Product Details

• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Mpi Home Video
• VHS Release Date: June 20, 2000
• Run Time: 58 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 0788601962
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #368,033 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Troubled star of Shane and other classic films, Alan Ladd struck a chord with his three-dimensional characters and nonthreatening demeanor. Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man explores his career and motivations through interviews with colleagues, footage from his films, and archival photos. Growing up poor and fatherless, he struggled to overcome the many obstacles to stardom but never fully believed himself worthy of his fame. His mother's suicide, a string of unrewarding roles, and internal pressures drove him to self-destructive behavior, documented poignantly herein. The man who single-handedly redefined Hollywood bad guys (who at his peak of fame rivaled Marilyn Monroe) died alone in his early 50s, leaving behind just his work and his fans crying, "Shane! Come back!" --Rob Lightner

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a revealing documentary of a whole family and a whole system, July 23, 2007

By 

bookloversfriend (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Alan Ladd, the quiet man who exuded integrity and inspired a whole generation of young men and boys to try to live up his standards, is here portrayed, reported on, lionized, detracted from and otherwise dissected.

There are plenty of surprising revelations: unlike many Hollywood stars, Alan Ladd's family were all tremendously successful. Alan Ladd, Jr. was head of several studios, chairman of the board of MGM, and started his own company, the Ladd Company. David Ladd had a brief career as a child star and later became a film producer. Alan Ladd's daughter, Alana, and stepdaughter both married successful film producers. This extended family still lives within a half-mile radius of each other and still gets together as a happy extended family. The only sad note is that David's wife Cheryl Ladd eventually divorced him.

Alan Ladd had a difficult time breaking in, probably because at 30 years old he still looked like a kid of sixteen. Universal picked him up along with Tyrone Power and dropped both of them (which tells you something about the acumen of studio executives). When he finally rocketed to stardom and was voted the most popular male star in the world, he was afraid it would not last (a not-unreasonable fear, since it never lasts for any star). He became an alcoholic, and the world at that time was not full of clinics for alcoholic stars. But it is an indication of Ladd's strong character that on the set of "The Proud Rebel", which Ladd played with his son, David, Ladd never touched a drop of alcohol (according to the film's producer Sam Goldwyn).

There are film clips from many of Ladd's movies, along with statements by many of the actors who played with Ladd. Unlike other film stars, everyone, from stars to crew members, liked Alan Ladd. You will too.