The Brothers Warner

Cass Warner, producer of this film, is actually the granddaughter of Harry Warner, one of the four original Warner Brothers. This documentary is not a retread of "You Must Remember This", the documentary which focused on the studio. This is the story of the four Warner Brothers themselves, starting back in the 19th century and their ventures into the entertainment industry that predate the forming of Warner Brothers the company by twenty years. It goes forward past the time that they exited the running of Warner Brothers the company and talks about the lives of the brothers themselves. Although Ms. Warner is a descendant, she doesn't get overly sentimental about her subject nor does she try to smooth over the real problems that the brothers had in their own private lives and with each other. The book by the same name has much more detail, of course, but this is still a very fascinating documentary for those interested in film history.

This documentary is about the Warner Brothers and their studio. However, unlike other documentaries about film studios, this was more like a home movie in many ways--with one of the granddaughters of the original Warner Brothers narrating and talking with some family members about their recollections (in addition to all the film historians who comment). This gives it a rather intimate feel but also made you wonder how objective the production was. For example, I often find that autobiographies are FAR less interesting than biographies because they tend to tell the tale from a far from neutral point of view. Now I am NOT saying this film does this exactly. There is quite a bit of dirt in the film about the animosity between Jack and Harry--making Harry sound like a swell guy and Jack akin to Satan. But I did wonder about the film at times--especially concerning Harry Warner's adoption of his niece, Lina. What would a neutral party say about all this?

There were a lot of neat facts about the studio. I loved learning how the KKK sued Warner for their depiction in "Black Legion"! Or, how the studio was the first to refuse to sell movies in Germany and made the first anti-Nazi film from Hollywood--even when the nation was firmly in the isolationist camp. Interestingly, the film really didn't focus so much on the stars of the day--but more on the day to day behind the scenes events. I liked this, as if you want to see more about Cagney or Bette Davis, a documentary about them would make a lot more sense.

Overall, this is the sort of film that movie lovers like myself love--especially those who adore Hollywood during the classic years of the 1920s-40s. Fascinating--as it's filled with wonderful little stories and facts that film buffs will love. My only real problem with the film is that there is just too much material for a film that's just a bit over 90 minutes long. A mini-series would really due more justice to the history of this amazing studio.

Oddly, while the documentary was filled with a lot of film clips, some of them were of pretty poor quality--particularly the grainy and washed out one from "Giant". I am really not sure why this was the case.

Come on. It's important to keep in mind that this doc was made by Harry Warner's granddaughter, so that bias seeps through from the first minute. She has managed to make her grandfather sound the best out of the four brothers. In the beginning when she's introducing the brothers, each one has a flaw but her grandpa. Even Sam who passed away at a young age (40) gets poor treatment in this. His wife is totally disrespected in this and I bet if she said what she really thought of what his family did to her, she wouldn't be in this documentary. In Jack's intro, she low key implies through her mother that Harry thought little brother Jack was a loser with no direction. Which is ironic since Jack is the Warner anybody knows.

As Harry's granddaughter, completely whitewashing how he and his wife came to "win custody" of Sam and Lita Warner's daughter tells you everything you need to know. He did it because Sam's wife was not Jewish, she was Catholic. The documentary never makes you aware of this. I can't believe this documentary goes so far to include Sam's daughter saying she had a better life than she would have and then another line with the mother saying she was young at the time. Everything you can read about the situation seems to indicate that she was harassed and bullied into giving up her child by the domineering Harry (who also hated Jack's second wife) so that left a bad taste in my mouth. Not that I expected a report on the family drama, but even a Google search of them will reveal what Cass W tries to sanitize about Saint Harry. There's a whole segment on his courage about calling out the N azis. He was Anti-Hitler but was bigoted towards Catholics in his own family. Mmkay. It would be like leaving Marilyn Monroe out of a profile of JFK that calls him a devoted family man. It just rings hollow and false. Also if you listen, her mother never mentions Sam's daughter even though they were raised as siblings. There's no family photo shown with her included so you kind of just get the sense that it was about control and not what was best for the child. This documentary reminds me of the the book and movie about The Temptations spearheaded by Otis Williams. Everything wrong was David, Eddie, and Paul. Otis never ever made a mistake. This has the same vibe.

Another critique I have is this documentary is not organized very well. It jumps back and forth between the family and the studio but not in a cohesive way all the time. I did skip through at least twice. What Cass Warner adds in the narration you have to take with a grain of salt bc...grandpa. You're actually learning more from the film historians and the interspersed actors and executives who definitely understand the business better than her. And who knew and worked with Jack. He was responsible for so many classics.

She never explores why Jack Warner went behind his brothers' backs with the deal to sell and then rebuy the company. Surely that didn't occur in a vacuum? Surely someone was alive around the time of this doc to share some insight? No internal papers? There's also so little on Albert. I believe his grandson was interviewed, but he didn't seem as if he knew much more than he maybe heard from his father.

It was gross and appalling to hear Cass say that had Jack come to Harry's funeral, he would not have been in the car crash that landed him in a coma. Disgusting. I had to rewind it to make sure I heard correctly. Who says that? Not to mention she never ever approaches her grandfather with any criticism much less saying garbage like this about anything he'd done. Maybe Jack stabbing him in the back was karma for what he did to Sam's wife? She honestly sounds like she's taking jabs at Jack for her grandfather. It's petty.

The only worthwhile parts of this are the video clips and audio of the brothers. I'm in my 30s and while I love classic movies, my introduction to the "WB" was Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon and Tiny Toons after school. It was cool finding out (years ago at this point) that they were real. I enjoyed seeing the footage of them all. And to see films that TCM doesn't air often or at all. Other the original footage, the only thing interesting to me about Cass is her son is married to an actress who was in one of my favorite tv shows growing up.

It's WB month for their 100th anniversary on TCM and I've been enjoying the films being shown. While current WB is a mess (and ironically not a family business anymore), I only checked out this documentary believing it would be something better.

Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner are brothers who created one of the biggest Hollywood studios. The Jewish brothers immigrated from Europe with their parents. None of them were allowed to have an education and the kids all worked. Soon, they are working the nickelodeons in New York City on the road to building the iconic entertainment name.

Cass Warner is the filmmaker and the granddaughter of Harry. Jack is the youngest, the last survivor, and the most famous. It's very compelling to learn about the brothers. It's fun to see a few recognizable faces who talk about the old times with the Warners. I'm not expecting too many deep dark secrets with a family member behind the camera, but there is some juicy family dysfunction. There are moments of interest depending on the viewer. I like the cartoons. Most of the company stuff isn't much to me. The war years including pre-war and post-war are very interesting. The big drama is the family drama. It's interesting to have Jack Warner seeing himself as the James Dean characters. I never considered that. All in all, this is very informative and we finally have a name.

Sorry, but I just do not buy the whole Saint Harry versus Dragon Jack thrust of this documentary. There are simply too many specks of sanctimony that peek through the whitewash job on Harry Warner (like his paying off his gentile sister in law, after his brother died, so he could raise her kid Jewish) while the dirt on Jack is a bit too all pervasive, with only a grudging admission, at the film's end, that he might have been a talented producer as well as a world class vulgarian.

However, there is no denying that this doc is entertaining. Sibling rivalry is something to which the vast majority of us can relate and when it is presented, as it is here, in all its show biz luridness, with lots of stabbings in the back, mistresses, wives, aneurisms, strokes and tragic deaths, it makes for a fun hour and forty five.

Did I mention that the director is Harry's grand daughter? Give it a B minus.