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1-13 of 13
- Autocratic directors like the martinet Cecil B. DeMille and the idiosyncratic Eric Von Stroheim are highlighted in this episode.
- 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.
- 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.
- A tribute to the death-defying and sometimes deadly art of the silent movie stuntman is featured in this episode.
- Hollywood and its stars support the War effort with propaganda and patriotic films and war bond tours.
- Some of the less affluent studios escape bad weather and legal entanglements in New Jersey and make Hollywood the world film capitol.
- The development of the uniquely American film genre, the Western, is shown from its inception with archival footage and interviews with surviving artists.
- Contrary to popular belief, the silent film in general had reached a high state of sophistication by the late 1920s.
- Mounting scandals including drug addiction and murder force the studios to appoint Will Hays as a morals czar to oversee production.
- The glorious, tragic, and truncated careers of American silent stars like John Gilbert, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, and Greta Garbo are highlighted.
- Two great careers are profiled: ambitious and beautiful Gloria Swanson and the tragic Latin lover, Rudolph Valentino.
- Early Hollywood directors were self-taught and generally became directors by accident.
- 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.