1. LEWIS
JON LEWIS
ISBN-13: 978-0-393-97922-0
ISBN-10: 0-393-97922-9
90000
AMERICAN FILM
A HISTORY
A HISTORY
AMERICAN FILM
EAN
B
9 780393 979220
B W. W. N O R TO N N E W YO R K • LO N D O N NORTON A H I S T O R Y
2. T
6
Moving toward
a New Hollywood
1955–1967
he implementation and enforcement of the
Supreme Court’s decision in the Paramount
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case in 1948 coincided with a steady decline in
box-office revenues: a 43 percent drop from a
high of $1.7 billion in 1946 to a low of $955 mil-
lion in 1961. Average weekly movie attendance suffered
a similar decline: in 1947, 90 million people went to the
movies every week, but by 1957 the average weekly
attendance was down to 40 million. Much of what
transpired in the industry between 1955 and 1967 was
governed by a single unpleasant fact of life: the once-
prosperous studios were no longer so prosperous. It
seemed entirely possible, as the 1960s unfolded, that the
film industry, which had survived a devastating economic
depression and a world war, might not survive peacetime
prosperity. The irony was disquieting.
Studio executives came to understand in the mid-
1950s that a new Hollywood was necessary and
inevitable. The first step toward a more modern movie
industry took shape in the form of a truce between the
studios and their counterpart in television. By 1960 there
were 50 million TV sets in homes across the United
States, and lots of people were watching a lot of televi-
son: in 1960 the average daily viewing time for U.S.
households with a TV set was over 5 hours a day. In less
than a decade, television had gone from a curious gadget
to an essential home appliance, from an odd and clum-
sily delivered electronic signal received by a handful of
Popular Mechanics subscribers to a viable mass medium
that the studios could no longer afford to ignore.
Because the Paramount Decision restricted the stu-
dios’ investment in the television industry, the studios got
creative and established what we now term synergies
(complex mutually advantageous business relationships)
between the two media. Disney led the way, making a
Alfred Hitchcock
directing Janet Leigh in
the famous shower
233
scene in Psycho (1960).
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No director before or since has so deftly exam- a henchman with tender feelings for his boss
ined the politics of looking and seeing: the curious (James Mason), a master spy and killer. And of
allure of scopophilia (objectification through look- course there is Norman Bates in Psycho. Although
ing) and the seductive kick of voyeurism (a sexual he is not gay (so far as we can tell), he is certainly
thrill gained by watching in secret). Characters effeminate.
enjoy furtive looking, but their penchant for spy- Throughout his years in America, Hitchcock
ing also gets them in trouble. They see something continued to develop his signature style, expand-
they shouldn’t see (a murder, for example, as in ing his use of the theatrical antimontage tech-
The Man Who Knew Too Much, made in 1934 and niques that inspired him during his time in
remade in 1956), something that might mean Germany and England. In The Wrong Man the long
something and then again might not (exactly what takes and fluid documentary-style camerawork
does Thorwald have in that trunk in his apartment enable the viewer to inhabit the world of the
in Rear Window, and exactly what has he got wrongly accused hero. Such cinematic intimacy is
buried out there in the flower bed?), or something a key to the empathy we come to feel with the char-
that turns them on and then turns them into some- acter. The theatrical antimontage style is also evi-
one else, someone bad, as in Psycho. dent in some of Hitchcock’s bigger studio set
Some thematic concerns common to Hitch- pieces. The world that L. B. Jefferies watches from
cock’s films verge on idiosyncrasy. For example, his window, for example, is observed through a
there is Hitchcock’s idealization of a highly styl- camera lens in long, fluid takes. The apartment
ized, carefree masculinity and its counterpoint, the complex across the courtyard is quite like a stage
effeminate, perhaps homosexual tendencies of the set in a play, a single construction that various
political or pathological criminal. In Hitchcock’s characters enter and exit, moving into and then
world, being macho isn’t necessarily an asset, but out of view. The cat-and-mouse scenes in railway
being quick on your feet and smart in difficult cir- cars, hotels, and finally the villain’s posh modern
cumstances certainly is. Hitchcock’s admiration home in North by Northwest are also rendered in
for grace under pressure partially explains his this style. Hitchcock was so committed to it that
affection for actors like Cary Grant and James he composed the entirety of Rope in a single shot.
