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Goldwyn - The Man and His Movies
Columbia/Tri-Star // Unrated // October 9, 2001
List Price: $24.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
A stellar documentary about one of Hollywood's most respected, yet mostly unliked moguls, who found himself climbing the ladder of Hollywood shortly after his arrival in America. Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, this is a strong documentary written by Goldwyn biographer A. Scott Berg and directed by Peter Jones. It takes the viewer through Goldwyn's life, from his arrival in the US to the ups and downs of his career in Hollywood, which included becoming one of the founders of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and being partially responsible for a string of hits which included WUTHERING HEIGHTS, STELLA DALLAS, THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, THE LITTLE FOXES, and HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN.
Later, Goldwyn was thrown from the company and ended up starting his own production company, whose pictures he had complete control over. These were attempts at making high quality features, as Goldwyn sought the highest of talent to work with on his latest project. For example, cinematographer Gregg Toland, famed for his tremendous work on "Citizen Kane", worked on Goldwyn pictures like "Best Years Of Our Lives" and "Little Foxes".
The film does a fine job presenting as much as it can about the man in the 118 minute time-frame, bringing together many of those who worked with Goldwyn and giving the audience in-depth details about the films Goldwyn produced that either succeeded or failed and opinions why. The documentary thankfully isn't a lot of "happy talk", boasting of the producer's successes. It views him as an extremely ambitious man, but one with some flaws, as well.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Goldwyn" is presented in 1.33:1 full_frame, the documentary's original aspect ratio. The presentation from Columbia/Tristar is generally quite good and consistent. Sharpness and detail are fairly strong in both the new and old clips, although the older clips do occasionally suffer from some wear. Although the older clips did present some marks and scratches, these were the only flaws that I noticed throughout the documentary, which didn't present any edge enhancement or pixelation. Colors during the newer clips also appeared natural and crisp. The transfer is as good as one could expect from the material.
SOUND: The documentary is presented in Stereo, and the audio is what one would expect from the kind of film it is. Narration by Hoffman and the various interviews are clear, while old clips still manage to sound respectably clean.
MENUS:: Basic, static menus that simply use the cover art.
EXTRAS:: Goldwyn filmography and trailers for "Celluloid Closet" and "Anne Frank Remembered".
Final Thoughts: "Goldwyn" is a well-done doc about the career of the producer. The DVD is a simple package, offering the ability to own the documentary, but with no substancial supplements to offer expanded knowledge about Goldwyn. Recommended for those interested in the subject.
A stellar documentary about one of Hollywood's most respected, yet mostly unliked moguls, who found himself climbing the ladder of Hollywood shortly after his arrival in America. Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, this is a strong documentary written by Goldwyn biographer A. Scott Berg and directed by Peter Jones. It takes the viewer through Goldwyn's life, from his arrival in the US to the ups and downs of his career in Hollywood, which included becoming one of the founders of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and being partially responsible for a string of hits which included WUTHERING HEIGHTS, STELLA DALLAS, THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, THE LITTLE FOXES, and HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN.
Later, Goldwyn was thrown from the company and ended up starting his own production company, whose pictures he had complete control over. These were attempts at making high quality features, as Goldwyn sought the highest of talent to work with on his latest project. For example, cinematographer Gregg Toland, famed for his tremendous work on "Citizen Kane", worked on Goldwyn pictures like "Best Years Of Our Lives" and "Little Foxes".
The film does a fine job presenting as much as it can about the man in the 118 minute time-frame, bringing together many of those who worked with Goldwyn and giving the audience in-depth details about the films Goldwyn produced that either succeeded or failed and opinions why. The documentary thankfully isn't a lot of "happy talk", boasting of the producer's successes. It views him as an extremely ambitious man, but one with some flaws, as well.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Goldwyn" is presented in 1.33:1 full_frame, the documentary's original aspect ratio. The presentation from Columbia/Tristar is generally quite good and consistent. Sharpness and detail are fairly strong in both the new and old clips, although the older clips do occasionally suffer from some wear. Although the older clips did present some marks and scratches, these were the only flaws that I noticed throughout the documentary, which didn't present any edge enhancement or pixelation. Colors during the newer clips also appeared natural and crisp. The transfer is as good as one could expect from the material.
SOUND: The documentary is presented in Stereo, and the audio is what one would expect from the kind of film it is. Narration by Hoffman and the various interviews are clear, while old clips still manage to sound respectably clean.
MENUS:: Basic, static menus that simply use the cover art.
EXTRAS:: Goldwyn filmography and trailers for "Celluloid Closet" and "Anne Frank Remembered".
Final Thoughts: "Goldwyn" is a well-done doc about the career of the producer. The DVD is a simple package, offering the ability to own the documentary, but with no substancial supplements to offer expanded knowledge about Goldwyn. Recommended for those interested in the subject.
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