Titans: The Rise of Hollywood

Clearly the inspiration for this was "Movies and Money" by David Putnam, a book which I heartily recommend for anyone interested in the subject.

I heartily loved this show. Even though I'm no fan of the French I do have to say however it's pretty cruel to not acknowledge that it was the Lumiere Brothers who invented the projector to Eddisons "viewing box".

Proper "features" also needed funding and it was Credit Suisse who made the first. But when it gets into the story of Carl Laemmle I became hooked.

It is also ultimately very uplifting as it shows what entrepreneurs and imagination and energy can achieve. Really loved this.

This series fulfilled it's purpose -an overall view into the studio heads who created Hollywood. And it did that by putting the true life events front and center, not the serie's sets, the wardrobe, and characters' acting skills.

My husband, who is not a film buff, was totally intrigued, especially by the genius and skills of Mary Pickford. Besides mastering acting, writing and producing, Mary managed United Artists studios, too. Fascinating woman.

There were four Warner brothers, not three. Co-founder Albert is nowhere to be found or even mentioned. It's as if he didn't exist. Albert Warner headed all of Warner Bros. Distribution in New York with my grandfather Samuel Schneider (who was vice president and treasurer on the board). Albert and Sam were the first of the brothers to get into the movie business, before Harry and Jack joined them. A major mistake in this series.

United Artists was founded by four movie icons, not three. In addition to Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Charlie Chaplin, all shown in the series, they entirely left out D. W. Griffith. His career, impact, and legacy are completely gone. No "Birth of a Nation" or "Intolerance." None of his legendary work with Lillian Gish (who is also conspicuously absent). But to spend a good amount of time on the forming of United Artists and not even mention Griffith's name isn't just an error, it's revisionist history. It's just plain wrong.

The budget is low, except apparently for purchasing cartons of cigarettes. The younger actor playing Adolph Zukor was never without a cigarette in any shot or scene. EVER. It went beyond a chain-smoking vice or character trait into completely distracting and amateurish, like a bad joke or exaggerated nervous tick.

I appreciate the effort, and it's a story worth telling, so I'm glad this series exists. Many fascinating people, tales, and details are presented, but with some huge, glaring errors (mentioned above), it makes me doubt and question the truth in all of it.

The rise of the Hollywood moguls is as entertaining as many of its movies, filled with fascinating rags to riches stories. And this series digs up a number of lesser known episodes among those otherwise well known. For example, Carl Laemmle's contribution has never been so well documented. And the storytelling style works.

But, despite its surface polish, it feels undernurished and low budget. The number of repeated shots becomes annoying; surely they could find some other visuals from somehere. Ads for early IMP films mention them being shot in Cuba, before the storyline gets us there. Sloppy.

Those early years will always enthrall, so it's worth a watch. But it's not quite there.

We thought we knew a lot about the origins of movies, having watched the 13-episode series "Hollywood" narrated by James Mason. But each episode of "Titans", especially those covering the 1890s to mid-1910s, had us saying "I never knew that." By focusing on the business perspective--innovators who had a feeling that motion pictures could be big, but struggled to figure out how--the series explains how and why the innovations happened.

The docudrama is narrated as oral history by an older Adolf Zukor. The dynamics between the competitors/collaborators are often fascinating. The final episode or two, covering the end of the silent era, get bogged down by details about corporate wheeling and dealing, which can be hard to follow. Nevertheless, the earlier portions more than make up for it.