The Clarence Brown Film Festival in Knoxville

The Siren will be in Tennessee to celebrate the life and work of one of MGM's most valued directors.

This week, starting Wednesday, the Siren will be in Knoxville, Tennessee, for The Clarence Brown Film Festival, organized by the Knox County Public Library. The festival celebrates prolific director Clarence Brown, who spent some formative years in Tennessee. His career spanned the silent era into the 1950s and included some of the classic era’s best-loved films. Lexie Little at The University of Tennessee’s Torchbearer Magazine wrote an excellent overview of his life and career in 2019. 

On Aug. 17, the Siren will be giving the “Lunch and Learn” presentation on Classic and Pre-Code Hollywood, from 12 pm to 1 pm at the East Tennessee History Center. The next day, Aug. 18, in the same venue and at the same time, the Siren will also have the honor of participating in a panel discussion of Clarence Brown’s films with Gwenda Y. Young, author of the definitive biography Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master (2018). 

The complete schedule for the festival is here. The Knox County Public Library has been working its collective tail off to make this a great program worthy of Clarence Brown and his Knoxville roots, and the Siren certainly hopes that anyone in hailing distance will make some (or all!) of these events. 

The festival includes free screenings of seven of Brown’s best films. Check this schedule link for time and place. The Siren has made you a list of the films, together with links to writing on them (including, in one case, her own essay). 

Aug. 17:

Smouldering Fires, a 1925 silent starring Pauline Frederick that is said to be quite wonderful. Here is the mighty Kevin Brownlow’s essay on it for last year’s San Francisco Silent Film Festival. 

Aug. 18:

An outdoor screening of 1944’s National Velvet, which you surely know is wonderful. Gwenda Y. Young wrote a guest post at Classic Film Hub about this eternal classic.

Aug. 19:

The Yearling, with a Q&A with its star Claude Jarman afterward. At Trailers From Hell, Charlie Largent writes, “Though the sets for The Yearling were artificial, Clarence Brown himself was the real thing—he possessed one of the most transparent styles of all the great directors.”

Anna Karenina (1935) saw Brown directing Greta Garbo to one of her greatest performances. The pioneering British critic C.A. Lejeune praised the film and particularly its star when it was released in 1935.

A 35mm restoration of 1924’s The Signal Tower that was previously screened only at MoMA and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival; Brownlow also wrote about this one in 2019.

Aug. 20:

Intruder in the Dust, quite possibly Brown’s greatest film. The Siren herself wrote about it for the Library of America’s website. 

The Eagle (1925), with Rudolph Valentino as well as with Vilma Banky, who is a recurring reference in Missing Reels. Review of a recent Blu-ray here at Film International.

So there, never let it be said the Siren only posts about film events in her own New York/Brooklyn orbit. If you see her there, please come up, shake hands and introduce yourself. Until then!