AMERICAN FILM: STARS & STUDIOS
I. THE PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM
A. 1931, film industry moved from Central Producer system to PRODUCER-UNIT
SYSTEM
B. This system of production lasted from around 1931 to around 1955
C. Specialization had been increasing:
1. Different directors specialized in various genres
2. Difficult for the central producer to keep tabs on production
3. Also difficult to be an “expert” in every genre
4. Therefore assistants took over a degree of control (but the central
producer still kept a high degree of control)
5. Films of a particular studio were beginning to all “look alike”
D. Specialization continued & intensified with the Producer-Unit system
1. The central producer was replaced by a number of producers
2. One of the reasons was a desire to decrease costs
3. More different kinds of movies could be produced
4. Finally, individuality & creativity would be seen in these films
E. CONCLUSION
1. The Producer-Unit system was adopted by all of the Big 5
2. It really changed very little at the studios
3. Part of a increase in specialization & departmentalization
a. It increased the division of labor
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b. Jobs in other departments also became more specialized
c. New jobs were created by the use of sound & color
II. THE HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
A. THE BIG 5
1. PARAMOUNT
a. Owned by far the largest chain of theaters
i. In the 1930s, mortgages almost sank the company
ii. After WW 2, a source of huge profits
iii. 1940s-50s, most profitable & powerful of the Big 5
b. Made many films we remember from the Studio Era
i. The musicals & sex comedies of Ernst Lubitsch
ii. Marlene Dietrich, the Marx Bros. & Mae West, etc.
iii. However, the real profits came from more popular films
a) Bing Crosby & Bob Hope
b) Director Cecil B. DeMille
iv. In addition to feature films, Paramount offered theaters:
a) High-quality newsreels
b) The cartoons of the Fleischer Bros. studio
2. LOEW’S/MGM
a. MGM was the production branch of Loew’s, Inc.
i. Loew’s theater chain was concentrated in NYC
ii. Small chain, survived the Depression in good shape
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iii. Later, the lack of theaters hurt Loew’s
b. Remembered for its prestige productions:
i. Stars: Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, & Spencer Tracy
ii. It also produced Technicolor musicals
c. But profited from less sophisticated films: Tarzan movies, B film
series such as Andy Hardy
d. Comedies of the Hal Roach Studio, Hearst Newsreels, & MGM cartoons
3. 20TH CENTURY-FOX
a. In 1935, Fox merged with 20th Century Pictures
b. Stars: Shirley Temple, Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, & Betty Grable
c. Known for Technicolor musicals, socially-conscious films
d. Also B films (the Charlie Chan series) & newsreels
4. WARNER BROS.
a. Warner bought First National in 1928, joining the Big 5
b. Remembered for social expose films, gangster films, & backstage
musicals; most of these were box office losers
c. Biggest profits came from moderately-budgeted mainstream
comedies & biographies
d. Distributed Vitagraph musical shorts & most popular cartoons of 40s
5. RKO
a. Result of RCA’s purchase of Film Booking Office studio, Keith &
Orpheum chains
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b. Its output was erratic
i. It made good films (King Kong, Citizen Kane)
ii. But it made a lot of really bad films also
c. Few of RKO’s films were successful at the box office
d. Distributed Pathe newsreels & Disney animation
B. THE LITTLE 3
1. UNIVERSAL
a. Important in the silent era, not in the 1930s-40s
b. It specialized in:
i. Abbott & Costello features & horror films
ii. Cheap serials (Jungle Jim, Flash Gordon)
iii. Cheap newsreels
iv. Cheap cartoons (Walter Lantz studio)
2. COLUMBIA
a. Small, cut-rate studio, remembered for Frank Capra films
b. Most of its output consisted of B films
i. Westerns
ii. Series based on comic strips & comic books
iii. Shorts starring the 3 Stooges (very popular)
3. UNITED ARTISTS
a. UA was created by Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, &
Douglas Fairbanks to distribute their films
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b. When they decreased or stopped production, UA could not distribute
enough product to show a profit
c. Until the 1950s, operated on the margins of the industry
C. POVERTY ROW
1. MONOGRAM specialized in cheap versions of standard films
2. REPUBLIC specialized in singing cowboy movies
III. THE FILMS
A. New technologies provided new sets of parameters
B. Concentration led to increased standardization of production
C. Much continuity from the silent era to the sound era
1. New possibilities countered by the increased conservatism
2. CHC absorbed the new technologies
D. ADAPTING TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES
1. SOUND
a. Sound could be used to help define space
i. Offscreen sound helped create a 3-D world
ii. Onscreen sound could help define space
b. DIALOGUE
i. Remember, in Hollywood narratives individual characters are of
paramount importance
ii. Sound was a way of more fully developing characters & defining
character traits
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c. MUSIC
i. Nondiegetic music (“background music”) reinforced the “proper”
emotional responses
ii. Music helped define & identify characters
iii. A market developed for records of film music
d. SOUND DEVICES FOR CONTINUITY
i. SOUND BRIDGE
ii. DIALOGUE HOOK
2. DEEP FOCUS
a. By the late 1930s, a clear trend toward use of deep focus
i. It had been used as early as the 1920s
ii. But new film stocks & lenses made it more feasible
b. Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane in 1941 brought it to the attention of
mainstream filmmakers
i. Although Welles used deep focus for primarily stylistic purposes,
the CHC adapted it to the CHC narrative style
ii. It was used to help establish relationships among characters in a
number of planes of action
iii. It was always used to support the narrative
c. With the use of deep focus, takes became longer, but not enough to
draw attention to their length
3. COLOR
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a. Early attempts at color include HAND-COLORING (1896-1910) &
TINTING & TONING (1910-27)
b. TECHNICOLOR
i. Eastman Kodak, DuPont, & others researched color, but most
important was TECHNICOLOR, INC., founded in 1915
ii. All studios rented equipment from Technicolor, & employed the
services of an “advisor”
iii. 2-COLOR TECHNICOLOR
a) In the 1920s, developed a 2-color system (red & green)
b) Wasn’t used extensively; expensive & unrealistic-looking
iv. 3-COLOR TECHNICOLOR
a) In 1932, the 1st successful 3-color system (red, green, & blue)
b) Used 3 rolls of film run through the camera
c) It was very expensive, & still had a limited range of colors; the
result was garish
d) Used mostly for spectaculars, musicals & animation, especially
Disney cartoons
E. CONCLUSION
1. Despite changes in the industry & technology, the Hollywood studios
managed to not only retain power, but to increase it
2. New techniques, genres & stars were adapted to the CHC narrative style,
resulting in a great deal of continuity in the CHC throughout its history
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