This is one of my favourite Hollywood documentaries, and the family connection with filmmaker Gregory Orr (Jack L Warner's grandson), gives the account immediacy and a real human touch.Gregory approaches his subject with a degree of sympathy, understandably, but allows sufficient time to address Jack Warner's shortcomings and often appalling behaviour.
Wow....it's interesting to have watched this after I'd already seen "The Brothers Warner" (2008).
As Old Hollywood vanishes and the market-driven economy dictates more of what we see, this is an interesting film to see even if only to reflect on how different things were "back then;" but it's also quite watchable in its own right. For the student of film history, or the newcomer to the world of early Hollywood, this engrossing portrait provides plenty of memorable material, and archival footage that film buffs will eat up.
While there has been a lot of press around Jack Warner, there has never been such an insider's look at the Warner family. Warner grandson and filmmaker Gregory Orr takes us on an enchanted and marvelous journey of the Warner empire.
The old Technicolor home movies are nice to watch, but this shallow biography of Warner Brothers chief Jack Warner offers scant insight into what made him tick, and disappointingly little history of the Warner Brothers studio. Written, directed, and produced by Warner's grandson, the overall message of the documentary seems to be that Warner (who was widely hated in Hollywood) may have had a few faults, but was mostly a great old guy.
