The Studio System in American Film

The studio system was formed in the 1930s when "The Independents" won the battle against "The Trust" (The Motion Picture Patent Association), who had tried to run the Independents out of business by patenting all of the film making equipment so they didn't have access to it. Obviously, the Independents did it anyway. They used the concept of movie stars and feature-length films, both of which the Trust shunned, to draw in the crowds.

The system included several new measures, the most important of which were that actors were under contract and that the studios developed a certain personality that distinguished one movie from another.

MGM was the most prestigious and best funded. They also had the most movie stars. Their slogan was “More stars than in the heavens.” It was the motion picture leader in the 1930s. Their movies were classy and reassured the people that there was an escape from the Depression. The attitude was relentlessly positive and the movies were first rate, no expense spared. They were romantic, elite, and idealistic and were geared to attract a female audience. Cedric Gibbons was the set designer responsible for the “MGM glow” all of the films had. Stars under MGM contract were Clark Gable, Mickey Rooney, Joan Crawford, Spencer Tracey, Jean Harlow, and Greta Garbo.

Paramount was the second studio in prestige and power. They had more of a European flair due to their heavily-European talent. The films were also smart, sophisticated, comedic, and the DeMille films were epics with lots of sexual emphasis. They had relatively few stars, but those they had were powerful. The list included Marlene Detrich, Joseph von Sternberg, Ernst Lubich, Claudette Colbert, Cecil B. DeMille, Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper, Bob Hope, and Mae West.

Warner Brothers was the third-ranked studio. It was a younger studio and was only created in 1917. They had very few stars, relatively. They had Betty Davis, Jimmy Cagney, Errol Flynn, Joan Blondelle, and Humphrey Bogart under contract. Since they couldn’t rely on star power as much, they had a policy called the Three Ts: their films had to be Timely, Topical, and not Typical. They were very socially conscious and were called the Depression Studio because they actually acknowledged the tough times. The Warner Brothers also didn’t play down their Jewish roots like most of the other studios did, and most of the people in cinema production were immigrants. They were mostly known for their gangster movies and were male-oriented. The “look” of their films was more flat, like a newspaper photo or a documentary, which was very different from the MGM glow. They were also very successful with their musicals after they got Busby Berkeley, a choreographer, to direct them. His style was that they were often frame stories, like how the film 42nd Street is a movie about the production of a play.

20th Century Fox was created in 1939 when William Fox merged his studio with Daryl Zanuck’s Century Pictures. Their films usually featured curvy blondes and tall, dark men. It is said that their Alice Fay is responsible for the image Hugh Hefner used to create Playboy. This studio had very few stars. They had Will Rogers, Shirley Temple, Warner Olin (known for his role as Charlie Chan), Alice Fay, and Betty Grabble. They also got John Ford to direct a few non-contract pictures for them. The Charlie Chan films where mostly what kept them afloat until Pearl Harbor Day, but they could rely on their musicals by then. Also, they had Technicolor.

Columbia Pictures was a Poverty Row studio that clawed its way up. Henry was the head of Columbia and was “the meanest man in Hollywood.” Frank Capra was an important director and they also had success with The Three Stooges, who did 190 shorts between 1934 and 1958. They also created the first “screwball comedy” in 1934 with It Happened One Night. Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable were the stars, but they were each borrowed from another studio. Colbert was from Paramount and Gable was from MGM.

RKO Pictures is short for Radio Keith Orpheum, a theater circuit. This was the only studio burn during the talking picture era. RKO pictures were elegant, stylish, witty, and funny. They were also considered to be a daring studio and were responsible for King Kong and Citizen Kane. Their cast list included Katherine Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Orson Welles.

Universal Pictures was famous for their horror movies. They made Dracula with Bela Lagosi and Frankenstein in 1931. The Mummy and The Invisible Man were in ’32, and The Bride of Frankenstein in ’35. These movies had a very distinct feel as James Whale (the director) borrowed heavily from the German Expressionist style.