This is a Turner Classics production, with an introduction by Ben Mankiewicz and director Stanley Isaacs. As the film itself starts, Mel Brooks talks about the making of Young Frankenstein, and Alan Ladd's connection to the film. Ladd's father was the renowned actor in SO many films over the years, but Ladd Junior was a studio executive at numerous different studios, before leaving to form his own company. It moves pretty slowly, as Ladd seems to have had a stroke, or at least has difficulty speaking. Apparently, Ladd was willing to tackle some tricky film projects that the big studios were scared to touch, or at least were unwilling to fund with large budgets. Clearly, for Ladd, it's all about the P & L (and rightfully so). We see the stats for each film he discusses, and boy, he did some biggies. Mostly huge successes, he DOES talk about some of the losses. And of course, they include the info on the Oscars they did or didn't receive. Pretty interesting stuff. I recommend watching it, if you can find it. Have the pause button ready.... they keep showing full screens of summaries for people and films, but the screens disappear after just a few seconds.
