Available together here for what is very likely the first time (and with an additional DVD, ‘Surfin’ Shorts’), The Bruce Brown Golden Years Of Surf Collection 1958-1963 represents a kind of American folk art of cinema (subtype: sports; sub-category: surfing).

Though not as highly polished as ‘The Endless Summer,’ these films, which in many ways resemble other amateur narrated travelogues of the 1950s, spring fully to life for six reasons: Brown’s eye and ear, on both water and land, for what is colorful, exciting, and dynamic; his warm sense of humor; his subtle but highly developed sense of the romantic; his judicious editing style; the cast of surfers presented, which includes legends Phil Edwards, Jose Angel, Joey Cabell, and Kimo Hollinger in addition to what appear to be Brown’s own special cadre of adventurer friends (Del Cannon, Kemp Aaberg, Mike Diffenderfer, Robert August, Freddy Pfhaler, and Henry Ford, among others), and the outstanding original musical scores, two of which are provided by jazz master Bud Shank.

When the viewer’s eye is not on the surfing at Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Makaha, Waimea Bay, Ala Moana, and Velzyland in Hawaii, or at Malibu, Rincon, or Trestles in California, it is very likely to be on the late Del Cannon, whose presence subtly dominates these films in a fashion almost equal to Brown’s.

Hilariously but accurately called ‘the Laurence Olivier of the Surf Film’ by Brown’s filmmaking son, Dana, the straight-faced Cannon seems willing to commit himself to any staged comic vignette, from toe-wrestling with his cronies on the North Shore during a period of flat surf, driving an ancient car down the steepest road in Oahu without brakes, or attempting to mix and press a new board after breaking into a friend’s surf shop. Fleeing in error and terror with two enormous polyurethane feet formed around his own when the shop owner pulls up outside, Cannon plunges into the harbor in the best silent film comedy tradition.

It may be that Cannon’s repeated willingness to participate in these comic vignettes drew both envy and derision from other surfers as well as the growing surfing establishment. Though the tall, handsome, and wide-shouldered Cannon was one of the five surfers who joined Greg Noll in successfully surfing Waimea Bay for the first time in November of 1957, and was, according to Brown, the first surfer to ever surf Japan, Cannon has largely been relegated to a small footnote in the annals of the sport’s history. This is a small tragedy that the release of The Bruce Brown Golden Years Of Surf Collection 1958-1963 goes a long way towards remedying.

In addition to beautiful and often innovative photography, other highlights include Phil Edwards historically surfing Pipeline for the first time in an era when the break was both unnamed and thought unridable; Del Cannon and Kemp Aaberg surfing Sunset Beach; 12-year old Peter Johnson successfully tackling Waimea Bay; Del Cannon and Peter Johnson introducing surfing to the people of Japan by example; and exploratory group trips to Australia, Mexico, and Florida.

These ‘early’ Brown films, which are as inspiring and beautiful as ‘The Endless Summer’ in every way, capture a bygone era and lifestyle in a subtly romantic, highly evocative manner. Both visually and thematically, the films’ ‘amateurish,’ unprofessional qualities, which make them akin to folk art, underscore Brown’s vision, and perfectly capture the relatively open, casual, modest, and freedom-loving spirit of the time for the surfers who were blessed enough to follow their hearts and minds in a conventional era.

Superb and highly rewarding.
Rating: 5 / 5

Rating: 5 / 5