The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (review)

Abstract

Thomas Schatz The Genius of System: Hollywood Filmmaking in Studio Era University of Minnesota Press, 2010; $24.95 This attractive paperback edition of Thomas Schatz's study of classical Hollywood studio era, originally published in 1989, assures that this essential piece of film scholarship remains readily available for academics as well as film fans seeking to better understand contributions of Hollywood to cinema from 1920s through 1950s. Schatz, a professor of communications at University of Texas, challenges auteur theory of film authorship, which celebrates film director as an artist whose personal often negated dehumanizing and profit-driven studio factory system. Instead, Schatz argues that greater attention and credit should be awarded to producers and executives who drafted unique studio styles, and, accordingly, that any individual's was no more than an inflection of an established studio style (6). Asserting that a history of entire studio would be unwieldy, Schatz focuses his book upon four representative examples: Warner Brothers, Metro-GoIdwyn-Mayer(MGM), Universal, and independent producer David 0. Selznick-whose Selznick International Pictures constituted a personal studio while introducing concept of independent producer and eventually undermining studio system. MGM and Warner Brothers were integrated major studios whose ownership of theater chains allowed them to dominate market, while independents such as Selznick relied heavily upon majors for performers, technicians, production facilities, and distribution. Universal, on other hand, was a major-minor, lacking in capital and resources, which forced studio to emphasize lower grade and more systematic production. Schatz incorporates these four companies into a narrative that examines studio chronologically from its inception in 1920s to breakdown of that in post World War Il period. Schatz credits IrvingThaIbergwith pioneering producer-dominated mode of operation that came to characterize studio system. Thalberg, often referred to as boy wonder, was appointed general manager in charge of production at Universal Studio when he was only twenty-one years of age. A salary dispute in 1923 led young film executive to depart Universal for MGM, where Thalberg assumed charge of production and suffered through a somewhat strained working relationship with Louis B. Mayer. Schatz maintains that Thalberg, in occupying a critical position between capitalization and production, carved out role of production chief, which became the single most important role in Hollywood studio system (47). The sound revolution, pioneered by Warner Brothers in 1927, was expensive and creased need for a well-supervised process in which shooting script assumed an essential function. In addition, Schatz insists that in response to economic challenge of Great Depression, studio executives created holy trinity of studio system, emphasizing interplay among budget, star, and genre. Thus, studio house systems were developed in which Universal featured horror film, while Warner Brothers, under production chief Darryl F. Zanuck, concentrated upon social realism and gangster picture. MGM, however, continued to focus upon such major productions as Grand Hotel (1932) in which grace, glamour, and beauty often took precedence over substance. The 1930s also witnessed formation of Selznick International Pictures (SIP) following producer's career at Paramount, RKO, and MGM. With an emphasis on prestige pictures and detailed supervision, SIP captured Best Picture Oscars for Gone With Wind (1939) and Rebecca (1940). The latter production was result of an independent arrangement, which Selznick negotiated to bring Alfred Hitchcock to Hollywood and foreshadowed disintegration of studio system. …