Juan Monroy — Early Film: Hollywood in the 1930s

1 Finish Pepe Le Moko
2 Great Depression
3 Exhibition in the 1930s
- 3.1 Depression era ended the movie palace
- 3.2 New tactics designed to lure patrons
  - Theaters began offering concessions
  - Double and Triple Features
  - Giveaways
4 Big Five
- 4.1 vertically integrated
  - production
  - distribution
  - exhibition
- 4.2 Paramount
  - Depression hit hard
  - run by Barney Balaban
  - bankrupt in 1933
  - European style productions
    - Maurice Chevalier
    - Marx Brothers
- 4.3 Loews
  - most profitable of American firms
  - run by Nicholas Schenck
- 4.4 20th Century Fox
  - Fox entered the Depression in poor shape
  - merged with Twentieth Century Fox
  - Daryl Zanuck became head of production
- 4.5 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
- 4.6 RKO
  - established 1928 by RCA
  - bankrupt in 1933
  - inconsistent hits
    - King Kong
    - Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire musical
    - Citizen Kane
5 Little Three
- 5.1 minors
  - production
  - distribution
  - owned few or no theaters
- 5.2 Universal
  - largest of the Little Three
  - horror films
    - Dracula
    - Frankenstein
    - Invisible Man
- 5.3 Columbia
  - Harry Cohn
  - Frank Capra
  - dependent on B westerns
  - Three Stooges
- 5.4 United Artists
  - began decline after sound era
  - founders retired in the 1930s
- 5.5 The Independents
  - some made A pictures
    - Samuel Goldwyn
    - David O. Selznick
  - some made B pictures
    - Monogram
    - Republic
6 Innovation in the Industry
- 6.1 Sound Recording
  - unidirectional microphones
  - multitrack recordings
  - symphonic score increased non-diegetic image
- 6.2 Camera Movement
  - Bell and Howell Rotambulator
  - Panarom Dolly
  - crane shots
- 6.3 Technicolor
  - light split by prism
  - three-strips of black-and-white film
- 6.4 Cinematography
  - soft image
    - processing made films look grey and soft
    - avoiding sharp black and whites
  - deep focus
    - Welles and Toland
    - optical printing
    - placing objects on different planes
7 Genres
- 7.1 The Musical
- 7.2 Screwball Comedy
- 7.3 Horror Film
- 7.4 Social Problem Film
- 7.5 Gangster Film
- 7.6 Film Noir
- 7.7 War Film
8 Self Censorship in Hollywood
- 8.1 avoid censorship from the outside
- 8.2 Don’t and Be Carefuls (1927)
- 8.3 Production Code (1930)
  - outline of moral standards
  - 11 areas of concern
    - crime
    - sex
    - violence
    - controversy
- 8.4 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)
  - women who traded sexual favors for material gain
    - Baby Face (1933)
    - Red-Headed Woman (1932)
    - She Done with Wrong (1933)
- 8.5 Catholic Legion of Decency
  - rating system
    - A = Approved
    - C= Condemned
  - boycotts
- 8.6 Production Code Administration
  - Joseph Breen
  - Review scripts
- 8.7 Seals of Approval
  - MPPDA reviewed
  - fined if film was released without approval
  - blocked national censorship
  - summarized what movies could do according to local censors