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PBS Suggests You Must Remember This: To Watch Its Study Of Warner's Rich Legacy

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By WALT BELCHER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 23, 2008

Just surviving for 85 years in Hollywood is a feat in itself, but Warner Bros., the studio that gave us classics such as "Casablanca," "Rebel Without a Cause" and "My Fair Lady,' is still alive and kicking with the "Harry Potter" and "Batman" franchises.

The studio was founded by four gutsy brothers (Harry, Sam, Albert and Jack) from Youngstown, Ohio. It has a rich legacy that is explored in a new five-part PBS series debuting at 9 tonight on WEDU, Channel 3

If you can tear yourself away from the season debuts of ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox series this week, check out at least some of the "American Masters" presentation of "You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story."

While the documentary is spread over three nights, the first installment is the best. It goes back to the beginning when the brothers started making silent films and their biggest star was a German shepherd name Rin Tin Tin. The studio made history in 1927 with singer Al Jolson in the first "talking picture."

Filmmaker and critic Richard Schickel is the director-writer-producer, and Clint Eastwood is the executive producer of the study. Eastwood made many of his films at Warner.

Using clips, comments from film critics and historians as well as archival interviews with former Warner stars, directors and producers, Schickel explains how and why Warner studios made dark, gritty and sometimes sexually provocative films for the common folk.

In the studio's early years, Warner carved a niche by championing blue-collar workers, sympathizing with the downtrodden during the Great Depression and supporting President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal recovery plan.

Later, studio head Jack Warner, who was tight with a dollar, tried to control the careers of his stars. He opposed Hollywood labor unions and became a big supporter of blacklisting suspected Communist Party members.

In the 1930s and '40s, the studio's golden era, Warner was home of the gangster films, the anti-hero and the often bizarre Busby Berkeley musicals. This is the studio that gave us tough mugs such as James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart.

The studio also gave us Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, James Dean, "Bullitt," "Camelot," "Bonnie & Clyde," "The Wrong Man," "Dirty Harry," "The Maltese Falcon," "Superman," "The Shining," "Caddyshack" and way too many more to list here.

This series is a bit exhausting, and the more recent years are not as interesting.

JON'S SHOW: Bill Clinton is the guest on the Emmy-winning "Daily Show With Jon Stewart" at 11 tonight on Comedy Central. Stewart was in fine form at the tediously overblown 60th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday.

There are no complaints from me about the winners (Way to go, Tina Fey!), but the show itself was a tedious affair. The salute to "Laugh-In" was just sad. And may we never again have an awards show hosted by reality show hosts. Most of the highlights were political. Check out my blog on TBOExtra

.com for a rundown of the best lines.

GHOST STORY: Coming up Oct. 1 on Sci-Fi Channel's "Ghost Hunters" is an episode taped at the Vinoy resort in St. Petersburg. In July, the "Ghost Hunters" crew spent a week on the empty fifth floor of the reportedly haunted hotel. No word on what they found.

HE MUST BE MENTAL: A standout among the new series debuting this week is "The Mentalist" (9 tonight on CBS).

Aussie Simon Baker, who was "The Guardian" on CBS a few seasons back, plays Patrick Jane, a former celebrity psychic who has become a seeker of truth. Jane was a fake who conned people with his mentalist stage skills before a serial killer changed his life. Now he is a consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation.

He is both arrogant and troubled as he helps solve crimes with keen powers of observation and deduction.

TUNE IN TONIGHT

House, 8 p.m., Fox

When people who received organs from the same donor start dying, it's up to House to figure out how to stop it. But he's distracted by a rift with Wilson.

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