American Film History I, Week 8

8/8/2019 American Film History I, Week 8

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Hollywood in Transition 1939-1941

Vertical Integration fully

entrenched Writers and directors

give and take within theStudio System resultedin some of the greatestand most influentialfilms ever produced


2/36

The 1940s 1939

Stagecoach

Gone with the Wind

The Wizard of Oz

Mr. Smith Goes toWashington

The Hunchback of NotreDame

Wuthering Heights Ninotchka

Gunga Din

Beau Geste

Dark Victory


3/36

The 1940s Gone with the Wind

Definitely a David O.

Selznick Production A list stars, high production

values, extensive &creative publicity - like amodern blockbuster


4/36

The 1940s Margaret Mitchells only

novel

Paid $50,000 for therights to the novel -most ever at the time

Cost $4 million ($50million today)

3 1/2 hour run time withan intermission

The Search forScarlett garnered huge

amounts of publicityVivien Leigh & Clark Gable


5/36

The 1940s Began shooting without

the lead being cast -

supposedly Selznick constantly

leaked stories about theproduction to the press


6/36

The 1940s PCA wanted to change

the final line Frankly

my dear, I dont give adamn to I dontcare.

Selznick paid $5000 &the line stayed in


7/36

The 1940s Eight Oscars

Best Picture, Actress,Director, and Best

Supporting Actress HattieMcDaniel as the first

African-American to winan Oscar

"Why should I complainabout making $700 a

week playing a maid? If Ididn't, I'd be making $7 aweek being one."


8/36

The 1940s 1940

The Great Dictator

The Grapes of Wrath His Girl Friday

The Shop Around theCorner

Rebecca

The Philadelphia Story My Favorite Wife

Fantasia


9/36

The 1940s U.S. enters the war in

1941

2/3 of America went tothe movies every week

Hard times = moremoney for the studios

Television was

available but materialswere used for the warso movies remaineddominant

Casablanca, 1941


10/36

The 1940s 1941

Citizen Kane

The Maltese Falcon Meet John Doe

Suspicion

Dumbo

The Little Foxes

Sullivans Travels Sergeant York

High Sierra

Ball of Fire


11/36

The 1940s Citizen Kane, 1941

Orson Welles, director, star& producer

25 years old & first film War of the Worlds radio

broadcast panickedaudience

Critically praised butfinancial flop because of

limited release in USbecause of controversialbiographic elements - i.e. anunflattering portrait ofWilliam Randolph Hearstwho owned most U.S.newspapers


12/36

The 1940s Sparse use of revealing

facial close-ups

Elaborate camera

movements Over-lapping, talk-over

dialogue and layered sound

A cast of characters thatages throughout the film

Flashbacks and non-linearstory-telling

Long, uninterrupted shots orlengthy takes of sequences


13/36

The 1940s Deep focus - shots with

incredible depth-of fieldand focus from extreme

foreground to extremebackground thatemphasize mise enscene (French forplacing on the stage

or everything in theframe)


14/36

The 1940s Considered one of the

most influential films of

all time Welles never again hadsuch freedom andfinancing


15/36

The 1940s Citizen Kane a financial

disappointment

Magnificent Ambersonschopped and dumpedto fit the secondfeature timeslot

Contract w/RKO was

cancelled and careernever recovered

Spent the next 30 yearsin Europe


16/36

The 1940s America entering WWII

changed everything

America had beendivided about enteringthe war

While the governmentdid not nationalize theindustry, there weresome new standards toadhere to


17/36

The 1940s Controversies over

such films as The

Great Dictatorandother anti-fascistfilms were mootafter Pearl Harbor


18/36

The 1940s Selling the War

Office of War Information(OWI) sponsored features

Directors such as JohnHuston, John Ford (whobecame a Rear Admiral) andespecially Frank Capra madefilms for the military

Capras Why we Fightseries


19/36

The 1940s Everyone pitched in

Betty Grable

Marlene Dietrichentertaining the troops


20/36

The 1940s Even Walt Disney

pitched in withhundreds of trainingand propaganda films

Der Fuehrer's Face


21/36

The 1940s Topical Features

Alfred Hitchcocks

SaboteurandForeign

Correspondent


22/36

The 1940s William Wylers Mrs.

