Herbert Brenon

An American Cinema Odyssey

Herbert Brenon, was one of the most influential film directors and producers, in the history of the American cinema. He had an output of over a hundred films and worked for most of the major studios. He was a unique film visionary, constantly experimenting, using his intelligence to push America to new heights of ambitious achievement in the world of motion pictures. At Universal, Fox, Paramount, United Artists, MGM and RKO, he created evocative worlds. In the fields of fantasy and action adventure he made movies which became the prototype of their respective genres. Brenon directed Clara Bow, Loretta Young, Dolores Del Rio, and even the famous stage actresses, Alla Nazimova and Dame Ellen Terry. For the first time, the story of how Herbert Brenon came to be so dominant in the heyday of the cinema, and the background to the filming of the Brenon silent classics, The Spanish Dancer, Peter Pan, Beau Geste and The Great Gatsby, are told for readers to enjoy.

Ian Graham brings Herbert Brenon to life, from his birth in Dublin, into a family whose friends included Parnell and Oscar Wilde, to his education in Britain, and his dazzling career in the early days of the American movie business. The most globetrotting of the early film pioneers, the book details Brenon’s incredible film adventures in England, France and Germany, before the first world war, and his experiences making fantasy films in Bermuda and Jamaica, with the Australian swimmer, Annette Kellerman. Brenon’s adventures in Italy during the 1920s, are also included in the story. His championing of the feature film as the preferred format for motion pictures, and his promotion of the concept of film education in the 1920s, in the United States are also examined.

[ Ian Graham is a writer and filmmaker and has lectured in Film Studies]