William Powell: A True Gentleman (2005)
A short documentary about William Powell.
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A brilliant film that helped define a genre
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
William Powell: A True Gentleman (2005) *** (out of 4) Michael York narrates this 31-minute documentary covering the life and career of William Powell. We get interviews with film historians Rudy Behlmer, Leonard Maltin, Emily Carman and Powell Archivist Christian Anderson who discuss what made the actor so popular and remembered today. Throughout the glory days of DVD no one was better than Warner in regards to making documentaries about Golden Age stars. This one here, while good, is somewhat disappointed because it's not nearly as detailed as what we're used to. At just 31-minutes we get some basic information about Powell but there are several gaps in the story to where we don't hear about what the actor was doing or hearing about the films he was making. Considering this can be found on THE THIN MAN bonus disc, a lot of discussion is given to that series and Powell's other films with Myrna Loy. The four people interviewed all do a nice job with their stories as well as sharing their favorite moments with Powell. Some of the most interesting stuff is covering Powell's early career on the stage where he had to borrow money to get into Dramatic school as his father didn't approve of the profession and refused to help him. Even with the short running time, those unfamiliar with the actor will get to see clips from some of his best movies as well as information about his personal life with many famous stars.