Their only bankable movie star was the four-legged hero Rin Tin Tin. But in April 1923, four visionary brothers from Youngstown, Ohio, officially incorporated their new motion picture studio — and by the end of the decade, Warner Bros. hit it big with the sound of The Jazz Singer. The history of one of America’s major motion picture studios is explored in the three-part American Masters special “You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story,” beginning Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1 and Monday, Sept. 29 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET2.
With the gangster personas of Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, the kaleidoscopic escapism of Busby Berkeley and the lurid melodramas of taboo and defiance, the Warner Bros. films became a microcosm of America’s cultural values, mirroring — and challenging — the attitudes of the era in which they were produced.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker and critic Richard Schickel and narrated by Clint Eastwood, “You Must Remember This” celebrates 85 years of the legacy and evolution of Warner Bros. Clips from literally hundreds of films; archival interviews; and discussions with Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Clooney, Warren Beatty, Eastwood and Sidney Lumet, among many others, illuminate this rich story — giving viewers the history of 20th-century America on the big screen.
American Masters is produced by WNET/New York. More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.
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