American Film Institute

Poster for The Wolf Man (1941), a classical-era thriller released by Universal.

American movies, as we'll see throughout this seminar, are overdetermined by a number of economic, social and cultural factors. "Overdetermined," a term used in film studies, simply means that any film is the cumulative product of certain industrial practices, political climates, ideas about artistic merit and available financial and technical resources.

To tell the whole story--the definitive history--of any film, then, becomes a complex task, and different historians typically focus on different parts of this equation. In this seminar, I will examine the "Golden Age" of the studio system and explore how a particular kind of filmmaking developed during this period in American film history.

In addition to historical value, inspecting the growth, or rationalization, of the studio system may offer clues regarding the kinds of struggles that accompany the growth of any new medium. It might, in fact, be intriguing to examine which changes occurred during the growth of the Hollywood studio, and compare those changes to contemporary struggles in which production companies are trying to define and control emerging industries, such as online film and interactive television.

So when and how does the classical Hollywood studio system congeal? Two issues are key: the advent of sound and the business ideal of vertical integration.

The coming of sound
The shift of the entire industry to sound films began during the late 1920s. As many film scholars will argue, film was never entirely "silent." Most movies were accompanied by some kind of music and even, at times, live narration. But there are some important historical landmarks in the transition to sound. As with the invention of celluloid film and projection, the move to sound involved a great deal of technical trial and error, in addition to jostling for patents.

American Film Institute

Movie poster from The Jazz Singer (1927), starring Al Jolsen.

In 1910, for example, the richest studios formed a rather cut-throat oligopoly--The Motion Pictures Patents Company, or the "Trust"--ostensibly to standardize the technological guts of filmmaking. In actuality, their pooled, exclusive patents essentially locked others out of the market.

When Warner Bros. gambled that talkies would be popular with viewers, by offering the first bit of synchronized speech in The Jazz Singer, a period of turmoil blanketed the film industry. Studios now had proof that a "talkie" would make them money. But the financial investment this kind of filmmaking would require, from new camera equipment to new projection facilities, made the studios initially hesitant to invest. In the end, the power of cinematic sound to both move audiences and to enhance the story, persuaded studios that talkies were worth investing in. When vaudeville singing star Al Jolsen introduced a tune with, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You ain't heard nothing yet," audiences shrieked in delight. From that moment on, there didn't seem to be any going back to the days of silent film.

During that same year, Fox worked to establish itself in the transition to sound films. Warner Bros.' Vitaphone sound-on-disc system met direct competition by Fox's Movietone sound-on-film system. Fox specialized in newsreels, and debuted their sound system with footage of Charles Lindbergh's departure for Paris in 1927. When audiences heard Lindbergh's words and the plane's take off, they reportedly stood and cheered in the packed Roxy Theater in New York for over 10 minutes.

Overall, the use of sound in film was well-received by all audiences, but there were still many technical factors to consider. Over the next few years, problems with amplification of sound were worked out and most theaters were converted for sound. By 1929, Hollywood put out more than 300 sound films and the full integration of sound into film was complete by 1930. It would take a bit longer for films to regain their stylistic elegance and dexterity, however, since the camera now had to be encased in a big, clumsy, unmoveable soundproof box.

Suddenly all the ground that had been gained with the moving camera and complex-editing structures was lost. Even actors struggled, having to direct their speech to awkwardly-hid microphones in huge plants, telephones or even their costumes. The film Singin' In The Rain (1952) comically yet accurately displays these early-sound film difficulties.

Vertical integration of the film industry
Vertical integration is another key component of the Hollywood studio system. The major studios realized they could maximize their profits by controlling each stage of a film's life: production (making the film), distribution (getting the film out to people), and exhibition (owning first-run theaters in major cities).

Five studios, "The Big Five," worked to achieve vertical integration through the late 1940s, owning vast real estate on which to construct elaborate sets. In addition, these studios set the exact terms of films' release dates and patterns, and operated the best movie palaces in the nation. Warner Bros.,

	Thinking Points
	How did vertical integration benefit the major studios during Hollywood's Golden Age? How do you think vertical integration impacted the actors and actresses of the classical Hollywood period?

Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Loew's (MGM) and RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) formed this exclusive club. "The Little Three" studios--Universal, Columbia and United Artists--also made pictures, but each lacked one of the crucial elements of vertical integration. Together these eight companies operated as a mature oligopoly, essentially controlling the entire market.

They also controlled the terms under which you could see their films. Prestige or A-level films utilized studio stars and lavish production values, and then could only be seen initially in studio-owned, first-run theaters. When the studios released these films to theaters they didn't own, they forced those owners to buy A-pictures in combination with a number of, often mediocre, B-pictures (no stars, bargain-basement genre pictures) and shorts, a practice called "block booking." Moreover, the studios often made the exhibitors buy the films blind, not allowing them to see what they were getting before they got it.