Hollywood | |
---|---|
Genre | Documentary |
Written by |
Kevin Brownlow David Gill |
Directed by | Kevin Brownlow David Gill |
Narrated by | James Mason |
Theme music composer | Carl Davis |
Composer | Carl Davis |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Producers | Kevin Brownlow David Gill |
Editors | Dan Carter Trevor Waite Oscar Webb |
Running time | 49-52min per episode (ex. commercials), ~11h14m in total |
Production company | Thames Television |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | January 8 April 1, 1980 | –
Hollywood (also known as Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film) is a British television documentary miniseries produced by Thames Television and originally broadcast on ITV in 1980. Written and directed by film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, it explored the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios [1] and their cultural impact during the silent film era of the 1910s and 1920s. [2] At the 1981 BAFTA TV Awards, the series won for Best Original Television Music and was nominated for Best Factual Series, Best Film Editing and Best Graphics. [3] [4] [5] [6]
The series has seldom been released on home video formats, apparently due to the complexity of obtaining home video rights to all of the film clips used. As of early 2024 it remains unavailable. [7]
In 1995, Brownlow and Gill produced the followup series, Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood, which explores the rise of the silent film industry in Sweden, Germany, France and Great Britain.
The series consists of 13 50-minute episodes, with each episode dealing with a specific aspect of Hollywood history. The actor James Mason, an enthusiast of the period, supplied the narration [8] while a lilting and expressive score was contributed by Carl Davis. [9]
Technical quality was an important aspect of the production. Silent films had often been screened on television from poor-quality copies running at an inaccurate speed, usually accompanied by honky tonk piano music. Hollywood used silent film clips sourced from the best available material, shown at their original running speed via a polygonal prism telecine, and with an orchestral score, giving viewers a chance to see what they originally looked and sounded like. For instance, the first episode features a clip of Life of an American Fireman, produced in 1903 with the aforementioned stereotypical poor quality print and music and then compares that with a clip of The Fire Brigade, produced over two decades later in 1926, in a high quality print run at the proper speed with full orchestral accompaniment.
The producers filmed the recollections of many of the period's surviving participants, and illustrated their interviews with scenes from their various films, as well as production still photographs, and historical photographs of the Los Angeles environs. Some of these interviews are notable for being among the only filmed interviews given by their subjects. [10]
Among the notable people who contributed interviews were:
Also interviewed were choreographer Agnes de Mille, writer Anita Loos, writer Adela Rogers St. Johns, press agent/writer Cedric Belfrage, organist Gaylord Carter, cinematographers George J. Folsey, Lee Garmes, and Paul Ivano, writer Jesse L. Lasky, Jr., special effects artist A. Arnold Gillespie, Lord Mountbatten, agent Paul Kohner, producer/writer Samuel Marx, editors William Hornbeck and Grant Whytock, property man Lefty Hough, stuntmen Bob Rose, Yakima Canutt, Paul Malvern, and Harvey Parry, Rudolph Valentino's brother Alberto Valentino, Valerie von Stroheim, and English set designer Laurence Irving. [11]
In North America, the series was released in 1990 by HBO Video on VHS and laserdisc. [13] [14]
Hollywood | |
---|---|
Genre | Documentary |
Written by |
Kevin Brownlow David Gill |
Directed by | Kevin Brownlow David Gill |
Narrated by | James Mason |
Theme music composer | Carl Davis |
Composer | Carl Davis |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Producers | Kevin Brownlow David Gill |
Editors | Dan Carter Trevor Waite Oscar Webb |
Running time | 49-52min per episode (ex. commercials), ~11h14m in total |
Production company | Thames Television |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | January 8 April 1, 1980 | –
Hollywood (also known as Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film) is a British television documentary miniseries produced by Thames Television and originally broadcast on ITV in 1980. Written and directed by film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, it explored the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios [1] and their cultural impact during the silent film era of the 1910s and 1920s. [2] At the 1981 BAFTA TV Awards, the series won for Best Original Television Music and was nominated for Best Factual Series, Best Film Editing and Best Graphics. [3] [4] [5] [6]
The series has seldom been released on home video formats, apparently due to the complexity of obtaining home video rights to all of the film clips used. As of early 2024 it remains unavailable. [7]
In 1995, Brownlow and Gill produced the followup series, Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood, which explores the rise of the silent film industry in Sweden, Germany, France and Great Britain.
The series consists of 13 50-minute episodes, with each episode dealing with a specific aspect of Hollywood history. The actor James Mason, an enthusiast of the period, supplied the narration [8] while a lilting and expressive score was contributed by Carl Davis. [9]
Technical quality was an important aspect of the production. Silent films had often been screened on television from poor-quality copies running at an inaccurate speed, usually accompanied by honky tonk piano music. Hollywood used silent film clips sourced from the best available material, shown at their original running speed via a polygonal prism telecine, and with an orchestral score, giving viewers a chance to see what they originally looked and sounded like. For instance, the first episode features a clip of Life of an American Fireman, produced in 1903 with the aforementioned stereotypical poor quality print and music and then compares that with a clip of The Fire Brigade, produced over two decades later in 1926, in a high quality print run at the proper speed with full orchestral accompaniment.
The producers filmed the recollections of many of the period's surviving participants, and illustrated their interviews with scenes from their various films, as well as production still photographs, and historical photographs of the Los Angeles environs. Some of these interviews are notable for being among the only filmed interviews given by their subjects. [10]
Among the notable people who contributed interviews were:
Also interviewed were choreographer Agnes de Mille, writer Anita Loos, writer Adela Rogers St. Johns, press agent/writer Cedric Belfrage, organist Gaylord Carter, cinematographers George J. Folsey, Lee Garmes, and Paul Ivano, writer Jesse L. Lasky, Jr., special effects artist A. Arnold Gillespie, Lord Mountbatten, agent Paul Kohner, producer/writer Samuel Marx, editors William Hornbeck and Grant Whytock, property man Lefty Hough, stuntmen Bob Rose, Yakima Canutt, Paul Malvern, and Harvey Parry, Rudolph Valentino's brother Alberto Valentino, Valerie von Stroheim, and English set designer Laurence Irving. [11]
In North America, the series was released in 1990 by HBO Video on VHS and laserdisc. [13] [14]