I love finding these old movie star bio's, either made for Turner or for the Biography channel, and when I do, I usually find myself watching several of the subject's movies along with the documentary about their life. In the case of Edward G. Robinson, this Biography Channel documentary gave host Peter Graves a chance to comment personally on Robinson, having worked with him in the 1954 film noir "Black Tuesday" which I watched right before settling down with this. Edward G. Robinson is that one rare aspect of the golden age of Hollywood: a character actor who made it big as a leading man, and going from stage to screen with a career that spanned 50 years. Robinson might have been short in stature, but not in a commanding screen presence, and family photos of him as a young man show him to be quite handsome, not the short and stout tough guy of his movie star image.
As a Jewish Russian immigrant, Robinson settled in New York's lower east side (as did millions of immigrants), but unlike those other immigrants, Robinson had a desire to get out through his love of the arts. This documentary goes into great detail in his early stage career, his love of paintings, his rise to screen star, his marriage to a Quaker girl, and his ability to buy the things he wanted because he could now afford it, all thanks to the role of Rico in "Little Caesar". The use of stock footage and movie trailers, a few vintage interviews with Robinson, and newly filmed interviews with his granddaughter and various other acquaintances and co-workers show his personality outside his public image, never claiming him to be a perfect father (he notes that in his autobiography after his own son, Edward Robinson Jr., wrote his own book, the first "tell-all") but devoted to his country even though he was once accused of being a communist sympathizer. His record shows that he did work during the blacklist, but they were mostly independently made programmers (like "Black Tuesday") and not studio bound.
Charlton Heston recalls his two appearances with Robinson ("The Ten Commandments" and "Soylent Green", Robinson's last film), and Gena Rowlands (who worked with him on stage) and Bettye Ackerman Jaffe (widow of Sam Jaffe) recall his personality as well. What becomes clear is that even though he may have failed as a father (seemingly due to a very busy schedule, not neglect or abuse) and in his first marriage (evidence points to his wife's increasing mental issues), Robinson was a man of many interests, determined to make it past the issues of his early upbringing and immigration from the troubled anti-Jewish sentiments of Russia, and maintained an incredible integrity, both as an artist and a love of art, and especially in his devotion to his adopted country.
As a Jewish Russian immigrant, Robinson settled in New York's lower east side (as did millions of immigrants), but unlike those other immigrants, Robinson had a desire to get out through his love of the arts. This documentary goes into great detail in his early stage career, his love of paintings, his rise to screen star, his marriage to a Quaker girl, and his ability to buy the things he wanted because he could now afford it, all thanks to the role of Rico in "Little Caesar". The use of stock footage and movie trailers, a few vintage interviews with Robinson, and newly filmed interviews with his granddaughter and various other acquaintances and co-workers show his personality outside his public image, never claiming him to be a perfect father (he notes that in his autobiography after his own son, Edward Robinson Jr., wrote his own book, the first "tell-all") but devoted to his country even though he was once accused of being a communist sympathizer. His record shows that he did work during the blacklist, but they were mostly independently made programmers (like "Black Tuesday") and not studio bound.
Charlton Heston recalls his two appearances with Robinson ("The Ten Commandments" and "Soylent Green", Robinson's last film), and Gena Rowlands (who worked with him on stage) and Bettye Ackerman Jaffe (widow of Sam Jaffe) recall his personality as well. What becomes clear is that even though he may have failed as a father (seemingly due to a very busy schedule, not neglect or abuse) and in his first marriage (evidence points to his wife's increasing mental issues), Robinson was a man of many interests, determined to make it past the issues of his early upbringing and immigration from the troubled anti-Jewish sentiments of Russia, and maintained an incredible integrity, both as an artist and a love of art, and especially in his devotion to his adopted country.
