Autocrats
- Episode aired Feb 19, 1980
IMDb RATING
8.2/10
72
YOUR RATING
Autocratic directors like the martinet Cecil B. DeMille and the idiosyncratic Eric Von Stroheim are highlighted in this episode.Autocratic directors like the martinet Cecil B. DeMille and the idiosyncratic Eric Von Stroheim are highlighted in this episode.Autocratic directors like the martinet Cecil B. DeMille and the idiosyncratic Eric Von Stroheim are highlighted in this episode.
Photos
James Mason
- Self - Narrator
- (voice)
Valerie Germonprez
- Self
- (as Mrs. Valerie von Stroheim)
Albert S. Rogell
- Self
- (as Al Rogell)
Monta Bell
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Dimitri Buchowetzki
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- Quotes
James Mason: If one producer ever symbolized Hollywood, it was Cecil B. DeMille.
- ConnectionsEdited from Souls for Sale (1923)
- SoundtracksThe Merry Widow Waltz
(uncredited)
Composed by Franz Lehár (1905)
Played during clips from Von Stroheim's "The Merry Widow" film.
Featured review
A tale of two directors
The synopsis says "Autocratic directors like the martinet Cecil B. DeMille and the idiosyncratic Eric Von Stroheim are highlighted in this episode." Actually this episode is about Von Stroheim and DeMille and nobody else. This is probably because they represent the two types of autocrats. DeMille actually owned part of Paramount at its founding, so he had huge latitude. This episode talks about DeMille's directing style, his obsession with historical accuracy, and the kinds of films that he directed, but it doesn't say much about how sound film impacted him, and it did a great deal. DeMille left Paramount to be an independent filmmaker in 1925, but sound coming in forced him to close up shop, due to the expense of converting to sound, and go to MGM. Always a success previously, he had a rough time at MGM with three unsuccessful films in a row and then being cut loose by the studio. He then returned to Paramount for the rest of his life. As for DeMille's temperament - when your own niece has nothing good to say about you decades after your death, you were probably not a nice guy.
Von Stroheim was a complete train wreck. He made wonderful films but they were terribly long and expensive. Films made to show to an audience are ultimately useless if they are impractical to show to an audience because they are seven hours long. Like DeMille he obsessed over detail, but refused to compromise. As a director he got thrown out by Universal, walked out on MGM (that studio is something that he and DeMille had in common), was fired by Paramount over The Wedding March, and finally canned by Joe Kennedy who was producing Queen Kelly for Gloria Swanson. His reputation for intransigence meant he was through directing and he spent the rest of his career as an actor.
Today, everybody wants to direct and many do, but in the silent era, being a director was a privilege reserved for very few. So DeMille represents the director that knew how to work the studio system and flourished. Von Stroheim represents one who did not, and quite frankly, did not seem to want to do so. Did he have a career death wish? We'll never know.
With lots of interviews with eyewitnesses to the careers of these two directors, this is definitely worth your time.
Von Stroheim was a complete train wreck. He made wonderful films but they were terribly long and expensive. Films made to show to an audience are ultimately useless if they are impractical to show to an audience because they are seven hours long. Like DeMille he obsessed over detail, but refused to compromise. As a director he got thrown out by Universal, walked out on MGM (that studio is something that he and DeMille had in common), was fired by Paramount over The Wedding March, and finally canned by Joe Kennedy who was producing Queen Kelly for Gloria Swanson. His reputation for intransigence meant he was through directing and he spent the rest of his career as an actor.
Today, everybody wants to direct and many do, but in the silent era, being a director was a privilege reserved for very few. So DeMille represents the director that knew how to work the studio system and flourished. Von Stroheim represents one who did not, and quite frankly, did not seem to want to do so. Did he have a career death wish? We'll never know.
With lots of interviews with eyewitnesses to the careers of these two directors, this is definitely worth your time.
helpful•20
- AlsExGal
- Oct 21, 2021
Details
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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