Anthony Perkins as the psychotic
murderer Norman Bates in Alfred
Stewart, movie stars who radiated a cool exterior The only cuts in the movie occur when the cam-
Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller Psycho.
under fire. Similarly, the most memorable male era operator had to reload his film, and those tran-
hero in Hitchcock’s British films is Richard Han- sitions are masked by distractions, like swinging
nay (Robert Donat) in The 39 Steps, who casually doors or a character walking in front of the cam-
jokes, after being saved from a bullet to the heart era. In the absence of expressive editing, Hitchcock
by a hymnbook he by chance has in his pocket, made the most of simple spatial transitional
that for the first time in his life he understands the devices—stairways, for example, which (as in Psy-
value of songs of praise. In contrast, the prototyp- cho) one ascends or descends at one’s peril. Wait-
ical killer of the British films is Handel Fane (Esme ing behind a blind corner atop the stairs in the
Percy) in the 1930 picture Murder!, easily identi- Bateses’ family home is Norman dressed as
fied as a “half-caste,” a slang term for a homosex- Mother, knife at the ready. Downstairs one finds
ual, who, Hitchcock suggests, kills because he’s Norman’s mother preserved like one of the stuffed
attracted to men. Fane is a model of sorts for a birds in the motel office. Like his expressionist
string of Hitchcock’s American sociopaths: the predecessors Fritz Lang and F. W. Murnau, Hitch-
thrill killers in Rope (played by John Dall and cock used offscreen space expertly. What we see
Farley Granger), stand-ins for the notorious real- on film—what the director holds on film in a long
life killers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, take—suggests what we don’t and can’t see. And in
lovers who kidnapped and killed a boy as an intel- Hitchcock’s films, what we don’t or can’t see can
lectual experiment in staging the perfect crime; hurt us.
Bruno (Robert Walker) in Strangers on a Train, a Hitchcock was by popular acclaim American
mama’s boy who wants his father dead and is will- cinema’s master of suspense. It was a title that at
ing to trade murders to get his wish fulfilled; and the very least revealed the American audience’s
Leonard (Martin Landau) in North by Northwest, affection for and familiarity with his oeuvre.
4. 258 | Chapter 6: Moving toward a New Hollywood (1955-1967) Transcending Genre, Transcending Hollywood | 259
Russ Tamblyn as an undercover cop posing as a high-
school student and Mamie Van Doren as his oversexed
“auntie” in the 1958 teen-exploitation picture High School
Confidential! (Jack Arnold).
