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Bullets and Blood
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 5, 2019
The history of the Warner brothers and some of the people who’s lives intersected with theirs.
Really fascinating and well presented. Almost 20 hours long. The audio production was great with some clips from the movies, interviews and shows it covers.
And as an extra bonus, free to Audible subscribers.
It is obviously presented in a melodramatic way, contrasting the life of Jack Warner with that of James Cagney, one of their biggest stars. [the writer is NOT a fan of Jack L Warner]
But the person who fascinated me was Lina Basquette who married Sam Warner at eighteen. Good lord, what a life.
Sam of course, invented talkies.
Their polish Jewish cobbler father always told them that four sticks could not be broken, but when Sam died young and left only three sticks, no one could have imagined how Jack would behave.
5 stars
Really fascinating and well presented. Almost 20 hours long. The audio production was great with some clips from the movies, interviews and shows it covers.
And as an extra bonus, free to Audible subscribers.
It is obviously presented in a melodramatic way, contrasting the life of Jack Warner with that of James Cagney, one of their biggest stars. [the writer is NOT a fan of Jack L Warner]
But the person who fascinated me was Lina Basquette who married Sam Warner at eighteen. Good lord, what a life.
Sam of course, invented talkies.
Their polish Jewish cobbler father always told them that four sticks could not be broken, but when Sam died young and left only three sticks, no one could have imagined how Jack would behave.
5 stars
May 13, 2021
This is probably the largest in scale and ambition of the "Secret History of Hollywood" podcast series. Spanning many decades and following the lives of many key players in the story of Warner Brothers studios. Like the Audrey Hepburn series you can take some if the imagined conversations with a pinch of salt and/or dramatic licence but all the events are those from personal accounts. Adam Roche has done a lot of research and narrates this series superbly also creating some great characters especially foul mouthed, flatulant, Colombia studio boss, Harry Cohn.
The story of Lina Baswuette, widow of Sam Warmer, is fascinating and takes some very tragic turns.
There is also sections on Edward G Robinson and the some of the gangsters that informed films of that era and also why that genre went out of favour.
But the main focus is on Jimmy Cagney, Jack Warner, Jack Warner Jr. and Harry Warner
It's a remarkable story and an utter joy to listen play out. It has a lot of humour, a lot of pathos and a ton of karmic retribution.
Highly, highly recommended.
The story of Lina Baswuette, widow of Sam Warmer, is fascinating and takes some very tragic turns.
There is also sections on Edward G Robinson and the some of the gangsters that informed films of that era and also why that genre went out of favour.
But the main focus is on Jimmy Cagney, Jack Warner, Jack Warner Jr. and Harry Warner
It's a remarkable story and an utter joy to listen play out. It has a lot of humour, a lot of pathos and a ton of karmic retribution.
Highly, highly recommended.
September 25, 2019
Well this was a large endeavour. 30 episodes of about 30mins - 1hr length.
Bullets and Blood was a truly in depth look at the lives of the Warner Brothers and their studio (actually like 50% of the podcast was about James Cagney, one of their star actors and highly influential in Hollywood. But I liked him better anyway, so that was all good.)
The author of the podcast really put their all into the research and background, going above and beyond to give you all the little details you could ever want (and more to be honest. I don't really need to know the history of Cagney's mother's father.) And the sound clips and audio from films were engaging and added a lot to the podcast.
The story was really interesting, following the lives of the brothers from their family's escape from attacks on Jewish Poland, to their eventual ends and the lives of their grandchildren. They started from nothing, and finished with one of the largest and wealthiest studios in Hollywood. I found their innovations and entrepreneurship fascinating and really enjoyed learning about their history. Did you know that the Warners were the first to have sound in their pictures, and the first feature length film with synchronised dialogue?
I also found the story of James Cagney inspiring. He seemed like a pretty great guy, and his relationship with his wife was awesome.
However, I found the two to three chapters devoted to the Mafia and gangs rather confronting. They were quite intense and violent, and I'm not entirely sure what the point of them was. To show that gangsters were gaining in popularity? I think you could have just told me that instead of giving me an hour and a half of gang warfare. Anyway.
And content wise this podcast wasn't really holding back. There was a reasonable amount of swearing with the occasional f-word and below. Most of it was character dialogue, but it wasn't all that infrequent. There was also quite a bit of violence and gore for a podcast about Hollywood, but they spent a lot of time talking about gangsters (if you skipped the gangster episodes you'd probably miss most of the violence) and there were quite a few almost sex scenes, two of them consenting.
So to wrap it up, I would recommend this podcast to adults who are interesting in learning more about the history of Hollywood, it really was interesting and informative. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone younger.
Bullets and Blood was a truly in depth look at the lives of the Warner Brothers and their studio (actually like 50% of the podcast was about James Cagney, one of their star actors and highly influential in Hollywood. But I liked him better anyway, so that was all good.)
