History of Motion Pictures

B

Gangster and Musical Films

Two new genres that flourished with the coming of sound were gangster films and musicals. The gangster genre drew on public concern with crime as well as the notoriety of famous criminal gang leaders. Much of the crime arose from illegal activities during the Prohibition era, from 1920 to 1933, when the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages were outlawed in the United States. Early sound gangster films played up violence among ethnic urban gangs. Little Caesar (1930) made actor Edward G. Robinson a star in the role of Italian American Rico Bandello, and actor James Cagney won fame portraying Irish American Tom Powers in The Public Enemy (1931).

Musical films seemed a logical outcome of recorded sound, drawing on Broadway stage formats. But the genre gained wide popular appeal only after Warner Bros. released a series of musicals that broke with stage conventions, filming large groups of dancers from multiple viewpoints to create unique cinematic spectacles. These included 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933, and Footlight Parade (all 1933), all choreographed by American Busby Berkeley. Another type of movie musical featured individual performers, in particular the dance team of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in such films as Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time (1936).

C

Horror Films

An older genre that gained new energy with the coming of sound was the horror film. The heavy voice of Hungarian-born actor Bela Lugosi gave new thrills to audiences in the vampire film Dracula (1931), directed by American Tod Browning. In Frankenstein (1931), directed by British-born filmmaker James Whale, British-born actor Boris Karloff created a surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of the lumbering monster brought to life by an ambitious scientist. Based on 19th-century novels, these two works (themselves remakes of silent films) became classics that directors have continued to remake, with numerous variations.

D

The Studio System and Star Vehicles

The advent of sound launched a round of mergers in the American motion-picture industry, reshaping the Hollywood studio system. Five large companies—Fox (later Twentieth-Century Fox), Loew’s Incorporated (later Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Paramount, RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum), and Warner Bros.—functioned as producers, distributors, and exhibitors, exerting a level of control that the U.S. government challenged successfully in 1948 as constituting a monopoly and thus illegal. Universal, Columbia, and United Artists were also important but exerted less control since they did not own theaters. Studios employed directors and performers under long-term contracts, and they developed a star system as a means of promoting and selling films. So-called star vehicles were crafted to display the particular appeal of the studios’ most popular stars.

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Sound made more imperative the desire of many religious groups and social reformers to control motion-picture content. While state and local censorship bodies existed, outside pressures led the movie companies to establish a Production Code in 1930, and to strengthen its enforcement by adding a Production Code Administration in 1934. This body monitored scripts and finished films and eliminated dialogue, scenes, or story lines that violated the code’s regulations concerning the depiction of sex, crime, drug use, and other behavior. The code remained in effect until the mid-1960s.

E

Developments in Europe

Inventors in Europe also developed recorded sound systems during the 1920s. In 1930 an international conference of patent holders came to general agreement so that legal disputes would not hinder the transformation to sound. The principal European film industries, along with Hollywood, shifted over to sound production in the late 1920s.

E

1

Britain

British film hoped to gain from its strong theatrical tradition with the coming of sound. Producer-director Alexander Korda made an international impact with The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), starring Charles Laughton. Alfred Hitchcock directed popular thrillers and espionage films such as The 39 Steps (1935). During the 1930s Britain also developed a significant government-sponsored documentary film practice under the leadership of John Grierson. Directors Michael Powell (see Powell and Pressburger), David Lean, and Carol Reed made important narrative films in the World War II period (1939-1945), while war-related documentaries were produced by filmmakers such as Humphrey Jennings.

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