Hollywood: In the Beginning (1980)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Second entry in the documentary series shows us the beginning of the home of movies, which was actually Fort Lee, NJ and not Hollywood. We see the eventually trip West as directors, such as D.W. Griffith, started going to California so that they could use the many visuals styles that it offered. We see early shots of Hollywood streets in Griffith's FAITHFUL before hearing about the first feature, Cecil B. DeMille's THE SQUAW MAN. From here we learn about some of the more ambitious projects like INTOLERANCE, JOAN THE WOMAN, ROBIN HOOD and THE THIEF OF BAGDAD. That there leads to the first super-team of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Once again we're treated to some wonderful film clips but the real key to watching to this are for the wonderful interviews. In this episode we hear from Allan Dwan, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Byron Haskin, Henry King and Colleen Moore among many others. Fans of silent cinema are really going to eat this thing up thanks in large part to the terrific interviews that really give you a clear understanding and look of what it must have been like making movies back in the day. The stories are all full of life and you can't help but feel that these folks are so happy to be telling these stories as I'm sure there were decades where people didn't bothered to ask for these stories. This episode really does a good job at showing how quickly Hollywood came to be one of the largest businesses in the world and how things were changing daily. Sometimes these changes were for the better but sometimes for the worst. Just listen to Gish talking about having to film outside with nothing to block the wind.
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Second entry in the documentary series shows us the beginning of the home of movies, which was actually Fort Lee, NJ and not Hollywood. We see the eventually trip West as directors, such as D.W. Griffith, started going to California so that they could use the many visuals styles that it offered. We see early shots of Hollywood streets in Griffith's FAITHFUL before hearing about the first feature, Cecil B. DeMille's THE SQUAW MAN. From here we learn about some of the more ambitious projects like INTOLERANCE, JOAN THE WOMAN, ROBIN HOOD and THE THIEF OF BAGDAD. That there leads to the first super-team of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Once again we're treated to some wonderful film clips but the real key to watching to this are for the wonderful interviews. In this episode we hear from Allan Dwan, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Byron Haskin, Henry King and Colleen Moore among many others. Fans of silent cinema are really going to eat this thing up thanks in large part to the terrific interviews that really give you a clear understanding and look of what it must have been like making movies back in the day. The stories are all full of life and you can't help but feel that these folks are so happy to be telling these stories as I'm sure there were decades where people didn't bothered to ask for these stories. This episode really does a good job at showing how quickly Hollywood came to be one of the largest businesses in the world and how things were changing daily. Sometimes these changes were for the better but sometimes for the worst. Just listen to Gish talking about having to film outside with nothing to block the wind.