Hollywood

I heard of this documentary years ago and bought it on Laser Disc (that's right, Laser Disc, eat your hearts out!) in the 90's. This is THE BEST documentary on silent film I have every seen. 10 of 10!

If my house was on fire, and I only had time to grab one laser disc, this would be it. From the fantastic, sweet music of the opening titles to the end of part 13, this will HOLD your interest for 12 hours (each part is about 52 min. long). The 4 page essay by Kevin Brownlow with the laser disc set is fantastic.

Watching silent film on television at home is different than watching a sound film. With a sound film, you might glance at the newspaper, let the dog out, etc. and still use your ears to keep up with the story, but a silent film HOLDS you to the screen.

To quote the last lines of the Brownlow essay: "It is impossible to listen to these people without marvelling; they are so extraordinary in their old age... what must Hollywood have been like when they were all young? This series tries to find out."

I agree: WHERE IS THE DVD!!!!

Until I found this page, I had thought the very first episode was all there was--I watched very little television in 1980 and had never even heard of the series. I just checked this VHS out of the NYPL and watched it just now--but I will search out all the other episodes.

This one is the one I would want to make a few comments on. As a real aficionado of Los Angeles and its history--which is not entirely composed of its bond with Hollywood, but most aspects of it are somewhat suffused with it even now, even when Los Angeles has long had a reputation as a volatile place--there were things I saw and, perhaps even more, heard, that I had never seen and heard before; and I have done a LOT of research and made a lot of journeys to and within Hollywood and Los Angeles.

In this first hour of the series (I assume it must be, because it is called "In the Beginning") I was able to see the incredible photographs and footage of geographical Hollywood when it was still rural. I had seen only a few in a D.W. Griffith volume (which I recommend: It has excellent commentary by the great film historian Aileen Bowser), and one--a battle scene from 'Birth of a Nation' filmed right down in the Hollywood Flats--I xeroxed in 1998 and framed and placed it on my living room wall. These pictures of earliest Hollywood are breathtaking to me; they show the fragility of a bucolic and special land just before it is rendered unrecognizable--and there may never have been a more violently rapid transformation of an environment. Of course, there are houses from the silent era that can still be seen in the Hollywood Hills and in Beverly Hills (but Pickfair can't be; a few years after this production, Pia Zadora had it razed--an astonishing act, it would seem), but the photos from about 1903 till about 1920 are almost all of landscape that has disappeared: I was even vaguely surprised that when the transformation from 1903 to the present is dramatically shown, that the Hollywood Hills in the background still had their general shape--at least the far-off taller one did; I think one closer to the foreground had been leveled.

And, especially in Agnes de Mille's inspired description of the "virility" of the grass in Los Angeles at that time "that was so exciting," of the "lupine, marigolds, the poppies.." that were "just growing wild" and that "we just gathered by the armload.." this is just so moving. In fact, Miss de Mille's love for the place itself is perhaps the strongest of those who speak of their memories; she also describes wonderfully a moment when she and her mother were stuck at a location shooting and all the actors changed their clothes without a thought, her mother telling her not to look, but instead to "think of God." What a glorious lady she was, as was Lillian Gish, one of the greatest actresses of the period , primarily for her work in the great works of Griffith, and who also offers fine commentary here.

There is wonderful footage of 'Intolerance', of Douglas Fairbanks's sets for 'Robin Hood' and 'The Thief of Baghdad' (which ends with the remarkable words "Happiness Must Be Earned" streaked across the movie sky). There is a wonderful history of Pickfair and the fantastic reception given Fairbanks and Pickford in Europe and even in Moscow.

I can't wait to see the rest of this glory of a documentary, but this one alone captures the spirit of camaraderie and fun and experimentation that preceded many of the harsher elements we now associate with the business of Hollywood.

James Mason narrates and his voice is appreciated, as always.

Carl Davis, who has written so much glamour-sounding music for movies and TV, as for THE RAINBOW by Ken Russell, does the same for this superlative production, and the "Englishness" of the music is not at all obtrusive.

Indescribably essential. Kevin Brownlow, the late David Gill, and their superlative production and support staff at Thames Television created the absolute apotheosis of film documentary in this series. AND, to boot, they provided undoubtedly the greatest single service ever rendered to film history in seeking out these amazing pioneers and capturing their recollections and memories, shortly before they all passed forever from the scene. I have seen this innumerable times, yet I still fall back in awe at sequences such as director Allan Dwan describing his entry into the film industry in 1911, or cameraman Karl Brown speaking of the 1915 opening night of "Birth of a Nation". I also highly recommend Brownlow's predecessor book "The Parade's Gone By" (1969), and the companion book to the series "Hollywood, the Pioneers" (out of print). Also, the subsequent Brownlow documentaries on Chaplin, Keaton, Harold Lloyd, DW Griffith, and Lon Chaney are all of equal quality, and beautifully augment original the series. I can only hope that when the DVD version of Hollywood is released, it will include unedited interviews with the participants.

This is a wonderful history of the early days of Hollywood. It was made in the 1970s using filmed interviews with a rapidly shrinking group of the great stars and directors. These interviews are matched with the scenes that the actors or actresses are discussing. It is one of the great editing achievements of all time. I first saw it on public television in the late 1980s and was very happy when it was released on video. I hope it is released on DVD. I have purchased many copies of the 13 set series and given them as gifts. Everyone who I gave this set to told me that it was really great. If you want to take a wonderful trip back in time to a long forgotten land this is for you. I think this is the best documentary ever. Period. Nothing comes close. Hope you enjoy it.

The "Hollywood" series is the best documentary on Hollywood that I have ever seen. It presents silent movies in their correct speed and this makes a huge difference. It reveals that silent movies were not silent and in fact had orchestras of up to 100 musicians. It shows how different these films were,visual poems of music and picture. Silent films often had surprisingly good special effects as good as today's special effects. This series also tells us about the pitfalls and dangers of silents film production with extras sometimes getting killed. It reveals forgotten movie stars of the past and tells us about their lives and what befell them. This wonderful series deserves a DVD release as it is quite unique. My only regret is that they should have done a second series on the sound movies of the 1930's,which was Hollywood's greatest era.