American Masters: "Sam Goldwyn" (PBS)

Film Reviews | Regular Feature Film Reviews American Masters: "Sam Goldwyn" (PBS) "Only one thing is important—to survive. If you can survive 51% of the time. . .you're a winner." —Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn made his mark as an independent producer in Hollywood not by surviving every setback but by surviving more times than not. The new American Masters Public Television documentary, "Sam Goldwyn," follows the life and career of a man who was as complicated as he was difficult to work with. Based on theA. Scott Berg's biography, Goldwyn: A Biography, which was published in its latest addition in 1998, this portrait manages the producer's contradictions with subtlety and dexterity as it refuses to polish up his rough edges. Director Peter Jones's very appropriate decision to approach Goldwyn through a prismatic lens is evident even from the program's opening. Layered over a sweeping tracking shot of his most beloved artifacts are multiple voice-over descriptions by those who knew him. "Sam was sensitive." "He was dictatorial." "Kind." "An overlord." "The most unusual producer I've ever worked for." As his son, Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., explains, "He was part truth, part fiction." His knack for selfconstruction and continual self-reinvention made him an elusive figure, but "Samuel Goldwyn" capitalizes on this elusory quality, insisting that his many sides are what make his place in film history so fascinating. This place was that of an outsider, especially given that Goldwynperceived himself as a rebel outcast. Having immigrated (as Samuel Goldfish) to the United States from Warsaw, Poland in 1899, he could never escape the bonds of the alluring promise of the American Dream, nor could he feel that he truly attained it. As he sealed pact after pact with various emerging moguls—first with Jesse Lasky, then with the Selwyn Brothers—he found himself repeatedly ousted fromthe powerful players' circle. He watched his previous partnerships Long considered one ofthe chiefarchitects ofthe Golden Age of Hollywood, Samuel Goldwyn received the Academy Award in 1947 for Best Picture for The Best Years ofOur Lives. turn into major studios such as Paramount and Metro-GoldwynMayer until arriving at a motto he had first learned in his early immigrant days as a glove salesman, "Make fewer, better." As a prestige producer, he branded his company and his films with the "Goldwyn touch." But even with this brand of "quality," the program suggests, his conflicted relationship with his identity as a Jewish immigrant resulted in an internalized form of antiSemitism that would sometimes win out over his pride and determination . Underneath Peter Jones's accomplished direction lies an intense fascination with Goldwyn's collaborative partnerships, as though the work of two is more than doubly intriguing than that of a lone renegade. One of his most important collaborations occurred with directorWilliamWy1er who made seven films with the producer and, despite numerous skirmishes, yielded many of Goldwyn's most successful films. Wyler's reputation was that he was no more agreeable than his superior, a phenomenon that turns his on camera discussion of the producer into savvy and calculated revisions of production history. Another, perhaps more riveting, example of teamwork is the partnership between Goldwyn and his second wife, Frances Gordon, who spent their forty-nine years of marriage helping to forge his image as a Hollywood executive . Having married for financial security in what one friend called "a devil's pact," Frances was forced to contend with her relative dislike for her high-maintenance husband while quelling her unrequited desire for George Cukor. When she was deciding between marrying Goldwyn or pursuing her fledgling acting career, Cukorreportedly told her, "Marry him, Frances. You'll never get a better part." And play the part she did, although she made sure that the gay director was buried next to her in the family tomb. The psychological complexities of the Goldwyn marriage are revealed with remarkable ease and intelligence, with particular care to the unacknowledged creative contributions that Frances made to her husband's career . One notable disclosure involves the resentment she felt when he glossed over her crucial role in conceptualizing The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), which she had helped launch afterreadVoI...