Alfred Hitchcock
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the Ripper–like killings, to his best-known Ameri- is a killer, albeit with reason; Frank covers up
can suspense picture, Psycho (1960). Alice’s crime and then falsely pins the blame on a
A quick review of Hitchcock’s work in Germany sleazy blackmailer), several of Hitchcock’s Ameri-
and England offers a useful introduction to his can films feature characters locked in an irrecon-
American oeuvre—which is to say that the seeds cilable moral dilemma. In Notorious, for example,
mercially successful and immediately recognizable of the genius that he would display in his Ameri- spies trade on the virtue of a young woman (Ingrid
as his. More so than the works of any other studio can work was evident in many of his early films. Bergman) in order to get to a Nazi on the lam
director of his time, perhaps of any time, Hitch- Blackmail (1929), his next important film after The (Claude Rains). Pimping for Uncle Sam soon
cock’s films form an oeuvre, a body of work with Lodger, is a silent-sound hybrid about a young comes to trouble her handler (Cary Grant), who
a profound stylistic and thematic unity. woman, Alice (Anny Ondra), who ditches her bor- discovers that he’s in love with the woman he has
But just as clearly as Hitchcock imposed his sig- ing policeman boyfriend, Frank (John Longden), put in the arms of another man. The priest in
nature on his films and became at least as well in order to embark on a clandestine rendezvous I Confess (Montgomery Clift) becomes a suspect in
known as the films themselves, so, too, did stars with a handsome painter (Cyril Ritchard) that ends a murder. He knows the identity of the murderer
such as Jerry Lewis, Marilyn Monroe, and Doris with Alice killing the painter when he tries to rape (O. E. Hasse) but can’t betray the killer’s confi-
Day define “their” films. Filmgoers knew before the her. The picture that cemented Hitchcock’s inter- dence even though the killer has confessed to the
lights went down what to expect from a Hitchcock national reputation was The 39 Steps (1935), a sus- crime solely to prevent the priest from testifying
picture, just as they knew what was in store for pense film about a man who is falsely accused of against him. But lest we idealize the priest, Hitch-
them in a picture starring Jerry Lewis, Marilyn murder and must navigate his way through an cock implies that he has had carnal thoughts and
Monroe, or Doris Day. espionage plot in order to prove his innocence, a may even have acted on them with a former girl-
plotline that Hitchcock would use again in his cold friend (Anne Baxter). Though the priest did not
war spy film North by Northwest (1959). After see- commit the murder, he isn’t exactly innocent. In
ing The 39 Steps, David O. Selznick invited Hitch- Rear Window the hero, L. B. Jefferies, a photo-
Alfred Hitchcock was born in London in 1899 and cock to Hollywood to direct Rebecca (1940). With
enjoyed a successful career in England before mov- that film, Hitchcock’s Hollywood career took off.
ing to Hollywood in 1940. Hitchcock’s first foray Hitchcock’s American oeuvre is significant in
sublime to the ridiculous. After a brief spate of into the film business was with Famous Players– terms of quality and quantity. The films span sev-
earnest, progressive cultural observations in films Lasky, where from 1920 to 1925 he designed sets eral Hollywood genres: Rebecca is a gothic melo-
The director Alfred Hitchcock in a publicity photograph
such as Rebel without a Cause and The Blackboard and title cards, wrote silent-movie scripts, and drama; Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Spellbound
taken in 1959, the year before the release of Psycho.
Jungle, Hollywood turned more formulaic. Fast worked as an assistant director. In 1925 he began (1945), Rope (1948), Strangers on a Train (1951),
cars and fast girls became less causes for concern an association with the German expressionist I Confess (1953), Rear Window (1954), The Wrong
than items on a checklist to be included in any self- producer Erich Pommer, who co-produced Hitch- Man (1957), Vertigo (1958), Psycho, and Marnie
respecting teen film. It wasn’t until 1967 and the cock’s first complete film as a director, the roman- (1964) are psychological suspense films; Notorious
release of Mike Nichols’s The Graduate (discussed tic melodrama The Pleasure Garden (1925). The (1946) and North by Northwest are cold war espi-
below) that the studios would once again take film was shot at Pommer’s studio in Munich, as onage films; The Birds (1963) is a horror picture.
young people seriously. Not incidentally, The Grad- was Hitchcock’s second venture, The Mountain As we look back on Hitchcock’s American films,
uate, which marks the studios’ rekindled attention Eagle (1926), a strange potboiler about a woman certain themes emerge. Several of the films offer
to the youth audience, was not only the number 1 who falls for a hermit in the hills of Kentucky. some variation on the theme of mistaken identity—
film of 1967; it was also the highest-grossing film Hitchcock’s apprenticeship in Germany during for example, Shadow of a Doubt, in which Uncle
of the decade. the 1920s fostered an affection for the antimon- Charlie (Joseph Cotten) may or may not be the
tage style of filmmaking, popularized by F. W. Merry Widow killer; The Wrong Man, in which a
Murnau, which eschewed the cut in favor of a more musician (Henry Fonda) is falsely accused of a rob-
theatrical and photographic emphasis on the shot. bery he did not commit; and North by Northwest,
TRANSCENDING GENRE,
Rather than depict a scene from a variety of angles, in which a happy-go-lucky businessman (Cary
TRANSCENDING HOLLYWOOD cutting from camera placement to camera place- Grant) is mistaken for a spy. For Hitchcock, mis-
Throughout American film history a handful of ment, Hitchcock used deep-focus compositions or taken identity inevitability carries with it the hor-
artists have been able to transcend studio genres simply moved the camera fluidly through the space ror of false accusation and the necessary business
and impose their peculiar signature on all the films of the set. Hitchcock’s affection for expressionist- of proving oneself innocent.