The author of the podcast really put their all into the research and background, going above and beyond to give you all the little details you could ever want (and more to be honest. I don't really need to know the history of Cagney's mother's father.) And the sound clips and audio from films were engaging and added a lot to the podcast.
The story was really interesting, following the lives of the brothers from their family's escape from attacks on Jewish Poland, to their eventual ends and the lives of their grandchildren. They started from nothing, and finished with one of the largest and wealthiest studios in Hollywood. I found their innovations and entrepreneurship fascinating and really enjoyed learning about their history. Did you know that the Warners were the first to have sound in their pictures, and the first feature length film with synchronised dialogue?
I also found the story of James Cagney inspiring. He seemed like a pretty great guy, and his relationship with his wife was awesome.
However, I found the two to three chapters devoted to the Mafia and gangs rather confronting. They were quite intense and violent, and I'm not entirely sure what the point of them was. To show that gangsters were gaining in popularity? I think you could have just told me that instead of giving me an hour and a half of gang warfare. Anyway.
And content wise this podcast wasn't really holding back. There was a reasonable amount of swearing with the occasional f-word and below. Most of it was character dialogue, but it wasn't all that infrequent. There was also quite a bit of violence and gore for a podcast about Hollywood, but they spent a lot of time talking about gangsters (if you skipped the gangster episodes you'd probably miss most of the violence) and there were quite a few almost sex scenes, two of them consenting.
So to wrap it up, I would recommend this podcast to adults who are interesting in learning more about the history of Hollywood, it really was interesting and informative. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone younger.
June 9, 2019
Audio Show from audible - 30 episodes
Very interesting history of the Warner brother and their family. I was surprised that the story extended so far to include short bios of other key figures included within the story. It will encourage me to read additional stories of the other characters. James Cagney’s story was a great addition. I liked the inclusion of some film clip dialogue.
Very interesting history of the Warner brother and their family. I was surprised that the story extended so far to include short bios of other key figures included within the story. It will encourage me to read additional stories of the other characters. James Cagney’s story was a great addition. I liked the inclusion of some film clip dialogue.
July 27, 2021
Got so hooked on the Warner brothers story that I've been researching it all the time. Still can't let go of the whole Harry v Jack Warner conflict. An incredible account of the story of the Warner brothers and key Hollywood figures connected with the studio such as James Cagney. Highly recommended!
December 4, 2019
Awesome way of introducing the history of Hollywood. The real life characters and their stories were as theatrical as the movies they produced. Definitely a must listen! I could not stop listening!
A range of quotes, music and sound that really brought the Warner brothers stories alive!
A range of quotes, music and sound that really brought the Warner brothers stories alive!
October 6, 2021
Somewhat overlong, over dramatised and over emotional, however still worth listening to if you have any interest in the early years of Hollywood. Mainly written around the families and story behind the Warner Bros Studio and James Cagney.
August 15, 2019
Well written and excellently read. Very captivating
October 26, 2019
What an amazing story!
September 10, 2023
Fascinating history of Hollywood primarily through the lives of James Cagney and the Warner Bros.
May 5, 2019
Epic story that starts in Poland of the 1880's and covers a wide range of characters and a large part of American history. The downside is maybe it was too ambitious, covering too much territory. Because if this, the story jumped around a bit and could be confusing. The positive us that it is a bloody good story!
The main story is about the Warner brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack, and their family staring with them fleeing the Jewish pogroms in Poland to slowly building a life for themselves in America. The dawn of the movie industry is fascinating, especially the very early motion pictures and why Hollywood was where everyone went to make movies!
The other main characters are James Cagney and family, Lena Basquette and her trials and tribulations, and Jack Warner, Junior and his struggles to keep a relationship with his father. Adam Roche is good at humanising these characters. Even the ones who are not very pleasant, like Jack Warner, Senior himself, Adam is still able to make us care, or at least feel sorry for him. Towards the end, he uses clips from interviews and speeches which helped to bring a few of the characters to life. I felt it was overall well done, if maybe a bit overreaching.
The main story is about the Warner brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack, and their family staring with them fleeing the Jewish pogroms in Poland to slowly building a life for themselves in America. The dawn of the movie industry is fascinating, especially the very early motion pictures and why Hollywood was where everyone went to make movies!
The other main characters are James Cagney and family, Lena Basquette and her trials and tribulations, and Jack Warner, Junior and his struggles to keep a relationship with his father. Adam Roche is good at humanising these characters. Even the ones who are not very pleasant, like Jack Warner, Senior himself, Adam is still able to make us care, or at least feel sorry for him. Towards the end, he uses clips from interviews and speeches which helped to bring a few of the characters to life. I felt it was overall well done, if maybe a bit overreaching.
October 2, 2018
brilliant if disjointed documentary about warner brothers and crime dramas etc. this may have been better if it had been split in two an audio book about James cagney and then one about the warner brothers. however did enjoy this however jack warner was a complete #&&÷# to everyone and it didn't get him that far in the end.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews