Juan Monroy — Prewar Hollywood

Vertical Integration
Production
- assembly-line production
- feature films
- star system
Distribution
- monopolistic practices
- block booking
- blind bidding
- run-zone-clearance system
Exhibition
- movie theaters
- box office
- theater chains
Oligopoly
- market dominated by a small number of competitors
- high barriers of entry to potential competitors
- Hollywood studio system
Coming of Sound
- silent film developed into its own art form
- advent of electrical sound
- standardization of movie scores
Films Were Silent Because…
- amplification
- synchronization
- no one thought movies should talk
Sound Technologies
sound-on-disk
- Warner Brothers
- Vitaphone
sound-on-film
- Fox Movietone
- RCA Photophone
Majors
- vertically integrated
Paramount
- hit hard by Depression
- run by Barney Balaban
- bankrupt in 1933
- European style productions
  - Maurice Chevalier
  - Marx Brothers
Warner Brothers
- entered Depression in bad shape but liquified assets and cut costs
- run by Harry Warner
- stable of stars
  - James Cagney
  - Bette Davis
  - Humphrey Bogart
  - Errol Flynn
20th Century Fox
- Fox entered the Depression in poor shape
- merged with Twentieth Century Fox
- Daryl Zanuck became head of production
MGM-Loews
- most profitable of American firms
- run by Nicholas Schenck
Radio-Keith-Orpheum
- established 1928 by RCA
- bankrupt in 1933
- inconsistent hits
  - King Kong
  - Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire musical
  - Citizen Kane
Minors
- production
- distribution
- owned few or no theaters
Universal
- largest of the Little Three
- horror films
  - Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931)
  - Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931)
  - Invisible Man (James Whale, 1933)
Columbia
- headed Harry Cohn
- Frank Capra major director
- dependent on B westerns
- Three Stooges serials
United Artists
- began decline after sound era
- founders retired in the 1930s
Independents
A-Pictures
- Samuel Goldwyn
- David O. Selznick
B-Pictures
- Poverty Row
- Monogram
- Republic
Great Depression
- Changes in Movie Theater Exhibition
- End of Uniformed Ushers
- Double and Triple Features
- Concessions for Sale
- Giveaways
Motion Picture Producers Association of America
- Established 1922
- Trade organization
- Avoid government regulation and censorship
- Appointed Will Hays as first head of MPPDA
Fatty Arbuckle scandal
Production Code
- 1930
- outline of moral standards
- 11 areas of concern
  - crime
  - sex
  - violence
  - controversy
- studios sought sex and violence to boost attendance
Gangster films
- glorified violence but protagonist killed at the end
- Little Caesar (1930)
- Public Enemy (1931)
- Scarface (1932)
Sex Comedies
- women who traded sexual favors for material gain
  - Baby Face (1933)
  - Red-Headed Woman (1932)
  - She Done with Wrong (1933)
Catholic Legion of Decency
- rating system
- A = Approved
- C= Condemned
- boycotts
Production Code Administration
- Joseph Breen
- Review scripts before production
Seals of Approval
- MPPDA reviewed
- fined if film was released without approval
- curbed national censorship
- summarized what movies could do according to local censors
Genres
- Musical
- Screwball Comedy
- Horror
- Social Problem Film
- Gangster
- Film Noir
- War Film