Warner Bros.

In 1967, Mike Nichols directed the film, The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman. During the film, Ben, a recent college graduate, is moving back home to California. Upon his arrival, his parents throw him a welcome home party, where he gets to celebrate with all his family friends. One of those friends is Mrs. Robinson, the wife of Ben’s father’s business partner. Mrs. Robinson takes a liking to Ben, and the two begin a secret affair. During their relationship, Ben contemplates his life choices,…

American attendance began to decline do to the simple fact of Independent filmmakers. Once independent filmmakers where allowed the right to show their films, a whole category of competition began stir the melting pot in the post War era. Hollywood had to actually try to be creative with the work they threw out to people. Hollywood production companies were so used to being on the top of the world with no competition. Films were just being shot out to the world with no thoughts or creativity.…

Following the introduction of sound in the late 1920’s, the film industry flourished, and multiple genres took their place in the forefront of the industry, including gangster, horror, and western films (Dixon & Foster 90-91). One genre of film that started in the early 1930s and became popular until the late 1940s was the “screwball comedy”, which contained elements consisting of comedy and romance (Dixon & Foster 99-100). It was “characterized by social satire, comedic relief through zany,…

So, you have a film degree in your possession, you’ve garnered experience and credibility working on numerous small productions and you feel that you are finally ready to make a name for yourself and establish a career in film; but where do you go? It is very likely that your first choice would be Hollywood, California because it is the self-proclaimed “entertainment capital of the world.” But depending on where you live and what your projected cost-of-living budget, coupled with troubling…

The contribution of the live orchestra to the silent film “The Mark of Zorro” directed by Fred Niblo made the film more thrilling. The bold music brought on a new approach to the humorous silent film. After viewing it, I now believe that all silent films should be viewed accompanying a performing orchestra or band of some sort. I loved how it offered an alternate source of not only entertainment, but information synchronized with moving images. Without the exhilarating background music,…

Gene Kelly’s and Stanley Donen’s 1952 American musical comedy film that changed and made a mark in film history for his film techniques and is one of the greatest films of the sound era. It is a classic film for its joyous and cheerful musical numbers that burst with energy. The film blends a variety of genres such as musical, period and historical, romance, family, drama and comedy all into one. The storyline really captivates the audience’s attention and wins it way into your heart with it…

Paramount was accused of being n monopolizing force in the movie industry in 1921 by the FTC. The FTC believed that the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was buying the other companies to monopolize the industry. The Department of Justice opened an investigation against Paramount for allegedly block booking to keep the industry in an anticompetitive state. Almost seven years later in 1928 Paramount- Famous Players-Lasky and nine other companies were facing antitrust charges. Due to the great…

Movies have come a long way from the black and white and no sound. It seems as if each decade movies have evolved and with that comes issues. For example, movies are becoming increasingly more difficult to rate for audiences, especially children. Movies have not always been under the protection of the First Amendment. In fact motion pictures didn’t become protected under the First Amendment until 72 years after they were made in 1952 (Albosta, 2009, pp.118-120). It might seem as a blessing that…

The Golden Age of Piracy is the subject of many Hollywood films. One of the most popular series among them in recent years is the series Pirates of the Caribbean. But how accurately this film portrays and captures the way the Golden Age of Piracy spanned from the 2650’s to the 1730’s is important in many different ways. In order to answer this question, my team of researchers and I will examine how accurately myths or superstitions, real life pirates, weapons, and the pirate code were presented…

Ever since Titanic was released during the holidays, studios have looked at the holiday season as a prime spot to release huge movies. Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Avatar, and Titanic have all seen gigantic numbers during this time of the year. This makes Winter the new Summer for movies. Sure, there are now Avengers films being released at that time, but December is where they roll out the films that could be nominated for awards. If you take a look at this holiday season — I have taken a…