Best movies like The Men who Made the Movies: William A. Wellman

Italian immigrant Rudolph Valentino makes it big in silent Hollywood, but he ends up struggling between his career and the woman he loves.

Sassy and ambitious waitress Mary Evans amuses and befriends amiable seldom-sober Hollywood film director Max Carey when he stumbles into her restaurant. Max invites Mary to his film premiere and, after a night of drinking and carousing, Mary is granted a screen test. A studio contract follows. Just as Mary finds her dreams coming true, Carey’s life and career begins its descent.

An aging silent movie comic star throws a lavish party to try and save his failing career.

An introduction and overview to Scientology.

An amoral lowlife accidentally stumbles into an acting career that sets him on a trajectory to Hollywood stardom. But everyone on whom he steps on the way to the top remembers when he is nominated for an Oscar and he runs a dirty campaign in an attempt to win.

An overview of John F. Kennedy's political career.

A desperate young writer is lured on a wild ride through the desert by a mysterious woman in this darkly comic take on the all-American road trip. Along the way they cross paths with a hapless mobster, a 6 foot transvestite and a lovesick housewife, all on the way to their celebrity TV shrink in Las Vegas... Things quickly spiral out of control into a dangerous cat-and-mouse game... a writer's frantic search for inspiration becomes intertwined with a motley crew of quirky characters seeking love and adventure at any cost.

Bobby Joe Smith returns to his home in a small town, having changed his name, his outlook on life, and gained a career as a Hollywood star. Bobby Joe finds a renewed love in Jenny Jenkins, his childhood sweetheart, whose father is the town reverend and who believes that Bobby Joe has returned as a corrupt and demoralized person. Jenny's father jealously wants no connections between Bobby and Jenny, and takes measures to keep Bobby Joe from attending any of the Homecoming activities by persuading some local boys to beat him up. This builds to a crashing climax which is utterly shocking and unexpected.

Hollywood action film star Rafe Stoker has sunk $130,000 of his own money into his own production, but can't find legitimate financing to complete the film. His mob-connected investor demands an exorbitant amount of collateral and a guarantee that Rafe hand over a commercially acceptable film in 4 weeks, then hires a gang of psycho bikers to sabotage the picture to ensure he collects Stoker's collateral. As if a cranky local cop and bad weather didn't slow production enough, Crazy Harvey decides to take Rafe out of the picture after Rafe shows him up once too often.

Summer of 1963. Carson is getting married to her boyfriend so her friends Melaina, Pudge and Luanne take her to Myrtle Beach for one last irresponsible weekend.

Loosely based biography of 1930s star Jean Harlow as she begins her climb to stardom. One of two "Harlow" film biographies that appeared in 1965, this one stars Carol Lynley in the title role that begins as Jean Harlow, a bit player in Laurel and Hardy comedies, is invited to test for director Jonathan Martin for the lead in Howard Hughes's "Hell's Angels." She is an instantaneous sensation, and in a series of films devoted more to her body than her talent, she becomes Hollywood's "Platanum Blonde."

With commentary from Hollywood stars, outtakes from his movies and footage from his youth, this documentary looks at Stanley Kubrick's life and films. Director Jan Harlan, Kubrick's brother-in-law and sometime collaborator, interviews heavyweights like Jack Nicholson, Woody Allen and Sydney Pollack, who explain the influence of Kubrick classics like "Dr. Strangelove" and "2001: A Space Odyssey," and how he absorbed visual clues from disposable culture such as television commercials.

At the height of the Great Depression, Tommy's mother has been out of work for months when Eddie's father loses his job. Eager not to burden their parents, the two high school Sophomores decide to hop the freight trains and look for work.

It’s been two years since his wife’s sudden death, and once-promising young filmmaker Alex Harty has allowed both his life and career to come to a standstill. But after he assaults a Hollywood studio executive, Alex returns to his hometown of San Francisco to reconnect with old friends for a bittersweet odyssey. Even if Alex can manage to run away from his life, will the memory of his late wife drag him back into it?

While on location in a spooky Italian villa with his Hollywood big-shot mom and her dorky boyfriend, twelve-year-old Kevin befriends a Renaissance-era girl ghost who helps him cause unrest on the set.

Helena Mora, the head of an eccentric theatrical family, has decided to sell her large estate in the Hamptons because of her recent money troubles. Before she completes the sale, she wants to have one last gathering of family and friends, with dramatic performances. Bringing everyone together, though, creates rivalries and tension, especially for Oona, a temperamental but successful movie actress who seeks the approval of her creative peers.

To help his actress girlfriend regain her confidence a Hollywood bigshot bankrolls a small budget film being made by a first-time producer and director pair. Despite the hand-to-mouth way it has to be made the film starts to come good, as does the off-set relationship between the actress and her unknown male lead.

Three sisters come to Hollywood to be movie stars. Complications arise when two of them fall in love with the same man.

A satirical film on fads in the US. A TV host on a late night show tries to convince his viewers that they should return to Rome and Roman ways.

