It's been more than 46 years and I remember this series as if I had seen it last night. it would play Friday nights. The music would rise, a director's chair would be in full view and Joseph Cotton would narrate. Bang. Then one would see clips of either a particular genre or a particular type. One episode highlighted the blonde bombshells/golden goddesses from Garbo to Harlow to Monroe (who was still alive at the time). Another highlighted the "kings of silent comedy," Mack Sennet types, Turpin, Keaton, Lang, Lloyd, Arbuckle and the great Chaplin. Another to romantic leads, another to swashbucklers, another to westerns, and another to the classic horror monsters we loved, from Lon Chaney to Lugosi to Karloff to Chaney Jr. All of the above episodes showed extremely entertaining, critical and masterful footage. Despite the fact those episodes ran for about 25 minutes, it felt as if they were over in half the time. That's how entertaining, informative, and breathtaking they were. If you wanted to find out about any genre and get a feel for it, this was the series to watch. This series made you want to go out and watch these nearly-forgotten films and Hollywood legends. This series is the equivalent to a survey course in film and Hollywood cinema. Too bad it is not in DVD or that TCM does not run it as a filler. What a series!
Review of Hollywood and the Stars
Hollywood and the Stars
(1963– )
A great survey of Hollywood genres and legendary film actors
27 January 2011