Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story (2002)

This documentary on the history of short subjects was first shown on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) cable network. It surveys the genre from the beginning of the movies in the 1890's, when... See full summary »

Director:

John Griffin

Writers:

Leonard Maltin, Leonard Maltin (book),

Stars:

Chevy Chase, Kenneth Anger, Richard L. Bare

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Chevy Chase	...	Narrator (voice)

Storyline

This documentary on the history of short subjects was first shown on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) cable network. It surveys the genre from the beginning of the movies in the 1890's, when all movies were shorts, through the 1950's, when short subjects virtually disappeared from theaters. Several series of shorts are highlighted, including the The Three Stooges, Joe McDoakes, Robert Benchley, the Pete Smith Specialties, John Nesbitt's Passing Parade, and the Dogville comedies. Animated short films are given short shrift.

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Plot Keywords:

narration | film history | filmmaking | based on book

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 2002 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Peter Jones Productions, Turner Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Color:

Black and White Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included as a bonus feature in Warner Home Video's 2006 2-disc DVD release "TCM Archives - Laurel and Hardy Collection".

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Connections

Features A Muddy Romance (1913)

User Reviews

Entertaining

Fun documentary on short subjects--they used to play before movies in theatres. They explain how it started and show Hal Roach as the first man who started comedy shorts with the Our Gang (later Little Rascels) and Laurel and Hardy and such. We see early vitophone shorts; vaudeville and novelty acts; 3D shorts (as early as the 1940s!); the Three Stooges; famous actors and directors who started in shorts; travelogues; serials and cartoons. It seems television killed them in the 1950s. The film primarily focuses on the MGM short studio (no surprise--TCM co produced this and they own the library of all MGM movies). There's some incredible stuff here but it's too short (no pun intended). They also just focus on MGM and almost entirely ignore the other studios. Still, within its limits, this is fun and entertaining. I give it an 8.