Patrick Stewart's irritating introduction aside, this lengthy multi-parter traces the history of MGM from their earliest silents (He Who Gets Slapped, The Student Prince of Heidelberg, Ben-Hur, The Big Parade), through the golden era (Gable, Harlow, Hepburn and Tracy, Astaire and Kelly, Garland, Garson, etc etc), to the fifties television boom and MGM's attempts to adapt, and on to the demise of the studio as a production force in the 1970s and growth as a hotel chain.
The clips are numerous, and of the highest class, although some of the silents look slightly speeded up (my copy of The Big Parade doesn't move as quick as that!) - they are well-chosen, and representative of each era. Better still are the interviewees, Helen Hayes and Maureen O'Sullivan remember Irving Thalberg, Margaret Booth talks of her experience of editing movies from the early days onwards, Van Johnson remembers war film experiences, Mickey Rooney remembers Judy Garland, Luise Rainer and June Allyson recall Louis B Mayer, Freddie Bartholomew and Jackie Cooper talk of being child stars, and on and on.
This series is a treasure and if it doesn't make you want to explore 'the oldies', I don't know what will. Brilliant.
The clips are numerous, and of the highest class, although some of the silents look slightly speeded up (my copy of The Big Parade doesn't move as quick as that!) - they are well-chosen, and representative of each era. Better still are the interviewees, Helen Hayes and Maureen O'Sullivan remember Irving Thalberg, Margaret Booth talks of her experience of editing movies from the early days onwards, Van Johnson remembers war film experiences, Mickey Rooney remembers Judy Garland, Luise Rainer and June Allyson recall Louis B Mayer, Freddie Bartholomew and Jackie Cooper talk of being child stars, and on and on.
This series is a treasure and if it doesn't make you want to explore 'the oldies', I don't know what will. Brilliant.