they produced, directed, or starred in. Take, for style lighting was very much in evidence through- As in his breakthrough British film, Blackmail,
example, Alfred Hitchcock. His work in the United out his career, from his first important British film, in which by the 30-minute mark all the principal
States between 1940 and 1960 was at once com- The Lodger (1926), which chronicles a series of Jack characters are culpable in some sort of crime (Alice
6. 4
2 Jazz
chapter
New Orleans
j
azz was born from a rich and complicated Af-
rican American experience, drawing on musical
traditions from Africa and Europe (as we saw in
Chapter 3) and the Caribbean, along with those
that took root in the United States. Imagine jazz as a river,
like the Mississipi, fed by numerous tributaries such as
blues, ragtime, and marching band music, and you will
gain a sense of its nationwide scope.
In its earliest days, jazz was also local. It was a per-
forming tradition unique to the port city of New Or-
leans, and took its distinctive character from the
Frank Driggs Collection
b Jelly Roll Morton, the seminal New Orleans pianist, composer, and bandleader, at a 1926
recording session.
8. make narrative sense of them and to translate the al” part of human existence, that we often can be
Learning Objectives various “things” (what we did over the weekend, unaware of its parts and its effects. This chapter
the courses of our romantic relationships, our edu- will describe some of those parts and trace some of
Once you have read this chapter, you should
cations up to this point, etc.) into stories we can tell those effects. Because narrative is form, something
be able to
our friends, our families, and even ourselves. We do made, the product of deliberate decisions concern-
Differentiate between the story and the this by establishing connections among events, cre- ing content, we need to look as closely at how
plot of a movie.
ating chains of cause and effect. This activity— movies tell their stories as we look at “what hap-
Know the responsibilities of the screen- inferring causal relationships among events that pens” within the stories. Let’s begin by considering
writer. occur in sequence or close to one another—runs how the narratives of contemporary films fit into
Know the difference between diegetic and through our conscious lives, and it sometimes even the overall production process.
nondiegetic elements of a movie’s plot. finds its way into our unconscious lives as we
Understand the importance of the order dream. Is it any wonder, then, that we’re drawn to
(chronological or non-chronological), signif- stories? 1
icance (hubs vs. satellites), and duration of The storytelling impulse runs through motion pic- The Screenwriter
plot events.
ture history, and telling the story is often what the The screenwriter is responsible for creating the
Understand the three kinds relationship most profitable movies are all about. When movies movie’s story—either creating it from scratch or
between screen duration and story were first developed, they often limited themselves to adapting it from another format (such as a short
duration.
documenting an action—a sneeze, a kiss, the swing of story, novel, television show, or play)—and
Distinguish characters by their importance a bat, the gait of a horse. These early films were only (depending on his/her contract) for writing the
(major vs. minor characters), their com-
briefly interesting to audiences, however, and soon screenplay in its various stages. During preproduc-
plexity (round vs. flat), their motivation,
and their role in the narrative (protagonist,
became mere curiosities in nickelodeons. Only after tion, the story is referred to as the “property” and
antagonist). they began to tell stories did the movies reach a level may be an idea that a writer has “pitched” to the
of extraordinary popularity with audiences; and producer, an outline, or a completed script. No
Explain the significance of setting to film
narrative. today, the movies discussed in the common culture, rules determine how an idea should be developed
the movies most of us pay to see, the movies we com- or an existing literary property should be adapted
Know the difference between surprise and
monly have in mind when we say the word movies are into a film script, but the process usually goes
suspense.
those that tell stories. through several stages, involving many rewrites.
