Light and Shadow

The thirties were arguably the golden age of Hollywood and each studio had its own individual style and exclusive stars and directors.

The biggest studio, which in the words of one publicist, “had more stars than there are in the heavens”, was noted for its elegant and lush style. That studio was MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) which was founded in 1924. Amongst their roster of stars, Greta Garbo was perhaps the greatest of them all, a woman whom the camera loved and who had a special beauty and mystique. I urge you to see “Camille” (1936) or “Anna Karenina” (1935) to experience performances of rare beauty.

Other MGM stars of note were Clark Gable, popularly known as “The King”, whose prominent ears, false teeth and halitosis (bad breath) did not prevent him reaching extraordinary popularity, particularly in “Gone With the Wind” (1939); Joan Crawford; Jean Harlow; and Spencer Tracy, one of the finest of all American actors.

Paramount, probably the oldest major studio (1912), had a more European, sophisticated style. Its major stars in the thirties were Gary Cooper; Marlene Dietrich; Fredric March; and Claudette Colbert. Its key directors included Cecil B. DeMille, famous for his historical and biblical extravaganzas such as “The Sign of the Cross” (1932); the Viennese-born Josef “von” Sternberg who brought a wonderful visual style to his exotically-themed, atmospheric films with Dietrich such as “Morocco” (1930) and “Shanghai Express” (1932), films which made her name; the German-born Ernst Lubitsch who brought wit and sophistication to his comedies on erotic and risqué themes.

Warner Brothers had its first success with a dog, Rin Tin Tin, said to have been found on the Western Front and brought to America. The studio was the first to introduce sound to features in 1927’s “The Jazz Singer,” which starred a sentimental Broadway star, Al Jolson, and created a sensation although it had only ten minutes or so of sound. Warners had a more hard-edged, modern feel to their films, almost documentary in style with superb, crisp black and white photography in its main area of expertise such as the gangster film (“Public Enemy,” 1931), musicals (“42nd Street”, 1932), historical adventures (“Captain Blood”, 1935) and biographies (“The Life of Emile Zola”, 1937). Their important directors included émigrés like Michael Curtiz and William Dieterle and their most interesting and untypical film was the powerful adaptation of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” which had a very Germanic feel with co-directors Max Reinhardt, the theatrical genius, and Dieterle, music by Mendelssohn arranged by Erich Korngold and designs by Anton Grot.

Next month I shall conclude this overview of the Hollywood studio system by looking at Fox, Columbia, Universal, R.K.O. and United Artists.  KR