"Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies" is a 2001 documentary that tells the amazing story of Sam Goldwyn, who was born in a Jewish ghetto in Poland and set off on his own at a young age, went through a couple of name changes and wound up a successful glove salesman after settling in Gloversville, New York. After he married Jesse Lasky's sister, he encouraged Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille to enter into film production with him.
Goldwyn eventually went out on his own and produced some of Hollywood's best quality films: Stella Dallas, Wuthering Heights, Ball of Fire, The Little Foxes, Pride of the Yankees, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Bishop's Wife, among others, and a string of very popular films starring Danny Kaye.
Dustin Hoffman narrates the documentary that includes interviews with biographer A. Scott Berg, son Sam Goldwyn Jr., grandson Tony Goldwyn, daughter Ruth Capps, Bette Davis, Merle Oberon, Dana Andrews, Danny Kaye, Farley Granger, William Wyler, John Huston, Lillian Hellman, Laurence Olivier, Sylvia Sidney, Harold Russell and Teresa Wright. And let's not forget the marvelous footage of Goldwyn himself.
Seeing something like this, one laments the loss of this kind of producer in Hollywood - a savvy businessman who loved films. As Shelley Winteres once said, "Those studio bosses were sons of bitches, but they knew how to make pictures." They did indeed.
Goldwyn eventually went out on his own and produced some of Hollywood's best quality films: Stella Dallas, Wuthering Heights, Ball of Fire, The Little Foxes, Pride of the Yankees, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Bishop's Wife, among others, and a string of very popular films starring Danny Kaye.
Dustin Hoffman narrates the documentary that includes interviews with biographer A. Scott Berg, son Sam Goldwyn Jr., grandson Tony Goldwyn, daughter Ruth Capps, Bette Davis, Merle Oberon, Dana Andrews, Danny Kaye, Farley Granger, William Wyler, John Huston, Lillian Hellman, Laurence Olivier, Sylvia Sidney, Harold Russell and Teresa Wright. And let's not forget the marvelous footage of Goldwyn himself.
Seeing something like this, one laments the loss of this kind of producer in Hollywood - a savvy businessman who loved films. As Shelley Winteres once said, "Those studio bosses were sons of bitches, but they knew how to make pictures." They did indeed.