The Last Tycoon (2017)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Tycoon – a miniseries in nine parts – is a historical drama which premiered on Amazon Prime Video in 2017.

 

The topic is the life in and around a (fictional) Hollywood movie studio in the 1930s.

 

Here is some basic information about this drama:

 

** Created by Billy Ray

** Screenplay written by Billy Ray, Scott Hornbacher and others

** Based on an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)

** Directed by Billy Ray, Julia Cox, Desta Tedros Reff and others

** Original music composed by Mychael Danna

** Run time: 9 x ca 55 minutes = ca 495 minutes

 

The cast includes the following:

 

The first group

** Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr – Pat Brady’s right-hand man

** Dominique McElligott as Kathleen Moore – a waitress

** Kelsey Grammer as Pat Brady – a studio manager (Brady American Pictures)

** Rosemarie De Witt as Rose Brady – Pat’s wife

** Lily Collins as Celia Brady – Pat and Rose’s daughter

 

The second group

** Enzo Cilenti as Aubrey Hackett – screenwriter

** Koen De Bouw as Tomas Szep – a fixer

** Bailey Noble as Bess Burrows – an actress

** Jennifer Beals as Margo Taft – an actress

** L. Scott Caldwell as Lucille Owen – Margo’s maid

 

The third group

** Mark O’Brien as Max Miner – an office boy

** Michael Siberry as Georg Gyssling (1893-1965) – German consul in Los Angeles 1927-1941

** Jennifer Marsala as Birdy Peters – Pat Brady’s secretary

** Robert Picardo as Leopold Ferber – an Austrian musician

** Iddo Goldberg ass Fritz Lang (1890-1976) – a movie director

 

The fourth group

** Stephanie von Pfetten as Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) – an actress

** Saul Rubinek as Louis B. Mayer (1884-1957) – a studio manager (MGM)

** Seth Fisher as Irving Thalberg (1899-1936) – Louis B. Mayer’s right-hand man

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald was an American author whose last unfinished novel was published posthumously in 1941, one year after the author’s death. This drama is (loosely) based on this novel.

 

The story is set in and around the (fictional) Hollywood studio Brady American Pictures (in Los Angeles, California).

 

The time frame is quite short: the story begins in 1936 and ends about one year later, in 1937.

 

While most characters are fictional, the following five characters are real historical persons:

 

** Georg Gyssling

** Fritz Lang

** Marlene Dietrich

** Irving Thalberg

** Louis B. Mayer

 

The following three characters are loosely based on real persons:

 

** Pat Brady is inspired by Louis B. Mayer

(1884-1957)

** Monroe Stahr is inspired by Irving Thalberg

(1899-1936)

** Margo Taft is inspired by Merle Oberon

(1911-1979)

 

What do reviewers say about this historical drama?

 

Here are the results on Rotten Tomatoes:

 

** 45 percent = The critics

** 92 percent = The audience

 

As you can see, there is a huge difference between the critics and the audience in this case. If you ask me, the professional critics are too negative, while the general audience is too positive.

 

On IMDb it has a rating of 76 percent, which corresponds to a rating of 3.8 stars on Amazon. This rating is somewhere between the critics and the audience, but in my opinion, it is still too high. 

 

Why?

 

There is a lot of glamour in this drama. The costumes are excellent, and so is the cinematography. But this is not enough to save it, because it has some flaws which cannot be overlooked. Let me explain:

 

# 1. Some elements are unrealistic. An obvious example is the Chinese vase that is seen in the beginning of episode 1. Celia accidentally drops it on the floor and it breaks into a thousand pieces.

 

Monroe tells his secretary to find some glue and put the pieces together. Later, the vase is seen again, and now it appears to be a brand new vase!

 

[The vase is seen one more time: at the end of the final episode. I think it plays an important role in the story - as a symbol - because the drama begins and ends with a view of this vase, but I am not sure what role it is.]

 

# 2. Three female characters look almost alike, because they have exactly the same hairdo: Bess, Rose, and Kathleen. It is hard to tell them apart, especially in the beginning.

 

Why did the director decide to give three female characters exactly the same hairdo?

 

# 3. Sometimes a topic is introduced and discussed with strong emotions, but after a while it fades away and we never find out how the discussion ends. These topics are left hanging in the air, which is most unfortunate.

 

Here are two examples:

 

(A) Unions in the movie studio. Some workers want to set up a union, but the manager is strongly against it.

 

What happened?

 

(B) Nazi Germany tries to control the contents of movies produced in Hollywood. The German consul in Los Angeles Georg Gyssling visits all the movie studios in Hollywood, including the (fictional) Brady American Pictures, making his demands. He wants to censor the contents of American movies, so they will not offend the German government.

 

What happened?

 

# 4. The casting is odd.

 

Here are two examples:

 

(A) The character Pat Brady is inspired by Louis B. Mayer. But Louis B. Mayer is also a character in the drama, so he is there two times!

 

(B) The character Monroe Stahr is inspired by Irving Thalberg. But Thalberg is also a character in the drama, so he is also there two times!

 

I liked some parts of this historical drama and I wanted to give it a good rating, but as you can see, there are some flaws which cannot be ignored. I have to remove two stars because of these flaws. This is why I think this product deserves a rating of three stars (60 percent).

 

PS # 1. For more information about Nazi Germany and Hollywood, see the following items:

 

# 1. A documentary film:

 

Imaginary Witness:

Hollywood and the Holocaust

(2004)

 

# 2. A book:

 

The Collaboration:

Hollywood’s Pact with Hitler

by Ben Urwand

(Hardcover 2013)

(Paperback 2015)

 

PS # 2. Last Call is a historical and biographical drama which premiered in 2002. 

 

This film covers the last two years of F. Scott Fitzgerald's life (1939-1940). It shows how his last and unfinished novel The Last Tycoon was created.

 

*****

 The Last Tycoon

A historical drama in nine parts

(2017)

 

*****

The Last Tycoon

An unfinished novel

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

(published posthumously in 1941)

 

*****