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Goldwyn

2001, Movie, NR, 118 mins

Goldwyn: Review

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A labor of love, this painstakingly detailed documentary portrays movie mogul Sam Goldwyn (the "G" in MGM), as the one Golden Era producer driven less by love of power than love of the movies. Born into poverty in a Warsaw ghetto, young Samuel Goldwyn, born Shmuel Gelbfisz, walked the length of Europe and boarded a boat for America. That he may have paid for his passage with stolen money only adds to the legend of this exemplar of the American Dream: After working his way up from glove maker to sales executive at a factory, Goldwyn married and settled into a comfortable groove. The he discovered nickelodeons: Pressuring his reluctant brother-in-law, Jesse Lasky, into partnership, Goldwyn produced the first feature made in what's now Hollywood, Cecil B. Demille's THE SQUAW MAN. The film launched Goldwyn's company. Unfortunately, Lasky stabbed Goldwyn in the back during negotiations with Paramount Pictures, a pattern that was later repeated during the merger that formed Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Each betrayal solidified Goldwyn's sense of being an outsider, but he outlasted his rivals by adhering to independent producer status and alternating commercial blockbusters (like popular vehicles for Eddie Cantor and, later, Danny Kaye) with classics like DODSWORTH (1936), WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939), THE LITTLE FOXES (1941), PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (1942) and THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946). Aware of the advantages of assimilation, Goldwyn married gentile beauty Frances Howard and, despite his famous malapropisms and equally notorious temper, cemented his position as a Hollywood social force. Always fiercely independent, Goldwyn alone among Hollywood's hierarchy criticized the communist witchhunts of the 1950s. This scholarly is chock full of inside gossip and historical tidbits that will delight movie buffs. Though not especially dynamic, it's a valuable record of the life and times of the maverick producer. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
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