The Parade's Gone By. Brownlow, Kevin

(price-clipped) [a nice clean book with a good solid binding (no small matter in a book of this heft); the jacket is mildly surface- and edge-worn, with a slight fading to the spine, but much nicer than often seen on this book (see Notes)]. (B&W photographs) An essential work of film history (listed in "100 Books on Hollywood & the Movies"), a book that awakened a generation to the glories of the silent cinema, at a time when many of its most important pioneers were still around to share their memories with the author, and then to receive some of the accolades that followed in the wake of the subsequent revival of interest in silent films. Individual chapters are devoted to D.W. Griffith, Allan Dwan, Henry King, Mary Pickford, Clarence Brown, Edward Sloman, William Wellman, Cecil B. DeMille, Josef von Sternberg, Gloria Swanson, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Abel Gance, and others; the book also examines numerous " arts and sciences" of the movies (editing, titling, stunt work, music, cinematography, etc.). "A vivid, nostalgic, immediate portrait of an art in the making," says the jacket blurb -- truer words were never written. I daresay that younger folks, even today, are still having a fascination with silent movies awakened in them by this book -- but, alas, without the added thrill we had, in the late 1960s, from the knowledge that most of the book's interviewees were still walking among us. (Note with regard to the dust jacket: the primary reason it's survived in such nice condition is that a previous owner had secured it to the book's covers with a small strip of clear tape at each end of both flaps -- not the sort of thing one usually likes to encounter, but in this case it prevented the jacket from curling at the edges (which it was wont to do on this book) and therefore inviting additional damage. The only real issue with the jacket is that it was originally applied to the book somewhat off-centered, and to re-center it would involve the introduction of new creases, so I've left it as-is. All tape, by the way, has been removed from both book and jacket, leaving barely a trace.) ****NOTE that additional postage charges will be assessed for international shipping of this heavy book; if this concerns you, please contact us for a shipping quote before placing your order. As always at ReadInk, domestic Media Mail shipping is free.****