The Dream Merchants: 1920-1928

Moguls & Movie Stars: The Dream Merchants (2010)

*** (out of 4)

Third entry in TMC's look at the history of Hollywood looks in on the years between 1920 and 1928. In this time it's said that this was Hollywood most creative period and we had a wide range of stars from comedians like Keaton and Chaplin to more horrific acts like Lon Chaney. Also on hand were the more sexual stars like Rudolph Valentino and of course Claire Bow who would make a splash do to that certain "It" she had. Along the way Hollywood must form to some new rules as the publicity of the Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle trial had put a black cloud over them. If you've seen the previous two entries in the series then you're going to know going in that this isn't the most complete look at Hollywood or the most detailed history lesson. Yes, it's hard to believe that you'd try to cram such an important decade into just 55-minutes and in the end we're left with an entertaining entry but you can't help but be amazed at some of the legendary films that don't even get mentioned here. Many people have said it but it seems MOGULS & MOVIES: A HISTORY OF Hollywood appears to be aimed at those unfamiliar with the history of cinema. This entry points the finger at many legends but it really doesn't give too much detail. The sequence on Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd runs just a few minutes and everyone knows that's simply not enough time. Greta Garbo and her legend is discussed and we even get to hear about her "lost months" where she was out of the public eye and MGM made sure no one knew why.

... well, that's for the next installment. Primarily, this series is about the Hollywood moguls and how they created their individual studios, created the studio system, and maintained that system in some form or another until the 1960s. This episode does a good job of paralleling the stories of the big stars of the 1920's with those of the moguls, because, let's face it, a series JUST about business mergers and acquisitions will get dull eventually. So it is spiced up with details about the moguls themselves and with information about the stars of that era. For example, there is a lot here on Samuel Goldwyn, and how he was basically just a crap shooter, at work and at play, because he thought anything he did would get him in a better position than the position in which he started. This was the era of the big movie palaces, of Valentino's rise and then sudden death and the spectacle of his funeral, and of Greta Garbo. It is funny how the series will just throw an interesting tidbit out there like mentioning that there were no photos taken of Greta between October 1926 and April 1927, and how that was unprecedented given her quick rise to stardom. Was she perhaps pregnant? The series just throws that out there and leaves the viewer to ponder it. At any rate, this episode very much gives you a feel of how the 20's roared, how the movies roared right along with them, and how the men in charge of the movie studios - men who largely had the impoverished Jewish immigrant experience in common with each other - so well read their American audiences.

The post documentary conversation presided over by Robert Osborne with a variety of film historians is worth the price of admission. I miss the days when Mr. Osborne did more of these kinds of projects, but I'm just glad he's still with us as I am writing this, and that he is still the face of Turner Classic Movies.