Hollywood (TV Mini Series) Pioneers (1980) User Reviews

Probably my least favorite episode of a brilliant series.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 11 October 2014]

This episode begins with Al Jolson and "The Jazz Singer" and works its way backward in American silent films. I didn't mind this style of doing this, though I was surprised how little attention was actually given to the earliest American films. They were VERY quickly mentioned, as if in passing--so you get almost nothing about the early Edison films as well as many of the other early filmmakers. To me, this is a mistake and the show should have talked MUCH more about these pre-Hollywood American films. After all, American silents did NOT begin in Hollywood and episodes 1 and 2 make you almost think that--or that very, very, very few films were made before filmmakers moved to California. This is NOT the case.

Now that I've completed my rant, I will say that I still thoroughly enjoyed this first episode. Like the rest of the series, I was impressed by the number of clips, interviews and information. Plus, I did appreciate how it talked about the impact of "Birth of Nation" while NOT downplaying what a racist film it was! Well worth seeing-- and the series only gets better!

It's great if you realize it really doesn't fit with the other episodes

[AlsExGal · 9/10 · 13 July 2021]

This episode, from the very beginning, grabs you with the power of silent film and what was lost. When Al Jolson says the series' first words "Wait a minute! You ain't heard nothing yet!" that really was true of the silent era, at least pertaining to speech.

So then the documentary jolts you with a climactic scene from 1927's Fire Brigade" to illustrate how silent film and music come together to create a very emotional experience, not necessarily jerky frames on a screen in an absurd situation with a tinny sounding piano in the background for accompaniment. Although you can find the absurd ones if you look, especially before 1920. After driving the point home that silent film had reached a peak of high art just before that was all lost, the episode oddly jumps back to the birth of the movies.

In this second half, you basically get a lesson in the advancement of the art of silent films from the end of the 19th century through Birth of a Nation, with stress on D. W. Griffith who basically was the father of the feature film in America, although some had been made before Birth of a Nation. It is also pointed out that the Europeans were far ahead of the Americans in production values in the silent era. So with a long discussion on Birth of a Nation, the episode ends quite suddenly compared to the others. During its original broadcast this titular first in the series was actually shown last, several weeks after the final episode on the transition to sound.

If you realize that this episode is more like a preface to the entire series, I think it will be appreciated more. Also you have to love the interviews with actors, actresses, cinematographers, directors, and art directors who still survived into the late 1970s and were available for comment during the filming of this series. Lillian Gish's insights on the filming of Birth of a Nation were invaluable.

Hollywood Episode 1

[Michael_Elliott · 28 August 2010]

Hollywood: Pioneers (1980)

**** (out of 4)

The first part of this landmark documentary tries to tell people that not all silent films were hokey, sped-up and laughable like some of the earliest films out there. Instead we're shown amazing clips from epics such as BEN HUR, THE WIND, WINGS, THE BLACK PIRATE and THE FIRE BRIGADE. Those unfamiliar with silent movies are introduced to some of the amazing images that really made the entire period a true example of art and it's briefly discussed how things changed once THE JAZZ SINGER came along. Towards the end of the film we hear about the making of THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY and the effect this had on the format leading up to D.W. Griffith taking the format into a new place before eventually creating the masterpiece THE BIRTH OF A NATION. King Vidor, Lillian Gish, Jackie Coogan, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Blanche Sweet and Viola Dana are just a few of the people who are interviewed here and if you're a fan of silent movies then hearing from these people will be a very big treat. If you're unfamiliar with silents then this is still a highly enjoyable episode as you'll get a great idea of the power behind images without words and why many, myself included, believe that this was the greatest period for movies. I think the film does a very good job at showing the grand scale of movies and we get some terrific clips from NOAH'S ARK and are told how dangerous it was making the film, which led to many injuries and apparently some deaths as well. We also get clips from BIG BUSINESS, the Laurel and Hardy short, which is easily one of the duo's best and these clips show why comedies could be enjoyed throughout the world. We even get a funny story from Hal Roach on what happened while filming the scene in question. Hollywood: PIONEERS features a lot of great clips but there's no question that it's the interviews that makes this so priceless.

Silence! Please!

[AvionPrince16 · 7/10 · 27 August 2023]

I mostly enjoyed the movie and the reactions of the actors that are still alive and the directors that talked about how they made silent movie and their history was pretty interesting. We were more focus on this episode with Griffith and how he made movies (war, politic). The reactions of the actors and the morality at the time was priceless to know. It was interesting to see how it started and how with 1 sequence, they made short movie and more longer movies.

It had another subject really interesting at the time and it was the racial subject: some movies really give a very disformed representation of the black mens and even some movies were not released because of that. That s why also we can see some hate and racial problem because movies give a false representation of them. Really interesting.

We basically see the behind of the scenes of some movie (even i was pretty shocked of one of the movie that they made have some scenes who was made with no security and consideration of safety for the actors and we had some death on set and problems like that who was never told to the public. And we can see the industry and the problem of it. The kind of hypocrisy behind it and how te directors was really sadic in a way.

A really informative episode with also talks about consideration of money, salary, competitions in the movie industry, the interest of the moving pictures and how moving pictures was not really at the time as interesting as making representation in theatre (its kind of funny because in our days its the opposite even if we can still see representation in theatre but we are more into movies most of the time. ). We have also the movies who are slowly become more and more money with Griffith and how the images of war made an impact of the consideration of movies.

I like this episode for all the reasons describe above and it was aeal pleasure to discover how the consideration of movies has changed and how movies itself (the representation can also change mind of people). Need to see more.