The following press release was sent to Cinema Retro from Warner Brothers:
YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS: THE WARNER BROS.
STORY
New Documentary is
Centerpiece of
Directed by Richard Schickel, Narrated by Clint Eastwood and Produced in Partnership with PBS’ American Masters, Comprehensive Five-part Work Documents Studio’s Storied History from Rin Tin Tin to Harry Potter
MORE THAN 50 RESTORED
WARNER BROS. C
On April 4, 1923, four brothers from
Throughout
2008, Warner Home Video (WHV) will celebrate Warner Bros. (WB) Studios’ 85th
anniversary with an initiative that will debut more than 50 new-to-DVD feature
films along with its centerpiece, You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros.
Story, an illuminating new documentary produced, written and directed
by award-winning filmmaker and Time
magazine Senior Film critic Richard Schickel. Clint Eastwood narrates.
As part of
the partnership with American Masters,
You
Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story will be broadcast nationally as a three-part special in
September 2008.
Susan Lacy,
the creator and executive producer of American
Masters, which is produced by Thirteen/WNET New York, noted "Given our
long co-producing relationship with Warner Bros. -- on such projects as George Cukor, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland
and John Ford/John Wayne - it is
thrilling and appropriate that American
Masters can bring You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros.
Story to PBS."
“PBS’
American Masters is acclaimed for its
exceptional documentaries illuminating our collective past, whether through
individual achievements, or in this case, through the vision of a film studio,”
said John F. Wilson, Sr. Vice President and Chief TV Programming Executive,
PBS. “Exploring this impressive body of Warner Bros. films to more fully understand
The DVD
debuts in September. Simultaneously, a 550-page full-color companion book --
written by Schickel and George Perry, with an introduction by Eastwood -- will
be published worldwide. George Perry is the former The Times of London film
critic and is the author of many books on film.
In the
documentary, Schickel chronicles the history of Warner Bros. in an
unprecedented way, using excerpts from hundreds of Warner Bros.’ films to
illustrate how many of the studio’s films have served as a mirror of the
values, mores and attitudes of the eras in which they were produced.
“This
documentary is definitely in Richard’s DNA. His fascination with Warner Bros.
goes back to his boyhood in
To
help celebrate the 85th anniversary year, from the vast WB library
among the industry’s most celebrated movies, more than 50 are being restored
for their DVD release this year including: All
This And Heaven, Too, The Beast With Five Fingers, Black
New
special editions of Warner Bros. Pictures favorites including Bonnie and
Each
quarter of 2008 will be marked with the release of several timeless
collections, such as Frank Sinatra, Dirty Harry, Gangsters, Super Heroes,
Musicals, Westerns, Oscars and more.
On August
31, the Hollywood Bowl’s “Big Picture” night will honor the studio’s
magnificent movie music legacy with a special Warner Bros. musical concert to
be held at the famed 18,000 seat amphitheatre. The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra,
led by one of
More about the Schickel Documentary
Clint
Eastwood, who has worked with Richard Schickel on a number of projects, will
narrate the documentary. The creative force behind many earlier works about
Warner’s talented stars and directors, Schickel now takes on the task of
telling the studio's entire history, with each sequence underscoring the
crucial roles Warner Bros. and its films have played in portraying our society,
a role the studio still plays today, some 85 years after its incorporation.
Through the
use of rare archival interviews, some of which have not been seen for decades,
as well as a great deal of newly photographed material, Schickel celebrates the
colorful legacy of Warner Bros. throughout the decades, featuring cleverly
assembled film clips from literally hundreds of films. Each of the
documentary's hour-long sequences focus on a specific period in the studio's
history, from the silent movie days and the development of sound, the
depression, WWII, the advent of television, the onset of new technologies, and
even the broadening and diversification of media companies in recent years.
Schickel
engagingly retraces the legendary insights and demystifies the myths of some of
Hollywood’s most magnificent productions such as The Jazz Singer, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, Yankee Doodle
Dandy, To Have and Have Not, A
Streetcar Named Desire, Giant, Bonnie and Clyde, The Exorcist, All The
President’s Men and the Batman and Harry Potter films; and talent from the likes of legends such as
Bette Davis, Errol Flynn,
For more information about Richard Schickel and his work,
visit www.richardschickel.com
