Saturday, July 8, 2023

Hollywood the Golden Years: The RKO Story (1987) 1.05

Dark Victory

This episode starts with b-movies, moves on to film noir, and ends on the subject of the black listing of screen writers, producers, and directors who were accused of being communists and who refused to play ball with the congressional committees questioning them. Things really started to change at RKO in 1948 after Howard Hughes bought the studio.

Movies discussed and from which clips were shown include
  • Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942)
  • Hitler's Children (1943)
  • Tender Comrade (1943)
  • Till the End of Time (1946)
  • Murder, My Sweet (1944)
  • Out of the Past (1947)
  • The Big Steal (1949)
  • Crossfire (1947)
  • The Woman on Pier 13 (1949)

The people interviewed in this episode include
  • Ginger Rogers, actor
  • Edward Dmytryk, director
  • Richard Fleischer, director
  • Robert Mitchum, actor
  • William Fadiman, assistant to Dore Schary
  • Jane Greer, actor
  • John Springer, press agent
  • Bert Granet, screenwriter
  • Eric Johnston, president of the MPAA (1946-61)
  • William Dozier, producer
  • Dore Schary, producer
  • Kemp Niver, investigator
  • Paul Jarrico, screemwroter
  • Jean Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk directed Hitler's Children, Till the End of Time and Murder My Sweet

Ginger Rogers starred in Once Upon a Honeymoon and Tender Comrade

Robert Mitchum starred in Till the End of Time, Out of the Past, The Big Steal, and Crossfire

Some of the interview footage must have been archival because a couple of the people interviewed died long before this episode was made.

Unlike previous episodes, I had to look up some of the people after watching this episode because only their names were given and not their titles or roles at RKO or in Hollywood.

This episode could have easily been broken into two episodes, one on film noir and another on the black list.

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