Did you know that the "Worner Brothers" came from the Russian Empire? Let me tell you how it happened.
Their surname was Wonskolaser. Four brothers, sons of a cobbler, fleeing from Jewish pogroms and poverty. Their dying father made them take an oath: "Never betray each other."
They arrived in America with nothing, sold the family horse to buy an old projector. Their first cinema was just chairs, and the audience were debtors at a funeral home. Years passed, they were on the verge of bankruptcy.
They were saved by a dog — yes, the dog Rin Tin Tin! Films with him brought crazy money and pulled the studio out of debt. But they were still second-rate. Then they went all-in on sound cinema. "The Jazz Singer" — that was their triumph.
They killed silent cinema and became the kings of Hollywood. But the price was terrible.
Sam Warner, the one who believed in sound the most, died a day before the premiere — he never saw their triumph. And then the youngest brother Jack broke the oath: he convinced the elders to sell the studio and secretly bought it back through a shell company. Harry and Albert never forgave him. Jack died alone.
And "Warner Brothers," which gave us "Batman," "Harry Potter," and "The Matrix," hides not the American dream, but a real family tragedy.
