‘Cinema Europe’ a Rich Examination of Silent Work

Times film critic Kenneth Turan first wrote about the British documentary series “Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood� in 1995, and it was shown in the United States in 1996 on Turner Classic Movies, but the cable channel was not widely available in Southern California at the time. Now the series is being shown on KCET-TV Channel 28. Here are excerpts from Turan’s original commentary:

Given that it was produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, it is not a surprise that “Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood,� the pair’s new six-hour documentary series, ranks among the most significant and entertaining investigations of the film medium, a model of comprehensiveness, intelligence and wit. . . .

Not only will those interested in film feel compelled to tune in, everyone who watches, no matter how little or how much they know about the subject, will end up not wanting the hours to end.

Those familiar with the collaboration between Brownlow, the most respected name in silent film scholarship, and Gill know that this praise isn’t hyperbole. Their previous works on PBS, including “Unknown Chaplin,� “Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow,� “Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius� and “D.W. Griffith: Father of Film,� have won Emmys and Peabodys and left both audiences and critics thinking they’d never seen anything quite like it.

But difficult as those shows are to improve on, “Cinema Europe� takes what they’ve done a step further. In part this is because the world of European silent film is so unexpectedly rich--in its heyday well ahead of what was done in the United States--that watching these programs leaves a sense of awe and humility at the extent of what those now-forgotten filmmakers accomplished. . . .

For American audiences especially, who know little enough about their own silent heritage, let alone that of Europe, the series, with its clips from literally hundreds of films, will be an unexpected revelation, the equivalent of a comprehensive university film history course and several times more entrancing. You can feel the excitement those pioneering filmmakers felt at the artistic strides they were taking, and Brownlow and Gill’s delight at discovering it all over again is just as palpable.

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* The six episodes of “Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood� will be shown in two blocks, noon-3 p.m. Sunday and July 5, on KCET-TV Channel 28.

‘Trumpets’ Explores War’s Brutal Irony

“Peace,� Gen. George S. Patton once said, “is going to be hell on me.� But his perspective might have been a bit different had he served in the front line with the GIs who fought in World War II’s Battle of the Hurtgen Forest.

HBO’s “When Trumpets Fade� is a harrowing, stunningly realistic rendering of events that took place during the strategically meaningless three-month battle on the Belgian-German border in the winter of 1944-45, leaving more than 24,000 dead and wounded. The grime, the bloody, often seemingly random violence, the sense of imminent death, the persistent threats to individual morality and humanity are all present, constantly assailing the viewer with the reality that, Patton’s view to the contrary, it is the long-held description of war, not peace, as hell that is the more accurate definition.

“When Trumpets Fade,� directed by John Irvin (“Hamburger Hill� and “The Dogs of War�) from an original screenplay by W.W. Vought, enhances its effectiveness by focusing upon one small story in the midst of the battle’s surrounding, rampant chaos.

Pvt. David Manning (in a subtle, multileveled portrayal by Ron Eldard) has seen enough of the battle and the war to be physically and emotionally burned out. Carrying a mortally wounded companion on his back, he is forced to leave him behind when the soldier is in too much pain to continue. And when he struggles back to his command post he discovers that the rest of his platoon has been killed.

With bitter irony, Manning’s painfully gained experience earns him a field elevation to sergeant, and leadership of his own platoon. Desperate to get out of the war, he requests a Section Eight discharge for mental disturbance. Told that he’ll receive it if his men successfully destroy a German gun site, Manning is thrust back into the terrifying brutality of battle, once again forced to make an instantaneous, life-and-death decision that cuts to his moral core.

Once again, in the ironic absurdity of war, he receives a battlefield promotion. And so the story unfolds, with Manning leading a seemingly charmed life. But, like a character in a Greek tragedy, his fate constantly hangs in the balance. Surrounded by comrades whose life or death in the hell of Hurtgen Forest are determined by the sheer randomness of combat, he too eventually confronts his own mortality.

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* “When Trumpets Fade� airs tonight at 9 and Tuesday at 8 p.m. on HBO.