An aspiring director working as a lowly production assistant, conspires with his aspiring producer roommate to steal the reels of a mega budgeted film he's working on.

Director William A. Wellman adds another to his long line of salutes-to-aviation films in this bio of an aviation pioneer, John Montgomery (Glenn Ford.) In 1883 he built a practical glider despite the opposition of his friends, who thought he was crazy, and of his family, who were afraid that his dreams of flying would hurt his father's political ambitions. He pursues his education at Santa Clara University where the Jesuits lend a helping and understanding hand. An earthquake destroys what appears to be a working model for an airplane, but a gold-sorting machine Montgomery invented, and then neglected, promises to provide for his financial needs to keep working on his aircraft until he gets involved in costly lawsuits defending his invention.

Biographical documentary about the life and career of the film star. What lies behind the extraordinary success of a man sometimes described as a nice guy who came first.

An examination of the craft of Marlon Brando, narrated by professionals of the film industry. The film follows his career from the stage with "A Streetcar Named Desire", through the Actors Studio and professional relationships with Elia Kazan and Stella Adler to Hollywood. An actor who redefined the limits to which a professional may go in becoming the character not only intellectually but emotionally, Brando changed the meaning of film acting.

Jane breaks into the film business while also reviving the flagging career of her film director uncle and getting him hooked up with his secretary.

After a series of Hollywood flops, famed director Harris Chappell (Jeffrey Tambor) returns to New York to relaunch his Broadway career. But Chappell's triumphant comeback begins to spiral out of control into a wild night of comic misadventure after meeting struggling actor Spencer (Jesse Plemons) and his old flame Didi (Melinda McGraw).

This program is an overview of the life and career of Joseph Stalin. It concentrates on describing and attempting to explain the origins of the policy of “terror” instigated by Stalin as leader of the USSR. There are interviews with surviving family members and experts all of whom attempt some sort of personality “analysis” of the dictator to explain his behaviour and policies. Another question that is examined is, given his record of “terror”, why was he so popular? Why did so many Russians mourn his death in 1953? This could be an overview and introduction to a study of both Stalin and USSR in the post revolution period.

Friends and co-workers recall the life of Hollywood screen star Clark Gable.

Eight hundred German filmmakers (cast and crew) fled the Nazis in the 1930s. The film uses voice-overs, archival footage, and film clips to examine Berlin's vital filmmaking in the 1920s; then it follows a producer, directors, composers, editors, writers, and actors to Hollywood: some succeeded and many found no work. Among those profiled are Erich Pommer, Joseph May, Ernst Lubitsch, Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, and Peter Lorre. Once in Hollywood, these exiles helped each other, housed new arrivals, and raised money so others could escape. Some worked on anti-Nazi films, like Casablanca. The themes and lighting of German Expressionism gave rise in Hollywood to film noir.

The second part of a BBC documentary on the latter half of the career of French director Jean Renoir.

Largely improvised with only two people privy to the "secret" - that a fictional movie was being made using the players, crew, and settings of the adult movie industry as its background. Canadian television director Ethan dreams of making it big in Hollywood. It's hard finding work, so he takes a job in the porn business to make money. Much to his fiancée's chagrin, Ethan ends up enjoying the industry more than he'd expected.

Mike Epps, Richard Pryor Jr. and others recount the culture-defining influence of Richard Pryor - one of America's most brilliant, iconic comic minds.

Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula uncovers the life and career of legendary actor Bela Lugosi, examining his early life in Hungary and Germany through his Hollywood successes and eventual decline. The film features a vast array of never-before-seen footage of the actor, ranging from remains of his 1918 film Struggle for Life to behind-the-scenes home movies on the set of RKO Studios. Lugosi is peppered with dozens of rare films clips and photographs, with the story itself coming to life thanks to the vast array of on-camera interviewees.

Honing his craft as an indie filmmaker in Germany in the early 90s, Uwe Boll never could have imagined the life that lay before him. From working with Oscar-winning actors and making films with US$60million budgets to having actors publicly disparage him and online petitions demanding he stop making films, Boll continued to work; he has a filmography of 32 features, a career that has led to his new life as a successful high-end restauranteur. Already a cult legend, he will be remembered forever in the film world; for some, as a modern-day Ed Wood, who made films so bad, they're good, while for others, a prolific filmmaker who came from a small town in Germany and never compromised his integrity while forging his own unique Hollywood trajectory.

Home videos, TV appearances and performances from the King's early films (including Love Me Tender, Loving You, Jailhouse Rock, and King Creole) tell the story of Elvis Presley's 1950s movie career in this fascinating documentary. Also included are interviews with co-stars and remastered songs such as "Anyplace Is Paradise," "Money Honey," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Long Tall Sally."

Often called the worst director in the history of cinema, Ed Wood is nevertheless a beloved figure among cult-film aficionados for his oddball productions. This documentary takes a look back at Wood's unique career at the margins of 1950s Hollywood, speaking to those who loved him and hated him. Bela Lugosi Jr. discusses his father's work in the abysmal "Plan 9 From Outer Space," while a Baptist reverend recalls how he was tricked into financing the film.