Deck 5: The Hollywood Studio System: 1925-1955

Question 1

All of the following are true about the use of genre to develop movie stories except:

A)Its use automatically synthesizes a vast amount of iconographic data.
B)Its use provides a very tight set of ready-made expectations.
C)Its use helps to organize and focus story materials.
D)Its conventions are mere clichés unless united with significant innovations.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The temper of each major studio was determined in part by the personality of the person who ran each studio.___

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Which of the following traits was not true of B-movies?

A)style,boldness,and originality
B)lurid and infantile titles
C)inclusion of a great deal of stock footage
D)testing ground of raw talent

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Under the Hollywood film-studio factory system,the key to getting a movie made was the

A)director.
B)producer.
C)cinematographer.
D)star.

Question 5

What was a particularly taboo subject in American cinema in the Hollywood system?

A)optimism
B)romance
C)honest failure
D)none of the above

Question 6

Classical narrative structure

A)begins with an implied dramatic question.
B)involves subsequent scenes that intensify action in a rising pattern.
C)suppresses any dramatic detail that does not intensify the central conflict.
D)all the above

Question 7

All the following were responsible for the practice of "vertical integration" except

A)Thomas Ince.
B)William Fox.
C)Adolph Zukor.
D)Marcus Loew.

Question 8

Benjamin Hampton claims that Hollywood's greater film success than Europe's is
explained by Hollywood's "…willingness to give the public what it was willing to pay
for…." ___

Question 9

RKO,a small studio,boasted which of the following:

A)great political clout in California
B)the finest special effects unit in Hollywood
C)Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds
D)Fritz Lang and John Ford,two of the best contract directors in Hollywood

Question 10

All of the following made up the "Front Office" of a major studio except the

A)studio head.
B)producers.
C)production chief.
D)directors.

Question 11

What two types/ titles in the studio system produced the majority of the very best films?

A)the producer
B)the director
C)both of the above
D)neither of the above

Question 12

Top stars often had written into their contracts all of the following except

A)how much they could weigh.
B)script approval.
C)director.
D)cinematographer.

Question 13

Which of the following is true about Paramount Studio?

A)It was responsible for 25% of the films produced in 1929.
B)It was the most sophisticated studio of the Big Five.
C)It was the most "European."
D)all the above.

Question 14

What percent of the seating capacity of theatres did the Big Five studios control?

A)25%
B)50%
C)75%
D)100%

Question 15

The choices of movies which Bette Davis fought for made considerably less money than the ones her Front Office favored for her.___

Question 16

The studio whose ruling sensibility was "masculine,tough,and proletarian" was

A)Paramount.
B)Universal.
C)RKO.
D)Warner Brothers.
90

Question 17

Major studios often viewed their stars as valuable investments,"properties." ___

Question 18

What element in a script took precedence over all other elements?

A)action
B)dialogue
C)costume
D)comedy

Question 19

A personality star was an actor whose

A)screen persona and actual personality were very different.
B)screen roles were always exactly the same character.
C)screen persona and actual personality were almost identical.
D)none of the above
91

Question 20

The best American movies of this period were movies that

A)ennobled human beings.
B)made a great deal of money.
C)both a and b
D)neither a nor b

Question 21

Matching
a.specialized in lavish spectacles
b.major studio especially receptive to comedy
c.top male star of the 1930s
d.Twentieth Century-Fox production head
e.inaugurated the era of screwball comedy
f.shaped writing the script,had say in casting,etc.
g.most popular film star in film history
h.concerns goal-oriented characters
i.over half of majors' movies were these
j.devised the studio system
John Wayne ___

Question 22

Matching
a.specialized in lavish spectacles
b.major studio especially receptive to comedy
c.top male star of the 1930s
d.Twentieth Century-Fox production head
e.inaugurated the era of screwball comedy
f.shaped writing the script,had say in casting,etc.
g.most popular film star in film history
h.concerns goal-oriented characters
i.over half of majors' movies were these
j.devised the studio system
Frank Capra ___

Question 23

What happened to new actors/actresses ("neophytes")who entered the star system?

Question 24

Matching
a.specialized in lavish spectacles
b.major studio especially receptive to comedy
c.top male star of the 1930s
d.Twentieth Century-Fox production head
e.inaugurated the era of screwball comedy
f.shaped writing the script,had say in casting,etc.
g.most popular film star in film history
h.concerns goal-oriented characters
i.over half of majors' movies were these
j.devised the studio system
producer ___

Question 25

Above all,what kind of stories did American audiences want to see after World War I?

