Paul Merton's Birth of Hollywood (2011)

Or as our hard disk recorder would have it, 'Paul Merton's Birth', which would be a different show altogether... Luckily we were spared any crying babies and instead enjoyed this 3 part documentary about the very earliest days of filmmaking in America. I think the programme would be better off titled 'Birth of American Film' because I expected more history specifically about Hollywood - Merton never even mentioned how it go its name for example. That niggle aside, the show was very entertaining, with clips of silent movies, interviews with relatives of those around at the turn of the twentieth century (plus Angela Lansbury, who nearly was!), and lots of information about the people who were responsible for turning Hollywood into the massive industry it is today. 

I really only know Merton from Have I Got News For You and other comedy shows, although I'm aware he's made shows about silent movies before. He's a great presenter, peppering his scripts with humour that you can easily miss if you take everything he says at face value. If only all documentaries had this funny approach to filmmaking I might watch a few more, and maybe learn more too. I learnt how filmmaking moved from New York to the West Coast for the weather, and to avoid mobsters; the truth about Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's wrongful arrest for murder and subsequent fall out; and how the studio system became beholden to producers over writers and directors. The difficult transition from silent to talkies was covered, and Merton packed a lot of trivia in all the way in a tale that spanned the first 20-30 years of the Twentieth Century. 

Based on this documentary I would happily seek out a few silent comedies, as well as looking out for other Merton-fronted shows like this. What really shone through the whole piece was Merton's intense love of this period of filmmaking, and this passion was communicated to me in the imaginative structures of the episodes, and the level of detail he lavished on certain aspects, particularly the tragedy of Arbuckle.