Hollywood Czars and Stars: Hollywood Czars and Stars: Studio System/ Golden EraStudio System/ Golden Era

The Golden Age of Hollywood: 1930 – 1945

• 1938: 80 million movie admissions• 1994: 25 million movie admissions

________________________________• 1937: 500 feature films made in the US• 1983: Less than 100 feature films made in

the US• 1987: 515 feature films made in the US

• The need for enormous quantities of films guaranteed the survival of the studio system, which was geared for production in quantity. The huge studios of the 1920s converted to sound by adding new departments to their already complex organizations; specialization and division of labor became even more essential to the film factory.

• The film property (idea/pitch) traveled through the studio, from department to department, from story idea to finished script, until it finally landed in the hands of the director. After 15 to 30 shooting day, the director forwarded the negative to the cutting department which edited the picture and sound into final form, as instructed by the film’s producer. From the cutting department the film went to distribution offices, and from there to the waiting chains of theatre that the company itself owned.

• During the Golden Age, eight companies constituted the so-called major studios that promulgated the Hollywood studio system. Of these eight, five were fully integrated conglomerates, combining ownership of a production studio, distribution division, and substantial theater chain, and contracting with performers and filmmaking personnel:

• Fox Film Corporation (later 20th Century-Fox)Fox Film Corporation (later 20th Century-Fox)• MGMMGM• ParamountParamount• Warner BrosWarner Bros• RKO Radio PicturesRKO Radio Pictures• UniversalUniversal• ColumbiaColumbia• United ArtistUnited Artist

Paramount (1912)• Founded in 1912, as Famous Players Film Founded in 1912, as Famous Players Film

Company by Adolph Zukor, it is the oldest Company by Adolph Zukor, it is the oldest existing American film studio. existing American film studio.

During its rise it offered three categories of During its rise it offered three categories of films:films:

• Class A films: Artsy films with stage talentClass A films: Artsy films with stage talent• Class B films: Films with established screen Class B films: Films with established screen

playersplayers• Class C films: Films that were cheap and quick to Class C films: Films that were cheap and quick to

makemake

• Wings (1927)• Sunset Boulevard (1950)• Rear Window (1954)• The Ten Commandments (1956)• Vertigo (1958)• Psycho (1960)• The Godfather (1972 and 74)• Saturday Night Fever (1977)• Friday the 13th (1980)• Indiana Jones series (1981 – 2008)• Beverly Hills Cop (1984)• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

• Star Trek series (1979 – ongoing)• Forrest Gump (1994)• Braveheart (1995)• Mission: Impossible series (1996 – ongoing)• Face/Off (1997)• Titanic (1997)• Saving Private Ryan (1998)• Transformers• Cloverfield (2008)• Iron Man (2008)• Twilight (2008)• Shutter Island (2010)• Hugo (2011)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer aka MGM (1924)

• MGM started in 1924 with the merger of MGM started in 1924 with the merger of three studios, the already well-established three studios, the already well-established Goldwyn Picture Co. and two lesser known Goldwyn Picture Co. and two lesser known studios (Metro Pictures and Louis B. Mayer studios (Metro Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures), under the aegis of New York-based Pictures), under the aegis of New York-based theater chain Loews, Inc.theater chain Loews, Inc.

• The 'star system' flourished with each studio having its own valuable 'properties', and Irving Thalberg was responsible for promoting MGM's stars like no other. The 30s was the age of lavish glamour and sex appeal, and MGM became the biggest, most predominant and most star-studded studio of all, making it "The Home of the Stars." It promised "more stars than there are in heaven".

• Gone with the Wind (1939)• Wizard of Oz (1939)• Singin’ in the Rain (1952)• Ben Hur (1959)• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)• James Bond Films (1983 – present)• Rocky Balboa (2006)

Warner Bros (1918)Warner Bros (1918)

• Warner Bros. was male-dominated and fast-moving, and noted for gritty, cutting-edge, realistic films or biopics, war films, Westerns, and socially-conscious, documentary-style films. The studio also churned out Golddiggers musicals almost every year (beginning in 1929) in the decade, and in the 40s - Bugs Bunny and other cartoons. In the early 30s, Warners also inaugurated the crime-gangster film, with its Little Caesar (1930), The Public Enemy (1931), Scarface (1932), and The Roaring Twenties (1939). The studio thrived with director Michael Curtiz, and famous "tough guy" stars including: James Cagney, Paul Muni, Humphrey Bogart, and Edward G. Robinson. Its female stars were equally forbidding, and included Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Lauren Bacall, and Ida Lupino.

• The Jazz Singer (1927)• Scarface (1932)• The Maltese Falcon (1941)• Casablanca (1942)• The Searchers (1958)• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)• Dirty Harry (1971)• A Clockwork Orange (1971)• Dog Day Afternoon (1975)• Superman (1978 – 1987)• The Shining (1980)• Blade Runner (1982)• Lethal Weapon series (1987 – 1997)• Batman (1989 – 1997)

• Goodfellas (1990)• The Matrix (1999)• Harry Potter series (2001 -2010)• Dark Knight series (2004 – 2012)• The Departed (2006)• 300 (2007)• Slumdog Millionaire (2008)• Inception (2010)• The Artist (2011)

20th Century Fox (1914/1933/1935)

• 20th Century Fox was known for its musicals (especially in the 40s with Betty Grable), and prestige biographies (such as Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)). Fox Studios also capitalized on its association with Shirley Temple after the mid-30s - singlehandedly, she made over $20 million for Fox in the late 30s.

• Sunrise (1927)• Planet of the Apes (1968)• The French Connection (1971)• Star Wars (1977 – 2002)• Alien series (1978 – 1997)• Predator series (1987 – 2009)• Die Hard series (1988 – 2008)• Independence Day (1996)• Titanic (1997)• Fight Club (1999)• X Men (2000 – ongoing)• Transporter (2002 – ongoing)• Avatar (2009)

RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) Pictures (1929 – 1959)

• RKO was the locale for the first films of Orson Welles (Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)), the sophisticated dance films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, comedies, and its seminal monster film King Kong (1933).

Universal Pictures (1912)

• Universal prospered with noted director Tod Browning, westerns, W.C. Fields and Abbott and Costello comedies, the Flash Gordon serials, and its archetypal, low budget horror films such as Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) and The Wolf Man (1941).

• Dracula (1931)• Frankenstein (1931)• The Mummy (1932)• The Wolfman (1941)• Spartacus (1960)• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)• Jaws (1975)• The Deer Hunter (1978)• Conan the Barbarian• E.T (1982)• Scarface (1983)

• Back to the Future trilogy (1985 – 1990)• Do the Right Thing (1989)• Jurassic Park (1993)• 12 Monkeys (1995)• The Mummy (1999)• American Pie (1999)• Gladiator (2000)• The Bourne series (2002 – ongoing)• Hulk/The Incredible Hulk (2003 – 2008)• Wanted (2008)• Bruno (2009)• Fast & Furious series

Columbia Pictures (1919)• Columbia's best director was Frank Capra, known

for his folksy, fairy-tale "Capra corn" pictures. He directed many of this era's best populist and homespun tales with grass-roots heroes, that did surprisingly well once they were screen in small-town theatres. His romantic comedies made at the height of the Depression included the unprecedented hit It Happened One Night (1934) about a struggling hack reporter and a rich heroine thrown together, and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), about a millionaire who attempted to give away his newly-acquired inheritance.

• It Happened One Night (1934)• Batman (1943)• Superman (1948)• From Here to Eternity (1953)• The Bridge on River Kwai (1957)• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)• Dr Strangelove (1964)• Easy Rider (1969)• Taxi Driver (1976)• Gandhi (1982)• Ghostbusters (1984)• Karate Kid (1984)

• The Last Emperor (1987)• A Few Good Men (1992)• The Shawshank Redemption (1994)• Bad Boys (1995)• Desperado (1995)• Jerry Maguirre (1996)• Men in Black series (1997 – 2012)• Almost Famous (2000)• Spider Man Trilogy (2002 – 2008)• Hellboy (2004)• 2012 (2009)• The Social Network (2010)

United Artists• The company was founded in 1919, one year after the

founding of Warner Bros. They stood out from the other Hollywood studios at the time for two reasons:

• 1. As the name "United Artists" indicates, UA was founded not by executives, but actors and directors—namely, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford, all major names in the era's film industry.* The founders intended to avoid Executive Meddling by taking control of their own work.

• 2. UA were never much more than backer-distributors (most other studios at the time made their own movies).

• The General (1927)• Stagecoach (1939)• Spellbound (1945)• Red River (1948)• High Noon (1952)• Some Like It Hot (1959)• The Apartment (1960)• West Side Story (1961)• James Bond series (1962 – ongoing)• The Pink Panther series (1963 - 1975)• In the Heat of the Night (1967)• Midnight Cowboy (1969)

• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)• Rocky (1976)• Annie Hall (1977)• Raging Bull (1980)• Heaven’s Gate (1981)• Rain Man (1988)