Carole Lombard, shown first in a lobby card for her first role as a female lead in Fox's 1925 "Marriage In Transit" and then as a supporting player in the 1928 Pathe feature "Show Folks," was at best a peripheral figure in silent cinema. Even if the automobile accident that put her career on hold for more than a year had never happened, she hadn't yet gained the experience and acting gifts that made her a significant star in the '30s. A pretty face, yes, but there were plenty of ingenues in the industry in the middle and late 1920s.
We're saying this because the topic of today's entry is about a documentary lasting nearly 13 hours where I'm almost certain Lombard's name is not mentioned once. But it's worth watching for so many reasons, not the least of which is to understand how Jane Alice Peters became a movie fan and discover what the business was like when she finally got the chance to partake of it.
We are referring to Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's acclaimed 1980 British series, "Hollywood."
While rights issues have prevented "Hollywood" from securing a DVD release (it is available on VHS, for the few who still use that format), there is good news for those who want to view it. While parts of the series have been on YouTube for quite some time, in recent days all 13 segments have been put up (or have a link to where it can be seen). It's an invaluable resource for silent film fans, and it's required viewing for anyone with an interest in film history
We're going to provide links to all 13 episodes, illustrated with the cover of that volume's VHS box. (Thanks to the site http://prettycleverfilms.com for providing access.)
Wonderful stuff -- and while we wish this groundbreaking production was available on DVD, at least it's here for public viewing. It transports you to those halcyon days, as if you were just up Sunset Boulevard from the Warner Brothers studio, shown at left in 1925.