Synopsis
Martin Scorsese, perhaps the most ardent cinephile of all the great film directors, has produced a masterly account of the world's largest and most powerful film industry. Scorsese's love affair with the cinema began in this childhood, and his passion for the medium and its history makes him a compelling guide.
At over three and a half hours, the programme is a treasury of movie moments, all lovingly presented in their original screen ratios. Classic of the silent era (
Intolerance,
The Crowd) are there, as are examples from the major American genres: Westerns (from
The Searchers to
Unforgiven), Musicals (
Busby Berkeley to
All That Jazz) and gangster films (
Public Enemy to
Point Blank, along with such mould-breaking masterpieces as
Sunrise,
Citizen Kane, and
2001 – A Space Odyssey).
The Century of the Cinema is a series of highly personal documentaries made by leading film directors throughout the world. It was executive produced by
Colin MacCabe and
Bob Last for BFI TV and Channel Four Television in association with worldwide of broadcasters and distributors.