Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972)

(On Cable TV, September 2020) The more I dig into MGM’s history, the more it becomes even more fascinating. It’s hard to articulate how much of a movie factory the studio was in its heyday, although Hollywood: The Dream Factory does come close. Put together at the time of the infamous 1970 auction where MGM sold a very large chunk of its inventory, the film was also a chronicle of a studio that was a mere shadow of its former glory—As the footage shows, the back lots (also seen in the near-contemporary That’s Entertainment!) are run-down, grown to seed and not far away from its final 1974 sale. (Condos now occupy the space.) Hollywood: The Dream Factory is a mixture of shoddy video showing the 1972 auction and back lots, archival footage showing the studio’s heydays, and many clips from MGM films. Narrated with a wistful flair by Dick Cavett, it’s an excuse to dive in MGM’s back catalogue and explain why it was once an entertainment powerhouse. There’s some truly fascinating archival footage to go along with the narration—at its heights, MGM employed craftsmen in over 250 professions: everything required to create the illusion on movie sets. It was a star factory, betting on hopeful unknowns out of hundreds of applicants, signing them up in exclusive contracts and developing them through training and B-movies in the hope of capturing the next superstars—such as Clark Gable, as described here. Interestingly enough, some of the footage in the film looks comparatively terrible compared to what’s available there days (Singin’ in the Rain, for instance, or the deliberate downgrading of The Band Wagon excerpts in black-and-white to better fit in between other B&W films)—the art of movie restoration has advanced quite a bit since 1972, and we now see films in better shape than ever. Despite the obvious potential for hagiography, the film is not entirely self-congratulatory—probably an artifact of the cynical 1970s and not yet detached enough from the heydays to be nostalgic about it. It’s an incredible documentary for film buffs, although in retrospect, I would have liked to see more footage from the 1970 auction and studio backlot rather than the movies themselves—as The Dream Factory itself points out, the films are immortal and still available, whereas the documentary had a chance to document something very specific in history and I’m not sure it completely did to its fullest extent. Fans of classic films will further note that chunks of Cavett’s quasi-lyrical narration have been used as voiceover for one of TCM’s best promos: Let’s Movie 2017. “Once upon a time, in the place called California, there was an enchanted kingdom…”