Episode list

Hollywood

Pioneers

Mon, Jan 07, 1980
The evolution of film from penny arcade curiosity to art form, from The Great Train Robbery, through to The Birth of a Nation. Early Technicolor footage, along with other color technologies, are also featured.
8.6 /10
In the Beginning
Hollywood is transformed from a peaceful village with dusty streets and lemon groves to the birthplace of the industry in California. Silent film transcends international boundaries to become a worldwide phenomenon.
8.2 /10
Hazard of the Game
Silent films are often remembered for slapstick gags and dangerous stunts. Stuntmen took anonymous credit for very little pay and could not reveal their involvement.
8.3 /10
Swanson and Valentino
Two of the great romantic legends of the silent screen are profiled. Rudolph Valentino's on-screen persona is remarkably different from his real personal life, and Gloria Swanson recalls her meteoric rise and fall with remarkable candor.
8 /10
Autocrats

Mon, Feb 18, 1980
Autocratic directors like the martinet Cecil B. DeMille and the idiosyncratic Eric Von Stroheim are highlighted in this episode.
8.2 /10
Comedy: A Serious Business
The art of silent comedy is highlighted with a focus on the work of the four great clowns of the era: Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon.
8.3 /10
Out West

Mon, Mar 03, 1980
The development of the uniquely American film genre, the Western, is shown from its inception with archival footage and interviews with surviving artists.
8 /10
Trick of the Light
The development of cinematography from its primitive beginnings through emergence as a serious art form in the late 1920s. Film clips and interviews with veterans of the period like Karl Brown and George Folsey are highlighted.
8.3 /10
Star Treatment

Mon, Mar 24, 1980
The glorious, tragic, and truncated careers of American silent stars like John Gilbert, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, and Greta Garbo are highlighted.
8.5 /10
End of an Era

Mon, Mar 31, 1980
The rise of practical synchronized sound film technology spells the end of the silent era of Hollywood with its casualties and the struggle to redefine cinema with sound in mind.
8.6 /10

Edit Focus

Roger Touhy, Gangster

Roger Touhy, Gangster

In 1931, Captain Steven Warren, the chief investigator for the Chicago District Attorney's office, tries to arrest the henchmen of notorious gangster and bootlegger Roger Touhy for a series of crimes, but the frightened witnesses refuse to cooperate. Warren releases Touhy's cohorts--Herman "Owl" Banghart, Bernard "Troubles" O'Connor, Icebox Hamilton, Maxie Sharkey and Thomas J. "Smoke" Reardon--from custody but vows to pursue them. In Dec 1933, after Prohibition is repealed, Touhy decides to go "straight" because he is tired of pressure from Warren and the police. Needing money to buy a brewery, Touhy asks businessman Joseph P. Sutton to repay the $200,000 that he owes him. Although Sutton has the money, he claims that he does not, and his partner, Edward Latham, advises him to stall Touhy. Fed up with waiting, Touhy and his men kidnap Sutton and eventually collect $70,000 ransom from Latham. After Sutton is released, Warren pressures him to identify Touhy's gang as the kidnappers, and the reluctant businessman finally does so, although he does not reveal his prior connections to Touhy. While Touhy and his men are leaving the area, they are involved in a minor automobile accident that leads to their arrest. During their trial, Smoke testifies against Touhy and the others, who are found guilty and sent to serve ninety-nine-year sentences in the Stateville Peniteniary at Joliet, Illinois. Touhy is infuriated by Smoke's betrayal, and as the next eight years pass, continually tries to obtain a new trial. Smoke, who has been in hiding, is caught by some of Touhy's followers on the outside and framed for a crime he did not commit. Smoke is then sent to the penitentiary, and after being terrorized by Touhy, agrees to recant his testimony and help to free the gang. Smoke is killed by another prisoner before he can talk, however, and a desperate Touhy plans to escape from the prison. With the help of a prison guard, Touhy and his cellmate, George Carroll, escape along with Owl, Troubles, Icebox, Maxie and Rowden, another prisoner. Because the United States is now involved in the war, Touhy knows that the men will be arrested if they are caught without draft cards, and so orders Carroll and Rowden to rob unsuspecting citizens of their cards. The Federal Bureau of Investigation then takes over the case, as Touhy and his men have violated the Selective Service Act, first by not notifying the draft board of their "change of address," and then through their theft of the draft cards. Maxie's drunken carelessness causes Touhy to beat him viciously, and after Maxie and Icebox leave the gang, Icebox is arrested and informs the police of Touhy's whereabouts. Soon after, Rowden and Carroll are killed when F.B.I. agents attempt to apprehend them. Working with Warren, the F.B.I. then surrounds the apartment where Touhy, Troubles and Owl are living, and Owl convinces Touhy to surrender quietly, telling him that it is now time to pay for being on top for so long. Touhy and his men are then returned to Joliet.

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