Lecture Eight:
Hitchcock and the Hollywood Studio System
10/11/2005

I. The Hollywood Studio System

“The American cinema is a classical art, but why not then admire in it what is most admirable, i.e., not only the talent of this or that filmmaker, but the genius of the system.”—André Bazin, 1957

Another way to study Hollywood cinema is to approach it as an industry. The system to which Bazin refers is the classical Hollywood studio system. After massive realignment and consolidation of corporate power during the late 1920s and early 1930s, brought on in great part by the coming of sound and the Great Depression, the Big Eight emerged as Hollywood’s dominant powers. The Big Eight included five integrated major studios: Paramount, MGM, Fox, Warner Brothers, and RKO; two minor studios: Universal and Columbia; and United Artist which wasn’t a studio but rather a distribution company for major independent producers.

Vertical integration: A term denoting industrial practice in the U.S. and elsewhere in which a single company owns and operates production, distribution, and exhibition facilities; in the U.S., this form of ownership was declared illegal by the Supreme Court in 1948 but was allowed to resume in the 1980s.

“House style”: During the classical studio era, many of the Big Eight developed and became known for a “house style.” Not simply synonymous with genre, “house style” refers to a melding of institutional forces. As Thomas Schatz puts it, “In each case the “style” of a writer, director, star—or even a cinematographer, art director, or costume designer—fused with the studio’s production operation and management structure, its resources and talent pool, its narrative traditions and market strategy.” For example, Jimmy Cagney staggering down a dark, rain-drenched street muttering, “I ain’t so tough,” just before collapsing in a gutter is signature Warner Brothers. However, a dark, rain-drenched street in Singin’ in the Rain, as we will see in a few weeks, becomes the backdrop for a song and dance celebration of life at MGM.

Backlot: Consists of standing exterior sets of such common locales as a frontier town, a turn-of-the-century city block, a European village, etc., usually located behind larger enclosed studio building used for indoor shooting.

II. The Prestige Film—a major production usually with important stars, a generous budget both for production and marketing, and the highest production values and talent. David O. Selznick was a master of the prestige film. An important motivating factor behind the production of prestige films was the outcry against the violent and racy content of Pre-Code films. Prestige films were a way of legitimizing Hollywood again in the face of social criticism.

Three aspects of the prestige film to consider:

• Production values
• Pre-sold properties
• Previews

III. Approaching Hitchcock

As introduced in Lecture Five, the 2nd premise of Auteur Theory involves the distinguishable personality of the director as a criterion of value. Over a group of films, a director must exhibitcertain characteristics of style, which serve as his signature. With this in mind, directorial tropes are another way to approach a filmmaker’s body of work.

In literature and film, a trope is a familiar and repeated symbol, style, character or thing that permeates a particular type of literature. They are often tied heavily to genre. For example, tropes in horror literature and film include the mad scientist or a dark and stormy night. Tropes can also be plots or events, such as the science fiction trope of an alien invasion that is deterred at the last minute.

Among Hitchcock’s oft discussed stylistic tropes are his extravagant use of the camera (this includes camera movement, angle, framing, and distance from the subject), his expressionistic use of shadows, his use of expressive objects (that is the instilling in objects significant narrative meaning—for example, the wedding ring in the clip from Rear Window and the key in the clip from Notorious), and his use of staircases. All of these tropes were greatly influenced by Hitchcock’s early training in German Expressionism.

Other aspects important to studying Hitchcock include his total allegiance to storyboarding and his ability to “edit with the camera.”  

Terms not directly covered in lecture, but that you should take note of:

B-film: A term derived from the “B units” set up by Hollywood studios in the 1930s to produce inexpensive films to be shown as part of double features, a common exhibition practice of that era. B units were closed down during the 1940s, but the term has been retained to describe low-budget, genre-oriented features. An important thing to note is that B-films were a commonly used training ground for new actors, directors, and other studio talent.

Rear projection (sometimes called a process shot): A shot in which the live-action performance is filmed on a studio set in front of a projected image on a translucent screen, to make it appear as if the actors are performing on location. (For instance, any of the driving shots in Rebecca. This is somewhat analogous to today’s “blue screen” technology, however in the case of “blue screen” the background image is added later via computer. With rear projection, the previously filmed background image is projected simultaneously with the live in-studio performance.)

Films viewed in lecture:

• Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974)
• Rebecca
• Little Women (George Cukor, 1933)
• Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954)
• Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946)
• Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
• Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)
• High Anxiety (Mel Brooks, 1977)