The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story

LIONEL BARRYMORE introduces a one hour segment of uninspired film clips from mostly sub-par movies that MGM was getting ready to release in 1951, when the studio was facing declining box-office receipts because of competition from television.

The films are shown in a bunch of uninspired clips that only indicate some of them should have been shelved. The B&W films come first, followed by the Technicolor features.

There's barely a jewel in MGM's crown--since none of the upcoming projects with the exception of one or two are anything to write home about. None of this looks good for Dore Schary, taking over after Louis B. Mayer stepped down. Films like GO FOR BROKE, IT'S A BIG COUNTRY, THE PAINTED HILLS (a Lassie story that didn't even get a film review from The N.Y. Times) and MR. IMPERIUM (Ezio Pinza and Lana Turner) and other even lesser products give no indication of quality films that have endured the test of time.

Might as well skip this puffed up commercial since it's tiresome and completely lacking in imagination and quality.

Hour-long promotional film with Lionel Barrymore introducing MGM head Dore Schary, who hawks the upcoming releases from MGM for the year 1951. We get clips from Show Boat, The Red Badge of Courage, Quo Vadis, Night Into Morning, Father's Little Dividend, It's a Big Country, An American in Paris, and many others. The framing sequences with Barrymore and Schare are in beautiful Technicolor. The film clips are in both color and black & white. It's a mildly interesting little curiosity but there's not much here that will appeal to anyone who isn't a die-hard fan of classic Hollywood. I found it watchable enough because I was bored but it's not something I would go out of my way to see again.

Lionel Barrymore starts the ball rolling by talking about earlier movies from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer extolling past and future productions; then he hands matters over to studio head Dore Schary. He shows clips of movies in production.

I'm sure other studios among the majors produced this long-length movies touting their upcoming slate of movies. Thanks, however, to Turner Classic Movies, we get a chance to look at Metro's examples of long-form trailers. In large, they were advertising not just MGM's movies, but the Loew's Theater chain that was part of the same corporate structure. The Supreme Court might have issued its decision forcing the companies to split up in 1948, but apparently they hadn't gotten around to doing it in 1951.

Lionel Barrymore introduces the segment about 1951 MGM films, which VP of production Dary Schory elaborates on.

First, trailers for the B/W films are shown: Go For Broke! - Asian Americans at war with Japan with Van Johnson

Inside Straight - Period piece about gamblers with Mercedes Mccambridge and David Brian and Arlene Dahl

People In Love - story about sudden loss -Ray Milland ad Nancy Davis.

Father's Little Dividend - Sequel to Father of the Bride with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor.

Red Badge of Courage - Civil War story with Audie Murphy.

Four Guys Named Mike - Barry Sullivan, Van Johnson, Howard Keel, Jane Wyman in a romantic comedy

It's a Big Country - self-described propaganda with a big cast

Teresa - story of a war bride in Italy brought to the US by her soldier husband who is a moral coward

The Magnificent Yankee - Biopic of Oliver Wendell Holmes with Louis Calhern

Calling Bulldog Drummond - Walter Pidgeon in title role.

Soldiers Three - Kipling story - Walter Pidgeon and Stewart Granger

Color films: Showboat - Musical with Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson

Across the Wide Missouri - Western epic with Clark Gable

Mr. Imperium - Musical romance with Lana Turner

The Painted Hills - A lesser Lassie tale that is not set in Scotland

Rich Young and Pretty -, Musical with Vic Damone and Jane Powell

Excuse My Dust - Comedy with Red Skelton

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman - adventure with Ava Gardner and James Mason

The Great Caruso - Musical biopic with Mario Lanza

Vengeance Valley - Western with Burt Lancaster and Joanna Dru

An American in Paris - Musical with Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron

King's Solomon's Mines - African adventure with Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr

Royal Wedding - Musical about the Wedding of the Queen of England several years late - Fred Astaire and Jane Powell

Schary then makes special mention of "Quo Vadis" which is about Nero starring Robert Wagner and Deborah Kerr.

So B/W films are largely MGM's message pictures, which was Dory Schary's specialty. The color films are usually epics, musicals, and adventures. I named the stars you are likely to know. Quite a few I didn't mention were featured in a couple of MGM films, but their careers never went anywhere. This is probably worthwhile for the film historian.

No, this is not "The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story" promised by the title. It's a series of film trailers and promotional clips heralding the studio's "Films of the Future" (with an acknowledged exception). Collectively, these films are nowhere near as good as those in "Some of the Best", the previous 25-year collection of clips, which is recalled in an introduction by Lionel Barrymore. But, there are a few fine films represented here. They should have switched the titles of this one and "Some of the Best". Mr. Barrymore reads his opening lines with enthusiasm; he is a link to MGM's glory days, and inadvertently suggests the end of an era.

Barrymore turns the narration over to new studio suit Dore Schary, who supplanted the larger-than-life Louis B. Mayer.

Mr. Schary divides the clips into black-and-white, then Technicolor. We begin with some humor and action with Van Johnson in "Go for Broke". Next up is a period drama called "Inside Straight" with Arlene Dahl's bosom prominently displayed. Those two cover sex and violence well. Jane Powell and Vic Damone sing sweetly together. The preview for "People in Love" with Ray Milland and Nancy Davis is one that works (it made me want to see the unfamiliar movie). Ava Gardner looks beautiful as "Pandora". Lastly, "Quo Vadis" with Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr is promoted as the biggest thing since "Gone with the Wind".

**** The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story (3/12/51) Herman Hoffman : Dore Schary, Lionel Barrymore