Miniver

Ernst Lubitschs To Be or

Not to Be Mervyn LeRoys 30

Seconds Over Tokyo


23/36

The 1940s Changes in Genre

The Womens Picture

Films such as NowVoyager and My Foolish

Hearttargeted thechanging role of women

Women had to learn tolive without a man and/or

children


24/36

The 1940s Preston Sturges

Writer who kept controlby directing

Capra & ScrewballComedy without thesentimentality

Believer of dumb luck

Loved to get around thecensors

Career heyday lastedfrom 1941-1945


25/36

The 1940s

The Miracle of

Morgans Creek

Sullivans Travels

The Lady Eve


26/36

The 1940s Walt Disney

First full-length animatedfeature: Snow White,

1937


27/36

The 1940s

Bambi, 1942

Dumbo, 1941

Fantasia, 1940

Pinocchio, 1940


28/36

The 1940s John Ford

Master of the Westernalthough these were not

considered serious filmsat the time

More directing Oscarsthan anyone - 4 plus 2 forWWII films for the Navywhere he was a Rear

Admiral - he was atOmaha Beach on D-Day


29/36

The 1940s George Cukor Stage director recruited to

Hollywood as a dialogue coach

Fought to cast Katherine Hepburnin her first film & they made 8 more

together Famous for his polish & the best of

corny Hollywood, he was also,somewhat unfairly, labeled awomens director but wassuccessful at getting greatperformances out of of divas of bothsexes including Great Garbo, JoanCrawford, Cary Grant, John &Lionel Barrymore

Fired from Gone With the Windalthough he coached the actressesall through the shooting

Continued to work until 1981

Films include:A Bill of Divorcement, LittleWomen, Holiday, Camille, The Philadelphia

Story, Adams Rib, Gaslight, A Star is Born,

Born Yesterday, My Fair Ladyand the moviethat killed Garbos career, Two-Faced

Woman


30/36

The 1940s The Philadelphia Story(1940)

Starring Katharine Hepburn, CaryGrant, James Stewart

Dir. George Cukor Based on Broadway play by Philip

Barry who wrote The PhiladelphiaStoryspecifically for KatharineHepburn who backed the play,foregoing a salary in return for a

percentage of the play's profits


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The 1940s


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The 1940s Katharine Hepburn, 1907-2003 4 Best Actress Oscars, 12 nominations plus one Emmy

Athletic, graduate of Bryn Mawr, she demanded$1500/week from RKO in 1932, which, amazingly, theygave her

Real non-conformist wore pants, no make up,

intellectual, outspoken, refused to sign autographs andanswer personal questions she was nicknamed"Katharine of Arrogance" and in 1938 was voted BoxOffice Poison in a poll

Married once briefly, she never married the love of herlife, Spencer Tracy, who was married to someone else -they were together off and on from 1942 to his death in1967 and they never discussed their relationship

publically Last film in 1984 TV in 1994

Films include:A Bill of Divorcement, Christopher Strong,Alice Adams, Little Women, Stage Door, Bringing UpBaby, Adams Rib, The African Queen, Summertime, OnGold Pond, The Rainmaker, The Lion in Winter, GuessWhos Coming To Dinner, Suddenly Last Summer, LongDays Journey into Night, Pat & Mike, Holiday, SylviaScarlett, Morning Glory


33/36

The Studio System


34/36

The 1940s Cary Grant, 1904-1986 Born Archibald Leach, an English acrobat,

became the definition of suave, handsomeand debonair

Once told by an interviewer, "Everybodywould like to be Cary Grant," Grant is said to

have replied, "So would I." At ease with comedy, he starred in many in

the 1930s

Was top male star for several decades

Hitchcock said he was the only actor he everloved

Retired from film in the 1960s

Married 5 times, the last to a women 47 yearshis junior

Found peace through LSD

Films include: Blonde Venus, She Done HimWrong, Holiday, Gunga Din, His Girl Friday,Suspicion, Notorious, The Awful Truth, MyFavorite Wife, North By Northwest, Charade,

To Catch a Thief , Bringing Up Baby


35/36

The 1940s


36/36

The 1940s

James Stewart, 1908-1997 Portrayed many iconic roles in American Film

although not immediately successful becauseof his gangly looks and shy, bumbling manner

Flew bombing missions over Germany in

WWII & eventually became a BrigadierGeneral

One of the first independently contractedactors

5 Oscar nominations won forPhiladelphiaStory

Famed later collaborations with Alfred

Hitchcock and Anthony Mann (Westerns) Films include: You Cant Take It With You,

Harvey, Its a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goesto Washington, Vertigo, Rear Window, TheMan Who Knew Too Much, Rope, Anatomy ofa Murder, The Man Who Shot LibertyValance, Destry Rides Again

American Film History I, Week 8

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