07 - Hollywood 30s & 40s: 1929 - 1945

Question 1

Continuity editing became standard during this time…
What is the basic principle of continuity editing?
4 such techniques?

Answer 1

To support smooth, logical transitions & space orientation.

Master shot
eyeline match cut
shot/reverse shot
match on action, etc.

Question 2

The system was built around 8 Major companies.
5 major and 3 minor. What were these?
These companies were a part of what organization?

Answer 2

5 major (exerted Vertical Control) 
MGM, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, WB, & RKO

3 Minor
Universal, Columbia Pictures, and United Artists

All part of the MPPDA

Question 3

What was the MPPDA?

Answer 3

The motion pictures producers and distributors of america

Org. performed functions on behalf of the industry (including self-monitoring content…)

Question 4

What is Block Booking and Blind Buying that resulted in overbuying?

Answer 4

Block - exhibitor rented films in packages that include the “dogs” & the “hits”
Blind - exhibitor forced to book films unseen.

Question 5

How did Vertical Control help studios?

Answer 5

allowed studios to influence/control styles, content and censorship… ultimately invited government intervention.

Question 6

When was the 1st academy awards?

Answer 6

1929 (retroactively to 1927)

Question 7

When was Hayes hired by the MPPDA? Why?

Answer 7

1922 - enforce restrictions on content & methods. (in light of subsequent Hollywood scandals)

Question 8

When did the Hayes code come into effect? (What is its formal ‘label’?

Answer 8

1930, but not strictly enforced until 1934

Motion Picture Production Code

Question 9

What was the PCA, when was it established, and who established/ led it? What enforced it?

Answer 9

1934 - Production Code Administration
established/led by Joseph Breen (until 1954)

Enforced by National Legion of Decency (Catholic legion of decency) - Seal of Approval

Question 10

When did Vertical Control end? What happened in 1951?

Answer 10

1948 - competition from foreign policy and TV

1951 - movies covered under the 1st amendment (Freedom of speech)

Question 11

When was the Hayes code replaced by the MPAA?

Answer 11

1968

Question 12

When color ‘begin’ to be integrated into film? What new ‘system’ was created to allow easier integration of full colour?

Answer 12

Early days of film: tinting, toning, hand colouring, etc.

Technicolor was developed in the early 30s

Question 13

What sort of films is John Ford known for?

Answer 13

reverence of the American landscape. Stagecoach (1939)
explored the forces set in motion by the european expansion in the New World.
Savagery of the wilderness - symbolized by the figure of that native American.
Indigenous peoples stood in the way of civilized order

Question 14

What were some emergent genres of the 30’s?

Answer 14

The Musical
The Gangster Film (30's atmosphere)
Horror Films (Chiaroscuro lighting)
Comedy (new expression with sound)
Woman Pictures (domestic melodramas)
Adaptations
Cartoons & Walt Disney 
Film Noir

Question 15

Film noir is largely a combination of two “movements”. What are these?

Answer 15

German Expressionism - nightmares & hallucinations (lighting & angles)
French Poetic Realism - femme fetales

Question 16

What was Orson Welles’ first film? - When was it released?

Answer 16

Citizen Kane (1941) `

Question 17

What was the NLD/CLD? How did it influence productions?

Answer 17

The National Legion of Decency (Catholic Legion of Decency) set in place to enforce the Hayes code.

** Implemented a seal of approval. A $25,000 was instituted for producing, distributing, or exhibiting any picture that had no received it

Question 18

When was The Wizard of Oz released?
The capacity of what kind technology does it demonstrate?
Who directed?
Performers?
Production Company?

Answer 18

1939
Technicolor
Victor Fleming
Dorothy - Judy Garland
MGM

Question 19

When was Citizen Kane released?
Who directed/wrote?
Production Company?
Film a ‘bio’ about who?

Answer 19

1941
W/D - Orson Welles
RKO Radio Pictures
William Hurst

Question 20

how is citizen Kane an example of a modernist film?

Answer 20

moving a way from and even questioning tradition

takes on a self-reflexive bend - Ideology at work…

Question 21

What is one effect of the Hays Code that still persists in contemporary Hollywood film?

Answer 21

Restrictions were the strictest in sexual matters as opposed to violence, and as a result the use of violence skyrocketed. Which is still a notable theme in films today

Question 22

How many films were produced in the 30s? What problem does this illustrate for theatres? By ___, the eight major studios were responsible for ___% of feature films released? What were the studios?

Answer 22

5,000 films were produced in the decade. Overbuying, which through blind buying and block booking, theatres understandably couldn’t show all the films they bought.
1939, 76%
Paramount, RKO, Fox, WB, MGM, Universal, United Artists, Columbia

Question 23

Who was known during this time for their musicals? Who were the notable stars and is an example?

Answer 23

MGM, who used Fred Astaire and Ginger Roberts (first to NOT use background musical genre for musical)
Also went on to produce Meet Me in St. Louis, Singin in the Rain

Question 24

What new kind of comedy developed in the 1930s? What is one example?

Answer 24

Screwball comedy; combination of intellectual and slapstick humour. Witty dialogue and reversal of usual male-female, dominant-submissive roles. It Happened One Night (1934) Capra