Great Studio Documentary: The RKO Story

[Phillyrich]

Does anyone remember a great 6 hour documentary done by the BBC in the 1980's on RKO? The USA version had Ed Asner as the narrator. It was shown on PBS, circa 1988.
I can't think of a better or more in-depth documentary of a studio than this one. I suppose it is not on dvd due to "rights" issues. Nice clips, interviews, analysis.
Can anyone suggest any other first class, in-depth studio documentaries?

[silentfilm]

The IMDB listing for this series.

[MattBarry]

I've seen that RKO doc. Lots of great interviews with stars, directors, technicians, etc. I remember Hepburn, Pandro S. Berman, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire (I think?), Linwood Dunn and Murray Spivack are all featured, among many others. Priceless interview footage of Spivack describing how he designed the sound effects of King Kong's growls.

MGM: When the Lion Roars (1993) is a nice history (hosted by Patrick Stewart) of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from its inception in 1924 to the early 1980s, loaded with film clips and interviews with many surviving stars who worked for the studio. I believe this first aired on PBS, and subsequently popped up on TCM at one time or another (it was also released on VHS). Good interviews with Jackie Cooper, Lew Ayres, Luise Rainer, Helen Hayes, Van Johnson, June Allyson, makeup man William Tuttle and producer Samuel Marx, among others.

There have also been at least a couple such documentaries about Warner Bros., one from the early 1990s (I believe) and one from 2008 by Richard Schickel.

I've seen similar docs on both 20th Century-Fox (which aired on AMC, and I have on VHS somewhere) and one on Universal, but if I recall both of those were fairly basic highlights of the studios' respective histories compared with the RKO and MGM docs.

[momsne]

Or, if you are a member of the UK bittorrent site thebox, that site has available for download the entire series in XviD format, made from the 2009 BBC4 rebroadcast of this series. Excellent quality by the way, even if there is that annoying BBC4 bug in the upper left hand corner.

[Ray Faiola]

Yes, I have a copy of the series - recorded on my trusty Sony Betamax! Excellent doc with many terrific interviews (Hermes Pan, Pandro Berman, etc).

Warners says releasing this is a licensing nightmare.

[silentstar5]

I found the entire six part series recently on YouTube. I think it is the best documentary about a studio considering all the people who participated in it. From stars to studio personnel they talk frankly about RKO and their co-workers. Even Katherine Hepburn appears in it.

[Salty Dog]

I found the documentary on YouTube, but when I tried to play the first
episode, I found it was blocked in the USA by Warner Brothers.

[didi-5]

It's a brilliant documentary. With MGM: When the Lion Roars and Hollywood, it just about covers the classic movie era.

[miltonebx]

I am new at this site. First posting--here goes.

RKO stands for Radio Keith Orpheum. The studio was Radio Pictures and it merged, circa 1938, with Keith and Orpheum which were 2 movie exhibit chains. Some later logos showed Radio Pictures and RKO following.

[momsne]

According to The RKO Story, the creation of RKO was the result of Joe Kennedy teaming up with David Sarnoff in 1929 to form Radio pictures, then adding the Keith and Orpheum vaudeville theaters to the operation. Movie companies wanted to own theaters to show their movies in. AFAIK, Kennedy's timing was great, he cashed out just before the stock market crashed.

[daveboz]

Here in The Great White North, only the first episode is blocked on YooTooB. No matter, I got it on tape when it aired on A&E eons ago.

And the aspect ratio -- as seen on YT -- is WRONG. Tooooo wide. Who screws these things up, anyway?

[moviepas]

Yes, I saw this when it was new here in Australia in government ad-free TV(they ran the Patrick Stewart narrated MGM Lion series as well). I had this on VHS from the broadcasts but some one wiped some out with other material. Funny thing was I always took the tabs off and there was no sign of any tape being used to dub over. I guess some nightmares experienced for DVD etc would be any footage that is not in the RKO collection at Warners because it belongs to others now. What gets me is how come any got cleared when the series was been compiled and since been on TCM or whoever. What's the difference for a DVD? Afterall if it's on TCM than it can be copied Free, on DVD most would have to pay for it. Makes little sense. I do remember the scenes showing files and scripts. Don't where that was and where it might be now. Supposedly there was a lot of material left when Desi & Lucy moved into the two RKO studios & they are said to have disposed of it. Then there is the FBO material that was said to have been in New York and disappeared after Joe Franklin & a partner could not talk turkey for a TV series with some guy who had control of it.

Because of the origins of RKO, NBC did some radio shows from RKO studios and RCA-Victor made many LA sessions there. Made sense to do that if they had the space. A lot of problems with the last years of RKO can only be laid at the feet of Howard Hughes.