HE WAS THE FIRST SUPERAGENT AND THEN 'THE LAST MOGUL'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

ANYBODY INTERESTED in seeing the documentary ``The Last Mogul'' probably already knows the high and low points of its subject, Hollywood wheeler-dealer supreme Lew Wasserman.

And, of course, they'll hope to learn more about the crafty talent agent with the cubist eyeglasses who went on to run Universal Studios and get himself all powered up in Sacramento and Washington.

They'll be expecting some inside scoop on how Wasserman changed show business several times over: packaging movie talents, winning film-profit percentages for stars, shifting studios into the threatening but lucrative television business, manipulating guilds and government agencies with the help of his first actor client Ronald Reagan, etc.

But they will be disappointed. A notoriously secretive and private man - he's credited with the dictum that his MCA agents should never attract a sliver of the media spotlight reserved for stars - Wasserman left sparse recorded and written records of his brilliant cunning. Filmmaker Barry Avrich, then, has very little primary material to build his biography on.

What we do see in ``The Last Mogul'' is certainly worthwhile. But it would be informative mainly to people unfamiliar with Wasserman. And how many of them would have an interest in seeing it?

Anyway, it's a great American success story of ``Godfather''-ish dimensions. The son of impoverished Russian immigrants who grew up in a corrupt Cleveland slum, Wasserman worked his way from speakeasy doorman to local band booker to MCA agency boss Jules Stein's top lieutenant. Of course, in the 1930s, MCA's music business was joined at the hip to organized crime, but like many a more thorough investigation of Wasserman's dealings, ``Last Mogul'' fails to make any gunsmoke connection between Wasserman and the mob.

His titanic temper is mentioned but backed by precious little anecdotal evidence. His utter lack of a sense of humor is noted, but you can't help but chuckle at the motto his efforts to bring dignity to the agenting business inspired: ``Dress British, think Yiddish.''

A variety of talking heads don't exactly eulogize Wasserman, but few dare to be very critical. Most fascinating is ex-superagent Mike Ovitz, who got his start in show biz as one of Wasserman's Universal Studios Tour guides and engineered the sale of MCA to Japan's Matsushita Corp., which marked the beginning of Wasserman's fade from power.

As there are more living sources to document them, the later great accomplishments of Wasserman's career - pushing Reagan into politics while simultaneously becoming the Democrats' top Hollywood fundraiser, creating the modern movie blockbuster with that kid Steven Spielberg and his mechanical shark - are examined at greater, more satisfying length. In the end, ``The Last Mogul'' is a tantalizing introduction to a subject that deserves much further research.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

THE LAST MOGUL - Two and one half stars

(Not rated: language)

Director: Barry Avrich.

Running time: 1 hr. 45 min.

Playing: ArcLight, Hollywood.

In a nutshell: Documentary about Hollywood's last great power broker, Lew Wasserman, suffers from the fact that the agent-turned-studio pasha never did interviews nor kept records about his groundbreaking deals. Lots of interesting history is presented, but we're left wanting more details.