HOLLYWOOD: END OF AN ERA {PART 13 OF 13} (TV)
Summary
Continued from T:63420. The final part in this thirteen-part series of documentaries on the history of the silent film in its Hollywood and pre-Hollywood eras. This program focuses on the transition from silent to sound films and traces the development of sound in films. Topics include: Edison's kinetophone; the Kellum disc system; Lee De Forrest's audion amplifying tube; Warner Bros.'s vitaphone disc system; various sound-on-film systems, including De Forrest's phonofilm system and Theodore Case's movietone for William Fox; and the havoc wreaked on the careers of many stars by the coming of sound. Also includes excerpts from the opening night vitaphone program featuring the New York Philharmonic and Giovanni Martinelli, and early sound clips of D.W. Griffith, Lee De Forrest, Benito Mussolini, and Mrs. Patrick Campbell. Highlights of this program include interviews with the following: Lillian Gish; Bessie Love; Ben Lyon; Irving Asher; Byron Haskin; Mary Astor; Allan Dwan; Frank Capra; Cedric Belfrage; Buddy Rogers; Colleen Moore; Henry King; George Cukor; Al Rogell; Laurence Irving; Janet Gaynor; and Chauncey Haines. Clips from notable films include the following: "So This Is Paris"; "A Movie Star"; "Dream Street"; "King On Main Street"; "Stage Struck"; "Old Ironsides"; "Don Juan"; "The Jazz Singer"; "The Singing Fool"; "Anna Christie"; "Lights of New York"; "Peacock Alley"; "The Sky Hawk"; "The Black Watch"; "The Iron Mask"; "Lilac Time"; "Four Sons"; and "Show Girl in Hollywood."
Details
- NETWORK: Thames (United Kingdom)
- DATE: November 30, 1979
- RUNNING TIME: 0:52:34
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:63421
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Films, silent; Films, silent - Production and direction; Films, silent - Transition to sound; International Collection - United Kingdom; Thames collection
- SERIES RUN: Thames (United Kingdom) - TV series, 1980
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Mike Wooller … Executive Producer
- Kevin Brownlow … Producer, Director, Writer
- David Gill … Producer, Director, Writer
- Raye Farr … Associate Producer, Researcher
- Sue McConachy … Associate Producer
- Carl Davis … Music by
- James Mason … Narrator
- Irving Asher
- Mary Astor
- Cedric Belfrage
- Patrick Campbell
- Frank Capra
- Theodore Case
- George Cukor
- De Forrest, Lee
- Allan Dwan
- Thomas Edison
- Janet Gaynor
- Lillian Gish
- D.W. Griffith
- Chauncey Haines
- Byron Haskin
- Laurence Irving
- Al Jolson
- Henry King
- Bessie Love
- Ben Lyon
- Giovanni Martinelli
- Colleen Moore
- Benito Mussolini
- New York Philharmonic Orchestra, The
- Al Rogell
- Rogers, Charles "Buddy"