The Brothers Warner (Cass Warner, 2008): U.S.A.

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy. Viewed at the SBMOA, Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Every documentary film has the potential of slanting the truth in one direction or another, but The Brothers Warner is a film honestly and lovingly compiled by Cass Warner, the granddaughter of Harry Warner.  It is an overview of his life which also offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of his three younger siblings Abe, Sam and Jack L. Warner.  This film is not an exhaustive biography on the history of the Warner Brothers studio; Richard Schickel made a five hour mini-series for PBS, narrated by my man Clint (Eastwood), called You Must Remember This:  The Warner Brothers Story – one should not confuse the two films.

Cass Warner’s film begins with the brothers coming to America as immigrants with their parents; it presents the family as hard-working individuals and also supportive to each other as a group.  The three older brothers started out in the entertainment business as early distributors – Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery – and then as exhibitors in New Castle Pennsylvania – the Cascade Theatre.

The brothers eventually formed their own production company called Warner Brothers Inc. and were pioneers in the use of synchronized sound with the 1927 release of The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson.  Warner Brothers employed an incredible line-up of prolific names such as: Darryl F. Zanuck, Ernst Lubitsch, Edward G. Robinson, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and one of my personal favs, Miss Bette Davis (yep, and I even have her autograph), plus many, many more.

With great triumph comes great tragedy and the brothers were not exempt.  Brother Sam passed away in 1927 at the start of their real success, and Harry lost his only son and heir-apparent at the young age of 23.  By 1956 the three remaining brothers mutually decided to sell the studio and retire, but Jack made an under-handed maneuver and bought back his stock after the other two brothers sold theirs.  Immediately after this Harry’s health failed him in what appeared to be signs of a broken heart.  He never spoke to Jack again nor did he regain his strength, passing away in 1957 at 78.

I highly recommend this documentary for any self-proclaimed film buff – one should educate themselves on behind-the-scenes goings-on.  Cass Warner was generous with the Q & A session after the screening, admitting that she did not readily have all of the facts regarding the day to day operations of the studio, as it was.  I asked Cass what her opinion was of today’s Hollywood blockbuster films – since I myself found most of them unappealing – her answer was “I’ll talk with you in private.”

Cass’ grandfather believed that the entertainment industry had certain obligations to the public that went beyond box office success (of which I personally agree with).  For her own production company Warner Sisters, she has taken on the mantra “to educate, entertain and enlighten.”