The Hollywood Studio System1930-1949, part 2

Lecture 19

Studio System: Historical Outline

• b/t 1900-1925: 64 studios• After 1930: 8 studios, collecting 95% of revenues– “Big Five”

• Paramount (Adolph Zukor), formerly Famous-Players-Lasky• Loew’s MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)• Twentieth Century Fox• Warner Brothers• Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO)—25% smaller

– “Little Three• Universal (only production and distribution)• Columbia (only production and distribution)• United Artists (distribution for independents)

VERTICAL INTEGRATION, EARLY YEARS

• Begins with Adolph Zukor of Famous-Players-Lasky (later Paramount)– Fallout from the MPPC

• 3-part strategy:– 1) Differentiate Product• “the star” and “contractual servitude”

– 2) Distribute nationally and internationally– 3) Dominate exhibition through first-run theaters

VERTICAL INTEGRATION, CONT.

• By 1920, studio system faces three obstacles:

A) Government litigation

B) International Distribution

C) Threat of labor unrest

VERTICAL INTEGRATION, CONT.

• Solutions:– Self-Regulation• Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America

(MPPDA) established in 1922 with Will Hays as president– Prevent strict enforcement of anti-trust laws– Regulate movie content

» “Hays Code” 1934-1968– Worked with Federal government to get films into foreign

markets

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1927)

Vertical Integration

• FDR’s National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) went into effect in 1933 – Sanctioned collusion– Allowed for collective bargaining

HOW DID THE STUDIOS MAXIMIZE PROFITS?

• Theater ownership– Block booking

• Practice of forcing exhibitors to take a studios entire annual production

– Blind bidding• Practice of forcing exhibitors to take films sight unseen

• Price discrimination– Price depended on the “run”

• Run-zone-clearance system– First “run”: first time shown

DEMISE OF THE STUDIO SYSTEM

• U.S. vs. Paramount case and the Paramount decree of 1948

• Rise of television• Suburbanization and baby boom

Screwball Comedy Cycle(mid-1930s-early 1940s)

• Gained prominence with It happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934)

• Slapstick, wisecracks, comedy of manners, sexual innuendo• Ridiculous situations• Fast-paced repartee • Mistaken identities• Preston Sturges:

– The Great McGinty (1939)– Christmas in July (1940)– The Lady Eve (1941)

The Social Problem Film (30s, 40s, 50s)

• Dramatizes topical social issues like prison life, capital punishment, poverty, capital punishment

• Conflict centers around the relation between an individual and social institutions

• Reflected left-liberal political views in line with FDR’s New Deal• Populism (“men of good will)• Conflict b/t the forces of good and evil• Traditional form

– Linear narratives– Characters to identify with – Happy ending

• Frank Capra:– Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)– Meet John Doe (1941)

The Social Problem Film (cont.)

• Roffman and Purdy (1981):– “[Social problem films] arouse indignation over

some facet of contemporary life, carefully qualifying any criticism so that it can in the end be reduced to simple causes, to a villain whose removal rectified the situation. Allusions to the genuine concerns of the audience play up antisocial feelings only to exorcise them on safe targets contained within a dramatic rather than a social context.”

Meet John Doe (Frank Capra, 1941)

How would you categorize Sullivan’s Travels generically?

Screwball comedy or social problem film or…?