Customer Reviews

Biography - Louis B. Mayer (A&E DVD Archives)

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The A&E Biography on the life and times of Louis B. Mayer gives us lots to know about this man. If only they hadn't rushed through it all and included so much more! No, this isn't the perfect biography of Louis B. Mayer; it couldn't have been at only 50 minutes. However, it does give you a basic understanding of what Mayer was about and what him tick; and we do get the highlights of his career and personal life. This DVD is more for the casual movie going fan who wants a brief introduction to the man who created so much of that Hollywood glamour, magic and even the Oscars. The narration is well done. In addition, we get interviews with Mayer biographers and Mayer's grandson himself appears in this video.

We learn that life for L.B. Mayer wasn't easy--and it certainly wasn't anything like "The Dream Factory" of MGM Studios. Louis B. Mayer was born in Russia, changed his name when he went with his family to Canada and then moved to the USA to pursue his dream of striking it big in the new world. Mayer wasn't always lucky in the beginning; but when he secured the distributions rights to The Birth Of A Nation in some parts of the country things began to take off for him. Mayer also married and he went to California to head Metro Studios which subsequently merged with Goldwyn Studios to become a large subsidiary of Loews.

One thing I do like about this mini documentary is that we get a very good sense of how Mayer related to the stars at MGM--he could take regular people practically off the street and sell them as stars--he was THAT good at selling! He became very powerful by exploiting the emotional vulnerabilities of his stars and he often had his men cover up extramarital affairs and other "indecent" scandals to make MGM retain a fantasy world type of aura that the public found enchanting. He had the ear of Herbert Hoover to make things go his way politically and that was incredible power in addition to his salary which made him the highest paid executive in America at the time. However, things still weren't completely perfect: Mayer had troubles with Irving Thalberg at MGM and he didn't get along well with Loews's successor Nicholas Schenck. Of course, after World War II things changed and Mayer was eventually pushed out by younger men including Dore Schary. The documentary then explores Mayer's life after MGM Studios.

In the end, Louis B. Mayer may have been ruthless at times; but he did make significant contributions to the film industry as he pushed his stars, directors and indeed all of the MGM crew to make the best "wholesome" pictures possible. After all, that's what the public primarily wanted before the end of World War II. The documentary also shows us many clips of some of the best MGM films ever made starting with the chariot race scene in the 1924-1925 production of Ben-Hur.

I wish that there had been extras on this DVD; and the all-too-short 50 minute time span leaves too much of his life glossed over or simplified to the point of being misrepresented. That's a disappointment.

If you are just getting into this topic and you like this documentary I would suggest other documentaries and books about film moguls and the Hollywood "studio system" in general. Unfortunately, however, diehard fans of Hollywood history will be dissatisfied.

This episode, or at least the version that made it to the DVD, feels rushed and uncomfortable to view. The rapid-fire narration and interview clips sound anything but natural. There is a lot of ground to cover in the life and career of a studio mogul, that's for sure, but it is a poor reflection on the Biography series that this episode feels like it runs at 80 miles per hour with no moment to catch a breath.

The woman who narrates the documentary is miscast. Her delivery lacks a storyteller's warmth. She is better suited to read off the disclaimers at the end of TV spots for pharmaceutical products.

Many of the interview subjects, including Mayer's relatives, sound rushed and pre-rehearsed. Most sound as if they are reading off cue cards.

I'm very disappointed in this Biography entry. The subject matter is interesting but the delivery of the product is unpleasant to sit through.

I just purchased this DVD and it arrived in the mail today. I was anxious to view it this evening ... what a disappointment! The earlier review by "John S. Harris" hits the nail on the head. This production simply does not rate with other A&E biographies ... not even close. I'm surprised there were only two MGM stars featured to give their recollections (Kathryn Grayson and Mickey Rooney). Surely there is a plethora of archival footage of TOP stars speaking of Mayer as a man, a studio chief, a tyrant, a father figure, etc. I've seen interviews of Judy Garland, Ann Miller, Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds, to name just a few, who have painted very colorful portraits of Mayer.

One narrator even called Jeanette MacDonald "Jeanette Donald" ... very sloppy. This seemed like the result of a good college project, but not worth of the A&E brand.

Thankfully my copy only cost a few bucks ... had I paid more I would have given only 2 stars.

Overall verbal rating = "blech"!

Here was a man who knew and understood just what people wanted to seee on the screen. They wanted to be taken from the problems of their lives and lifted into another world. A world of fantasy and make believe where the guy always gets the girl and the good guy always wins. He was also a hard businessman but pretended not to be. Perhaps one of the saddest things in his life was that he didn't stand up to the "anti communist purges" and support people like the those who were blacklisted just because they might not have agreed with the main line politics of the time, or who were perhaps just searching. He will always remain one of the most important founders of the Hollywood studio system.

Whether in works about Judy Garland or Liz Taylor (and even in a song by the Pet Shop Boys), I've usually heard of Louis B. Mayer tangentially. Finally, there is a work that focuses upon him. This may be an important work for those fans of Old Hollywood to see. The narrator spoke quickly here. I wonder if this was a 60 minute work that they were forced to chop down to 50 minutes.

Because most of Mayer's peers are dead, mostly biographers spoke in this documentary. The exception was Mickey Rooney who was just a child at the time. I usually don't find it enlightening when the ancestors of famous people are interviewed. I could not speak thoroughly or articulately on my grandfather's life, but Mayer's grandson is interviewed and he does a great job of it. Not only does he mentions things that he probably read, but he could back up anecdotes with things he witnessed firsthand.

On the one hand, this work did a great job in showing Mayer's bad side. He was a Jew who did nothing to protest German actions before WWII. He was a womanizer. His politics were in stark contrast to the usually leanings of Hollywood stars today. Still, they note that Mayer played a big role in bringing about or showing "Birth of a Nation." Instead of mentioning that the NAACP protested the film or that it was Klan propaganda, the narrator just called it "controversial." Again, I think that A&E waters down topics to make them palatable for modern, often conservative, audiences.

One interviewee called Hearst the Murdoch of his day. But it felt like Mayer was the Trump, P. Diddy, or Skilling of his day. He was a shrewd businessman who dipped his fingers in many pots. This film will be great for business leaders, but it will also be great for famous men who end on a low note. When the work says that Mayer was fired from his film company, I immediately thought of Winston Churchill, Mike Ditka, Napoleon Bonaparte, and others.