A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.
A matinée idol and a bumbling manager fight for the love of a would-be starlet. Estrellados is the Spanish version of Free and Easy (1930) with Hispanic/Spanish-speaking actors.
The incredible story of the mythical Russian-American actor and filmmaker Yul Brynner (1920-85), the most exotic sex-symbol since Rudolph Valentino; the story of the atypical destiny of an international nomad: from the Parisian cabarets to the stages of Broadway and the Hollywood studios. The rise to fame of a multidisciplinary genius who became a king of the screen.
Angela comes to Hollywood with only two things: Her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She leaves an Aunt, a brother, Grandma, and her longtime boyfriend back in Centerville. Despite seeing major movie stars around every corner, and knocking on every casting office door in town, at the end of her first day she is still unemployed. To her horror, when she arrives back at their hotel, she finds that Grandpa has been cast in a movie by William DeMille and quickly becomes a star during the ensuing weeks. Her family, worried that Angela and Grandpa are getting into trouble, come to Hollywood to drag them back home. In short order Aunt, Grandma, brother, boyfriend and even the parrot become superstars, but Angela is still unemployed...
The Florida Keys in 1840, where the implacable hurricanes of the Caribbean scream, where the salvagers of Key West, like the intrepid and beautiful Loxi Claiborne and her crew, reap, aboard frail schooners, the harvest of the wild wind, facing the shark teeth of the reefs to rescue the sailors and the cargo from the shipwrecks caused by the scavengers of the sea.
Part of a 7-part series exploring all aspects of Hollywood.
Pop, a security guard at Paramount has told his son that he's the head of the studio. When his son arrives in Hollywood on shore leave with his buddies, Pop enlists the aid of the studio's dizzy switchboard operator in pulling off the charade. Things get more complicated when Pop agrees to put together a show for the Navy starring Paramount's top contract players.
Dozens of star and character-actor cameos and a message about the Variety Club (a show-business charity) are woven into a framework about two hopeful young ladies who come to Hollywood, exchange identities, and cause comic confusion (with slapstick interludes) throughout the Paramount studio.
Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.
An inaccurate retelling of the life of silent filmmaker and comedian Buster Keaton.
A look back at 25 years of Columbia's series of newsreels chronicling the film industry and the lives of Hollywood stars. Clips from earlier films in the series are featured, along with a montage of film greats who have passed away in the intervening years.
The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of edition #1, then a tribute to movie people who have died in those 25 years. Finally there are tributes to the Screen Snapshots series by Cecil De Mille, Walt Disney, Louella Parsons and Rosalind Russell.
Peter Potter Jr. returns to claim his father's gold, which is nowhere to be found.
Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were battling the Depression as well as eventually getting ready for another World War.
Documentary short film depicting the filmmaking activity at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, featuring dozens of stars captured candidly and at work.
Footage from the premiere of Charlie Chaplin's 1928 film 'The Circus'.
The story of The Satanic Temple, a controversial movement that combines religion and activism with the apparent purpose of questioning the basic foundations of US society.
Comedian Lloyd Hamilton escorts a group of beauty contest winners to various Hollywood night spots.
When strongman Samson rejects the love of the beautiful Philistine woman Delilah, she seeks vengeance that brings horrible consequences they both regret.
Gopher City Kansas hosts a beauty contest. The winner, Elvira Plunkett, and her mother go to Hollywood. The Chamber of Commerce also provides Elvira with an agent, Gopher City's own Elmer J. Butz. Elmer likes Elvira and the shy Elvira likes him, but Mrs. Plunkett, a formidable woman, has little use for hapless Elmer. On the train west, they meet movie star Larry Mitchell, who takes a shine to Elvira and helps her meet MGM directors once they get to Tinsel Town. Elmer, meanwhile, wants to help Elvira with her career and he also wants to be her man. Movie stardom does come to the Gopher City entourage, but to whom is a surprise. And who will win the lovely Elvira's hand?
Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers ("Isn't that a contradiction in terms?", another character asks him) travels to Canada in the 1880s in search of Jacques Corbeau, who is wanted for murder. He wanders into the midst of the Riel Rebellion, in which Métis (people of French and Native heritage) and Natives want a separate nation. Dusty falls for nurse April Logan, who is also loved by Mountie Jim Brett. April's brother is involved with Courbeau's daughter Louvette, which leads to trouble during the battles between the rebels and the Mounties. Through it all Dusty is determined to bring Corbeau back to Texas (and April, too, if he can manage it.)
To ensure a full profitable season, circus manager Brad Braden engages The Great Sebastian, though this moves his girlfriend Holly from her hard-won center trapeze spot. Holly and Sebastian begin a dangerous one-upmanship duel in the ring, while he pursues her on the ground.
