Moguls & Movie Stars

The first episode, "Peepshow Pioneers" (1888-1907), examines the early careers of the Warner brothers, Mayer, Carl Laemmle of Universal and William Fox of Fox. It also covers the invention of Thomas Edison's motion picture camera, penny arcades and the triumph of Edwin S. Porter's landmark "The Great Train Robbery."

California was quickly recognized as the ideal setting for the American film industry, with its relative freedom from patent problems, constant sunshine and varied geography. As early as 1909, movie makers were hard at work in Hollywood, including William Selig, who had founded one of the country's first movie studios in Chicago. In California, he would develop such performing talent as Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Tom Mix. In 1913 Jesse Lasky, Samuel Goldwyn and Cecil B. DeMille formed a filmmaking company and established themselves among the first generation of Hollywood moguls, producing one of the first feature-length films in the U.S., The Squaw Man (1914). Mack Sennett had his Keystone Kops careening all over the cityscape of Los Angeles and discovered one of the cinema world's towering talents, Charlie Chaplin, who become the best-loved clown of the American silent screen.

Looks in on the years between 1920 and 1928. In this time it's said that this was Hollywood most creative period and we had a wide range of stars from comedians like Keaton and Chaplin to more horrific acts like Lon Chaney. Also on hand were the more sexual stars like Rudolph Valentino and of course Claire Bow who would make a splash do to that certain "It" she had. Along the way Hollywood must form to some new rules as the publicity of the Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle trial had put a black cloud over them. If you've seen the previous two entries in the series then you're going to know going in that this isn't the most complete look at Hollywood or the most detailed history lesson. Yes, it's hard to believe that you'd try to cram such an important decade into just 55-minutes and in the end we're left with an entertaining entry but you can't help but be amazed at some of the legendary films that don't even get mentioned here. Many people have said it but it seems MOGULS & MOVIES: A HISTORY OF Hollywood appears to be aimed at those unfamiliar with the history of cinema. This entry points the finger at many legends but it really doesn't give too much detail. The sequence on Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd runs just a few minutes and everyone knows that's simply not enough time. Greta Garbo and her legend is discussed and we even get to hear about her "lost months" where she was out of the public eye and MGM made sure no one knew why.

Hollywood suffers the same problems as the previous films but this is probably the best of the bunch so far. In the film we kick off with THE JAZZ SINGER pretty much killing silent movies and their stars and then we look at a few big folks who didn't make it in the sound era including Clara Bow who would be forced out of movies at the age of 28. We then see how many major players would push for sound only to die before their dreams came to be but we also see Hollywood's new line of stars including Cagney, Robinson, Hepburn and of course Mae West who proved that sex could still sell. The documentary comes to an end just as GONE WITH THE WIND was breaking records and Hitler's impact was about to be felt. Once again, if you've got the smallest knowledge of Hollywood then it's doubtful this thing is going to teach you anything you didn't already know but this episode also benefits from better story telling. I'm really not sure what it was but the history is told a lot better here and one reason might be because the documentary centers more on the stars and the power that they held. Previous entries were quite uneven because of the story jumping back and forth from the stars to the moguls but it's quite clear here that the stars were winning the battles. With that said, there are still countless major names that don't get even a brief mention and you might also scratch your head as to why D.W. Griffith wasn't mentioned when there was talk about the big guys no longer in the game.

This episode covers the 1940s - from 1941 to 1950 but the story jumps around. Every time you think it's going in chronological order, it goes back to 1940 or 41, so it's not too cohesive. Still, you get a big picture of the ups-and-downs of movie moguls and you get some nice tributes to the biggest actors and directors of the decade. In order of the show, some of things we see and hear about, include: The Grapes Of Wrath, Darryl Zanuck, Orson Welles and his famous film 'Citizen Kane" and the battles over it with William Randolph Hearst; Charlie Chaplin's film ("The Great Dictator," which was the first to portray Hitler in a bad light; "Casablanca," and then some World War II movies and the efforts of celebrities to help out. Also, we see and learn a few things about Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Louis B. Mayer, Cary Grant, Preston Sturges, Samuel Goldwyn and "The Best Years Of Our Lives," Humphrey Bogart, film noir, Joan Crawford, Lew Wasserman, "activists," unions, racketeers and then the teaser at the end about "anti-trusts." All-in-all another decent episode in the series, but nothing earth-shaking or super interesting except maybe about Grant's identity problem.

After Congress said that the studios couldn't own their own theaters, the moguls ran into more trouble when TV came into play. For many there wasn't a need to go out to the movies when you could stay home and watch this box for free so the studios had to come up with something to get these folks back. The plan was to make movies in widescreen, in color and even a few in 3D. As the 1950s wore on a new crowd were watching movies and that was teens who idolized the likes of James Dean and Marlon Brando. As the decade wore on many of the moguls who started these major studios were dying and a new generation was about to be born. After a slow start to the series things have finally picked up over the last two episodes and continued with this one. Once again we're treated to some nice footage from back in the day as we get to look at some theaters back then and the adjustments that had to be made for widescreen movies to be shown. We get a good idea of what type of numbers TV took away from the movies before the studios realized they could use this new enemy as a way to promote their own films. Roger Corman, Leonard Maltin, Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. and Robert Osborne are just a few of the people interviewed here.

How one views this episode probably depends upon how one views the 1960s. If you think the decade was bad news, you won't like the glorifying of liberal thought and films and if you thought the '60s were very cool, you'll love this segment. One emphasis was just the fact that days of moguls were completely done now, Hollywood films being produced by either mega-corporations or by independent filmmakers. They also took a hard look at European films ("New Wave," etc.), played more to the young audiences that were now attending (a majority being 24 years old and younger), watched the rise of power of the film critic....and a lot more. All of these seven episodes were packed with topics and information. Among the films highlighted were Cleopatra, Dr. Strangelove, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolfe, Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduation, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, The Green Berets, Night Of The Living Dead and Easy Rider. All in all, another interesting segment topped by a touching tribute to those old moguls who built Hollywood and the movies to the lofty cultural status and profitable business enterprise (usually) that it became.