A bemused & rather pixilated Robert Benchley offers up a screen valentine to DAVID O. SELZNICK: YOUR NEW PRODUCER, showing highlights from Selznick's years at Paramount, RKO & MGM.
This enjoyable little short is actually a bit of interesting film history. Up until this point, movie producers were rather an anonymous lot, generally not receiving screen credit or much recognition for their contributions. (Irving Thalberg, for instance, authentic genius & producing guru as No. 2 at MGM, did not receive screen credit until after his death.) But Selznick was leaving MGM and becoming a very big Hollywood player on his own terms, with his private production company. Hence this little tribute. The recognition would not be misplaced - Selznick's company would eventually become powerful enough to pick the biggest apple on the tree - GONE WITH THE WIND.
Benchley's dry wit is most amusing as he cuts the absent Selznick down a peg or two. While he mentions that Selznick was raised in the business - his father was a noted silent film director - he neglects to add that Selznick's marrying Louis B. Mayer's daughter didn't hurt his prospects any, either.
Excerpts are shown from the following films: Forgotten Faces (1928), The Four Feathers (1929), Sarah and Son (1930), Street of Chance (1930), The Lost Squadron (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Bird of Paradise (1932), The Animal Kingdom (1932), Symphony of Six Million (1932), What Price Hollywood? (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Little Women (1933), Dancing Lady (1933), King Kong (1933), Topaze (1933), Manhattan Melodrama (1934), Viva Villa! (1934), Anna Karenina (1935), David Copperfield (1935), A Tale of Two Cities, (1935).
This enjoyable little short is actually a bit of interesting film history. Up until this point, movie producers were rather an anonymous lot, generally not receiving screen credit or much recognition for their contributions. (Irving Thalberg, for instance, authentic genius & producing guru as No. 2 at MGM, did not receive screen credit until after his death.) But Selznick was leaving MGM and becoming a very big Hollywood player on his own terms, with his private production company. Hence this little tribute. The recognition would not be misplaced - Selznick's company would eventually become powerful enough to pick the biggest apple on the tree - GONE WITH THE WIND.
Benchley's dry wit is most amusing as he cuts the absent Selznick down a peg or two. While he mentions that Selznick was raised in the business - his father was a noted silent film director - he neglects to add that Selznick's marrying Louis B. Mayer's daughter didn't hurt his prospects any, either.
Excerpts are shown from the following films: Forgotten Faces (1928), The Four Feathers (1929), Sarah and Son (1930), Street of Chance (1930), The Lost Squadron (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Bird of Paradise (1932), The Animal Kingdom (1932), Symphony of Six Million (1932), What Price Hollywood? (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Little Women (1933), Dancing Lady (1933), King Kong (1933), Topaze (1933), Manhattan Melodrama (1934), Viva Villa! (1934), Anna Karenina (1935), David Copperfield (1935), A Tale of Two Cities, (1935).