1930-1947
(The Golden Age of Hollywood)
- The big 5 studios were Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), RKO, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., and Paramount Pictures
Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) was associated with some famous epics, producing both versions of Mutiny on the Bounty (1935, 1962) and Ben-Hur (1925, 1959) and Musicals like ‘The Wizard of Oz.
RKO produced the well-known Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers series of musicals and the early films of Katharine Hepburn, including Bringing Up Baby (1938).
20th Century Fox produced mainly westerns, musicals, screen biographies, and religious epics.
Warner Bros. turned to more socially realistic storylines. Because of its many films about gangsters, Warner Bros. soon became known as a “gangster studio”.
Paramount Pictures was well known in the era for its comedies, both the sophisticated sex comedies and the crazier, anarchic works.
2. Vertical Integration enabled studios to achieve control over the entire film industry and this studio system (from the 1930s to the1950s) affected the way films were made and the way they were watched. Films were made very cheaply during the studio system.
Block booking is a system of selling multiple films to a theatre as a unit. Block booking was the prevailing practice in the Hollywood studio system from the turn of the 1930s until it was outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. (1948).
3.The original Studio system collapse – In the end, the Court ruled in United States v. Paramount on May 4, 1948, finding that the studios had violated anti-trust laws, in a devastating blow to five major studios and three smaller ones. The case had roots dating back to 1921, when concerns first arose about the studios and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
4. The Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the start of World War II on the European front were some of the most impactful historical events of 1930-1947.