The Architect of the Studio System They called him “the boy wonder.” A man who was well beyond his time when it came to techniques and producing cinematic content. Irving Thalberg was a genius, a visionary and an innovator but, above all this, he was a producer. He used his passion and talent to meticulously sculpt films into becoming high profiting masterpieces that reeled the public in. Films such as The Grand Hotel (1932), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Camille (1936) display his brilliance and have been cemented into film history. Much of Thalberg’s success was due to his creative process his ability to gravitate towards amazing stories and great works was miraculous and earned him …show more content…
Usually, he would use a book or a play but, it had to be the type that “is made for characterization, or for a situation, for a well-recognized title, for a background (when the story is old but its situation unusual), or simply for its merit, as it stands; that is, for its straight story value ” (Veira 59). Basically, he needed a piece that would sell. The character had to be interesting, the plot had to be classic yet, innovative and the story itself had to be marketable. Once the story was found, the casting began. Thalberg asked himself, “what star- or director- will suit it best?” (Veira 59). The second that was decided the “ditch digging” began. “Ditch digging” was a phrase coined by Thalberg to describe the process of a treatment. The plot was reduced to four or five thousand words by a professional reader and the significant or entertaining aspects of the piece were kept. The producer described it as having it “ perverted - for the screen” (Vieira 59). This happened to be where most writers struggled. Thalberg had a very particular eye and an idea of what he wanted, if the plot or story didn’t seem big enough to stand on it’s own it was discarded and the process had to begin all over again. …show more content…
It’s pretty near a classic in how to take a talker and then cut it to keep it moving ” (Vieira 113). Later, when Thalberg took on yet another talkie project known as The Grand Hotel he showed the same amount of influence and even changed the story to fit Greta Garbo’s persona. Instead of making her a pathetic promiscuous woman, he turned her into an alluring vixen changing the men from her bedmates to her admirers and stating that, “her playing with the three men is innocent” (Vieira 115). Thalberg was very particular with this picture and continued to put the writers through the ringer. It required constant rewrites and Thalberg rejected whatever didn’t fit into his idea of what the film should be but, failed to communicate the specifics of what he wanted. The most he could say was that he was after characterization, he wanted to use talkies to display humanity in ways that could not be done with silent films, he explained, “This is going to be one of the few pictures made in the new style. I’ll tell you what I’m getting in the pictures I’m making now. I’ve come to the realization that you have to endow a character with greater complexity than you ever had to in silent pictures (Vieira 197). ” His visions proved true and both movies were a great success however, his collaborative efforts did
The first thing about this film that caught my eye from a sociological perspective is that the society in the film is not depicted as a “perfect society” as most films do, instead it shows the real conflicts that society had back then with certain subjects. The film shows us the prejudices, and misconceptions that people had about things like sex, and homosexuality at the time.
Frank Capra, a leading figure in the film industry, had created many remarkable masterpieces from the era of the Great Depression all the way through the Second Great War. Not only did he face the innovating changes of movie life, such as the change from silent to sound film-making, he had has made a great impact on the lives of Americans.
The Great Gatsby is one of the most known novel and movie in the United States. Fitzgerald is the creator of the novel The Great Gatsby; many want to recreate his vision in their own works. Being in a rewrite of the novel or transforming literature in cinema. Luhrmann is the most current director that tried to transform this novel into cinema. However, this is something many directors have tried to do but have not succeeded. Luhrmann has made a good triumph creating this movie. Both Fitzgerald’s and Luhrmann’s approach to The Great Gatsby either by using diction, symbolism, transitions from one scene to another, and color symbolism usage in both the text and the movies; illustrate how Daisy and Gatsby still have an attraction for one another, and how they might want to rekindle their love.
The portrayal of art cinema is to some extent accurate when considering the time period of this film. Art film was first introduced to the American film industry during the period of time when this film came out. Art cinema utilizes its own set of artistic expression. Hollywood classical films on the other hand, are at odds with the artistic concept, and are considered to be mainstream. When we look at Classical films, we think of the basic Hollywood movie where there is a beginning, middle and end, and the whole movie comes together at the end, with a little bit of romance. In this specific movie, the audience is faced with a confusing dilemma of choosing whether this movie is an art film or a classical film. Most even think it has a documentary approach, but what makes this movie even more successful and even more entertaining, is that it is both art cinema and classical cinema.
As the case with most “Novel to Movie” adaptations, screenwriters for films will make minor, and sometimes drastic, adjustments to the original text in order to increase drama and to reach modern audiences. Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film interpretation of The Great Gatsby followed the 1925 classic great plot quite accurately, with minor deviations. However, Luhrmann made some notable differences to the characters and settings of The Great Gatsby in order for the story to relate to the current generation and to intensity the plot
The Classical Hollywood style, according to David Bordwell remains “bound by rules that set stringent limits on individual innovation; that telling a story is the basic formal concern.” Every element of the film works in the service of the narrative, which should be ideally comprehensible and unambiguous to the audience. The typical Hollywood film revolves around a protagonist, whose struggle to achieve a specific goal or resolve a conflict becomes the foundation for the story. André Bazin, in his “On the politique des auteurs,” argues that this particular system of filmmaking, despite all its limitations and constrictions, represented a productive force creating commercial art. From the Hollywood film derived transnational and transcultural works of art that evoked spectatorial identification with its characters and emotional investment into its narrative. The Philadelphia Story, directed by George Cukor in 1940, is one of the many works of mass-produced art evolving out of the studio system. The film revolves around Tracy Lord who, on the eve of her second wedding, must confront the return of her ex-husband, two newspaper reporters entering into her home, and her own hubris. The opening sequence of The Philadelphia Story represents a microcosm of the dynamic between the two protagonists Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven, played by Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Through the use of costume and music, the opening sequence operates as a means to aesthetically reveal narrative themes and character traits, while simultaneously setting up the disturbance that must be resolved.
