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Product Description
At a time when the Hollywood studios are stronger than they have ever been during their 80-year history, film historian Thomas Schatz provides an indispensable account of Hollywood's traditional blend of business and art. The book lays to rest the persistent myth that studio executives and producers stifle artistic talent and reveals instead the genius of a system of collaboration and conflict. Working from industry documents, Schatz traces the development of house styles, the rise and fall of careers, and the making (and unmaking) of movies: from Frankenstein to Casablanca to Hitchcock's Notorious - and how it all collapsed in the face of television. The Genius of the System gives the definitive view of the workings of the Old Hollywood and the foundation of the New.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is a hard task indeed to take a subject as massive and diverse as Hollywood during the golden age and condense it down into a single book but Schatz has achieved it admirably. He takes four examples: Universal, MGM, Selznick and Warner Brothers and tracks their histories to show how the film business developed, blossomed and declined between 1920 and 1960. The choice of material is perhaps the most important element in the book's success. Whilst giving plenty of information about the people involved and how their stories created the history of the town he backs this up with the hard facts and data of production costs and box office along with records from the studios themselves. The result is a work of reference standard that is comprehensive and never less than fascinating to read. I could not imagine a better introduction to the history of the golden age than this.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a fantastic read. It profiles, in incredible depth, the Hollywood Film Making Industry from it's very early Silent-Movie days, through the creation of the infamous Studio System, right through to the same systems total destruction. It's all here. What makes it so fascinating is the depth of detail the writer goes into and how many controversial questions he asks, and how the book challenges every common conception (sometimes mis-conception) that many have about the system. I am a Media Studies student, and I brought this in preperation for the Film Studies I'll be taking next year - I couldn't have made a wiser choice. If you're a student in this field looking for a comprehensive and also fascinating look at the Hollywood Studio System than look no further. This is also recommendable to anyone with an interest in this subject - however big or small - as I guarantee this will not dissapoint.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Just an excellent book on the subject
27 July 2000
Format:Paperback
Prof. Schatz does not suffer from the scholar's disease of academic-speak and writes a book that clearly demonstrates his expertise on the studio structure. Most books I have read extended the view of the outsider looking in at the star system and not the economics of the studios. "Genius of the System" chronicles the history of the studio's business, that is to say the economics and the people behind the economics.
If you want to read about the business structure of Hollywood during its beginnings, this is the book for you. I cannot recommend it enough.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Hollywood's golden age is richly revealed and explained.
27 Jun 2000
Format:Paperback
An easy to read writer, Thomas Schatz details how the studio system worked from the silent era to its final collapse in the 1960s.
He illuminates both the art and the business of films, with keen analysis of how producers, directors and screenwriters created such fine art (and rich profits) -- especially the producers, who are more the authors of Hollywood films than any other group.
He convincingly portrays MGM's Irving Thalberg as a genius of art and commerce and MGM's Louis B. Mayer as a clod (except when dealing with difficult stars).
Schatz offers telling portraits of many others who did their best work under the constraints of the Hollywood system. He details the major studios' styles and how they evolved over the years. It's clear he has read file cabinets of documents, from endless -- but revealing -- memos to how much the stars made(!).
He also puts the film industry in social and cultural context; he even says the anti-communist witch hunts of the 1940s and 1950s were a disguised form of anti-semitism.
In the end, Schatz offers a convincing alternative to the auteur theory.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Excellent explanation of why the Golden Age was golden.
8 Jun 1998
Format:Paperback
Schatz's examination of Hollywood's inner workings during its Golden Age (from just before the rise of talkies to about 1960) is enlightening, informative and entertaining. It's authoritative in its presentation of how studios worked--backing up Schatz's viewpoint that the studio system was as much responsible for the overall quality of that era's films as any other factor (including the stars and directors)--yet it doesn't forget to entertain with intriguing and (dare I say it?) gosspy tidbits about many landmark films and legendary filmmakers. A solid read and, as Steven Bach says in the foreword, an important book.
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