MGM: When the Lion Roars is Finally Getting a DVD Release in January 200

MGM: When the Lion Roars is Finally Getting a DVD Release in January 2009

Hosted by Patrick Stewart in 1992, This Excellent Three-part Documentary on MGM's Complete History Has Been Eagerly Awaited.


In April of 2009, MGM will be celebrating its 85th anniversary, and they apparently felt that waiting to release on DVD an important documentary about their history had to wait until then to have more relevance. Certainly when the three-part docu called "When the Lion Roars" premiered on
TNT in March of 1992, it was bar-none the most thorough documentary every done on the history of a major studio from Hollywood's golden era. Those who remember seeing it originally or remember the rare reruns of it on TCM or PBS in ensuing years have been begging Warner to release it on DVD for over a decade. And it's one three-part documentary that will hold your attention through every minute of its 360 minutes.

The reason for that is simple: MGM was a major contributor of American pop culture for most of the middle part of the 20th century. MGM was also one of the most proficient movie studios in the world that managed to not only create a happy and inspired working environment, but also concocting some of the greatest movie classics the world has ever known. Arguably, its best efficiency came during its first 13 years of operation when under the power of a name that probably sounds familiar to you from Hollywood yore: Irving Thalberg.

In the first part of this documentary, the viewer had a chance to see rare detail into the formation of MGM, how Marcus Loew bought up Metro Pictures and Goldwyn Pictures--then setting up legendary Louis B. Mayer as Vice President. The fascination is in when Irving Thalberg is brought in (with Harry Rapf) to head the production department where the real power was in getting movies made. Thalberg eventually proved that he had more creative acumen in that department and became so prolific in his ability to pick hit projects that Mayer started to resent it. The real tension, however, was in what kind of films each one wanted to see made at the studio.

hrough Part One, many rare photos and interviews never seen before are included. But you can say that for all three parts. Plus, the classy presence and voice of host Patrick Stewart adds a lot to the whole thing. From the outset of interviews, photos and rare home movies, you have Stewart acting a
lmost as an omniscient narrator of all the events, complete with atmospheric set designs on a soundstage that give the essence of the time period. Having Stewart's godlike observations on all the political insides of the running of MGM provides an awesome depth that helps us truly understand how this studio operated. It also provides a lot of harsh truths about the attempts to destroy those on the inside if, more so, certain stars who were signed to the studio during its true glory years of the 1930's and 40's.

By Part Two, the show gives us a heavily detailed account of what made Mayer and Thalberg tick. We find out that Thalberg has increased his creative drive while approving dozens of movie projects day in and day out. We're led to believe that it might have been because he was taking advantage of any life he might have had left considering he had a bad heart condition. When he has a heart attack in 1932 that puts him temporarily out of commission, Mayer steps in to enact revenge on the man he despises for taking the studio in the direction of literary dramas. Once Thalberg arrives back to MGM to resume work, he finds out that Mayer has relegated him to a lesser role in the production end of things. It all comes down to Mayer wanting to create more populist type of entertainment.

Well, this second part reminds us that had it not have been for Mayer, those glory years of musicals and dramatic spectacles possibly wouldn't have happened. When Thalberg dies in 1937, you can't help but argue that MGM's true golden years started then, despite Thalberg being one of the most brilliant producers of the 20th century. At this point in the documentary we hear all the background stories of all the MGM classics of the late 1930's, 40's and early 50's. We all know that "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone with the Wind" (even though, in reality, produced independently through David O. Selznick) have their own monumental tales all told in prior documentaries devoted to those movies. Nevertheless, "When the Lion Roars" still gives us plenty of details about their creation.

Notably, however, it's the inner machinations of Mayer and his associates through those golden years that tell us there was a lot of darkness behind the glittery light of the greatest movie factory in the world. We learn about Judy Garland being treated badly by Mayer and how just about every A-list star under contract at MGM were more or less slaves to Mayer's shaping of their images. While he's still beloved by many of the stars and staff, the next part goes into the details of how he became usurped by new blood in the early 1950's via decree of the true studio head, Nicholas Schenck.

That's when this documentary shows you that even in the real-life movie business, you can have Shakespearean tragedy.

Part Three, as you might guess, explores the decline of MGM and that tragic decline of Mayer. The bitter irony of Mayer is when we're told that when he was in the hospital dying in 1957 after being bumped out a number of years earlier by a new forward-thinking manager of the studio, Dore Schary, he
utters to some of his closest confidants: "Nothing matters..." After the magnificent spectacle Mayer created, he's reduced to a speck of dust in his own mind and a victim of the hard-boiled movie industry.

Schary hardly bats an eye about Mayer's decline after leaving the studio and plows into taking MGM into new territory. Most of that direction was more dramatic and edgier fare that was also slightly more cerebral. In that regard, it was somewhat like another Thalberg. But with the advent of TV creating competition, Schary was soon gone and "When the Lion Roars" will show younger generations just how ephemeral the golden age of the studio was when the competition of TV slowly brought the studio down more than a few notches by the 1960's. Yes, the studio continued to make movies (and still does), though never recaptured the era Mayer took it to.

Now that this outstanding documentary is finally coming to DVD in January of '09, those interested in the history of the old studio system can finally put everything into perspective how the process worked, through inspiration, obsession and usual sinister corporate maneuvers. Unlike studios today with similar ugly inside problems, MGM was able to still project the sheen of class from the outset that's still unsurpassed. The production values on "When the Lion Roars" itself is about equal to anything MGM once produced in the Mayer era and deserves to be in your classic movie (or documentary) DVD collection.