Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros. (1991) (TV)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Robert Guenette

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

The History of the Warner Bros. Studio

Plot:

This documentary takes an indepth look at the history of Warner Brothers studios, from it's beginning to the present day...

Plot Keywords:

Film Industry | Compilation | Hollywood | Warner Bros. | Company History

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Himself (archive footage)
Marlon Brando	...	Himself (archive footage)
James Cagney	...	Himself (archive footage)
Chevy Chase	...	Himself (Host / Narrator)
Bette Davis	...	Herself (archive footage)
Clint Eastwood	...	Himself (Host / Narrator)
Clark Gable	...	Himself in screen test (archive footage)
Goldie Hawn	...	Herself (Host / Narrator)
Audrey Hepburn	...	Herself (archive footage)
Ruby Keeler	...	Herself (archive footage)
George Lucas	...	Himself
Paul Newman	...	Himself (archive footage)
Robert Redford	...	Himself
Steven Spielberg	...	Himself
Barbra Streisand	...	Herself (Host / Narrator)
Lana Turner	...	Herself (archive footage)
Albert Warner	...	Himself (co-founder of Warner Bros.) (archive footage)
Harry M. Warner	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jack L. Warner	...	Himself (archive footage)
Sam Warner	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Wayne	...	Himself (archive footage)
Orson Welles	...	Himself (archive footage)
Natalie Wood	...	Herself (archive footage)
Richard D. Zanuck	...	Himself

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Robert Guenette Productions

Movie Connections:

Features Purple Rain (1984)

Soundtrack:

I Only Have Eyes for You

where is Steven Spielberg?

I don't know whether the version of this documentary I saw was edited, but Spielberg is listed as one of the presenters but does not appear. Not that I mind, but I am curious.

Written and directed by Robert Guenette, the treatment and footage of mostly actors who appeared in Warner Bros movies is light without being frustrating, and has some rarities. Barbra Streisand, Goldie Hawn, and Chevy Chase pop in to relieve Clint Eastwood of narrator duties, Streisand's appearance an even more painful reminder of her far too few movie acting roles in recent years.

Here we see snippets from some of the multiple films of John Barrymore, Ruby Keeler, Edward G Robinson, Paul Muni, James Cagney (he has an odd montage of moments where he slaps men and women), Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, Bugs Bunny, Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Doris Day, Jack Nicholson, and Eastwood. Directors also covered include Busby Berkeley - who "blew away the proscenium", Michael Curtiz, and Stanley Kubrick.

The rarities include the footage of Barrymore, screen tests of Lana Turner and Orson Welles (no surprise he wasn't picked up), a scene from Errol Flynn's Too Much Too Soon, Marlon Brando's test where he is soft-voiced, and Paul Newman's with James Dean for East of Eden (where Dean tells Newman to kiss him). Guenette shows Night Nurse with Clark Gable as an example like Turner and Welles of people Warners let get away, with Gable as unsuitable for Warners as Cagney, Robinson and Bogart and even Davis are for MGM. Ruby Keeler is revealed to be a rather awful musical talent, and de Havilland slightly more tolerable playing opposite Flynn.

Of course, the title comes from Casablanca.