As the Japanese sweep through the East Indies during World War II, Dr. Wassell is determined to escape from Java with some crewmen of the cruiser Marblehead. Based on a true story of how Dr. Wassell saved a dozen or so wounded sailors who were left behind when able bodied men were evacuated to Australia.
A socialite masquerades as a notorious femme fatale to win back her straying husband during a costume party aboard a doomed dirigible.
A short semi-documentary about a "typical extra girl" on a DeMille film.
Filmmaker Peter Brosnan digs up the set of the 1923 film 'The Ten Commandments', long buried in the sands of California's Central Coast.
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
Jens Månsson has big financial problems and realizes that he probably has to leave his dear Skåne farm Gåsabo. But suddenly, he inherits a fortune from his brother John in America.
The history of the peplum genre, known as sword-and-sandal cinema, set in Antiquity, from the silent film era to the present day.
Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well, nothing. This eye-opening documentary examines the rampant sexuality of early Hollywood through movie clips and reminiscences by stars of the era. Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and others relate tales of the artistic freedom that led to the draconian Production Code, which governed content from 1934 to 1968. Diane Lane narrates.
England, 1763. After being convicted of a crime, the young and beautiful Abigail Hale agrees, to escape the gallows, to serve fourteen years as a slave in the colony of Virginia, whose inhabitants begin to hear and fear the sinister song of the threatening drums of war that resound in the wild Ohio valley.
A "March of Time" presentation of the evolution of movies compiled primarily from film clips of silent movies through the early sound pictures to the present (1939) date. Industry executives such as Jack and Harry Warner, Walt Disney, Cecil B. DeMille, et al are seen taking bows in the live (non-archive) footage.
The making of Cleopatra (1934), showing pre-production, DeMille directing a scene, and the addition of music to the soundtrack.
Escaping death, a Hebrew infant is raised in a royal household to become a prince. Upon discovery of his true heritage, Moses embarks on a personal quest to reclaim his destiny as the leader and liberator of the Hebrew people.
THE RED SEA MIRACLE 2 continues to raise big questions about biblical miracles. How could thousands of feet of water be parted at the Red Sea? Or was the sea merely parted by the act of wind in nature, through a shallow Egyptian lake? Mahoney investigates these locations to see if any have a pattern of evidence matching the Bible. People of faith will be inspired and skeptics will have much to think about as Mahoney reveals two decades of documentary research including if divers found the remains of Pharaoh's army on the seafloor. This cinematic journey leads him to inquire... 'Do miracles still happen today?'
In this investigation, filmmaker Timothy P. Mahoney examines the journey to the crossing location, looking at two competing views of the Red Sea Miracle. One he calls the “Egyptian Approach,” which looks near Egypt. The other he calls the “Hebrew Approach,” which looks far from Egypt to the Gulf of Aqaba where divers have been searching for the remains of Pharaoh’s army on the seafloor. The investigation raises giant questions about the real location for the crossing site and its implications on your view of God. The answers to these questions point to one of two very different realities.
“The Fallbrook Story,” is a 20-minute film of Cold War-era uneasiness in which director Frank Capra rails against what he calls the evils of Big Bureaucracy. In 1951, Capra lived in Fallbrook, California on his 1,000-acre Red Mountain Ranch farm filled with olive groves. The federal government, which had purchased the old Rancho Santa Margarita land in 1941 to build Camp Pendleton, was concerned that ranchers upstream would take or pollute the Santa Margarita River, which ran through Camp Pendleton. Capra’s film documents how Fallbrook residents fought back against the federal government.
Hawaii, May 1977. After the success of Star Wars, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg meet to find a new project to work on together, the former as producer, the latter as director. The story of how the charismatic archaeologist Indiana Jones was born and how his first adventure, released in 1981, triumphed at box offices around the world.
A celebration of Hollywood in the 1930s, featuring a compilation of clips from features and newsreels of the era.
Go behind the scenes of the beloved biblical epic The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston as Moses and directed by legendary filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, who also introduces this documentary. Visit the sets in Egypt, where the Old Testament scenes were acted out, and watch newsreel footage of the gala Hollywood premiere. Also included is a compilation of clips from biblical films called "Hollywood Looks at the Bible."
Rare footage reveals how stars were created and motion pictures sold, and how the the advent of sound and color changed movies.
Marilyn Monroe is one of the most famous and adored icons of the 20th century. Like no other Hollywood star, she won the hearts of millions around the world. It's been said that: "Monroe played the best game with the worst hand." Her journey to stardom stemmed from a childhood of poverty, neglect, and loneliness. 'Fascination' tells the remarkable story of Marilyn's life. From birth to her premature death she endured criticism, insecurities, drug dependence, numerous miscarriages, and three broken marriages. Despite all her demons, her unprecedented beauty, talent and quick wit amazed all that came before her.
Blamed for the theft of an orphans fund, Captain James Wynnegate flees to the West where he makes a new life with the Indian woman Nat-U-Rich.