Hollywood the Golden Years: The RKO Story

RKO only existed as a motion picture studio for 30 years, founded in late 1928 solely for the purpose of making talking pictures at a time when many studios were still releasing silents, but the transition was in progress. Thus RKO never released a silent film. The story itself sounds like the plot of a motion picture. Birthed by one financial titan - Joe Kennedy - pretty much annihilated by another - Howard Hughes. The documentary is divided into six parts:

1. Birth of a Titan (Struggling through the first five years)

2. Let's Face The Music and Dance (Astaire and Rogers)

3. A Woman's Lot (RKO's many female stars and women's films)

4. It's All True (Orson Welles' time at RKO)

5. Dark Victory (The war years, film noir, and the Hollywood blacklists)

6. Howard's Way (Howard Hughes uses RKO as a plaything and breaks it)

Probably the most questionable move was to devote an entire episode to Orson Welles since he only made four films at RKO with only three released and two of those heavily cut and edited by someone not himself.

The series comes full circle with one of RKO's early contract players, Lucille Ball, buying the studio in 1958 to serve her rapidly growing Desilu production company. Since Lucille Ball's commentary is plentiful on these episodes, she gets to comment about what it was like to buy the place where her acting career started in the 1930s. Ed Asner narrates the series, and shows great enthusiasm for the subject.

I'd highly recommend this for film history fans.

'The RKO Story' is almost as good as 'MGM: When The Lion Roars' and benefits from a large array of interviews with RKO stars and directors such as Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Jane Russell, and Robert Mitchum.

Each episode of six touches on a different aspect of the studio (beginnings, women in leading roles, Fred and Ginger, Orson Welles, the McCarthy trials, and the decline of the studio with Howard Hughes at the helm), mixing comments, clips, and interviews.

Well worth watching if you're interested in the history of the big studios, and this story is well told. My only quibble would be that focusing one whole episode on Citizen Kane is a bit much when the rest of the studio's output is taken into consideration: but still, it is often slated as the greatest film ever made and this episode gives it honest discussion time.

What a surprise treat this series was! All six of the one-hour episodes are available at present on YouTube, which is where I found it. Having never heard of it before, it came as a total revelation to me. Since they had the luxury of having six hours time to tell the fascinating saga of this once-great studio, it contains extensive film clips (some of which are shown here for the first time) and lengthy "talking head" interviews with the men and women who ran RKO, as well as the great stars who acted there (Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Mitchum). It's hosted by actor Ed Asner, who provides the perfect light touch and jocularity to host such an undertaking. He is, surprisingly, quite wonderful as a host! The producers of this excellent mini- series (from The UK) had the good fortune of making the series while several of RKO's "major players" were still living and willing to tell their stories (some of them, in the nick of time, too-- Fred Astaire died that very year; Lucille Ball two years later). There is a WEALTH of background information that I'd never heard before, anywhere. If you're a fan of "CITIZEN KANE," you'll be over-the-Moon with glee at the episode that is almost completely dedicated to Orson Welles and his epic RKO masterpiece--and beyond. The series also paints a fairly incisive picture of the enigmatic Howard Hughes, who bought the studio in 1948, later selling it to Desilu (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz) for $6 million. Jane Greer is especially compelling, telling her tale of how Hughes kept her under contract at RKO for years--but refused to use her in films--since she refused to sleep with him. There are wonderful cameos throughout--a special surprise was a (sadly brief) appearance by the wonderful Erik Rhodes, who provided such wonderful comic relief in many of the Astaire/Rogers films (and passed away only three years after the making of this documentary).

This invaluable series makes "MGM: When The Lion Roared" seem like lightweight fluff by comparison. There are so many fascinating side- stories. Six hours sounds like quite a commitment--but, rest assured: When it's over, you'll wish it were even longer! Really top-notch stuff! And there won't be another like it, since by now, nearly all of the major players are gone. Can't recommend it highly enough!

I do not think there have been any other mini-series such as "Hollywood: The Golden Years" that have gone to such depths to explore the life and death of a major studio. The archival footage is in pristine condition, and the live interviews are all so reflective (and a tad bit sad) of the inner workings of RKO.

I thought Edward Asner -- as host and narrator -- did a bang-up job handling the enormous chores required to properly do this six-parter. I felt the music -- some original, I guess, and some archival -- filled the bill beautifully. Also, each episode had a theme that worked well, with plenty of examples of the subject. I only wish that each episode had been longer. I guess that's the hallmark of a good show: always leave 'em wantin' more!!

My only hope is that this will be released on DVD -- and soon!!

This is a documentary much needed of a DVD release (like MGM: When The Lion Roars). I have yet to see this since the 80's when 1st aired and historical images and facts like these should be available for all fans to own or rent in this information age. If anyone out there has access to a copy I would love to gain a copy. If anyone out there has influence over getting this or the MGM title released on DVD, please see that it gets done. If a throwaway sitcom like "Ned & Stacey" can see a DVD release, why can't a quality documentary such as these see the light of day? Come on fans...let your voice be heard and seek out the things worth seeing again, and again and again!