Hollywood Season 1 Episodes

Episode 1

Pioneers

Mon, Apr 28, 198052 mins

The opening episode of this epic, landmark series belies the commonly held misconception that silent films are crudely-made historical curiosities but a vibrant art form that had reached a high degree of sophistication by the late 1920s. Film clips from silent classics as well as interviews with surviving silent stars and filmmakers are featured.

Episode 2

In the Beginning

52 mins

Although the movies begin in New Jersey, legal and weather problems encourage the less affluent studios to move to sunny Southern California where they can be out of the reach of injunctions and benefit from year round warm weather. Some of the earliest pioneers like Cecil B. DeMille, Jesse L. Lasky, and D. W. Griffith lead the way that will make Hollywood the movie capitol of the world..

Episode 3

Single Beds and Double Standards

Mounting scandals including Wallace Reid's death from drug addiction, the unsolved murder of director William Desmond Taylor,and the two sensational murder/rape trials of comedian Fatty Arbuckle with the resultant outcry force the studios to appoint Will Hays as a morals czar to oversee production.

Episode 4

Hollywood Goes to War

52 mins

Hollywood and its stars support the War effort with propaganda and patriotic films and war bond tours.

Episode 5

Hazard of the Game

A tribute to the death-defying and sometimes deadly art of the silent movie stuntman is featured in this episode. Former stuntmen Yakima Canutt, Harvey Parry, Bob Rose, and Paul Malvern reminisce on their careers with Rose recounting the circumstances of the deadly water stunt in "The Trail of '98," and Viola Dana describing the accidental death of her stunt-flyer fiancé, Ormer Locklear.

Episode 6

Swanson & Valentino

52 mins

Two of the most illustrious careers of the Silent Era are profiled. Tough, ambitious Gloria Swanson, who fought to get out of Mack Sennett's comic factory, fought for prestigious roles at Paramount with A \-list directors like Cecil B. DeMille and Allan Dwan became one of the most admired and imitated women in America. However, after an unsuccessful marriage to a European aristocrat, she had the bad judgment to leave the prestigious studio and sign with United artists resulting in the unreleasable disaster "Queen Kelly," which badly damaged her career. After Italian immigrant Rudolph Valentino played some supporting roles in the teens, his being cast in "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and "The Sheik" made him the epitome of the Latin lover and greatest romantic lead in films. After two unsuccessful marriages and fighting rumors that questioned his virility, his meteoric career ended at age 31 with his death from peritonitis.

Episode 7

Autocrats

Autocratic directors like the martinet Cecil B. DeMille and the idiosyncratic Eric Von Stroheim are highlighted in this episode. DeMille's films were sex-filled and very popular while Von Stroheim's were needlessly costly and self indulgent. DeMille went on to great success in the sound era while Von Stroheim's directorial career was over by the end of the Twenties.

Episode 8

Comedy: A Serious Business

49 mins

The art of silent comedy is highlighted in archival footage with a focus on the work of the four great clowns of the era: Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon. The two great comedic producers, Mack Sennett and Hal Roach, are profiled, the latter in an interview.

Episode 9

Out West

The development of the uniquely American film genre, the Western, is shown from its inception with archival footage and interviews with surviving artists. the work of such genre icons as William S. Hart, Tom MIx, and Harry Carey are covered.

Episode 10

The Man with The Megaphone

Early Hollywood directors were self-taught and generally became directors by accident.

Episode 11

Trick of the Light

58 mins

The development of cinematography from its primitive beginnings through emergence as a serious art form in the late 1920s. Film clips and interviews with veterans of the period like Karl Brown and George Folsey are highlighted.

Episode 12

Star Treatment

The glorious, tragic, and truncated careers of American silent stars like John Gilbert, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, and Greta Garbo are highlighted.

Episode 13

End of an Era

The rise of practical synchronized sound film technology spells the end of the silent era of Hollywood with its casualties and the struggle to redefine cinema with sound in mind.