Destry Rides Again, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, and the Fall of the Hollywood Studio System

In Frank Capra’s 1939 people’s fable “Mr. Smith goes to Washington “Jefferson Smith, a young, idealistic, and naïve hero from a Midwestern state is thrust into public notoriety through a chance course of events. His journey will compel him to contemplate the veracity of the political foundation which supports American democracy and confront the corruption which seeks to erode it.

Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder in 1950 is based on how Norma Desmond, a huge Hollywood star, deals with her fall from fame. The film explores the fantasy world in which Norma is living in and the complex relationship between her and small time writer Joe Gillis, which leads to his death. Sunset Boulevard is seen as lifting the ‘face’ of the Hollywood Studio System to reveal the truth behind the organisation. During the time the film was released in the 1950s and 60s, audiences started to see the demise of Hollywood as cinema going began to decline and the fierce competition of television almost proved too much for the well established system. Throughout this essay I will discuss how Sunset Boulevard represents the Hollywood

The Production Code Administration emerged in 1934. It was the organic outgrowth of a backlash to immorality in film perceived since the 1920’s (Gomery & Pafort-Overduin, 2011). As an entertainment medium, film was revolutionary: all of the sudden, vivid snippets of life could reach a mass audience. Not long after motion pictures enthralled the country, producers began to recognize the opportunity to attract larger audiences – and increase profits – by filming stories involving provocative subjects and thus stimulating the people’s sense of wonder (Gomery & Pafort-Overduin, 2011). A natural outgrowth of this trend was the increasingly transgressive nature of motion pictures. In an age characterized by both economic and social progress, a backlash against new ideas

“The Pathos of Failure,” is Thomas Elsaesser’s diagnosis of an ideological trend that occurred in mainstream Hollywood in the 1960s - 1970s. During this time, the American film industry saw an unprecedented, revolutionary detour in stylistic experimentation, and thematically, a focus on “the somewhat sentimental gestures of defeat,” (Eleasser 234). This shift represented a departure from Classical Hollywood’s idealized vision of America, the films of which reproduced aspects of dominant American ideology subject to increasing contempt among audiences. Interesting parallels can be drawn between The Graduate (1967) and The Parallax View (1974) in relation to Elseasser’s analysis. ‘The Pathos of Failure’ is felt acutely in both films, not only thematically, but also in the craft of the films themselves: non-linear, episodic, unresolved narratives and complex, counter-cultural, marginal male protagonists, whose goals are ill-defined and ultimately unattained (Hehr 85). Perhaps the allure of these films was that they required a degree of critical engagement from the audience, reflected by wider society’s growing cynicism towards “American institutions and their basic pillars,” (Hehr 31). There is a certain comfort, I will argue, in honestly acknowledging both internal conflicts and greater societal defects through the medium of cinema. Where the Classical Hollywood film would typically offer a solution to the problems established, the Hollywood Renaissance film, via irresolution

The Hollywood studio system ran from 1927 to 1948. It applied the ideas and principles of a manufacturing assembly line to the making of movies. During this time each studio created a uniformed look to their productions, which allowed them to focus on quantity over experimentation (Barsam, 469). By having every employee, especially actors, writers, and directors under contract the studio was able to dictate not only the look but the stars and director.

Just as the studio system did not appear from nowhere in 1930 it did not suddenly end in 1948. However, it’s a convenient date to signal the end of the golden age because of the Paramount decision. In 1948 the US supreme court ordered that the oligopolistic control of the majors was uncompetitive. The major studios were ordered to sell all their cinemas to allow fairer competition for films and to stop the system of block booking to allow other cinemas to negotiate for films. This of course meant that profits were reduced for the majors. However, this may have actually helped them as audiences began to decline in the 1950s for three major reasons: Competition from TV, Increasing affluence and Suburban living. During this period several stars

[1] Hollywood is no longer just a name, it is a business, a living entity holding America’s people in its grasp, and it is not about to let them go. Gradually taking on more responsibility and trying to build up its reputation over the years, Hollywood has progressively assumed the position of history-teller for the American public. This role, whether or not an appropriate one for an industry such as Hollywood to tackle, has catapulted actors and actresses into high paying, high visibility positions. History has and will continue to be one of the main subjects that the movie industry has been fascinated with. It is an alive and very fragile

