HOLLYWOOD
Stars &
Studios
PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM
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1931, industry moved away from Central
Producer system to PRODUCER-UNIT
SYSTEM
Lasted from around 1931 to around 1955
PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM
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Specialization increased under Central
Producer system
– Different directors under central
producer specialized in various
genres of films
– Difficult for central producer to keep
tabs on growing number of films
– Also difficult for central producer to
be an “expert” in every genre
PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM
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Various studios’ central producers began
assigning assistants to take over a degree of
control over smaller groups of films
Central producer still maintained high
degree of control over all of the film
production at a given studio
Films of a particular studio beginning to all
“look alike”, influence of central producer
decreasing the individuality of the films
PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM
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Specialization continued & intensified with
Producer-Unit system
Central producer replaced by a number of
producers ( “associate producers”)
Desire to decrease costs; with a smaller
number of films for each producer to
supervise, he could keeper tighter control
over costs
More different kinds of movies produced;
producers made movies within their
specializations
Individuality & creativity increased
PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM
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Producer-Unit system adopted by all Big 5 studios
Allowed them to make even more films, more
efficiently, than during the silent era
Part of general increase in specialization &
departmentalization at the studios
Increased the division of labor
Jobs in other departments also became more
specialized
New jobs created by new technologies of sound &
color (technicians, dialogue writers, voice coaches)
Required new jobs in other departments (make-up,
costume, prop, etc.)
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Owned largest chain of theaters, esp. in the
South & Midwest
– In 1930s, during Depression, mortgages on
these properties almost sank the company
– When industry (& US) recovered in WW II,
these theaters source of huge profits
– In 1940s-50s, Paramount by far most
profitable & powerful of Big 5
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During these years, Paramount made many of
the films we value most from the Studio Era
Paramount Stars
Marlene Dietrich
Paramount Stars
The Marx Bros
Mae West
Paramount Stars
Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour & Bob Hope
Fleischer Bros. Studio
Popeye
Fleischer Bros. Studio
Superman
Fleischer Bros. Studio
Betty Boop
Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer
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MGM production branch of Loew’s, Inc.
Loew’s theater chain concentrated in
NYC
Company survived Depression in good
shape (premiere film company of 1930s)
In the post-Depression boom, however,
lack of theaters hurt Loew’s
MGM Stars
Greta Garbo
MGM Stars
Clark Gable
Spencer Tracy
MGM Movies
Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
MGM Movies
Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
Hal Roach Studio
Laurel & Hardy
Hal Roach Studio
Our Gang
MGM Animation
MGM Animation
Tex Avery’s Wolfie and Red
20th Century-Fox
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1935, Fox merged with 20th Century
Pictures
Best remembered for its Technicolor
musicals & its “socially-conscious” films
20th Century-Fox Stars
Sonja Henie
Shirley Temple
20th Century-Fox Stars
Betty Grable
Tyrone Power
20th-Century Fox Movies
Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937)
Warner Bros.
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From profits from innovation of sound movies,
Warner bought First National in 1928, making it
a major player in the Big 5
Remembered for social expose films, gangster
films & backstage musicals
Most of these films were box office losers
Biggest profits from moderately-budgeted
mainstream comedies & biographies; specialized
in contemporary genre films
Warner also distributed Vitagraph musical shorts
Warner Bros. Stars
Humphrey
Bogart
Warner Bros. Stars
Bette Davis
Warner Bros. Animation
RKO
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Result of RCA’s purchase of Film
Booking Office, Keith & Orpheum chains
Output was erratic
Few of RKO’s films were successful at
the box office
RKO Movies
Disney Animation
Mickey Mouse
Donald Duck
Disney Animation
Snow White (1937)
Universal
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Important in silent era, but fell on hard
times in 1930s-40s
It specialized in:
• Abbott & Costello features
• Horror films (the best!)
• Cheap serials (Jungle Jim, Flash
Gordon)
• Cheap newsreels
• Cheap cartoons
Universal Movies
Abbott & Costello
Universal Horror Movies
Universal Horror Movies
Universal Serials
Walter Lantz Studio
Woody Woodpecker
Chilly Willy
Columbia
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Small, cut-rate studio
Remembered especially for its Frank
Capra films
• Most of its output consisted of B films
– Westerns
– Series based on comic strip & comic
book characters
– Shorts starring the 3 Stooges (very
popular)
Columbia Movies
Claudette Colbert Clark Gable
Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934)
Columbia Movies
Batman & Robin
Columbia Shorts
The Three Stooges
United Artists
Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie
Chaplin & DW Griffith
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Created by Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith,
Charlie Chaplin, & Douglas Fairbanks to
distribute their films
When they decreased or stopped
production, could not distribute enough
independent product to show a profit
Until 1950s, operated on the margins of
the industry
Monogram Movies
Federal Bullets (1937)
Monogram Stars
The Bowery Boys
Republic
Republic Movies
THE FILMS
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New technologies increased possibilities with
which filmmakers could work
Concentration of industry led to increased
standardization of production
Despite the changes, much continuity from the
silent era to the sound era
New possibilities was countered by increased
conservatism at the studios
CHC narrative easily absorbed new
technologies, resulting in a highly marketable
product
ADAPTING TO NEW
TECHNOLOGIES
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SOUND
– Sound could be used to help define space
• Offscreen sound helped create a sense of a
fully developed, 3-dimensional world
• Onscreen sound could help define the
space it came from (echoes, distant
sounds, etc.)
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DIALOGUE
– Remember, in Hollywood narratives
individual characters are of paramount
importance
– Sound a way of more fully developing
characters & defining character traits
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MUSIC
Nondiegetic music (“background music”)
added to help reinforce “proper” emotional
responses: drama, comedy, fear, etc.
Music could be used to help define &
identify characters; important characters
had particular “themes”
Both outgrowths of the use of live music in
silent film exhibition
Studios also found that there was a market
for records of film music
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SOUND DEVICES FOR CONTINUITY
– Work with continuity editing to help
create smooth transitions between
shots & scenes, keeping our attention
on the narrative
– SOUND BRIDGE
– DIALOGUE HOOK
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DEEP FOCUS
– By late 1930s, clear trend toward the
use of deep focus cinematography
• It had been used as early as the
1920s
• However, new film stocks & lenses
made it more feasible
– Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane, in 1941,
brought it to the attention of
mainstream filmmakers
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CHC adapted it to the CHC narrative style
– Used to help establish relationships
among characters in a number of planes
of action
– Always used to support the narrative
• Takes became longer, but not to the point
where they would draw attention to their
length