George Cukor (1899-1983) was hailed as the movies' quintessential "woman's director" because of his brilliant handling of the female stars - ranging from Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman to Judy Garland and Audrey Hepburn - who gave their most affecting performances under his guidance.

In The Men Who Made the Movies: George Cukor, we get a revealing look at a filmmaker who greatly contributed to MGM's prestige studio reputation. Among his career triumphs featured here are The Women (1939), a catty comedy that became one of Cukor's greatest successes, and gave him abundant opportunities to reinforce his reputation with its all-female cast headed by Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford. In another of his comedy triumphs, The Philadelphia Story (1940), Cukor helped Katharine Hepburn crystallize her screen image. Other films shown and discussed in the documentary include David Copperfield (1935), Adam's Rib (1949) and Sylvia Scarlett (1935). "The truth will move people," was Cukor's simple explanation of his genius.

Director/Screenwriter: Richard Schickel
BW & C-55m. Closed Captioning.

by Roger Fristoe