The root cause of the Paramount decision was rooted in the belief that major production studios broke act 1 and two of the Sherman Act (The Paramount Case). In essence, studios were trying to monopolize the realm and production of motion pictures. While this may have been true, this court ruling led to a plethora of negative and positive changes in the world of film. For instance, the average movie attendance at local theaters across the country began to dwindle, there was a 43% drop in sales (Lewis 2004). The once glorious and rather extravagant studios were now not as glorious as they used to be, causing such a deflux in the box office. In the 1950’s a new idea was shifted into the minds and hearts of film making productionists, a new Hollywood had to be conceptualized. This Hollywood had to take a modern road to production and form an alliance or truce with the counterpart of television(Lewis 2004).

Though Hollywood had not been physically destroyed as studios in Germany and Italy had, Hollywood had been through several long years of strict, regulated, and increasingly pessimistic propaganda and war films (286). Though Hollywood’s wartime films began with glamour and patriotism, by the war’s end, they had reached what Cook calls “a more personal kind of cinema”-- films with “the true horror and anguish of warfare,” and “focus on the individual American in conflict with himself or herself... in which the democratic ideals for which so many American fought and died are brought into serious question.” (Cook 287). Furthermore, the newsreels began to get darker, bloodier, and scarier than the films they’d run before (Biesen 8).

The term star system refers to the relationships between stardom and American film business, by looking into the star performers in the production and consumption of films. The star system has huge successes on the development of Hollywood industry. It draws the audience’s attention to the stardom images and performances in the films and appears to increase the popularities of Hollywood films. Initially, the manufacturers didn’t want to release players’ names because they wanted to avoid the big salaries to stars and players. However, after Frank E. Woods, the founder of the moving picture section of the New York Dramatic Mirror, answered the letters from motion picture fans asking about specific players, the situation changed.

With the studios still adjusting to the affects of the Paramount decision the advent of television created a new and potentially disastrous adversary. As television replaced movies as the safe-for-all audiences viewing experience, Hollywood needed to redefine their place and purpose. Through strategic mergers, film gimmicks, and a change in production code the studios were able to see an end to the lean revenue years in the 50's and 60's to a system that catered more to an audiences age and interests.

In the early 1900’s, as films stated centering their focus on profit, large scale studios came onto the film scene. The studios that were discussed in the chapter were: Universal, United Artists, Paramount, Warner Bros, MGM, Fox, Columbia, and RKO. These studios employed some of the biggest names in the film world at the time. Many of these studios are still in business today, and have given prominent actors and directors their shot at fame. Universal was the first studio to move to the west coast. They produced popular films such as The

The 1940’s were a time of war and then prosperity for Americans, not only in wealth but in a chance for a better education and social economic status. Films went from patriotic during the war to a more realistic portrayal towards the end of the war in 1945. By the second half of the 1940's, with an injection of expatriate directors trained in the German visual evocation of emotion to the French poetic realistic films, a new style of films were about to emerge. A similar change was also happening in reality, from the hope of the formation of the United Nations to the start of the Cold War.

The film industry has developed and changed dramatically since 1945 in relation to technology, actors, quality, acting style, morals, storylines and recognition. Always changing the morals involved in popular culture. Since 1945 the entire world’s way of living has changed, the technology has advanced greatly and people now create films that can appeal to the way people think and feel in today’s life. More and more people are getting into the film industry resulting in the development of more films, making it a billion dollar industry. America has had the biggest influence on the film industry throughout the entire world. All of these elements have contributed to the development of new films today and everything that is involved in each movie

After the Second World War, Hollywood was faced with many issues regarding the historical changes in politics, in society, in the economy, in technology, in the media and in culture generally. This significantly affected Classical Hollywood, and ultimately, it faced its darkest period, coming dangerously close to bankruptcy. This essay will focus on both the major causes of the Hollywood recession in regards to both the legal and social issues of America, and also the impact this had on the Hollywood studio system during the American economic boom. The reasons for decline of the Old Hollywood Studios mainly resided in sociological factors.