Robert Wise Movies

Film noir, which enjoyed particular success in the 1930s and 1940s, is probably the most profound genre of classic Hollywood cinema. Eckhart Schmidt tries to show the background and developments and speaks, among others, with directors such as Richard Fleische...

Even big stars need to stand in front of the director and audition for their roles, and some of the best screen tests are from the early years of legends. See some of Hollywood's top names and greatest talents in their very first appearances on celluloid. From...

Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography),illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes...

A biography of Darryl F. Zanuck, mogul and the power behind 20th Century Fox throughout the Golden Age.

Documentary about the great 1940s horror movie producer Val Lewton, featured on the 2005 DVD release "The Val Lewton Horror Collection."

Ekchart Schmidt examines the machinery behind the dream factory; the Hollywood myth is unmasked. How does the studio industry work? What role does marketing and the hype surrounding the stars play?

Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula uncovers the life and career of legendary actor Bela Lugosi, examining his early life in Hungary and Germany through his Hollywood successes and eventual decline. The film features a vast array of never-before-seen footage of the ac...

Join foremost experts discussing true Horror Classics - Frankenstein, Dracula, The Black Cat, Wolfman, King Kong, Bride of Frankenstein, and more. Grab the popcorn and take a deep breath as we conjure up the thrills, chills and magic of Monster Madness!

Documentary about the battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over Welles' Citizen Kane (1941). Features interviews with Welles' and Hearst's co-workers also acts as a relatively complete biograph of Hearst's career.

From THINGS to BODY SNATCHERS to CREATURES FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, sci-fi monsters dominated 1950s horror. Take a ride to an era of drive-ins, Red Scares, low budgets and big bugs with SPACE INVADERS AND DRIVE INS.

It was said of him that in more than 70 films, he never once gave a bad performance.

Abandoned by his father, he was a reform school kid with nothing going for him and a giant chip on his shoulder. He joined the Marines but never stayed far from trouble. Then he discovered acting — and the woman who would be with him for most of his meteoric c...

A documentary about the 1951 sci-fi film "The Day the Earth Stood Still," featuring clips from the film and interviews with some of the cast and crew about the making of the film.

Among the legends of Hollywood, George Pal takes his place as a true visionary, an innovator and a showman who profoundly shaped the art of motion pictures. A peer of Walt Disney, Pal pioneered stop motion animation and went on to virtually invent the modern s...

One of the first film noir documentaries, made for British Channel Four, and including interviews with Paul Schrader, Robert Wise, John Dahl, Bryan Singer, Edward Dmytryk, Dennis Hopper, John Alton.

The making of "The Andromeda Strain".

The extraordinary life of Orson Welles (1915-85),an enigma of Hollywood, an irreducible independent creator: a musical prodigy, an excellent painter, a master of theater and radio, a modern Shakespeare, a magician who was always searching for a new trick to s...

Documentary exploring the career of noted film directer William A. Wellman.

An incredibly dull-witted family unknowingly stumble upon an illegal weapons deal while on the trail of their "stolen" garbage.