Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood — Season 1, Episode 3: The Dream Merchants (1920-1928)
Documentary • 60 min • 1 season, 7 episodes • ★ 5.4/10
Episode synopsis
The Hollywood studio system flowered in the 1920s, headed by strong-willed leaders -- most of them immigrants and small-time entrepreneurs and many of them Jewish. Each studio had its own house style. MGM, headed by Russian-born Louis B. Mayer with Irving Thalberg as his "boy wonder" production head, was super-glossy. Warner Bros., eventually to be led by brother Jack, provided grit, while Paramount, headed by Hungarian-born Adolph Zukor, lent glamour. Laemmle's Universal Pictures produced lavish spectacles and a series of fantastic dramas starring Lon Chaney. The movies' influence grew more powerful, affecting real life in terms of fashion, attitudes and behavior.
About Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood
Each installment focuses on a different era of American movie history, from the invention of the first moving pictures to the revolutionary, cutting-edge films of the 1960s.