Explain what comprises the scope of a
In telling a movie’s story, filmmakers decide Likewise, no rule governs how many people are
story.
what (and what not) to show, how to dress charac- eventually involved in the process. One person may
Understand the difference between narra- 2
ters and decorate sets, how to direct actors, how to write all the stages of the screenplay, or may collab-
tion and narrator as well as how they com- Narrative Form and Biopic A biographical movie, or
use sound and music, and so on. As a result of these orate from the beginning with other screenwriters;
plement one another. biopic, provides particularly rich opportunities to ask why the
decisions, we receive information with which to sometimes, the director is the sole screenwriter or
filmmakers chose to tell the story the way they did. After all,
interpret the unfolding narrative. When crucial co-screenwriter. the facts of the main character’s life are objectively verifiable
information is missing, we fill in details based on Before the breakdown of the Hollywood studio and followed a particular order. But storytellers’ shaping of
our lived experiences, on our sense of what “nor- system and the emergence of the independent film, that material, the form those facts take, determines how
What Is Narrative? mally” happens in movies, and on what has been each of the major studios maintained its own staff compelling the movie is dramatically, how interesting it is
cinematically, and what it means ultimately. (1) Graeme
At its simplest level, a movie’s narrative is the shown to us already—on what, given the charac- of writers, to whom ideas were assigned depending Clifford’s Frances, starring Jessica Lange as Frances Farmer,
telling of its story. As you learn more about movies ters and events already portrayed, seems likely to on their specialty and experience. Each writer was is one type of biopic, relying on objective facts to guide the
generally, you will learn that narrative, an essential occur within the world onscreen. The more we see responsible by contract to write a specified num- narrative and thus encouraging us to analyze other formal
structures within the film, such as the acting. (2) Werner
element of a movie’s form, contains numerous ele- of a movie, the more precise our predictions and ber of films each year. Today, the majority of
Herzog’s Aguirre: The Wrath of God, starring Klaus Kinski as
ments. Overall, the focus of this book is on movies interpretations become. Similarly, the more movies scripts are written in their entirety by independ- Don Lope de Aguirre, is another type, using biographical
that tell a story, works that emphasize a fictional we have seen, the better able we are to creatively ent screenwriters (either as write-for-hires or on facts as raw material for a more subjective narrative and
narrative. Narratives play an essential part in our anticipate the many directions a movie we’re “spec”) and submitted as polished revisions. Many thus inviting us to compare the historical record with the
lives, and we are naturally inclined to look for nar- watching might take. Obviously, too, our ability to other screenplays, especially for those movies cre- artistic vision.
rative structure in life and in art. Although our lives anticipate is shaped by how much life we have ated for mass appeal, are written by “committee,”
may seem like “one thing after another” while we’re lived. But narrative is so tightly woven into our meaning a collaboration of director, producer, edi-
living them, we nonetheless continually attempt to experience of life and art, seemingly such a “natur- tor, and others, including script doctors, profes-
58 CHAPTER 2 NARRATIVE LAST OCURRING A HEAD 59
9. tant starting point, in the words of director Pedro explain his or her concepts to his production team.
Almodovar, is “the value of the script.” That It serves as an organizational tool, enabling the
value—its worth in terms of the combined goals of production manager to organize the actual shoot-
the screenwriter, producer, and director—is what ing to maximize all resources, especially the assign-
drives this process forward. The earliest form of ment of personnel. The production team uses this
the screenplay may be a treatment or synopsis, an information to see if they have enough shots to
outline of the action that briefly describes the “cover” the action into usable and effective
essential ideas and structure for the film. The sequences. Furthermore, it assists in maintaining
treatment is discussed and developed in sessions the continuity of the movie.
