The War, the West, and the Wilderness by Kevin Brownlow

Abstract

334 Western American Literature The War, the West, and the Wilderness. By Kevin Brownlow. (New York Alfred A. Knopf, 1979. 608 pages, $27.50.) Kevin Brownlow’s The War, the West and the Wilderness is as sprawl­ ing, vital, and exciting as the title suggests. Like The Parade’s Gone By, Brownlow’s first book, this volume embodies his fascination with the silent film; here he concentrates on the adventurous men and women who took their cameras out of the studio and into the wild places of the world between 1912 and 1932. Whether making fiction or non-fiction films, these hardy pioneers documented a reality on celluloid which is now gone. They were there, on the spot, cameras at the ready, when the last frontiers disappeared. As Brownlow’s text reveals, the filmmakers themselves lived the frontier life, experiencing the hardship and pain of archaic transportation, spartan accom­ modations, and miserable food in order to take moving and still pictures of World War I, the last of the outlaw West, and various expeditions to Africa, the Far East, and the North and South poles. Brownlow structures the book around the experiences of these film­ makers. His forte is the personal interview. He has had the uncanny knack of finding people still alive who were part of the silent film period, whose minds are still sharp, their memories lucid. He supports these verbatim histories with exhaustive research in both visual and print archives. Many photographs have not been published previously. Many are snapshots taken by the filmmakers while on location, showing the places and the people “off screen.” Brownlow has also included frame enlargements from films, publicity stills, and photos from other archives to profusely illustrate the lucid prose of the text. Because the scope of the book is encyclopedic, Brownlow has difficulty connecting the three major sections (and even parts of sections). He tries unsuccessfully to tie them together by arguing that Teddy Roosevelt’s image as a Rough Rider, Explorer, and Conservationist somehow influenced the whole period, encouraging not only the exploration themselves, but also the filmic record of these expeditions. Brownlow draws particular attention to T. R.’s personal connection with several film projects, including pro-war propaganda made prior to America’s entry into the Great War. If the book does not make a coherent whole, however, it is still valuable for its parts. Loaded with valuable information about politics, culture, art, and the economics of the time period, it has incredible details about specific films, specific filmmakers, and specific subjects caught by the roving camera­ men. Readers of Western American literature will particularly enjoy the anecdotes concerning “Big Bill” Tilgham, Buffalo Bill, and Pancho Villa and their relationship to the cinema both as makers and real life figures preserved in other people’s movies. The sections on World War I and the explorers of the early part of the 19th century are equally fascinating. Though The War, the West, and the Wilderness is difficult to read straight through, each page uncovers details and facts that will please, Reviews 335 surprise, and charm the casual reader; for the specialist in American Studies, Western Americana, or Cinema Studies, the book is indispensable. THOMAS SOBCHACK, University of Utah Virginia Sorensen. By L. L. Lee and Sylvia B. Lee. (Boise: Western Writers Series No. 31, 1978. 50 pages, $2.00.) Alfred Henry Lewis. By Abe C. Ravitz. (Boise: Western Writers Series No. 32, 1978. 46 pages, $2.00.) Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa). By Marion W. Copeland. (Boise: Western Writers Series No. 33, 1978. 43 pages, $2.00.) Ruth Suckow. By Abigail Ann Hamblen. (Boise: Western Writers Series No. 34, 1978. 48 pages, $2.00.) Don Berry. By Glen A. Love. (Boise: Western Writers Series No. 35, 1978. 46 pages, $2.00.) In spite of the considerable amount of praise and welcome afforded it by most writers and scholars of Western American literature, Boise State’s Western Writers Series has met with some questioning criticism recently (most notably from certain Northern neighbors). Are the names included in the Series worth the 50 or so pages of attention? Or, is the format too confining, mechanical, and repetitious? Is enough explicity known...