Goldwyn - The Man and His Movies

Rating:
Summary: A Unique Look at a Unique Man
Review: After watching Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, I was still really in a documentary mood, so I decided to check out Goldwyn - The Man and His Movies, another documentary about someone I was familiar with, but didn't really know a lot about. With Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, the documentary focuses on a man really loved and respected by many people. Throughout the documentary, there are people who talk about the fact that Hank was their hero, their role model. Goldwyn - The Man and His Movies is a little different: almost everyone interviewed about Samuel Goldwyn mentioned at least once the fact they couldn't stand working with the often abusive and caustic Goldwyn.

Loved or hated, Goldwyn was certainly a Hollywood luminary who went to amazing lengths to insure that he had the final word on what went up on the screen. Considered by most to be a phenomenal success, Goldwyn always seemed to be fighting an uphill battle against insurmountable odds. A true film genius who is known for the mantra "make less films, make better films", Goldwyn always seemed to be at war with everything around him, while constantly doing what he could to 'fit in'.

What I really liked about Goldwyn - The Man and His Movies was the deep sense of irony in the story of Samuel Goldwyn and how his triumphs seemed to be worse for him than his tragedies. Goldwyn - The Man and His Movies does a great job of brining together the many people touched by Samuel Goldwyn to present a unique look at one of Hollywood's most interesting moguls.

[Geoffrey Kleinman, DVDTalk.com]

Rating:
Summary: Just fine, except for two unpardonable errors
Review: I caught part of this program when it aired on PBS locally Sunday night, and I caught the rest last night on its second airing. On nearly all counts, it is a fine program, featuring not only clips from all of Goldwyn's famous films (including the long unseen 1959 "Porgy and Bess"), but interviews from many departed screen stars such as Bette Davis, Dana Andrews, and Laurence Olivier, all shown, thankfully, not at the end of their careers and in failing health, but in interviews made as long as twenty years ago. The funniest clip is a display of Olivier's towering acting skills when he immitates Goldwyn's voice as he reacted to Olivier's appearance during the filming of the 1939 "Wuthering Heights", one of the screen's greatest classics. Family members are also interviewed, giving sometimes poignant insights into Goldwyn's relationships with people.

However, this film does feature two howling errors which could easily have been avoided by more careful research. A. Scott Berg, author of the biography on which this documentary is based, is also responsible for the script here, and is featured heavily in interviews, so it is difficult to understand how on earth he could have missed these errors, but during the "Porgy and Bess" segment, we hear the narrator baldly stating that Goldwyn had loved it ever since he had seen it onstage in 1932, and that the 1959 film won three Academy Awards. In fact, "Porgy and Bess" opened on Broadway on October 10, 1935, and the 1959 film won only one Academy Award (for Best Adaptation of Score). In addition, it actually LOST three Academy Awards-- to the year's blockbuster, "Ben-Hur".

I watched this segment twice in two days to make sure my ears were not playing tricks on me, and sure enough, the errors were there. The "American Masters" TV series usually produces completely accurate programs, but this time someone was asleep at the wheel when it came to proofreading the script or doing the research.