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On April 24, 1923, four brothers from Youngstown, Ohio (Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack L.
Warner) officially incorporated their new motion picture company which to this day continues
to entertain the world with great films.
Throughout 2008, Warner Home Video (WHV) will celebrate Warner Bros. (WB) Studios’
85th anniversary with an initiative that will debut more than 50 new-to-DVD feature films along
with its centerpiece, You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story, an
illuminating new documentary produced, written and directed by award-winning filmmaker
and Time magazine Senior Film critic Richard Schickel. Clint Eastwood narrates.
As part of the partnership with American Masters, You Must Remember This: The
Warner Bros. Story will be broadcast nationally as a three-part special in September
2008.
Susan Lacy, the creator and executive producer of American Masters, which is produced by
Thirteen/WNET New York, noted "Given our long co-producing relationship with Warner Bros.
-- on such projects as George Cukor, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland and John Ford/John Wayne
- it is thrilling and appropriate that American Masters can bring You Must Remember
This: The Warner Bros. Story to PBS."
“PBS’ American Masters is acclaimed for its exceptional documentaries illuminating our
collective past, whether through individual achievements, or in this case, through the vision of
a film studio,” said John F. Wilson, Sr. Vice President and Chief TV Programming Executive,
PBS. “Exploring this impressive body of Warner Bros. films to more fully understand
America’s unique place in history will be a wonderful and entertaining journey for our
viewers.”
The DVD debuts in September. Simultaneously, a 550-page full-color companion book --
written by Schickel and George Perry, with an introduction by Eastwood -- will be published
worldwide. George Perry is the former The Times of London film critic and is the author of
many books on film.
In the documentary, Schickel chronicles the history of Warner Bros. in an unprecedented
way, using excerpts from hundreds of Warner Bros.’ films to illustrate how many of the
studio’s films have served as a mirror of the values, mores and attitudes of the eras in which
they were produced.
“This documentary is definitely in Richard’s DNA. His fascination with Warner Bros. goes
back to his boyhood in Milwaukee where the only theatre in town was owned by Warner,”
said George Feltenstein, Senior Vice President, Theatrical Catalog Marketing, and Warner
Home Video. “It’s a groundbreaking work that, rather than dealing with executive intrigue,
contract disputes or casting couch adventures, focuses on the studio’s films as a
microcosm of America’s cultural and social history. It’s a unique cinematic achievement
which has never been attempted on this level ever before - for this or any studio.”
To help celebrate the 85th anniversary year, from the vast WB library among the industry’s
most celebrated movies, more than 50 are being restored for their DVD release this year
including: All This And Heaven, Too, The Beast With Five Fingers, Black Legion, Brother
Orchid, Deception, Flamingo Road, Gold Diggers Of 1937, Inside Daisy Clover, Kid Galahad,
Lady Killer, The Mayor Of Hell, Night Nurse, None But The Brave, Pete Kelly’s Blues, San
Antonio, Thank Your Lucky Stars, Three On A Match, Virginia City and Watch On
The Rhine.
New special editions of Warner Bros. Pictures favorites including Bonnie and Clyde, Cool
Hand Luke, Gypsy, Risky Business, and Splendor in the Grass are also set for
the anniversary year celebration. A number of other new-to-DVD special editions and
thematic box sets drawn from Warner’s classic MGM and RKO collections will also be part
of this anniversary slate.
On August 31, the Hollywood Bowl’s “Big Picture” night will honor the studio’s magnificent
movie music legacy with a special Warner Bros. musical concert to be held at the famed
18,000 seat amphitheatre. The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, led by one of Hollywood’s
foremost composers, David Newman, will perform music to accompany pivotal and
well-known scenes from classic Warner Bros. films.
Clint Eastwood, who has worked with Richard Schickel on a number of projects, will narrate
the documentary. The creative force behind many earlier works about Warner’s talented
stars and directors, Schickel now takes on the task of telling the studio's entire history, with
each sequence underscoring the crucial roles Warner Bros. and its films have played in
portraying our society, a role the studio still plays today, some 85 years after its
incorporation.
Through the use of rare archival interviews, some of which have not been seen for decades,
as well as a great deal of newly photographed material, Schickel celebrates the colorful
legacy of Warner Bros. throughout the decades, featuring cleverly assembled film clips from
literally hundreds of films. Each of the documentary's hour-long sequences focus on a
specific period in the studio's history, from the silent movie days and the development of
sound, the depression, WWII, the advent of television, the onset of new technologies, and
even the broadening and diversification of media companies in recent years.
Schickel engagingly retraces the legendary insights and demystifies the myths of some of
Hollywood’s most magnificent productions such as The Jazz Singer, The Adventures of
Robin Hood, Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Exorcist, All The President’s Men
and the Batman and Harry Potter films; and talent from the likes of legends such as Bette
Davis, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Paul Newman, James Dean,
Doris Day, James Cagney, Joan Crawford, Paul Newman, Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood,
Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Robert DeNiro, Barbra Streisand and George Clooney. As
the films from Warner Bros. studios have served as a roadmap and mirror of our social
history, You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story is sure to be viewed as an
entertaining and unique roadmap to the colorful history of Hollywood and filmed
entertainment.
For more information about Richard Schickel and his work, visit www.richardschickel.com
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