Film & Television History

Condensed from the 13-episode series directed by Ted Newsom and hosted by horror movie star Christopher Lee, 100 Years of Horror, the two-hour version, is a celebratory overview of the Hollywood horror genre, rich with film clips from horror movies throughout most of the 20th century. Stars getting screen time here include old masters Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Claude Rains, as well as The Omega Man himself, Charlton Heston, Halloween babysitter Jamie Lee Curtis, and horror dabblers Robert De Niro and Kenneth Branagh. The program includes interviews with directors Roger Corman, Joe Dante, John Carpenter, and Herschell G. Lewis, and with actors (host) Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Claude Rains. Highlights include outtakes from the surprisingly effective Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and from the 1960 version of The Lost World. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide

Writer/director Kevin Smith is well known for his sincere devotion to his loyal fan base, and in this release, the man behind Clerks, Mallrats, and Dogma sets his sights on college campuses in London and Toronto in order to answer questions and offer a series of amusing anecdotes. Joining Smith on-stage is frequent collaborator Jason Mewes, who samples Canadian cuisine with the director and tries out a number of humorous pick-up lines on unsuspecting urbanites. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Part of the Biography television series from A&E, this documentary reviews the career and personal life of actor Paul Newman. Newman has been considered the quintessential American sex symbol -- a reputation built by his strong performances and piercing blue eyes. He has appeared in over 60 films, often playing the flawed anti-hero, and been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor eight times. In addition to his film work, this biography focuses on his philanthopical interests , including the Hole-In-The-Wall Gang Camp (a summer camp for terminally ill children and their families) and The Scott Newman Foundation, named in memory of his only son, who died of an accidental drug overdose in 1978. In 1987, the actor launched "Newman's Own" line of specialty food products, the proceeds of which earn millions of dollars for charities and welfare causes annually.
~ John Patrick Sheehan, All Movie Guide

Robert Evans' rise from second-string actor (who really was discovered while lounging by the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel) to head of one of Hollywood's biggest movie studios is told from the viewpoint of Evans himself in this documentary, adapted from his autobiography (and featuring Evans' own narration). In 1957, Evans had already achieved success in the garment business when actress Norma Shearer spotting him at poolside and suggested he should play her late husband, legendary producer Irving Thalberg, in the movie Man of a Thousand Faces. While Evans knew he wasn't cut out to be an actor, he discovered he liked the movie business, and after becoming a film industry executive, Evans was named head of production at Paramount in the late '60s. Under Evans' leadership, Paramount produced such classics as Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, and The Godfather. He also married actress Ali McGraw; however, McGraw left Evans for Steve McQueen after they starred together in The Getaway. After leaving Paramount to become a producer (and racking up hits like Chinatown and Marathon Man), Evans' golden touch began to elude him; an arrest for drugs seemed to put an end to his career, until he made a comeback as a freelance producer in the 1990s on such films as Sliver and The Saint. Part of the narration for The Kid Stays in the Picture was drawn from the book-on-tape version of Robert Evans' autobiography of the same name, which featured Evans reading his own work; the audio book has developed a cult following of its own, and legend has it Dustin Hoffman based his performance in Wag The Dog on Evans' reading style on the tape. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This humorous and insightful documentary is composed exclusively of movie trailers promoting films which depict the lives of African-Americans. From the patronizing promotion for 1946 Disney film, The Song of the South to the hip, tongue-in-cheek promo for Putney Swope, the range of attitudes from the '40s through the '90s is clearly and entertainingly shown. Surprisingly, in the comparison, the promotions for the much-despised "blaxploitation" films of the seventies come off well. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Part of the Biography television series from A&E, this documentary reviews the career and personal life of actress and diplomat Shirley Temple. She was discovered at a dancing school and at age three and a half was appearing in a series of short films. In 1934 she made nine movies, and won a special Academy Award for her "outstanding contributions to screen entertainment" that year. For the next six years she was not only one of the most popular and best paid of all movie stars, she inspired a virtual cult of adulation and name-brand products. As she moved into her teens, her appeal and career faltered and she effectively retired from the movies in 1950; attempts to revive her career on television in 1958 and in 1960 also failed. Married to business executive Charles Black in 1950, Shirley Temple Black unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the House of Representatives and Senate. Her political career contined as she was appointed a US representative to the United Nations, ambassador to Ghana, White House chief of protocol, and ambassador to Czechoslovakia. ~ John Patrick Sheehan, All Movie Guide

