The Hidden Art of Hollywood: In Defense of the Studio Era Film

by Fawell, John

• ISBN13: 9780313356926
• ISBN10: 0313356920
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-10-30
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

Although we tend to accord our highest praise to films with strong messages, Hollywood is resolutely unserious in its goals, and closer perhaps to music than to literature in this regard. Thus, in order to appreciate Hollywood's classic movies, we have to understand them as the result of a style of filmmaking that justifies itself through the grace and beauty of its form. This beauty, when seen, challenges our notion of film as the poorer cousin of the "high arts," or as worthwhile only when it serves a social purpose. The Hidden Art of Hollywood draws from a huge fund of recorded interviews with the directors, writers, cinematographers, set designers, producers, and actors who were a part of the studio process, in order to give the filmmakers themselves the chance to explain a very elusive phenomenon: the glancing beauty of the Hollywood film.

Author Biography

John Fawell is Associate Professor at Boston University.

Table of Contents

When Is Classic Hollywood?	p. 1
Who Is the Artist?	p. 13
What Is a Great Hollywood Film? The Difficulty in Establishing a Hierarchy	p. 23
Taking Classic Hollywood Seriously	p. 31
Hollywood's Classicism	p. 41
Hollywood: An Art of Silence and Ellipses	p. 55
Hollywood, Style, and Decoration	p. 73
The Artificiality of the Hollywood Film	p. 91
Hollywood and Sentiment	p. 109
Hollywood Acting	p. 129
Character Actors	p. 141
Hollywood Writing	p. 157
Hollywood and Rhythm	p. 181
Conclusion	p. 195
Notes	p. 201
Bibliography	p. 211
Index	p. 215
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