SERIES

Hollywood

19801 Season50m episodes8.4

Documentary

TMDB8.4

Votes17

Your rating

Runtime: 50m episodes
Genre: Documentary
Origin: GB

About

A 1980 documentary series exploring the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios and its impact on 1920s culture.

Where to watch

Region

Not available to stream in United States yet.

Details

Director: David Gill, Kevin Brownlow
Writing: Kevin Brownlow, David Gill
Status: Ended
First aired: Jan 8, 1980
Network: ITV1
Studio: Thames Television

Time to finish

11 hrs

13 episodes. About 2 weeks at an hour a night.

View on IMDb ↗

Cast

James Mason

Self - Narrator

SERIES

Hollywood

19801 Season50m episodes8.4

Documentary

TMDB8.4

Votes17

Your rating

Runtime: 50m episodes
Genre: Documentary
Origin: GB

About

A 1980 documentary series exploring the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios and its impact on 1920s culture.

Where to watch

Region

Not available to stream in United States yet.

Episodes

0 of 0 watched

E1 · Airs Jan 8, 1980 · 50m
Pioneers
The evolution of film from penny arcade curiosity to art form, from what was considered the first plot driven film, The Great Train Robbery, through to The Birth of a Nation, films showing the power of the medium. Early Technicolor footage, along with other color technologies, are also featured.
E2 · Airs Jan 15, 1980 · 50m
In the Beginning
Hollywood is transformed from a peaceful village with dusty streets and lemon groves to the birthplace of the industry in California. Silent film transcends international boundaries to become a worldwide phenomenon.
E3 · Airs Jan 22, 1980 · 50m
Single Beds and Double Standards
Fast success in Hollywood brings a cavalier party lifestyle, which led to shocking scandals such as Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's trial and subsequent acquittal for manslaughter. To tone down the image of Hollywood and curtail films with footage unsuitable to all audiences, Will H. Hays is appointed and introduces Hollywood's self regulated Production Code, which would be enforced well into the 1960s, while filmmakers still found creative ways to present 'adult' situations.
E4 · Airs Jan 29, 1980 · 50m
Hollywood Goes to War
The outbreak of World War I provides Hollywood with a successful source for plots and profits. Peacetime curtails the release of war movies, until the release of King Vidor's The Big Parade in 1925. Wings (1927) earns the first Academy Award for Best Picture. As movies transition to sound, Universal releases Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front, showing the German side of the conflict, becoming a powerful statement of war by the generation that fought it. Interviews include Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., King Vidor, Blanche Sweet and Lillian Gish.
E5 · Airs Feb 5, 1980 · 50m
Hazard of the Game
Silent films are often remembered for slapstick gags and dangerous stunts. Stuntmen took anonymous credit for very little pay and could not reveal their involvement. Stuntmen Yakima Canutt, Harvey Parry, Bob Rose and Paul Malvern tell hair-raising and humorous stories, and reveal the secrets behind many famous stunts.
E6 · Airs Feb 12, 1980 · 50m
Swanson and Valentino
Two of the great romantic legends of the silent screen are profiled. Rudolph Valentino's on-screen persona is remarkably different from his real personal life, as recounted by his brother, Albert, and Gloria Swanson recalls her meteoric rise – and fall – with remarkable candor.
E7 · Airs Feb 19, 1980 · 50m
The Autocrats
Two of Hollywood's greatest directors, Cecil B. DeMille and Erich von Stroheim. One worked with the Hollywood system, the other against it. DeMille's pictures, lavish in detail and cost, made his studio a fortune, while Von Stroheim's similar ways, albeit to excess in footage and expense, resulted in films that were often either excessively cut by the studios or never released, leading to his being fired on several occasions.
E8 · Airs Feb 26, 1980 · 50m
Comedy: A Serious Business
Hollywood learned very early how to make people laugh. Comedy was king, and battling for the throne were stars like Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Harry Langdon and Charlie Chaplin. In a purely visual medium, their comedy was a work of genius.
E9 · Airs Mar 4, 1980 · 50m
Out West
'The Old West' was still in existence in the silent days. Old cowboys and outlaws re-lived their youth, and got paid for doing it, by working in films. The 'western craze' really begins with stars like William "Buffalo Bill" Cody and Tom Mix.
E10 · Airs Mar 11, 1980 · 50m
The Man with the Megaphone
Silent film directors were flamboyant pioneers, making up their technique as they went along. Filming 'indoor' sets on open outdoor lots and combating the elements, communicating with actors in spite of overwhelming distraction and deafening noise, directors (male and female) fashion great films out of chaos and confusion.
E11 · Airs Mar 18, 1980 · 50m
Trick of the Light
Skilled cameramen had the ability to turn an actress into a screen goddess, and were valuable assets to studios and stars. With the aid of art directors, they achieved some of the most amazing and dangerous sequences captured on film, pioneering photography effects used through the remainder of the 20th century.
E12 · Airs Mar 25, 1980 · 50m
Star Treatment
Producers discovered the effect of 'star power' on their box office bottom line. Creating Hollywood stars becomes its own industry, resulting in the Hollywood Star System, from which came Clara Bow, Lillian Gish, and John Gilbert, successor to Rudolph Valentino as "The Great Lover". But as easily as they made them, studios could break them.
E13 · Airs Apr 1, 1980 · 50m
End of an Era
Silent films had universal appeal, simply by replacing intertitles and dialogue cards for the foreign markets. Sound film was experimented with in many forms since the 1890s, but did not become commercially successful until The Jazz Singer in 1927. Hollywood movie making was transformed and ultimately shattered, taking the careers of many silent film stars, directors and producers with it, victims of the emerging technology.

Details

Director: David Gill, Kevin Brownlow
Writing: Kevin Brownlow, David Gill
Status: Ended
First aired: Jan 8, 1980
Network: ITV1
Studio: Thames Television

Time to finish

11 hrs

13 episodes. About 2 weeks at an hour a night.

View on IMDb ↗

Cast

James Mason

Self - Narrator

Hollywood

About

Where to watch

Details

Time to finish

Cast

If you like this

Similar

Hollywood

About

Where to watch

Episodes

Details

Time to finish

Cast

If you like this

Similar

Episodes