"American Masters"
On Cukor (2000)

Director:

Robert Trachtenberg

Writer:

Robert Trachtenberg (writer)

TV Series:

"American Masters" (1983)

Original Air Date:

29 November 2000

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Music | Romance

Plot:

Widely thought of as "a woman's director," legendary film director George Cukor is profiled in this...

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title | Male Female Relationship

Cast

George Cukor	...	Himself (archive footage)
Peter Bogdanovich	...	Himself
Jean Simmons	...	Narrator (voice)
Mia Farrow	...	Herself
Angela Lansbury	...	Herself
Jack Lemmon	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gene Allen	...	Himself
Jeanine Basinger	...	Herself
Walter Bernstein	...	Himself
Claire Bloom	...	Herself
David Denby	...	Himself
Tucker Fleming	...	Himself
Signe Hasso	...	Herself
Fay Kanin	...	Herself
Gavin Lambert	...	Himself
Patrick McGilligan	...	Himself
Richard Schickel	...	Himself
Robert Wheaton	...	Himself
Shelley Winters	...	Herself

Runtime:

USA:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Turner Entertainment

intelligence, sophistication and wit

This documentary on George Cukor is informative without displaying much depth, given the length of Cukor's career and the 90 minute duration. (The DVD additional interviews featured as an extra feature are actually more amusing than those in the film itself).

Cukor's homosexuality is noted, as is his infamous Sunday men only parties. However the Clark Gable rumor as to why he was really fired from Gone With The Wind is absent, and we are told that Cukor sadly never had a significant other. (The GWTW firing is said here to be due to David O Selznick's megalomania and Cukor's objections to his on-set interference).

Apart from film clips and interviews, we also see Paulette Goddard's screen test for GWTW, home movies of Hepburn and Tracy, behind the scenes footage from Sylvia Scarlett, and Joan Crawford announcing his 1962 Oscar for My Fair Lady.

Some interesting points raised are how Judy Garland was partially responsible for the idea of the Born In A Trunk sequence being added to A Star Is Born, which Cukor was against, and which lengthened it to become cut.

Although we are told Cukor hated the label "women's director" which stuck to him, general opinion is that A Star Is Born is his masterpiece, and his 50 year 10 film relationship with Hepburn is a cinematic record of collaboration.