Thomas Schatz Knihy

Focusing on Hollywood's intricate relationship between business and artistry, this account dismantles the myth that producers hinder creative talent. Drawing from industry documents, it explores the evolution of filmmaking styles and the dynamics behind notable films like Frankenstein and Spellbound. With a blend of rich illustrations and engaging prose, it offers a comprehensive understanding of Old Hollywood's mechanisms and their influence on contemporary cinema, highlighting the collaborative nature of the film industry.

In this survey of Hollywood's film studios during their most glorious period, Schatz, in contrast with the directorial theories of Andrew Sarris and other film historians, describes the creative give-and-take, the symbiotic accord between creators and front offices.

Traces the movie industry through the momentous decade of the 1940s. This title discusses changes in the structure of the studio system - including the shift to independent production - and the dominant stars, genres, and production trends through the period.

The central thesis of this book is that a genre approach provides the most effective means for understanding, analyzing and appreciating the Hollywood cinema. Taking into account not only the formal and aesthetic aspects of feature filmmaking, but various other cultural aspects as well, the genre approach treats movie production as a dynamic process of exchange between the film industry and its audience. This process, embodied by the Hollywood studio system, has been sustained primarily through genres, those popular narrative formulas like the Western, musical and gangster film, which have dominated the screen arts throughout this century.