The James Dean Story

Aug 13, 1957

1h 21m

★ 5.4

The real story of the most talked-about star of our time!

Overview

Released two years after James Dean's death, this documentary chronicles his short life and career via black-and-white still photographs, interviews with the aunt and uncle who raised him, his paternal grandparents, a New York City cabdriver friend, the owner of his favorite Los Angeles restaurant, outtakes from East of Eden, footage of the opening night of Giant, and Dean's ironic PSA for safe driving.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures

The James Dean Story Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Self (archive footage)

James Dean

Narrator

Martin Gabel

Self

Lew Bracker

Self

Marvin Carter

Self

Patsy D'Amore

Self

Charles Dean

Self

Emma Dean

Self

Louis de Liso

Self

Arlene Martel

Self

Lili Kardell

Self

Christine White

Self

Clint Walker

The story of Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn whose short & flamboyant life, full of scandals, adventures, loves and excess was largely played out in front of the camera - either making movies or filling the newsreels and gossip magazines. Tragically he was dead from the effects of drugs and alcohol by the time he was only 50 & the myths live on. But there is another side of Flynn that is less well known - his ambitions to be a serious writer and newspaper correspondent, his documentary films and his interest in the Spanish Civil War and Castro's Cuba

5.6

Chaplin Today: 'Monsieur Verdoux'

Sep 22, 2003

A short documentary in the Chaplin Today series about Chaplin's "Monsieur Verdoux." Includes an interview with Claude Chabrol, whose 1963 film "Landru" concerns the same serial killer that inspired Chaplin's film.

4.8

Chaplin Today: 'Limelight'

Jul 1, 2003

A short documentary about the making of Chaplin's "Limelight."

5.4

The Circus: Premiere

Jan 13, 1928

Footage from the premiere of Charlie Chaplin's 1928 film 'The Circus'.

10.0

Impromptu

Jan 1, 2017

A journey to the origins of cinema, starting with its forgotten fathers: the pioneers who achieved moving images before 1895, the official year of the Lumière cinematograph. Through five studies by Frédéric Chopin, 'Impromptu' is also a tribute to the end of the 19th century, to its immortal muses, and to the fascination with movement itself.

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6.0

Salò: Fade to Black

Jan 1, 2001

A short documentary exploring the ongoing relevance and power of 'Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma'.

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5.0

The Concentration Universe: Making Goto, Isle of Love

Sep 8, 2014

A documentary about Borowczyk's 'Goto, Isle of Love' and its creation, featuring key cast and crew members.

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5.0

Film Is Not a Sausage: Borowczyk and the Short Film

Sep 8, 2014

A documentary about Walerian Borowczyk's short films and animation, featuring his collaborators from that time.

8.0

Lex Barker - Westernheld und Playboy

Oct 1, 2023

He is the most sought-after man in Europe in the 1960s. Lex Barker embodies the flawless hero in his films and, as Old Shatterhand, becomes a role model for generations of fans. Revered in Europe, misunderstood and almost forgotten in his native America. But who was this American who rode through Yugoslavia in a leather costume for the European audience? In 1973, Lex Barker died of a heart attack on the streets of Manhattan in New York. But no one recognizes the man who was Tarzan in Hollywood. Nobody knows him or cares about that he, as Winnetou's friend, is revered as an icon in Europe. Lex Barker's European western adventures are just a footnote in American film history. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death, the documentary tells the story of one of the most beautiful men who ever flickered across Europe's cinema screens, for whom European cinema proved to be a stroke of luck and for whom a failed Hollywood career took him via Italy to Germany.

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6.3

Auge in Auge - Eine deutsche Filmgeschichte

Jul 3, 2008

This is not merely another film about cinema history; it is a film about the love of cinema, a journey of discovery through over a century of German film history. Ten people working in film today remember their favourite films of yesteryear.

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6.5

Captain Blood: A Swashbuckler Is Born

Apr 20, 2005

This documentary is featured on the DVD for Captain Blood (1935), released in 2005.

4.4

Montgomery Clift

Jan 1, 1983

A documentary incorporating footage of Montgomery Clift’s most memorable films; interviews with family and friends, and rare archival material stretching back to his childhood. What develops is the story of an intense young boy who yearned for stardom, achieved notable success in such classic films as From Here to Eternity and I Confess, only to be ruined by alcohol addiction and his inability to face his own fears and homosexual desires. Montgomery Clift, as this film portrays him, may not have been a happy man but he never compromised his acting talents for Hollywood.

6.3

Roundhay Garden Scene

Oct 14, 1888

The earliest surviving celluloid film, and believed to be the second moving picture ever created, was shot by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince using the LPCCP Type-1 MkII single-lens camera. It was taken in the garden of Oakwood Grange, the Whitley family house in Roundhay, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire (UK), possibly on 14 October 1888. The film shows Adolphe Le Prince (Le Prince's son), Mrs. Sarah Whitley (Le Prince's mother-in-law), Joseph Whitley, and Miss Harriet Hartley walking around in circles, laughing to themselves, and staying within the area framed by the camera. The Roundhay Garden Scene was recorded at 12 frames per second and runs for 2.11 seconds.

6.0

Vivement Truffaut

Jul 12, 1985

A tribute to the late, great French director Francois Truffaut, this documentary was undoubtedly named after his last movie, Vivement Dimanche!, released in 1983. Included in this overview of Truffaut's contribution to filmmaking are clips from 14 of his movies arranged according to the themes he favored. These include childhood, literature, the cinema itself, romance, marriage, and death.

6.0

Twenty Years After

Jan 1, 1944

This short celebrates the 20th anniversary of MGM. Segments are shown from several early hits, then from a number of 1944 releases.

7.0

The Latino List

Sep 29, 2011

Documentary film interviews leading Latinos on race, identity, and achievement.

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7.0

Thank You, Mr. Robertson

Jan 1, 1985

A glimpse of the pre-history of cinema starting with the projections of Etienne Gaspard Robert (also known as M. Robertson), who used magic lanterns and other optical illusions to develop the genre of the Gothic phantasmagoria in the late eighteenth century.

0.0

Walking with Pasolini

Sep 29, 2008

A documentary about Pier Paolo Pasolini and his film 'Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma'.

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4.0

The Human Eye

Jan 1, 1999

A 55-minute film by director Xavier Giannoli that analyses 'À nos amours'. The film features former Cahiers du cinéma editorial director Jean-Michel Frodon, actors Jacques Fieschi and Sandrine Bonnaire, and other members of the cast