Hidden Art of Hollywood: In Defense of the Studio Era Film
Hidden Art of Hollywood: In Defense of <strong>thestrong> Studio Era Film: 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 <strong>thestrong>m as <strong>thestrong> result of a style of filmmaking that justifies itself through <strong>thestrong> grace and beauty of its form. This beauty, when seen, challenges our notion of film as <strong>thestrong> poorer cousin of <strong>thestrong> high arts, or as worthwhile only when it serves a social purpose. <strong>Thestrong> Hidden Art of Hollywood draws from a huge fund of recorded interviews with <strong>thestrong> directors, writers, cinematographers, set designers, producers, and actors who were a part of <strong>thestrong> studio process, in order to give <strong>thestrong> filmmakers <strong>thestrong>mselves <strong>thestrong> chance to explain a very elusive phenomenon: <strong>thestrong> glancing beauty of <strong>thestrong> Hollywood film.While <strong>thestrong> greatness of <strong>thestrong> classic Hollywood film is, for many of us, settled business, <strong>thestrong>re are also a great number who have difficulty understanding why <strong>thestrong>se films-which can often seem dated and unrealistic compared to modern fare-are taken as seriously as <strong>thestrong>y are. Although we tend to accord our highest praise to films with strong and often didactic messages, Hollywood is resolutely unserious in its goals, and closer perhaps to music than to literature in this regard. Thus, in order to appreciate classic American movies, we have to understand <strong>thestrong>m as <strong>thestrong> result of a style of filmmaking that justifies itself not through ideas or social relevance, but through <strong>thestrong> grace and beauty of its form.<strong>Thestrong> beauty of <strong>thestrong> Hollywood film challenges our notion of film as <strong>thestrong> poorer cousin of <strong>thestrong> high arts, or as worthwhile only when it serves a social purpose. In his effort to answer <strong>thestrong> many questions that classic American cinema suggests, author John Fawell considers previous criticism of Hollywood, but also draws from a huge fund of recorded interviews with <strong>thestrong> directors, writers, cinematographers, set designers, producers, and actors who were a part of <strong>thestrong> studio process, in order to give <strong>thestrong> filmmakers <strong>thestrong>mselves <strong>thestrong> chance to explain a very elusive phenomenon: <strong>thestrong> glancing beauty of <strong>thestrong> Hollywood film. <strong>Thestrong> films of certain great auteurs, including Charlie Chaplin, Ernst Lubitsch, Preston Sturges, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, John Ford, and Orson Welles, receive particular attention here, but this book is organized by ideas ra<strong>thestrong>r than films or artists, and it draws from a wide array of Hollywood films, both successes and failures, to make its points.