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Founded in New York in 1915 as The William Fox Studios, 20th Century Fox became one of the major players in the nascent film industry. This history of the studio concentrates on the films themselves—starting with Cavalcade, which it deems Fox's breakthrough hit—and traces the studio's history through flush times and barren patches.

The documentary is jam-packed with outtakes and clips, including several industrial films made to be shown to Fox affiliates at annual meetings. Through these, we get fascinating glimpses of the infrastructure that kept the studio system working—the on-site reference libraries, acting academies, scenery shops, and motor pools that made production-line movie-making possible, and which are well worth an entire film of their own.

This film's biggest appeal is the generous selection of movie clips illustrating the studio's history. Twentieth Century Fox boasted such personalities as Shirley Temple, Tyrone Power, Betty Grable, and Marilyn Monroe, and this documentary features a revelatory batch of outtakes and on-location home movies that show these stars off-screen and off-guard. Some of the Monroe footage is astonishing, and some of it shows her as an astonishingly bad actress.

We are also treated to reel after reel of film clips from such classics as Peyton Place, The Grapes of Wrath, Oklahoma!, The Robe, and perhaps the studio's most popular film ever, The Sound of Music, which was internally dubbed The Sound of Money. In addition, we are treated to such supplemental features as a filmed studio tour and The Robe's presentation reel.

Fascinating as all of this was, I can't imagine having the slightest desire to ever see it again. Mark this one as a "must" for rental, but keep a notepad handy when you watch it: It's packed with clips from movies you will want to own.