AS C1SA Hollywood Film: SLIH & DTRT

Question 1

Name the Big 5

Answer 1

MGM, Fox, Warners, RKO & Paramount

Question 2

Name the Little 3

Answer 2

United Artists, Columbia & Universal

Question 3

What was the main difference between the Big 5 and the Little 3?

Answer 3

The Big 5 were vertically integrated

Question 4

What is ‘vertical integration’?

Answer 4

In film where a company owns more than one stage of production - e.g. studio production facilities, distribution networks and movie theatres.

Question 5

What is meant by a Fordist model of production?

Answer 5

A production line where each element is clearly delineated and the product (such as a car - Henry Ford) or a film passes from one department to another. Workers are paid for the specific job that they do (the ‘division of labour’), usually in consultation with trades unions. Each trade becomes highly specialised and standardisation is common in terms of working practises and outcomes. It is seen as a very efficient model for production as costs are kept down and the process is easier to control from the top.

Question 6

Identify five examples of standardisation of films via the Studio System

Answer 6

Film duration (around 90 minutes)
Genres
3-act structure, including the ‘Hollywood ending’
Technical standards e.g. cinematography, 24 frames per second for talkies
Realism

Question 7

Identify five features of the Studio System

Answer 7

Vertical Integration (Big 5 dominated production, distribution and exhibition)
Studios developed strong identities (e.g. MGM for musicals)
Use & control of stars on 7 year contracts
Control by Moguls (producers)
Block blind booking
The Hays Code (1933 onwards)

Question 8

What impact did European directors such as Billy Wilder have on Hollywood?

Answer 8

Influence of European ‘expressionist’ styles, such as GE, especially on Film Noir
Montage/experimental editing
The idea of the powerful director-as-artist - later known as the ‘auteur’
Influence of European political turmoil - post WW1&2, the Cold War etc. Many European directors were Jewish and more left wing and confident in challenging US conservative values and perceived hypocrisies, such as the Hays Code.

Question 9

How many elements of the Classical Hollywood style can you identify?

Answer 9

1 Quick-fire dialogue in a range of genres
2 Character driven cause & effect storytelling
3 Three-track sound: Dialogue, music and ambient
4 Symphonic scores
5 Grouped actor blocking
6 Soft-focussed femininity
7 Limited camera movement
8 Intro of colour film stock - 1930s
9 Film as spectacle
10 Widescreen
11Rear projection, optical printing and mattes.

Question 10

Name three other films by Billy Wilder

Answer 10

Sunset Boulevard, The Seven Year Itch, Double Indemnity, Ace in the Hole, Sabrina etc.

Question 11

Which of Billy Wilder’s films is referenced in the train station scene in SLIH?

Answer 11

The Seven Year Itch - the steam hitting Sugar is seen as a reference to the famous white dress scene.

Question 12

Name the three stars of SLIH

Answer 12

Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon

Question 13

Name the production company which made SLIH, having done 12-picture distribution deal with United Artists

Answer 13

The Mirisch Corporation

Question 14

Name the two screenwriters for SLIH

Answer 14

Billy Wilder
IAL (Iz) Diamond

Question 15

Who plays Osgood, Spats Columbo and Agent Mulligan?

Answer 15

Joe E Brown (famous comic actor)
George Raft (famous ‘gangster’ actor)
Pat O’Brien (known for playing cops, priests etc.)

Question 16

Name the band that Sugar joins in order to meet and marry a ‘rich millionaire’

Answer 16

Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators

Question 17

What is Sugar Kane’s real surname?

Answer 17

Kowalczyk

Question 18

Name the elements of Billy Wilder’s auteur signature

Answer 18

Tight, comic script (written with IAL Diamond) with strong characterisation
Theme of deception & disguise/dual or mistaken identity
Theme of individual versus the group
Critique of institutions e.g. Hollywood, the press
Witty, quotable dialogue with sexual innuendo
Battle of the sexes
Critique of gender roles
Intertextuality & genre hybridisation

Question 19

SLIH was famously released without approval form the Hays Office. Which influential organisation objected to the film most strongly?

Answer 19

The Catholic League of Decency described the film as ‘morally objectionable’ and the film was effectively banned in Kansas.

Question 20

Which elements of the Hays Code did Wilder challenge in SLIH? Where can the influence of the Hays Code be seen?

Answer 20

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-the-hays-code-1934/
Challenge: Any licentious or suggestive nudity—in fact or in silhouette; and any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture; Any inference of sex perversion; Man and woman in bed together;
Influence: Sympathy for criminals; Titles or scenes having to do with law enforcement or law-enforcing officers;