This feature-length documentary goes into the making of the U.S. television game show Let's Make A Deal. Business meetings with advertisers, network executives, and production people clarify the "intent" of the show and the ways in which the staging of the show is influenced by that intent. The film was made with the full cooperation of co-owner and host Monty Hall and ABC television, and it serves as an excellent introduction to the economics of U.S. daytime television programming. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

While Los Angeles has been the capital of major studio filmmaking in America since the early ears of the 20th Century, in the northern part of California, San Francisco has become home to a different breed of filmmaker -- artists who treasure their independence and carefully guard their creative vision, even while working in the highest echelons of the commercial movie business. Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas are just two of the best-known directors to emerge from the San Francisco film community, and Fog City Mavericks is a documentary which pays homage to a number of important filmmakers from the City by the Bay. In addition to Coppola and Lucas, Fog City Mavericks profiles directors Clint Eastwood, Carroll Ballard, Philip Kaufman and Chris Columbus, pioneering independent auteur John Korty, experimental filmmaker Bruce Conner, producer Saul Zaentz, editor and sound designer Walter Murch, cinematographer and director Caleb Deschanel, digital animation moguls Brad Bird, Pete Docter, John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, and actor Robin Williams, and many more. While examining these individuals, the film also embraces the whole of the San Francisco film scene, and explains why these artists remain so loyal to their hometown. Fittingly, Fog City Mavericks received its world premiere at the 2007 San Francisco International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The documentary Lights! Action! Music! consists primarily of interviews with composers, directors, and actors who explain the many challenges involved in writing original music for motion pictures. Among the many famous names who appear on camera or whose work is used during the film are Francis Ford Coppola, Carter Burwell, Rachel Portman, and Spike Lee. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Ted Bonnitt directs this affectionate look at the lives and careers of David Friedman and Dan Sonney, two central figures of schlock movies from the 1940s through the 1960s. The film opens with the two swapping amiable barbs at one another as they ride around in the backseat of a car winding through the streets of L.A., where they shot hundreds of no-budget brilliantly-weird exploitation flicks. Sonney recounts how his father made the unlikely journey from coal miner to grandstanding law-enforcer to the producer of the 1934 movie Maniac (aka Sex Maniac). He also explains how films during this time, such as Wages of Sin maintained a pretext of "education," while in fact sensationalizing sex, violence, and a sundry other taboos. Friedman, meanwhile, discusses his career path from major studio publicist to carnival manager to producer of such lowbrow classics as Blood Feast and Space Thing. Also interviewed is film historian and exploitation flick enthusiast Frank Henelotter who muses "You have to wonder if (the films) were made on planet Earth." ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

The fourth volume in this ongoing series collects worthwhile short films, including Day of Freedom, the rare follow-up to Leni Reifenstahl's brilliant and disturbing Nazi propaganda piece Triumph of the Will, as well as a documentary by Agnes Varda and some fascinating experimental animation. This volume includes full production notes on the films and alternate audio tracks. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Carol Burnett Show was one of the most popular and best loved comedy-variety series to grave American television in the 1970's. In 2001, Carol Burnett and fellow cast members Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and Vicki Lawrence reunited for this comedy special, in which they take a look back at some of the most memorable moments from the show's run, screen some previously unseen bloopers and outtakes, take questions from the studio audience, and share their memories of being part of television history. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

First shown amid the publicity surrounding The World is Not Enough, this documentary highlights the career of the fabulously successful James Bond film series. Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton are interviewed for this work. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide