Hollywood

Season

1980

9.3

The history of the American film industry in Hollywood during the Silent era.

Episode List

S1 • E1

Pioneers

The evolution of film from penny arcade curiosity to art form, from The Great Train Robbery, through to The Birth of a Nation. Early Technicolor footage, along with other color technologies, are also featured.

S1 • E2

In the Beginning

Hollywood is transformed from a peaceful village with dusty streets and lemon groves to the birthplace of the industry in California. Silent film transcends international boundaries to become a worldwide phenomenon.

S1 • E3

Single Beds and Double Standards

Mounting scandals including drug addiction and murder force the studios to appoint Will Hays as a morals czar to oversee production.

S1 • E4

Hollywood Goes to War

Hollywood and its stars support the War effort with propaganda and patriotic films and war bond tours.

S1 • E5

Hazard of the Game

Silent films are often remembered for slapstick gags and dangerous stunts. Stuntmen took anonymous credit for very little pay and could not reveal their involvement.

S1 • E6

Swanson and Valentino

Two of the great romantic legends of the silent screen are profiled. Rudolph Valentino's on-screen persona is remarkably different from his real personal life, and Gloria Swanson recalls her meteoric rise and fall with remarkable candor.

S1 • E7

Autocrats

Autocratic directors like the martinet Cecil B. DeMille and the idiosyncratic Eric Von Stroheim are highlighted in this episode.

S1 • E8

Comedy: A Serious Business

The art of silent comedy is highlighted with a focus on the work of the four great clowns of the era: Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon.

S1 • E9

Out West

The development of the uniquely American film genre, the Western, is shown from its inception with archival footage and interviews with surviving artists.

S1 • E10

The Man with the Megaphone

Early Hollywood directors were self-taught and generally became directors by accident.

S1 • E11

Trick of the Light

The development of cinematography from its primitive beginnings through emergence as a serious art form in the late 1920s. Film clips and interviews with veterans of the period like Karl Brown and George Folsey are highlighted.

S1 • E12

Star Treatment

The glorious, tragic, and truncated careers of American silent stars like John Gilbert, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, and Greta Garbo are highlighted.

S1 • E13

End of an Era

The rise of practical synchronized sound film technology spells the end of the silent era of Hollywood with its casualties and the struggle to redefine cinema with sound in mind.