Hopkins’ career has spanned several decades, which is why we will also use many interviews that he gave throughout his life, allowing us to put him back into the context of each period and will be helpful in understanding his role in the history of cinema, because he was far from following the trends. He never belonged to any film movement; he is a chameleon that has always preferred natural acting, ‘non-acting’ when method acting was the fashion.
A history of anti-Asian racism and yellowface in Hollywood after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack.
Gives insight into the creators mindset and how they culled from real life events to create some of the biggest sci-fi films of all time.
Misunderstood genius, superstar, Hollywood’s fallen angel... Orson Welles left his indelible mark on the 20th century.
Portrait of a deceptively smooth "everyman", whose excessiveness as a great actor Billy Wilder was able to reveal with a bang in the seven films they shot together, including "Some Like It Hot", "The Bachelor's ", "Irma the sweet" and "Avanti, avanti".
Deep rooted religious beliefs seemingly going back to the Pilgrim Fathers' puritanism dominate a society which is entertained by violence to no end on a daily basis. If it is true that American movies reflect American society, the United States have yet another severe problem: a lack of open sexuality and eroticism.
During the 1930s anti-Semitism was rampant not only in Germany but also in America. There was a German American Bund and pro-Nazi rallies even filled Madison Square Gardens in New York City. And the US was isolationist. Until Pearl Harbor, then, everything changed. Spymasters throughout the 20th century, and particularly during times of conflict, thought it advantageous to enlist the services of celebrities who had high level and powerful "fans" in various industries, many with easy access to politicians and high ranking government officials. Hollywood, as we now know from declassified National Archive documents, aided in the mobilization for war and its people contributed as spies, combatants, propagandists, documentary and fund-raisers, entertainers, and morale-boosters. Hundreds of celebrities eagerly answered the "call to arms" and brought their talents and patriotism to the intelligence services, military and war information offices.
Joni Mitchell has been called the queen of folk music and one of the biggest pop stars of the 60s and 70s. Even today, her lyrics and unique guitar style continue to inspire new generations of singers and songwriters.
Story of a director Stanley Donen, king of Hollywood musicals and man behind such classics as "Singin' in the Rain".
Sophisticated and sexy, yet crazy. Stylish and smart. When New York screenwriters got jobs in Hollywood in the 1930s, both the tempo and the temperature in the studio rose. It was called "screwball" and it only lasted for ten years.
Martin Scorsese is among those paying tribute to Gene Tierney, the Academy Award-nominated American actress who was a leading lady in Hollywood throughout the 1940s and '50s.
Biography on the famous writer-director, Billy Wilder.
A documentary studying the archetype of the witch in Hollywood cinema from the 1930s to the present and shows, between the lines, how it is linked to the social history of female power.
A documentary about film noir films made in Los Angeles.
A documentary about the pioneer of independent American cinema and television by sisters Julia and Clara Kuperberg, who specialize in documentaries on American film history. We follow Ida Lupino's journey from being a teenage Hollywood star, through social realism cinema, to her appearances in popular television series.
Mary Pickford's name remains inseparable from the legend of American cinema. She invented the star system at the beginning of the 20th century, and was the biggest star ever known, not just in Hollywood, but worldwide, at a time when actors didn't even have their names on movie posters. She was more than a pioneer, she was a jack-of-all-trades: world-famous star, producer and formidable businesswoman, screenwriter and director in the shadows, studio boss, Mary Pickford alone embodied the entire legend of cinema and the advent of women in that particular era.
