MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992)
**** (out of 4)
Mammoth, six-hour documentary covering every aspect of the legendary studio MGM from its first picture, He Who Gets Slapped in 1924 until its crumble starting in the late 60s. The documentary is broken up into three parts with the first going from 1924 until Irving Thalberg's death in 1936. The second covers the biggest part of the studios career with projects like The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind but also the studio losing their female stars like Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford. The third and final segment covers the legendary musicals like Meet Me in St. Louis but also founder Mayer getting pushed to the side and the eventual fall from grace of the studio. The film pretty much covers ever aspect to the studio in its six-hour running time and for the most part there's not a single flaw in the film. Some could argue that certain actors or directors should have received more screen time but opinions on this are going to vary from person to person. The only thing I think the documentary overlooked was the fact that the studio did some pretty bad things including killing the career of Buster Keaton and the notorious edits to the film Greed. Both of these subjects are briefly mentioned but they play it off as nothing major. The biggest plus are some great clips from various films but be warned that the ending to a lot of the movies are ruined so you might do yourself a favor and watch some of them before viewing this documentary. Another fun aspect are the various clips from the Academy Awards where we get to see many of the MGM winner getting their prizes including Spencer Tracy. Patrick Stewart hosts and we get interviews with Mickey Rooney, Charlton Heston, Jackie Cooper, Helen Hayes, June Allyson, Richard Chamberlain, Stanley Donen, Roddy McDowall, Debbie Reynolds, Ernest Borgnine, Ricardo Montalban, Freddie Bartholomew, Lew Ayres, Van Johnson and Ester Williams among many others. Countless archival footage is also shown.
**** (out of 4)
Mammoth, six-hour documentary covering every aspect of the legendary studio MGM from its first picture, He Who Gets Slapped in 1924 until its crumble starting in the late 60s. The documentary is broken up into three parts with the first going from 1924 until Irving Thalberg's death in 1936. The second covers the biggest part of the studios career with projects like The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind but also the studio losing their female stars like Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford. The third and final segment covers the legendary musicals like Meet Me in St. Louis but also founder Mayer getting pushed to the side and the eventual fall from grace of the studio. The film pretty much covers ever aspect to the studio in its six-hour running time and for the most part there's not a single flaw in the film. Some could argue that certain actors or directors should have received more screen time but opinions on this are going to vary from person to person. The only thing I think the documentary overlooked was the fact that the studio did some pretty bad things including killing the career of Buster Keaton and the notorious edits to the film Greed. Both of these subjects are briefly mentioned but they play it off as nothing major. The biggest plus are some great clips from various films but be warned that the ending to a lot of the movies are ruined so you might do yourself a favor and watch some of them before viewing this documentary. Another fun aspect are the various clips from the Academy Awards where we get to see many of the MGM winner getting their prizes including Spencer Tracy. Patrick Stewart hosts and we get interviews with Mickey Rooney, Charlton Heston, Jackie Cooper, Helen Hayes, June Allyson, Richard Chamberlain, Stanley Donen, Roddy McDowall, Debbie Reynolds, Ernest Borgnine, Ricardo Montalban, Freddie Bartholomew, Lew Ayres, Van Johnson and Ester Williams among many others. Countless archival footage is also shown.