CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD 1920s through 1940s

THIS IS THE ERA OF THE STUDIO  1928 – 1947 (World War II – beginning of Cold War).  Distinguished by an approach to filmmaking that stove for an “invisible style” that allowed viewers to become by the world of the film.  Studios start to take dominance in the 1940s – Columbia, MGM, Paramount, RKO, Twentieth Century Fox, United Artists, Universal and Warner Bros. They made 75% of films.

TOP THREE STUDIOS  Made $100 million  MGM, Paramount and Fox  Average slate of movies released per year from the major 8 studios was about 45 movies a year (a new movie per week).

STUDIOS  Large studios were built to accommodate large orchestras.  There were about 20,000 Movie Theaters in the 1920s.  Studio system was based on contracts – instead of hiring creative and technical talent, they would make each film on a project by project basis.  Actors, hairdressers, writers, set designers and directors were contracted with one studio.

THROUGH CONTRACTS  Each studio developed its own style.  Warner Bros., known for its gritty, urban melodramas.  They had a contract with Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Edward Robinson.  MGM was known for its musicals – Judy Garland and choreographer Busby Berkeley.

STYLES DIFFER BUT  The studios strove to produce films that held a narrative continuity – that had a story.  A set of genres were developed Westerns, the gangster films, the horror films and romantic comedy.  Movies then were known for their directors as well:  John Ford (Stagecoach); Victor Flemming (Gone with the Wind); Michale Cutiz (The Adventures of Robin Hood); Orson Welles, Frank Capra; Howard Hawks; and Ernst Lubitsch.

DIRECTORS  Welles was known for not playing well with others.  Most of his films would be compromised by the studios, he’d walk out on films and they would finish it for him; or he would be asked to recut and reshoot a film, like, “The Magnificent Ambersons,” (1942).  He had problems raising $$$  Described as arrogant.

DIRECTORS  John Ford – known for his westerns and dramatic films.  Grapes of Wrath (1940)  The Informer (1935).  He did a variety of genres including Scar Face.

THERE WAS A SERIES OF SCANDALS  In the 1920s with the changing of morals and values and the speed of the industrial revolution – there were scandals at the theater.  Movie stars would host parties, use drugs and commit crimes creating a public relations nightmare for the studios.

FATTY ARBUCKLE  FATTY ARBUCKLE:  Comedian of the silent era, Was charged with the murder of actress Virginia Rappe at a party. He wasn’t convicted but it ended his career.

EROL FLYNN  Charged with more than two counts of statutory rape, and was known to like teenaged girls.  The body of John Barrymore was found in Flynn’s home after Flynn and his friends stole it from the morgue.

CHARLIE CHAPLIN  Forced to leave the country because of alleged communist sympathies and IRS $$$ problems.  Liked young girls who he mentored and even married some of them.  Involved in the mysterious death of producer Thomas Ince. They were on the yacht William Randolph Hearst having an argument.

 Mysterious death. Said to have been suicide – carbon monoxide poisoning but there was blood at the scene.  Many said it could have been her jealous husband, director Ronald West or gangster Lucky Luciano who wanted to involve Todd’s club in illegal gambling.  West was said to later confess. THELMA TODD

JEAN HARLOW  Nude photos were taken of her at 17.  Her father was a mobster.  Had an abortion of her child.  Was said to be involved in the death of her second husband, Paul Bern. He found shot in the head, sprawled on the bedroom mirror and had Harlow’s perfume on him. It was suicide. Bern suffered from impotence.

1930 PRODUCTION CODE  General Principles  1. No picture shall be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.  2. Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented.  3. Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.

1930 PRODUCTION CODE  The following production code was a regime of censorship that regulated on screen images and narratives through Source: "The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930," as quoted in Leonard J. Jeff and Jerold Simmons, eds., The Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship, and the Production Code from the 1920s to the 1960s (New York: Grove Wiedenfeld, 1990), 283–286.) via History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web: developed by the American Social History Project/Center for Media & Learning, City University of New York, and the Center for History and New Media, George Mason University.

 Crimes: These shall never be presented in such a way as to throw sympathy with the crime as against law and justice or to inspire others with a desire for imitation.  1. Murder : The technique of murder must be presented in a way that will not inspire imitation. Brutal killings are not to be presented in detail. Revenge in modern times shall not be justified.  2. Methods of Crime should not be explicitly presented. Theft, robbery, safe-cracking, and dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings, etc., should not be detailed in method. The use of firearms should be restricted to essentials. Methods of smuggling should not be presented.

3. Illegal drug traffic must never be presented. 4. The use of liquor in American life, when not required by the plot or for proper characterization will not be shown. Sex The sanctity of the institution of marriage and the home shall be upheld. Pictures shall not infer that low forms of sex relationship are the accepted or common thing. 1. Adultery, sometimes necessary plot material, must not be explicitly treated, or justified, or presented attractively. 2. Scenes of Passion - Should not be introduced when not essential to the plot. Excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures, are not to be shown.

SEDUCTION AND RAPE  They should never be more than suggested, and only when essential for the plot, and even then never shown by explicit method. They are never the proper subject for comedy.  4. Sex perversion or any inference to it is forbidden.  5. White-slavery shall not be treated.  6. Miscegenation (sex relationships between the white and black races) is forbidden.  7. Sex hygiene and venereal diseases are not subjects for motion pictures.  8. Scenes of actual child birth, in fact or in silhouette, are never to be presented.  9. Children’s sex organs are never to be exposed.

VULGARITY AND OBSCENITY  The treatment of low, disgusting, unpleasant, though not necessarily evil, subjects should be subject always to the dictates of good taste and a regard for the sensibilities of the audience.  Obscenity in word, gesture, reference, song, joke, or by suggestion (even when likely to be understood only by part of the audience) is forbidden.  Pointed profanity (this includes the words, God, Lord, Jesus, Christ— unless used reverently—Hell, S.O.B. damn, Gawd), or every other profane or vulgar expression, however used, is forbidden.

COSTUME  1. Complete nudity is never permitted. This includes nudity in fact or in silhouette, or any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture.  2. Undressing scenes should be avoided, and never used save where essential to the plot.  3. Indecent or undue exposure is forbidden.  4. Dancing costumes intended to permit undue exposure or indecent movements in the dance are forbidden.

DANCES AND TITLES  Dances suggesting or representing sexual actions or indecent passion are forbidden.  Dances which emphasize indecent movements are to be regarded as obscene.  Titles: Salacious, indecent, or obscene titles shall not be used.

RELIGION  No film or episode may throw ridicule on any religious faith.  2. Ministers of religion in their character as ministers of religion should not be used as comic characters or as villains.  3. Ceremonies of any definite religion should be carefully and respectfully handled.

LOCATIONS AND FEELINGS  The treatment of bedrooms must be governed by good taste and delicacy.  The use of the Flag shall be consistently respectful.  2. The history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry of other nations shall be represented fairly.

REPELLENT SUBJECTS  The following subjects/characters had to be used with caution and with good taste:  Hangings, or electrocutions by death; third degree methods; brutality and gruesome scenes; Cruelty to children or animals; Branding of people; sale of women; surgical operations.

FOR TUESDAY  Read Classic Hollywood – Chapter 9 and Chapter 2 – Narrative and Genre.  Review the lecture and your lecture notes from Chapter 1 and this class. There will be a quiz.