The film illustrates the common social and sexual anxieties that the Germans were undergoing at that period of time. It also employs cinematic aesthetics alongside with new technology to create what would be considered as one of Germany’s first sound-supported films. Furthermore, it was the film that popularized its star Marlene Dietrich. The film is also known for combining elements of earlier expressionist works into its setting without becoming an expressionist film itself. It is important also to point out that the visual element has helped to balance the film easily against the backdrop the nightclub lifestyle that Lola leads the professor to fall into.
The all-American novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the classic story of immense wealth and equally extensive loss through the eyes of Nick Carraway. Because of this, many film adaptations have been attempted, though few remain very true to the novel’s main intent and style. For example, the 1974 version and the 2013 film both show the exact same story yet attract the audience in different ways. However, the 1974 film of The Great Gatsby holds more true to the source material in conclusive theme, parallel style, credible characterization, and cinematic aspects, therefore making it a more favorable watch than the other. The aspects of each of these films deviate so widely that one can hardly believe they originate from the same
“There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! But that wasn't good enough for them, oh no! They had to have the ears of the whole world too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Talk! TALK!” (Sunset Boulevard). The film Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder focuses on a struggling screen writer who is hired to rewrite a silent film star’s script leading to a dysfunctional and fatal relationship. Sunset Boulevard is heavily influenced by the history of cinema starting from the 1930s to 1950 when the film was released.
Think about your favorite movie. When watching that movie, was there anything about the style of the movie that makes it your favorite? Have you ever thought about why that movie is just so darn good? The answer is because of the the Auteur. An Auteur is the artists behind the movie. They have and individual style and control over all elements of production, which make their movies exclusively unique. If you could put a finger on who the director of a movie is without even seeing the whole film, then the person that made the movie is most likely an auteur director. They have a unique stamp on each of their movies. This essay will be covering Martin Scorsese, you will soon find out that he is one of the best auteur directors in the film industry. This paper will include, but is not limited to two of his movies, Good Fellas, and The Wolf of Wall Street. We will also cover the details on what makes Martin Scorsese's movies unique, such as the common themes, recurring motifs, and filming practices found in their work. Then on
These qualities make The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald’s most influential novel. No wonder it is dubbed “The great American novel” (Yardley). From its use of characters like Daisy representing greed, Nick an observer, and Gatsby as a typical 1920’s man chasing the American dream, to its parallels to Fitzgerald’s life (Lantz) and its historical context (Caldwell). , The Great Gatsby is no doubt one of Fitzgerald’s best and most influential works. In fact, it was even adapted into films twice. The one with the most similarities and accurate representation of characters is the 1974 version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. There is more than enough proof to show that one piece of work, such as The Great Gatsby, can have an impact on so many people over many years.
“The film adaptation of The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Luhrmann in 2013 is almost as ingenious as the novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. It is easily understood, and keeps the audience attentive up until the very end. The sceneries, in most cases are very close to the description given in the novel and are very pleasing to the eye. Even the actors are well cast in most instances. The costuming fits the description of the 1920s perfectly, the computer generated imagery technology enhances the themes of the film and the music is appeals to the audiences’ auditory senses among other things which are to be explained below. Another aspect that makes a great contribution to the film’s greatness is the narration.
This installment of what is considered one of the “great American novels” boasts its garishness through its stunning visual style, once again proving that Baz Luhrmann is not one to be subtle. Even though the defects of this film go beyond just mischaracterization, it seizes the essence of “Gatsby” with an iron fist: a glittering celebration of dreams and the ambitions that every human holds inside of them.
Fritz Lang’s M is very much a product of its time, receiving huge influences from German Expressionism during the 1930s. After World War I, this form of presenting film became very prominent in Germany reflecting the cynicism and disillusionment that encapsulated the country. As a result of Lang’s expressionist approach to the film along with his own unique take on the genre, M is also a very early example of film noir.
It is from this point that Luhrmann’s mannerisms distract the audience from the very heart of the film: the development of characters and their feelings. Luhrmann didn’t intend to create a PBS-style, bare-bone piece of work, but at times it feels like he secretly wanted to. Once you encroach the movie’s first pieces filled with visual excess - thousands of partygoers drinking, doing the cha-cha and acting naively - the movie settles into a very cliche groove of scene, scene, juxtaposing shots, scene, unprecedented violence, and finally a character reflecting on his actions. To quote a phrase from “The Great Gatsby”, in which a character is describing one of Jay Gatsby’s parties, the movie strives to become a “Kaleidoscopic carnival”. However Luhrmann’s style of directing is more traditional and therefore proceeds to cancel out the two impulses. Now on to the acting, and in particular Leonardo DiCaprio