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A major undertaking for Turner Classic Movies, Moguls & Movie Stars attempts nothing less than its subtitle announces: a history of Hollywood. Across seven hour-long episodes, this documentary miniseries cruises through the major developments of the cinema, with a particular emphasis on how the studio system came to be (and came to collapse). There's even material on the days of pre-cinema--the first episode actually begins in 1889, before moving pictures could be projected on the screen. Even with all that time available to writer-producer Jon Wilkman and his consultants, this is a selective pass through the material; much is left out or glossed over, and certain iconic movie stars stand in for the many left unmentioned. The weight is on those moguls, the ambitious men--mostly hungry immigrants--who saw an opportunity in Southern California's orange groves and created the amazing, vertically integrated system that operated as a "dream factory" for a few silvery decades.

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