The Warner Brothers

by Michael Freedland

Depicts the lives of Jack, Harry, and Sam Warner and describes how they built Warner Brothers into a successful movie studio

240 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Karen Drastal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow what can I say about this book? The beginning and the end are great but the middle is just a chore to get through. It’s unfocused and full of references that are only for the serious Hollywood historians to know what the author is talking about. It was really hard to get through and I was ready to give it a lower score until the end when you find out the fate of the Warner Brothers that really blew me away! While it was a long and tough read with seriously boring sections I did find some parts as an interesting window to a bygone era. A book written in the 80’s about Hollywood moguls in the 30’s and 40’s is definitely eye opening!

[Jamie Emery · Rating 2 out of 5]

Assumes a lot of knowledge of this era of Hollywood. Didn't really show any strengths of Jack Warner until nearly the end of the book. Up until that point he is portrayed as a bit of a buffoon.
Oddly constructed sentences lacking needed punctuation make for a difficult read.

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quick read and certainly not boring, but a bit of a disappointment. When spotting this title in the library catalogue, I'd hoped it would be a history of the studios and look at the movies they made, but instead it is a very short and sketchy biography of the Warner brothers themselves, mainly focusing on Jack.

It doesn't give any sources so I'm not sure how accurate any of it is... not very, I suspect. However, there are some amusing anecdotes and witty one-liners included - such as Harry Warner's comment to a producer getting near the deadline for handing over some short films: "We don't want 'em good, we want 'em Tuesday."