The Brothers Warner

Back in Hollywood's heyday - "Warner Bros." was, without question, one of Tinseltown's most prominent studios (in full operation) which, boastfully, employed some of the biggest stars during its "golden years".

This eye-opening, historically-relevant documentary certainly reveals a very vivid portrait of the 4 Warner brothers (Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack) where intense rivalry, rifts, money, and greed drove these 4 siblings to conduct business matters in a manner that the viewer must witness for themselves to get the full picture of what really went on behind closed doors.

This 94-minute presentation was produced and directed by Jack Warner's granddaughter, Cass Warner-Sperling.

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.

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.

Cass Warner Sperling made this fine documentary of her grandfather Harry Warner and his brothers, Sam, Albert, and Jack, in telling the story of their making history by going into the motion picture business and forming the legendary Warner Bros. Pictures studio. So we see many pics of them and Cass' various siblings and cousins as she interviews some of them. I was most fascinated by Sam's relationship and marriage with Lina Basquette. And also of Jack's eventual betrayal of Harry. In summary, The Brothers Warner was a worthy doc of the famous film family.

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.