Odelecol
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
DipitySkillful
an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.
Yazmin
Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
Michael Fargo
The intense rush of nostalgia that Aviva Kempner's film floods the audience with is carefully interrupted with well-placed--though brief--darker sides of the facets of Gertrude Berg's extraordinarily unique life. For instance, we're shown the close relationship with her mother in earlier years, but later told a more troubling aspect which adds depth but never spoils Berg's optimism that was such a hallmark in her material.This technique is constantly employed and keeps us engaged with one exception: The McCarthy era is given a longer sequence into how the Red Channel affected those in Berg's circle and brought shame to a country that ironically also provided opportunity to many mentioned in the film, many of whom were broken beyond repair by rumor and suspicion.There's generous archival footage that covers the entirety of Berg's life, and reminds us of her contribution not only to early radio and television, but of a rare driven talent that can still touch us today. We're fortunate this film was made when it was since some of the original cast and friends and colleagues provide primary source material. This is a warm and loving portrait that also touches on difficulties most pioneers face.
lastliberal
It is always fun to go back and see the early days of TV. Coming as it did mostly or frequently from radio, this early look at a woman that was as popular as Oprah in her day.To see a strong woman like Gertrude Berg, who came from a difficult childhood due to the death of her brother and the resulting mental difficulties that beset her mother, develop a character and a family show that everyone in the country followed, was amazing.To see people like Edward R. Murrow and Ed Sullivan, and the evil red scare that brought about the show's eventual demise is a telling reminder of why Fox News and the Tea Party is so dangerous today.It was an enjoyable journey into the birth of TV, and the birth of sitcoms.
druid333-2
Gertrude Berg was a force to be reckoned with. In 1929,she produced, wrote & acted as the head of a Jewish American household,by the name of Tilly Goldberg,in a series called,The Goldbergs (how original!). Five times a week,America tuned in on the original Jewish mama,and her family. The series made it to early television in 1949,and was a runaway hit.Gertrude Berg even wrote the commercials that intertwined with the episodes (one minute Tilly would be talking about recipe's,then seamlessly segueing into an ad for coffee). Aviva Kempner (The Life & Times Of Hank Greenburg)directs a pleasant enough documentary of a pioneer of early television,who by the end of the 1950's,was pretty much forgotten in the wake of Lucille Ball,etc. During it's initial run (1949-1951),the show experienced an unpleasant run-in with the goon squad that was the House Of Unamerican Activities Commitee (H.U.A.C.),due to the fact that co star,Phillip Loeb was an accused Communist sympathizer. When sponsors started pulling out funding for the show,Berg was forced to replace Loeb with another actor to play her beloved husband (only after the show went on a brief hiatus). When the show was revived (on another television network),the letters of protest over Phillip Loeb being replaced flooded the network, but it was already too late (I won't spoil it by revealing what happened).The series would continue to run until 1955,when it was eventually phased out. The film gets support from spoken testimonies from such personae as Supreme Court Justice,Ruth Bader Ginsburg,and producer,Norman Lear (creator of 'All In The Family','Maude' & 'The Jeffersons'). The film also gets some nice mileage from original grainy black & white kine scopes of 'The Goldbergs',as well as the one off feature film,'Molly'(also known as 'Meet The Goldbergs')from 1950 (basically an extended 90 episode,minus the commercials). This film will be of interest to anybody who follows early television,or obscure pop culture. Not rated,but contains absolutely nothing to offend even the most blue-nosed prude.
boblipton
The story of Gertrude Berg, creator of Molly Goldberg, is told in a slow-starting but ultimately affecting documentary that concentrates on her professional life as the better story -- when you write the script for a five-times weekly radio show for twenty years, star in it twice a day and follow that up with half a dozen years in a weekly situation comedy for television, you don't have that much time for a personal life.But the story of Miss Berg and her ultimate failure-by-success -- it reached the point where instead of Molly Goldberg being a recognizable expression of the American spirit, she became too old-fashionedly Jewish, viewed as caricature -- is only half the story. Within the context of her life is told the tale of her television husband, played brilliantly by Phillip Loeb, smeared by the Blacklist, forced off the air and ultimately driven to suicide. That's the real heart-breaker of this movie.The clips with which fill this movie seem to have been deliberately chosen to be grainy and scratchy, perhaps because that would show their age. Instead they wind up being annoying in their choices. That, however, is a rather small complaint and, should you see this on television instead of in a theater -- as I did -- you probably will not notice.
