TCF112/The Breakdown of Hollywood Classicism
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Drastically declining profits
- Studios combined profits:
- 1946 $121 million
- 1956 $32 million
- Actors under contract
- 1947 742
- 1956 229
Cause of the Decline
- "Baby Boom"
- 1945-60
- Paramount Case
- Hollywood film industry divided into:
- Production
- Distribution
- Exhibition
- Which was vertically integrated
- Major studios:
- MGM, Paramount, RKO, 20th Century-Fox, Warners
- Minor studios:
- Columbia, Universal, UA
- For current studios, see "Box Office Report "
- 1948 Supreme Court orders "divorcement"
- Encourages "independent" production
- 1958: 65% of US films created by indies
- Encourages "independent" production
- Hollywood film industry divided into:
- House Un-American Activities Comm.--HUAC
- 1947 Investigations begun into presumed communist activities
- "Hollywood 10" refused to cooperate
- Studios initially resisted HUAC, but soon caved in
- 1951 HUAC returned
- 90 persons testified
- "Naming names"
- Blacklisting began
- 1947 Investigations begun into presumed communist activities
- Rise of TV
- 1947 14,000 TV sets in US
- 1948 172,000
- 1949 1,000,000
- 1950 4,000,000
- End of '50s: 90% of US homes
Response to and Effects of the Decline
- Technological innovations
- 3-D
- Color
- 1935 Becky Sharp
- First 3-color Technicolor feature film
- 1950s inexpensive Eastmancolor developed
- 1935 Becky Sharp
- Stereo sound
- Widescreen aspect ratios
- Academy Ratio = 3 to 4
- Same as TV
- 1 to 1.33333333... or
- 1.33
- Cinerama
- Three-projector system
- CinemaScope--20th Century-Fox
- Anamorphic process
- 1 to 2.35
- Masked widescreen
- 1 to 1.85
- Film-to-video conversion
- Examples from He Said, She Sai and Ronin
- Letterboxing
- Pan-and-scan
- Academy Ratio = 3 to 4
- Changes in Subject Matter (Content)
- Breakdown of Production Code