow's brilliant feat of restoration & descriptive "reconstruction." Here, never again to be forgotten, are The Fall of the Romanoffs, The Racket, Those Who Dance, & dozens of others.
With this remarkable book, Kevin Brownlow completes the panoramic trilogy that began with The Parade's Gone By & continued with The War, the West, & the Wilderness.