This documentary focuses on 1939, considered to be Hollywood's greatest year, with film clips and insight into what made the year so special.
This documentary traces the life and work of the legendary "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford, silent film star, movie pioneer and keen businesswoman. Pickford's life also parallels an even larger story, telling of the birth of the cinema itself.
A documentary focusing on the production history and legacy of the adventure-comedy phenomenon, Gunga Din.
The life and work of Samuel Goldwyn, a Polish-born glove salesman who became one of Hollywood's greatest independent producers, is remembered in this classy documentary created for the PBS American Masters series. Based on A. Scott Berg's acclaimed biography, the film includes new interviews with Goldwyn's surviving family members as well as vintage interviews with such luminaries as Bette Davis, John Huston, Laurence Olivier and others.
Arguably the quintessential film siren of the silent era, Mary Pickford was known as "America's Sweetheart." This documentary explores Pickford's life beyond the screen, as a writer, producer, director and keen businesswoman who co-founded United Artists. Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg and featuring clips of Pickford's movies, the film offers insight from historians, film critics (including Leonard Maltin) and silver-screen stars such as Janet Leigh and Roddy McDowall.
The careers of D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Charlie Chaplin are chronicled culminating in the formation of United Artists and 1919.
Glamorous and hugely popular Joan Crawford raised herself from brutal poverty to Academy Award-winning stardom by guts, determination and hard work. During her 50-year career, she made over 80 films. But her obsessive perfectionism led to the later caricature of coat-hanger-wielding harridan that even the adoration of fans could not counter. Still, she has endured as one of the most popular icons of the movies, an early role model to a million young women who aspired to her image of stylish magnetic power and unquestioned independence.
Documentary about the battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over Welles' Citizen Kane (1941). Features interviews with Welles' and Hearst's co-workers also acts as a relatively complete biograph of Hearst's career.
American Movie Classics produced this original salute to those celebrities who worked to improve the morale of the soldiers in World War II. Hosted by Tony Randall the one hour presentation included many clips from the news, USO shows, Armed Forces Radio, US Savings Bonds and more.
The life and career of two-time Oscar winner Vivien Leigh, who battled tuberculosis and manic-depression but always remained a star.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer, and decorated naval officer of World War II. He is best-known for starring in such films as The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Gunga Din (1939), and The Corsican Brothers (1941). The son of Douglas Fairbanks and stepson of Mary Pickford, his first marriage was to actress Joan Crawford. In 1969, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Best Dressed List. The moving image collection of Douglas Fairbanks Jr., held at the Academy Film Archive, includes over 90 reels of home movies. [biography (excerpted) from Wikipedia]
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