Hollywood

Paramount's Adolph Zucker. MGM's Louis B. Mayer. Carl Laemmle of Universal. From Columbia to Warner Brothers the studios that gave rise to Hollywood were all founded and run by Eastern European immigrants or first-generation American Jews. And in re-inventing themselves as Americans they changed the image of the nation itself. Called "a lucid inviting work of social history" (The New York Times) HOLLYWOODISM tells three dramatic stories: The rise of American film the personal sagas of the men who shaped it and the origins of the values that Hollywood embraces. Using never-before-seen home movies extensive clips and interviews with everyone from Carl Laemmle to film critic Leonard Maltin a groundbreaking portrait of Hollywood emerges. From the cinematic vision of America as a "dream dreamt by Jews who were fleeing a nightmare" to the anti-Semitic undertones of the House Un-American Committee hearings which shook the industry in the '50s HOLLYWOODISM is a fearless controversial look at "America's Dream Factory."

Director: Simcha Jacobovici
Producer: Elliott Halpern
Actor: Bernard Avishai
Actor: Bruce Cohn Curtis
Actor: Judith Balaban
Actor: Thomas Cripps
Actor: Walter Bernstein