Instructor: Walter Metz

The Solidification of the Classical Hollywood Cinema

Why did the Classical Hollywood Cinema solidify by 1917?

• The Effects of World War I (1914-1918): The devastating effects of World War I on European filmmaking cannot be overstated. In the early cinema period, more films from Europe screened in the United States than did domestic films. Companies from France (Pathe), Germany (UFA), and Great Britain (Hepworth) were the major players in early cinema. World War I virtually shut down the European film industry. As a result of the United States’ distance from the war zone, the fledgling Hollywood companies were able to perfect an efficient filmmaking system and then have virtually no competition either domestically or internationally. Even after World War I, the European film companies never fully recovered from this. From 1918 onward into the present, Hollywood would be the dominant film industry in the world.

• The Development of the Studio System for Film Production: This efficient filmmaking system that developed during World War I was organized around a production location known as a studio. Thomas Ince is generally credited with experimenting with and creating the model for the Hollywood studios. His Inceville was a large plot of land in Southern California on which all of the necessary materials needed for producing a quality film could be found (sets, backlot, and other production facilities all in one centralized location).

CLIP: Civilization (Thomas Ince, 1916): Christ on the battlefield, King signs peace treaty

• Full-fledged Continuity Editing: By 1917, the aesthetic features of the Hollywood cinema that we term classical were fully in place. Most importantly, given the classical cinema’s intent to distract the spectator from the narrational features of the film, the continuity editing system had become the rule for editing the shots of the film together. In a film made in 1917, we should notice full compliance to the 180 degree rule, the classical breakdown of space, and the use of glance-object cutting to render the space of one scene.

The State of American Cinema in 1917: Case Study: A Girl’s Folly (Maurice Tourneur, 1917)

CLIP: A Girl’s Folly: Mary’s screen test

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This page was last updated on May 30, 2001

Questions or Comments?  Please phone me at (406) 994-6403 or send e-mail to:  metz@montana.edu

Walter Metz, Department of Media and Theatre Arts, Montana State University--Bozeman