Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s (Volume 6) (History of the American Cinema)

this Book Represents Some Of The Finest Scholarship In The Field. . . . Schatz Draws On A Broad Range Of Archival And Trade Press Sources, And Organizes His Findings To Highlight The Dynamics Of Studio House Styles, Executive Management And The Production Strategies Of The Major Studios As The Studio System Coped With An Array Of 'momentous Reversals.'—matthew Bernstein, Author Of walter Wanger, Hollywood independent film Quarterly an Essential Background For Anyone Interested In This Complicated Decade Schatz Is Able To Tell Several Histories Of American Film: The History Of The Cinema's Recruitment By Politics, But Also The History Of Industrial Practices That Move At Their Own Irreducible Speed. Advisory Board......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Acknowledgments......Page 11 Contributors......Page 13 1. Introduction......Page 15 Part 1. The Prewar Era......Page 22 2. The Motion Picture Industry in 1940-1941......Page 23 3. The Hollywood Studio System in 1940-1941......Page 53 4. Prewar Stars, Genres, and Production Trends......Page 91 Part 2. The War Era......Page 140 5. The Motion Picture Industry During World War II......Page 142 6. The Hollywood Studio System, 1942-1945......Page 180 7. Wartime Stars, Genres, and Production Trends......Page 214 8. Regulating the Screen: The Office of War Information and the Production Code Administration......Page 273 Part 3. The Postwar Era......Page 293 9. The Postwar Motion Picture Industry......Page 295 10. The Hollywood Studio System, 1946-1949......Page 339 11. Postwar Stars, Genres, and Production Trends......Page 363 Part 4. Ancillary Developments......Page 405 12. Documenting the 1940s......Page 406 13. Television and Hollywood in the 1940s......Page 431 14. Experimental and Avant-Garde Cinema in the 1940s......Page 454 Appendix 1. Total Number of Theaters in the United States, 1940-1950......Page 470 Appendix 2. Average Weekly Attendance in the United States, 1940-1950......Page 471 Appendix 3. Number of Feature Films Released in the United States, 1940-1949......Page 472 Appendix 4. Major Studio Revenues and Profits, 1940-1949......Page 473 Appendix 5. Top Box-Office Pictures, 1940-1949......Page 475 Appendix 6. Exhibitors' Poll of Top Ten Box-Office Stars, 1940-1949......Page 478 Appendix 7. Major Academy Awards, 1940-1949......Page 481 Appendix 8. National Board of Review, 1940-1949......Page 488 Notes......Page 492 Bibliography......Page 535 v. 1. The emergence of cinema / Charles Musser The transformation of cinema, 1907-1915 / Eileen Bowser v. 3. An evening's entertainment / Richard Koszarski v. 4. The talkies / Donald Crafton v. 5. Grand design / Tino Balio v. 6. Boom and bust / Thomas Schatz v. 8. The sixties: 1960-1969 v. 9. Lost illusions / David A. Cook v. 10. A new pot of gold / Stephen Prince. Covering a tumultuous period of the 1950s, this work explores the divorce of movie studios from their theater chains, the panic of the blacklist era, the explosive emergence of science fiction as the dominant genre, and the rise of television and Hollywood's response with widescreen spectacles Boom and Bust traces the movie industry through the momentous decade of the 1940s. It discusses changes in the structure of the studio systemincluding the shift to independent productionand the dominant stars, genres, and production trends through the period. This text traces the movie industry through the momentous decade of the 1940s. The text discusses changes in the structure of the studio system including the shift to independent production and the dominant stars and production trends through the period The Fifties: Transforming the Screen, 1950-1959