The Hollywood Studio System, Swedish Cinema & German Cinema

1. Jaakko Seppälä The Hollywood Studio System, Swedish Cinema & German Cinema http://www.helsinki.fi/taitu/tet/Jaakko/WorldFilmHistory1.html

2. The Great War • The First World War began in August 1914 • Before the war French, Italian and Danish films dominated world film markets • The war ended film production in many countries • Film production continued on a small scale when it became evident that the war would go on for years • Hollywood studios took over national markets • A great demand for entertainment in war-weary Europe • American production values were high but the films were sold cheaply

3. The Hollywood Production System • American films made profit already in the U.S. • In the mid-1910s the Independents became the system • Feature film was the main product • Stars made each film an unmissable attraction • Specialists were trained to assist the director to make movies faster • Studios resembled factories in many ways • The shooting script as a blueprint for making a movie • The production system evolved to make regular profit

4. Hollywood: Distribution and Markets • Adolph Zukor showed Hollywood how to fully exploit factory-like production • Zukor merged a number production companies and distribution company Paramount • Zukor bought hundreds of film theatres • He was backed up by Wall Street • His studio began to block book films • In the 1920s a small number of vertically integrated companies came to dominate and define Hollywood

5. Adolph Zukor (1873-1976)

6. The Studio System Before the 1930s Paramount Loew’s/MGM Fox Warner Bros. RKO Universal, Columbia and United Artists

7. The Classical Hollywood Cinema • Cinema had become increasingly oriented towards storytelling • By the late 1910s filmmakers had worked out a system of formal principles –the classical Hollywood style • A film should guide the spectator’s attention making all aspects of the story as clear as possible • Film style was to enhance narrative clarity • Films freed themselves from dependence upon other media and could now tell stories cinematically • The classical Hollywood style has changed very little

8. The Golden Age of Swedish Cinema • Svenska Biografteatern was formed in 1907 • In 1912 George af Klercker, Mauritz Stiller and Victor Sjöström were hired • Sweden’s neutrality in the Great War gave gave this national cinema a boost • In the late 1910s Sweden was a film empire • Swedish style: northern landscapes and use of local literature, costumes and customs • A Major alternative to classical Hollywood cinema • Victor Sjöström: restrained acting, scenes staged in depth, nature depicting emotions, grim consequences of actions

9. Greta Garbo (1905-1990)

10. German Cinema before Expressionism • German film industry began to grow in 1913 • Outstanding genres: the suspense drama and the detective film (modern technology, chase scenes) • Autorenfilm was German equivalent of Film d’Art • The Student of Prague (1913) • Autoren film with fantasy elements (later to be important) • In 1916 Germany banned all film imports • This ban stimulated domestic film industry • German cinema prospered in artificial isolation from 1916 to late 1920

11. Harry Piel (1892-1963)