Question 26

Matching
a.specialized in lavish spectacles
b.major studio especially receptive to comedy
c.top male star of the 1930s
d.Twentieth Century-Fox production head
e.inaugurated the era of screwball comedy
f.shaped writing the script,had say in casting,etc.
g.most popular film star in film history
h.concerns goal-oriented characters
i.over half of majors' movies were these
j.devised the studio system
Thomas Ince ___

Question 27

Narrative structure in classical movies is linear and often takes the form of a journey,chase,or search.___

Question 28

Matching
a.specialized in lavish spectacles
b.major studio especially receptive to comedy
c.top male star of the 1930s
d.Twentieth Century-Fox production head
e.inaugurated the era of screwball comedy
f.shaped writing the script,had say in casting,etc.
g.most popular film star in film history
h.concerns goal-oriented characters
i.over half of majors' movies were these
j.devised the studio system
classical cinema ___

Question 29

Good looks and sex appeal have seldom been conspicuous features of most film stars.
___

Question 30

Matching
a.specialized in lavish spectacles
b.major studio especially receptive to comedy
c.top male star of the 1930s
d.Twentieth Century-Fox production head
e.inaugurated the era of screwball comedy
f.shaped writing the script,had say in casting,etc.
g.most popular film star in film history
h.concerns goal-oriented characters
i.over half of majors' movies were these
j.devised the studio system
MGM ___

Question 31

To what is classical cinema oriented and to whom?

Question 32

Matching
a.specialized in lavish spectacles
b.major studio especially receptive to comedy
c.top male star of the 1930s
d.Twentieth Century-Fox production head
e.inaugurated the era of screwball comedy
f.shaped writing the script,had say in casting,etc.
g.most popular film star in film history
h.concerns goal-oriented characters
i.over half of majors' movies were these
j.devised the studio system
Darryl F.Zanuck ___

Question 33

Gangster films are often vehicles for exploring rebellion myths.___

Question 34

In the assembly-line method of making movies,action and plot did not take precedence over character consistency and probability.___
92

Question 35

Less realistic than slapstick comedy,screwball comedy's characters are never serious as they interact with one another.___

Question 36

Matching
a.specialized in lavish spectacles
b.major studio especially receptive to comedy
c.top male star of the 1930s
d.Twentieth Century-Fox production head
e.inaugurated the era of screwball comedy
f.shaped writing the script,had say in casting,etc.
g.most popular film star in film history
h.concerns goal-oriented characters
i.over half of majors' movies were these
j.devised the studio system
B-movies ___

Question 37

Matching
a.specialized in lavish spectacles
b.major studio especially receptive to comedy
c.top male star of the 1930s
d.Twentieth Century-Fox production head
e.inaugurated the era of screwball comedy
f.shaped writing the script,had say in casting,etc.
g.most popular film star in film history
h.concerns goal-oriented characters
i.over half of majors' movies were these
j.devised the studio system
Clark Gable ___

Question 38

Matching
a.specialized in lavish spectacles
b.major studio especially receptive to comedy
c.top male star of the 1930s
d.Twentieth Century-Fox production head
e.inaugurated the era of screwball comedy
f.shaped writing the script,had say in casting,etc.
g.most popular film star in film history
h.concerns goal-oriented characters
i.over half of majors' movies were these
j.devised the studio system
Paramount ___

Question 39

During the big studio era,literary properties were thought to be inferior to original screenplays.___

Question 40

What was the model for the Hollywood studio system and who was the inventor of that model?

Question 41

Given the fact that the system remade people into acting types,many of whom
became stars,how likely is it that personality stars like Gary Cooper were,in private life,just like their screen personas,or was it likely that,as we learned about actors like Rock Hudson and Marilyn Monroe,they had private selves that few knew?

Question 42

What were the benefits of the studio system to the film industry itself as well as movie goers? What were the limitations of the studio system?

Question 43

Why was the development of the classical narrative script form in Hollywood inevitable?

Question 44

What were the advantages to studios like MGM and Paramount that they specialized
in specific kinds of movies like spectaculars,screwball comedies etc.? What were the
disadvantages?