known as story conferences, during which it is
transformed from an outline into what is known as Before shooting One of the director’s final
a rough draft screenplay or scenario. At some responsibilities is to prepare the shooting script,
point, these story conferences will be expanded to which lists the details of each shot and can thus be
involve such key personnel as the production man- followed by the director and actors during filming. Regulating Content Social mores, pressure from various
organizations and authorities, and the desire to please a
ager and the art director, as well as members of Even when a director relies on improvisation (that mass audience have helped regulate the content and
their individual teams. is, having the actors make up material on the spot), distribution of movies, especially of mainstream Hollywood
he or she will also have a detailed shooting script. movies. During the early 1920s, after several years of
relatively frank portrayals of sex and violence onscreen (a
> Because a movie is shot mostly out of The costs of making traditional films are simply too
period in which the industry also suffered a wave of
sequence, it is essential to know in advance great to permit even the best-funded director to scandals), Hollywood faced a credible threat of censorship
how edited shots in a sequence will relate to work without this essential tool. The shooting from state governments and of boycotts from Catholic and
one another. script therefore serves as an invaluable guide and other religious groups.
> The director must be concerned with the gen- reference point for all members of the production
eral continuity of space and time, as well as unit, indicating where everything ought to be. It to shoot it. Their decisions will cover everything
with the specific continuity of such elements breaks down the individual shots by location (inte- from fully visualizing the film in setups, determin-
as lighting, camera setups, action, props, cos- rior or exterior), setting (kitchen, football stadium, ing which shots will be made in the studio and
tume, makeup, sound, and performance. etc.), type (close-up, long shot, etc.), and the editing which will be made on location, establishing a pho-
technique to be used between these shots (cut, tographic strategy and determining the visual look
Next, the director transforms the literal script wipe, dissolve, fade-out, etc.). Once the shooting for each shot, settling the film’s color palette, deter-
images of each scene into visualizations of specific script is developed, the director proceeds with the mining the film’s tempo with final editing in mind,
Storyboard Three frames from the storyboard for Alfred shots and setups. The result is a strategy for shoot- other key members of the team to determine how and casting the actors.
Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963). ing each scene (and its component shots). Some Now, imagine you are a filmmaker who wants to
directors keep all this information in their heads; adapt a novel for the screen. It’s a complex work
sional screenwriters who are hired to review a others develop a storyboard before shooting. A sto- with interlocking major and minor themes, numer-
screenplay and improve it. Whether a screen- ryboard is a shot-by-shot (sometimes a scene-by- ous characters, settings in many different loca-
writer works alone or in collaboration with others, scene) breakdown that combines sketches or pho- tions, and a time frame involving both past and
he or she has significant influence over the screen- tographs of how each shot is to look with written present actions, but your budget will not permit
play, the completed movie, and, thus, its artistic, descriptions of the other elements that are to go you to include everything.
critical, and box-office success. with each shot, including dialogue, sound, and
music. These images are arranged in the order of
the action and mounted on sturdy cardboard pan-
The Evolution of a els, but filmmakers today are increasingly turning Elements Of Narrative
Typical Screenplay to computerized storyboards that, much like a Narrative theory (sometimes called narratology)
Going from idea to finished movie is usually a long, word processing program, offer greater flexibility has a long history, starting with Aristotle and con-
complex process, involving not only the story idea in re-arranging the images to pre-visualize. Development of Dialogue Social mores, pressure from tinuing with great vigor today. Aristotle said that a
various organizations and authorities, and the desire to
itself, but also securing of the financing necessary A storyboard serves several important func- good story should have three sequential parts: a
please a mass audience have helped regulate the content
to permit the idea to evolve into a screenplay. But tions. It is a graphic representation of the director’s and distribution of movies, especially of mainstream beginning, middle and an end, a concept that has
for most producers and directors, the most impor- conception of the film and thus is vital in helping to Hollywood movies. had a profound effect on the history of playwriting
60 CHAPTER 2 NARRATIVE LAST OCURRING A HEAD 61
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— T h e N e w Yo r k T i m e s A
