![]() Warner Brothers was formed in 1923 and four years later produced Hollywood's first talkie (= film with spoken words), The Jazz Singer. The first film in Technicolor was produced in 1922. Hollywood also created its first sex symbol, Theda Bara (1890-1955). D W Griffith directed expensive ' epic' films like The Birth of a Nation, and William S Hart made westerns popular. Mack Sennett, a Canadian, began making comedy films, including those featuring the Keystone Kops, in which Charlie Chaplin and 'Fatty' Arbuckle became stars. During this period Mary Pickford,, and John Barrymore became famous in silent films. By the 1920s, companies such as Universal Pictures and United Artists had set up studios around Hollywood. The companies were attracted to California by its fine weather, which allowed them to film outside for most of the year, but they also wanted to avoid having to pay money to a group of studios led by Thomas Edison which were trying to establish a monopoly (= control of the industry so that only they could make films). In 1908, when film companies began moving west from New York, it was a small, unknown community. Hollywood is now surrounded by Los Angeles. Both the British and Americans have mixed feelings about Hollywood: they are attracted by the excitement of the film world and by the lives of the stars, but also see Hollywood as a symbol of trashy, commercial culture. But Hollywood is also Tinseltown, where money can buy an expensive lifestyle but the pressure to succeed can destroy lives, as in the case of Marilyn Monroe and River Phoenix. The world's major film companies have studios in Hollywood and many famous film stars live in its fashionable and expensive Beverly Hills district.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |