motion pictures

motion pictures,

Origins

Experiments in photographing movement had been made in both the United States and Europe during the latter half of the 19th cent. with, at first, no exploitation of its technical and commercial possibilities. Serial photographs of racehorses, intended to prove that all four hooves do leave the ground simultaneously, were obtained (c.1867) in California by Eadweard MuybridgeMuybridge, Eadweard
, 1830–1904, English-born photographer and student of animal locomotion. Muybridge changed his name from Edward James Muggeridge. A gifted and obsessed eccentric, he was a photographic innovator who left a vast and enormously varied body of work.
..... Click the link for more information.  and J. D. Isaacs by setting up a row of cameras with shutters tripped by wires. The first motion pictures made with a single camera were by E. J. Marey, a French physician, in the 1880s, in the course of his study of motion.

In 1889 Thomas EdisonEdison, Thomas Alva,
1847–1931, American inventor, b. Milan, Ohio. A genius in the practical application of scientific principles, Edison was one of the greatest and most productive inventors of his time, but his formal schooling was limited to three months in Port Huron,
..... Click the link for more information.  and his staff developed the kinetograph, a camera using rolls of coated celluloid film, and the Kinetoscope, a device for peep-show viewing using photographs that flipped in sequence. Marketed in 1893, the Kinetoscope gained popularity in penny arcades, and experimentation turned to ways in which moving images might be shown to more than one person at a time. In France the LumièreLumière, Louis Jean
, 1864–1948, and Auguste Lumière
, 1862–1954, French inventors, brothers. They invented the Cinématographe, which was patented and demonstrated in 1895.
..... Click the link for more information.  brothers created the first projection device, the Cinématographe (1895). In the United States, similar machines, notably the Pantopticon and the Vitascope, were developed and first used in New York City in 1896.

At first the screenings formed part of vaudeville shows and arcades, but in 1902 a Los Angeles shop that showed only moving pictures had great success; soon "movie houses" (converted shoprooms) sprang up all over the country. The first movie theater, complete with luxurious accessories and a piano, was built in Pittsburgh in 1905. A nickel was charged for admission, and the theater was called the nickelodeon. An industry developed to produce new material and the medium's potential for expressive ends began to assert itself.

The earliest films were used primarily to chronicle contemporary attitudes, fashions, and events, and ran no longer than 10 minutes. At first, simple actions were filmed, then everyday scenes and, pivotally, gag films, in which a practical joke is staged as a simple tableau. The camera was first used in a fixed position, though soon it was pivoted, or panned, on its tripod or moved toward or away from a subject.

The medium's potential as a storytelling mechanism was realized very early in its history. The Frenchman George Méliès created the earliest special effects and built elaborate sets specifically to tell stories of a fantastic nature, usually as a series of tableaux. His Cinderella (1900) and A Trip to the Moon (1902) were major innovative accomplishments. The American Edwin S. Porter demonstrated that action need not be staged for cinema screen as for theater and early realized that scenes photographed in widely separate locales could be cut, or edited, together yet still not be confusing to the audience. His subject matter tended toward depictions of modern life; his Life of an American Fireman (1902) and The Great Train Robbery (1903) are among the first works to use editing as well as acting and stagecraft to tell their stories.

As business increased, the demand for product was met by many new companies incorporated to create the supply. Cooperation among the early filmmakers yielded to the demands of the marketplace, and each company tried to secure continued success through innovations meant to distinguish its product. Out of these efforts developed the star system, the establishment of physical plants (studios) where the films would be made, and the organization of the filmmaking process into interlocking crafts. The crafts people include actors, producers, cinematographers, writers, editors, and film laboratory technicians who work interdependently in a production effort overseen and coordinated by the director.

American Film

The Early Years

The first American studios were centered in the New York City area. Edison had claimed the patents for many of the technical elements involved in filmmaking and, in 1909, formed the Motion Picture Patents Company, an attempt at monopoly that worked to keep unlicensed companies out of production and distribution. To put distance between themselves and the Patents Company's sometimes violent tactics, many independents moved their operations to a suburb of Los Angeles; the location's proximity to Mexico allowed these producers to flee possible legal injunctions. After 1913 Hollywood, Calif., became the American movie capital. At first, films were sold outright to exhibitors; later they were distributed on a rental basis through film exchanges.

Early on, actors were not known by name, but in 1910, the "star system" came into being via promotion of Vitagraph Co. actress Florence Lawrence, first known as The Vitagraph Girl. Other companies, noting that this approach improved business, responded by attaching names to popular faces and "fan magazines" quickly followed, providing plentiful, and free, publicity. Films had slowly been edging past the 20 minute mark, but the drive to feature-length works began with the Italian "spectacle" film, of which Quo Vadis (1913), running nine reels or about two hours, was the most influential.

Directors of the day, including D. W. GriffithGriffith, Arthur,
1872–1922, Irish statesman, founder of Sinn Féin. He joined the nationalist movement as a young man. In 1899 he founded the United Irishman,
..... Click the link for more information. , Thomas Ince, Maurice Tourneur, J. Stuart Blackton, and Mack SennettSennett, Mack
, 1884–1960, American movie director and producer, b. Danville, Que. In 1909 he began working for D. W. Griffith at the Biograph Company, and in 1912 he organized his own Keystone studio company.
..... Click the link for more information. , became known to audiences as purveyors of certain kinds, or "genres," of subject matter. The first generation of star actors included Charlie ChaplinChaplin, Charlie
(Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin), 1889–1977, English film actor, director, producer, writer, and composer, b. London. Chaplin began on the music-hall stage and then joined a pantomime troupe.
..... Click the link for more information. , Buster KeatonKeaton, Buster
(Joseph Francis Keaton), 1895–1966, American movie actor, b. Piqua, Kans. Considered one of the greatest comic actors in film history, Keaton used his considerable acrobatic skills, which he had developed as a child in vaudeville, in many silent comedies in
..... Click the link for more information. , Mary PickfordPickford, Mary,
1893–1979, American movie actress, b. Toronto, Ont. In 1909 she began working with D. W. Griffith. Specializing in playing young girls, she was dubbed "America's Sweetheart.
..... Click the link for more information. , Douglas FairbanksFairbanks, Douglas,
1883–1939, American movie actor, b. Denver. From 1901 to 1914, Fairbanks appeared on stage in light comedies. In 1915 he began making movies, becoming the swashbuckling hero of his day in such films as The Mark of Zorro (1921),
..... Click the link for more information. , Marie DresslerDressler, Marie,
1869–1934, American actress, b. Coburg, Ont., Canada. She appeared on stage and in vaudeville before making her first film, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914).
..... Click the link for more information. , Lillian GishGish, Lillian,
1896–1993, American stage and movie actress, b. Springfield, Ohio. In 1912 she began her film career with D. W. Griffith. A fragile, delicate beauty, Gish often played a heroine rescued from cruel fate at the last moment.
..... Click the link for more information. , William S. Hart, Greta GarboGarbo, Greta,
1905–90, American film actress, b. Stockholm, Sweden, as Greta Gustafsson. Garbo's success in the Swedish film The Atonement of Gösta Berling (1923) brought her to Hollywood.
..... Click the link for more information. , John Gilbert, Claudette ColbertColbert, Claudette
, 1903–96, American movie actress, b. Paris as Lily Chauchoin. Known for her rosy cheeks, velvet voice, hearty laugh, and curly bangs, Colbert distinguished herself in a series of sophisticated comedies and became one of Hollywood's best-paid movie stars.
..... Click the link for more information. , Rudolph ValentinoValentino, Rudolph
, 1895–1926, American film actor, b. Italy as Rodolfo Guglielmi. He emigrated to the United States in 1913 and, after a brief career as a dancer and bit player, was an instant success in the film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
..... Click the link for more information. , Janet Gaynor, Ronald ColmanColman, Ronald,
1891–1958, British stage and film actor. Dignified in demeanor and voice, Colman created an image of kindness, humor, erudition, and romantic appeal.
..... Click the link for more information. , Clara Bow, Gloria SwansonSwanson, Gloria,
1899–1983, American movie actress, b. Chicago. Swanson began her film career in 1913, displaying an elegant comedic style in a series of films for director Cecil B. DeMille.
..... Click the link for more information. , Lon ChaneyChaney, Lon
, 1883–1930, American film actor, b. Colorado Springs, Colo. Chaney was the son of deaf-mute parents. He made more than 150 silent films. A master of the use of grotesque, distorting makeup, he is best remembered for his work in horror films such as
..... Click the link for more information. , and Will RogersRogers, Will
(William Penn Adair Rogers), 1879–1935, American humorist, b. Oolagah, Indian Territory (now in Oklahoma). In his youth he worked as a cowboy in Oklahoma, and after traveling over the world, he returned to the United States and worked in vaudeville as a cowboy
..... Click the link for more information. . During World War I the United States became dominant in the industry and the moving picture expanded into the realm of education and propaganda.

The Hollywood Studio Era

In the post–World War I period the production genius of such men as Samuel GoldwynGoldwyn, Samuel
, 1882–1974, American film producer, b. Warsaw, Poland. Goldwyn arrived in the United States in 1896, and with Jesse L. Lasky and Cecil B. De Mille he organized the Jesse Lasky Feature Photoplay Company, coproducing The Squaw Man (1913).
..... Click the link for more information. , Louis B. MayerMayer, Louis Burt,
1885–1957, American movie producer, b. Russia. Mayer began (1907) as the operator of a theater in Haverhill, Mass., gradually gaining control of all the theaters in the city. In 1924 he merged his Louis B. Mayer Corp. with Metro Pictures Corp.
..... Click the link for more information. , Adolph Zukor, and Jesse L. Lasky, and the innovative talents of Cecil B. De MilleDe Mille, Cecil B.
(Cecil Blount De Mille), 1881–1959, American movie director and producer, b. Ashfield, Mass. In 1914, together with Samuel Goldwyn, he made the first feature-length film in Hollywood, The Squaw Man.
..... Click the link for more information. , Erich Von StroheimVon Stroheim, Erich
(Hans Erich Marie Stroheim von Nordenaall) , 1885–1957, Austrian-American film director, writer, and actor. He came to the United States in 1909, and his first appearance as an actor was in Griffith's Birth of a Nation.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Ernst Lubitsch were dominant. The year 1926 brought experiments in sound effects and music, and in 1927 spoken dialogue was successfully introduced in The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson. A year later the first all-talking picture, Lights of New York, was shown. With the talkies new directors achieved prominence—King Vidor, Joseph Von SternbergVon Sternberg, Joseph
(Jo Sternberg), 1894–1969, Austrian-American film director and screenwriter. Von Sternberg, who worked in the United States from 1925, made films that were noted for their dazzling visual impact and attention to physical detail.
..... Click the link for more information. , Rouben Mamoulian, Frank Capra, and John FordFord, John,
1895–1973, American film director, b. Cape Elizabeth, Maine, as John Martin Feeney. Ford began directing in 1917 after an apprenticeship with his brother Francis.
..... Click the link for more information. . Sound films gave a tremendous boost to the careers of some silent actors but destroyed many whose voices were not suited to recording. Among the most celebrated stars of the new era were Clark GableGable, Clark,
1901–60, American film actor, b. Cadiz, Ohio. He began his career in films in 1930 and soon after became a star. He won an Academy Award in 1934 for his brilliant comic performance in It Happened One Night.
..... Click the link for more information. , Jean HarlowHarlow, Jean,
1911–37, American movie star, b. Kansas City, Mo., as Harlean Carpentier. Harlow brought charm and a sexual knowingness to a series of comedies during the 1930s, becoming the model of feminine sexuality in films for the next decade.
..... Click the link for more information. , Marlene DietrichDietrich, Marlene
, 1901–92, German-American film actress and singer, b. Berlin. Dietrich began her career as a violinist. She then studied drama, appearing on the stage in Vienna and Berlin before her great film success as the femme fatale Lola in The Blue Angel
..... Click the link for more information. , Mae WestWest, Mae,
1893–1980, American stage and movie comedienne, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Mary Jane West. The unparalleled mistress of double entendre, West began in burlesque and continued in vaudeville, stage, and films, making a career of self-admiration and treating sex with
..... Click the link for more information. , W. C. FieldsFields, W. C.
(William Claude Fields), 1880–1946, American comic actor, b. Philadelphia as Claude William Dukenfield. He began his career as a juggler, and much later appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies and in Earl Carroll's Vanities.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the Marx BrothersMarx Brothers,
team of American movie comedians. The members were Julius (1890?–1977), known as Groucho; Arthur (1888?–1964), originally Adolph and known as Harpo; Leonard (1887?–1961), known as Chico; and two other brothers, Milton (Gummo) and Herbert (Zeppo),
..... Click the link for more information. .

Also in 1927 The Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences was formed and began an annual awards ceremony. The prize, a figurine of a man grasping a star, was later dubbed Oscar. These awards did much to confer status upon the medium in that they asserted a definable quality of excellence analogous to literature and theater, other media in which awards are given for excellence. The Academy Awards also offered the bonus of gathering many stars in one place and thus attracted immediate and widespread attention. The star system blossomed: actors were recruited from the stage as well as trained in the Hollywood studios.

From the 1930s until the early 1950s, the studios sponsored a host of talented actors, foremost among whom were Ingrid BergmanBergman, Ingrid
, 1915–82, Swedish actress, b. Stockholm. Specializing in portrayals of strong, dignified, and sophisticated women, Bergman was acclaimed for her performance in Joan of Lorraine (1946) both on stage and on screen (1949).
..... Click the link for more information. , Joan CrawfordCrawford, Joan,
1908–77, American movie star, b. San Antonio, Tex., as Lucille Le Sueur. After working as a Broadway chorus dancer, Crawford began making films in 1926, eventually moving from musicals to drama.
..... Click the link for more information. , Bette DavisDavis, Bette
, 1908–89, American film actress, b. Lowell, Mass., as Ruth Elizabeth Davis. One of the most durable stars of the American screen, she made her debut in 1931.
..... Click the link for more information. , Katharine HepburnHepburn, Katharine,
1907–2003, American actress, b. Hartford, Conn. She made periodic stage appearances from 1928 on and debuted in the first of her 43 films in 1932; in her early roles she was usually cast as rather brittle, one-dimensional characters.
..... Click the link for more information. , Charles LaughtonLaughton, Charles,
1899–1962, Anglo-American actor, b. Scarborough, England. A large, versatile character actor, Laughton was successful both in films and on the stage.
..... Click the link for more information. , Barbara Stanwyck, William PowellPowell, William,
1892–1984, American movie actor, b. Pittsburgh. Powell made his stage debut in 1912. He played the dapper villain in such early films as Sherlock Holmes (1921), Romola (1924), and Beau Geste (1926).
..... Click the link for more information. , Spencer TracyTracy, Spencer,
1900–1967, American film actor, b. Milwaukee, Wis. He began his career as an actor in summer stock and went into film work in 1930. His fine character portrayals won him Academy Awards for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938).
..... Click the link for more information. , Humphrey BogartBogart, Humphrey DeForest
, 1899–1957, American film actor, b. New York City. After a succession of stage roles he achieved note with his portrayal of the gangster Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1934).
..... Click the link for more information. , Leslie Howard, Gary CooperCooper, Gary,
1901–61, American film actor, b. Helena, Mont., as Frank James Cooper. His first important starring role in A Farewell to Arms (1933) was followed by such films as Mr.
..... Click the link for more information. , James StewartStewart, Jimmy
(James Maitland Stewart), 1908–97, American actor, b. Indiana, Pa. He began his film career in 1935 and soon gained popularity for his lanky good looks, slow drawl and shy, homespun charm, evident in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).
..... Click the link for more information. , Cary GrantGrant, Cary,
1904–86, British movie actor, b. Bristol as Archibald Alexander Leach. He began on stage in 1923 and made his first film in 1932. An almost immediate hit, Grant was a leading star until his retirement in 1966, embodying debonair British charm and elegance in a
..... Click the link for more information. , Irene Dunne, Edward G. RobinsonRobinson, Edward G.,
1893–1973, American movie actor, b. Bucharest, Romania, as Emmanuel Goldberg. He made his stage debut in New York City in 1915. A short, tough-looking man, Robinson played both vicious gangsters and amiable men, the latter frequently led astray by
..... Click the link for more information. , Henry FondaFonda, Henry,
1905–83, American actor, b. Grand Island, Nebr. He had considerable stage experience, appearing in such plays as Mr. Roberts (1948), The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1958), and Two for the Seesaw (1959).
..... Click the link for more information. , Gregory PeckPeck, Gregory,
1916–2003, American movie actor, b. La Jolla, Calif., as Eldred Gregory Peck. Peck studied at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse and debuted on Broadway in The Morning Star (1942) and in film in Days of Glory (1944).
..... Click the link for more information. , James CagneyCagney, James,
1899–1986, American movie actor, b. New York City. He worked on Broadway as an actor and dancer before appearing in films. He is best remembered as a brash, sadistic, tough guy in such movies as Public Enemy (1931) and The Roaring Twenties
..... Click the link for more information. , Judy GarlandGarland, Judy,
1922–69, American singer and film actress, b. Grand Rapids, Minn., originally named Frances Gumm. She sang in her father's theater from the age of four as one of The Gumm Sisters; she later toured in vaudeville.
..... Click the link for more information. , Bob HopeHope, Bob,
1903–2003, American comedian, b. London as Leslie Townes Hope; he came to the United States at the age of five. Famous for his "ski-jump" nose, topical humor, superb timing, brashly irreverant attitude, and rapid-fire delivery, Hope enjoyed immense popularity.
..... Click the link for more information. , James MasonMason, James,
1909–84, British stage and film actor. Mason, trained at Cambridge as an architect, became a leading man in British films in the 1940s and thereafter an international star.
..... Click the link for more information. , Fred AstaireAstaire, Fred
, 1899–1987, American dancer, actor, and singer, b. Omaha, Nebr., as Frederick Austerlitz. After 1911 he and his sister Adele (1896–1981), b. Adele Marie Austerlitz, formed a successful Broadway vaudeville team.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Gene KellyKelly, Gene,
1912–96, American dancer, choreographer, movie actor, and director, b. Pittsburgh as Eugene Curran Kelly. Kelly started dancing on Broadway in 1938 and first gained fame in the title role of the Broadway musical Pal Joey (1940).
..... Click the link for more information. . Producers and directors such as David O. SelznickSelznick, David O.,
1902–65, American film producer, b. Pittsburgh. He worked for studios in Hollywood before founding Selznick International Pictures in 1936. Selznick's most famous movie is Gone with the Wind (1939).
..... Click the link for more information. , Darryl F. ZanuckZanuck, Darryl Francis,
1902–79, American movie producer, b. Wahoo, Nebr. Beginning his Hollywood career as a scriptwriter, he was hired (1924) by Warner Brothers and made a name for himself penning scripts for Rin Tin Tin dog epics.
..... Click the link for more information. , Mervyn LeRoy, William Wyler, George Stevens, and Billy WilderWilder, Billy,
1906–2002, American film director, producer, and writer, b. Sucha, Galicia (now Poland) as Samuel Wilder. He wrote for films in Berlin, fled the Nazis, and arrived in Hollywood in 1934.
..... Click the link for more information.  made significant contributions to cinematic art.

The medium had, after nickelodeon days, converted many legitimate theaters into movie houses. Later, during Hollywood's "golden age," thousands of sumptuous movie palaces were erected all over the United States, and drive-in movie theaters became popular outside urban centers. Since their inception the movies have always been termed an industry, with good reason. In 1938 there were more than 80 million single admissions per week (65% of the population). To meet the huge box-office demand, more than 500 films were produced that year.

The industry in its heyday (1930–49) was managed by a number of omnipotent studios, including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Brothers, RKO, Paramount, Twentieth Century-Fox, and Universal. They produced endless cycles of films in imitation of a few successful original types. The range of themes included the criminal underworld, behind-the-scenes newspaper dramas, westerns, musicals, costume romances, character series such as the Charlie Chan films, prison stories, mysteries, comedies, and Broadway shows. Because of their enormous investments and gargantuan rewards (the film industry's gross income for 1946, its best year, was nearly $2 billion), the studios were encouraged to repeat conventionalized formula pictures.

The Post-Studio Era

In the 1950s, two developments ended the studios' grip on the entertainment business: the overwhelming popularity of television began to eat into studio profits and the studios were forced by the federal courts to yield the control of distribution and exhibition that they had maintained by means of massive conglomerate corporations. In 1962 box-office receipts were only $900 million; by 1968 only 20 million people per week were going to a movie (10% of the population). Independent distributors and theaters took a huge cut of the industry's income after World War II, and the studios cut wages and laid off employees in a struggle to survive.

In order to compete with television the studio heads strongly urged technological innovation. In the 1950s experiments abounded with wide-screen processes, such as CinemaScope and Cinerama and stereophonic sound systems. The movies of the 1950s and 60s traded a bit of glamour for an increased sense of realism, providing vehicles for new directors, including Elia KazanKazan, Elia
, 1909–2003, American stage and film director, producer, writer, actor, b. Turkey, as Elia Kazanjoglous. Immigrating with his Greek family to the United States in 1913, Kazan studied at Williams College and the Yale Drama School before beginning his acting
..... Click the link for more information. , John Frankenheimer, Stanley Kubrick, and Sidney Lumet, and for a great number of popular film stars, including Marlon BrandoBrando, Marlon,
1924–2004, American film actor, often described as the greatest of his generation, b. Omaha, Nebr. Regarded as the foremost practitioner of "method" acting as taught by American disciples of Constantin Stanislavsky at New York's Actor's Studio (he studied
..... Click the link for more information. , Marilyn MonroeMonroe, Marilyn,
1926–62, American movie actress, b. Los Angeles as Norma Jean Baker or Norma Jeane Mortenson. Raised in orphanages after 1935 and first married at 14, Monroe, who began her career as a pin-up model, became a world-famous sex symbol and, after her death, a
..... Click the link for more information. , Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Judy Holliday, James DeanDean, James
(James Byron Dean), 1931–55, American film actor, b. Marion, Ind. After a few stage and television roles, Dean was chosen to play the moody, rebellious son in the film East of Eden (1953).
..... Click the link for more information. , Paul NewmanNewman, Paul,
1925–2008, American actor, b. Cleveland, Ohio. After performing in a Broadway play (1952–53) and in television dramas, Newman became a versatile film actor and a major Hollywood star.
..... Click the link for more information. , Elizabeth TaylorTaylor, Elizabeth,
1932–2011, Anglo-American film actress, b. London. Regarded as one of the world's most beautiful women, Taylor went from child star and typical teenager roles to a series of ladylike roles and finally to playing worldly, sometimes shrewish women.
..... Click the link for more information. , Charlton Heston, Doris Day, George C. ScottScott, George C.
(George Campbell Scott), 1927–99, American actor, b. Wise, Va. Fiery and intense, Scott played his first major roles in Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, and As You Like It for the New York Shakespeare Festival.
..... Click the link for more information. , Audrey Hepburn, and Sidney Poitier.

Eventually, c.1956 many studios began to produce material especially for television, including commercials, and to sell their old films for television reruns. Independent production became the norm, with the studios acting as distributors only, and new kinds of films emerged: horror, science fiction, and rock 'n' roll stories aimed at teen-agers proliferated. Concurrently, larger studio-backed films eschewed romanticism and sentimentality, fighting the long-imposed bans on depictions of a harsher reality and a more explicit sexuality.

The trend away from the glamorous celebrity image that began in the 1960s gained momentum in the 70s. The principal stars of these years include Jane FondaFonda, Jane,
1937–, American actress, b. New York City; daughter of Henry Fonda and sister of Peter Fonda. First cast in pert and sexy roles, she later distinguished herself in dramatic parts, often as a tough and disillusioned woman.
..... Click the link for more information. , Barbra StreisandStreisand, Barbra,
1942–, American singer and actress, b. New York City. Streisand first gained a relatively small but select audience singing in New York City cabarets, and she received her first wide critical and public acclaim for her supporting role in the Broadway
..... Click the link for more information. , Dustin HoffmanHoffman, Dustin
, 1937–, American actor, b. Los Angeles. Not glamorous in the manner of earlier stars, Hoffman began on Broadway, but gained widespread popularity with his first major film, The Graduate (1967).
..... Click the link for more information. , Steve McQueen, and Woody AllenAllen, Woody,
1935–, American actor, writer, and director, one of contemporary America's leading filmmakers, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Allen Stewart Konigsberg. Allen began his career writing for television comedians and performing in nightclubs.
..... Click the link for more information. . Important American directors of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s include Peter Bogdanovich, Roman PolanskiPolanski, Roman,
1933–, Polish-French film director, b. Paris. His family returned to Kraków, Poland, when he was three. His parents were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps and his mother died at Auschwitz, but Polanski, living partly on his own, escaped the
..... Click the link for more information. , Francis Ford CoppolaCoppola, Francis Ford
, 1939–, American film director, b. Detroit. Coppola began his career directing low-budget films and working on screenplays for other directors.
..... Click the link for more information. , Robert AltmanAltman, Robert,
1925–2006, American film director, b. Kansas City, Mo. One of the most original talents in late-20th-century American filmmaking, he created complex, often loosely plotted movies marked by brilliant and often huge ensemble casting, sharply delineated
..... Click the link for more information. , and Martin ScorseseScorsese, Martin
, 1942–, American film director; b. Queens, N.Y. A major figure in contemporary cinema, he grew up in Manhattan's Little Italy, attended film school at New York Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. .

A change came with the release of Jaws (1975), an unassuming suspense picture that unexpectedly grossed over $100 million by appealing to all ages and both sexes. Filmmakers were now encouraged to speak to the widest possible audience. The result was a series of films given over to spectacle. Star Wars (1977) cracked the $200 million barrier, and E.T. (1982) earned over $300 million. While many of these films aroused criticism for representing the triumph of special effects over any kind of human values, the net effect was to draw the audience back into movie theaters, and many movies, including those without spectacular elements, succeeded during this period. This trend has continued into the 21st cent. The leading directors are Steven SpielbergSpielberg, Steven,
1946–, American film director, b. Cincinnati, Ohio. Spielberg began his career as a television director, admired for his understanding portrayal of human character.
..... Click the link for more information.  and George LucasLucas, George W., Jr.,
1944–, American film director, producer, and writer, b. Modesto, Calif. Although Lucas's first film, THX-1138 (1970), was not successful, his next two, American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars
..... Click the link for more information. , the latter more active as a producer.

Two developments that greatly enhanced profitability in the 1980s were the development of low-cost videocassette recorders (VCRs), which allow films to be shown at home, and the government's relaxation of the decrees separating production from distribution. The studios first felt that videocassettes would weaken the theatrical market; the reverse was true, as viewers became more interested in movie entertainment in general. Of the latter, studio co-ownership of various theater circuits assured wider distribution of films.

Beginning in the 1960s, many of the old movie palaces began to be divided into two or more auditoriums due to weakening attendance. When audiences returned in the 1980s, multiplexes, or theaters with multiple auditoriums, became the norm and mushroomed in suburban shopping malls and urban centers. In the early 1990s, however, the recession was reflected in movie attendance. By the turn of the decade, two major studios, MGM and Orion, suffered financial difficulties, and two others, Columbia and Universal, were bought by Japanese electronics companies, although Universal later became part of a French conglomerate.

One of the few positive motion-picture trends during the late 20th and early 21st cent. was the development and proliferation of IMAX. The format, which debuted in Japan in 1970, utilizes special film and projectors, features a gigantic screen and huge sound system, and has been used to take viewers on ultrarealistic trips to earthly (e.g., Everest, 1998) and outer-space (e.g., Destiny in Space, 1994) destinations. The province of museums for roughly two decades, the system was later extended to theaters and a number of films were reformatted to fit IMAX screens. By 2002, 180 IMAX films had been made, some in 3-D, and 225 large-screen IMAX theaters were in operation, 110 of them in the United States.

Censorship

After several scandals led to the fear that the immorality perceived to be rampant in Hollywood might appear on screen, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, headed by Will H. HaysHays, Will H.,
1879–1954, American politician and motion-picture executive, b. Sullivan, Ind.; his original name was William Harrison Hays. Hays became active in Indiana political affairs, was chairman of the Republican state committee, and served (1918–21) as
..... Click the link for more information. , was established in 1922 as a film review board. The Production Code, popularly known as the "Hays Code," a highly restrictive set of guidelines for movie content, was promulgated in 1934 and complied with by virtually every Hollywood producer. In the late 1960s, the determination of what constituted pornography was turned over to the states for enforcement at the same time that filmmakers were attempting to break away from the Production Code's bans on sexuality and violence.

In 1966, the Production Code was abandoned completely and succeeded by the Motion Picture Code and Rating Program. Adopted to avoid a threatened state-controlled system, the program has characterized itself as providing guidance for parents, not for filmmakers. The program initially assigned each film one of four ratings: G (general audiences, without restrictions), M (mature audiences, parental guidance advised), R (restricted audiences, no one younger than 18 admitted without a parent or guardian), and X (no one younger than 18 admitted). The age limit may be adjusted by individual state rulings. M was eventually supplanted by PG (parental guidance suggested), PG-13, was introduced for films that might contain material inappropriate for pre-teenagers, and NC-17 replaced X, which had become associated with pornographic films.

Bibliography

See G. Battcock, The New American Cinema (1967); K. Brownlow, The Parade's Gone By (1968); R. Manvell, New Cinema in the USA (1968); R. Adler, A Year in the Dark (1970); D. Shipman, The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years (1970); P. Trent, The Image Makers: Sixty Years of Hollywood Glamour (1972); P. Gilliatt, Unholy Fools (1973); C. Higham, The Art of the American Film, 1900–1971 (1973); P. Kael, I Lost It at the Movies (1965), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (1968), Going Steady (1970), Deeper into Movies (1974), and For Keeps (1994); E. Mordden, The Hollywood Musical (1981) and The Hollywood Studios (1988); A. Brower and T. L. Wright, Working in Hollywood (1990); R. Barrios, A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film (1995); K. M. Cameron, America on Film (1997); W. K. Everson, American Silent Film (1998); J. Basinger, Silent Stars (1999); T. Doherty, Pre-Code Hollywood (1999); M. A. Vieira, Sin in Soft Focus (1999); D. Bardwell and K. Thompson, Minding Movies (2011); S. Griffin, ed., What Dreams Were Made Of: Movie Stars of the 1940s (2011); D. Thomson, The Big Screen (2012).

British Film

Britain has produced some of the most illustrious talents in the history of film. Early efforts (c.1929) by the producer J. Arthur Rank to achieve a world market for British films were realized with the work of such postwar directors as Alfred HitchcockHitchcock, Sir Alfred,
1899–1980, English-American film director, writer, and producer, b. London. Hitchcock began his career as a director in 1925 and became prominent with The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938).
..... Click the link for more information. , Carol ReedReed, Sir Carol,
1906–76, English film director, b. London. He acted and directed on the stage before turning to films in the mid-1930s. Reed powerfully portrayed characters at the end of their tethers, frequently in a postwar environment, in films such as
..... Click the link for more information. , David LeanLean, Sir David,
1908–91, English film director, producer, and scriptwriter, b. Croyden, England. He entered the film industry in the 1920s, and had become one of Britain's most accomplished film editors before turning to directing with In Which We Serve
..... Click the link for more information. , and the Hungarian-born Alexander Korda. Their films were literate and often suspenseful and brought international fame to such actors as Laurence OlivierOlivier, Laurence Kerr, Baron Olivier of Brighton
, 1907–89, English actor, director, and producer. He made his stage debut at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1922 and soon achieved renown through his work with the Old Vic company.
..... Click the link for more information. , Ralph RichardsonRichardson, Sir Ralph,
1902–83, English stage and film actor. Since his first professional stage appearance in The Merchant of Venice (1921), Richardson has played a variety of classic and modern roles.
..... Click the link for more information. , John Mills, Paul ScofieldScofield, Paul,
1922–2008, English actor, b. Hurstpierpoint, Sussex. Scofield joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1945, and had his first major success in King John. At the Stratford Memorial Theatre he won wide acclaim for his Hamlet and King Lear.
..... Click the link for more information. , Merle Oberon, and Michael RedgraveRedgrave,
family of English actors. Sir Michael Redgrave, 1908–85, b. Bristol, Eng., was an actor, director, and writer. After his first professional performance in Counsellor-at-Law
..... Click the link for more information. . Alec GuinnessGuinness, Sir Alec
, 1914–2000, English actor, b. London. After his stage debut in 1934, Guinness performed with John Gielgud's company and at the Old Vic. An actor of enormous versatility and range on stage and in film, he was especially noted for his minimalist approach
..... Click the link for more information. , Peter UstinovUstinov, Sir Peter (Alexander)
, 1921–2004, English writer, director, and actor, b. London. A witty, charming, and cosmopolitan man, he debuted on the London stage at 18 and subsequently moved easily between English, French, and American film and theater.
..... Click the link for more information. , Peter Sellers, and Terry Thomas created comedies that are sophisticated and singularly British in their sense of humor.

Major British directors of the 1960s include the American-born Joseph LoseyLosey, Joseph
, 1909–84, American film director, b. La Crosse, Wis. Among his Hollywood works, many of which dealt with social issues, are The Boy With Green Hair (1948) and M (1951).
..... Click the link for more information. , Tony Richardson, Sidney Furie, and John Schlesinger. Among the great number of notable British actors of recent years are Dirk BogardeBogarde, Sir Dirk
, 1921–99, English film actor, b. Hampstead as Derek Niven Van den Bogaerde. In his early career Bogarde played romantic leads in such films as So Long at the Fair (1950) and A Tale of Two Cities (1958).
..... Click the link for more information. , Peter Finch, Michael Caine, Vanessa RedgraveRedgrave,
family of English actors. Sir Michael Redgrave, 1908–85, b. Bristol, Eng., was an actor, director, and writer. After his first professional performance in Counsellor-at-Law
..... Click the link for more information. , Stanley Baker, Glenda JacksonJackson, Glenda,
1936–, English actress and politician. Jackson's first starring role was as Charlotte Corday in Marat/Sade (1966) for the Royal Shakespeare Company. A strong personality, she has excelled in both comedies and dramas.
..... Click the link for more information. , Richard BurtonBurton, Richard,
1925–84, British actor, b. Pontrhydfen, Wales; his original name was Richard Jenkins. A dark, introspective actor with a splendid speaking voice, Burton specialized in portraying conflicted, frequently tormented, men.
..... Click the link for more information. , Julie Christie, Peter O'Toole, Maggie SmithSmith, Dame Maggie
(Dame Margaret Natalie Cross), 1934–, English actress. Smith first appeared on stage in Twelfth Night (1952). With her precise, sometimes rapid-fire, articulation and her meticulous stagecraft, she is adept at both comedic and serious roles.
..... Click the link for more information. , Alan Bates, John GielgudGielgud, Sir John
(Arthur John Gielgud) , 1904–2000, English actor, director, and producer. A grandnephew of Ellen Terry, Gielgud made his debut at the Old Vic in 1921.
..... Click the link for more information. , Claire Bloom, Albert Finney, Kenneth More, Michael York, Tom Courtenay, and Robert Shaw.

After a long dry spell in the 1970s, the British film industry returned to life with the formation of several new production companies such as Enigma, Working Title, Handmade Films, and Palace. A new television outlet, Channel 4, also produced many movies for theatrical release. Directors whose careers were stalled by the doldrums of the previous period now produced mature works: Stephen Frears (My Beautiful Laundrette), Mike Leigh (High Hopes, Life Is Sweet), and Mike Newell (Dance with a Stranger, The Good Father) among them. A new crop of actors came to the public's attention, including Gary Oldman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Natasha Richardson, Rupert Everett, Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Jeremy Irons, Bob Hoskins, Kenneth Branagh, and Emma Thompson.

Bibliography

See R. Low, The History of the British Film (4 vol., 1973); C. Barr, ed., All Our Yesterdays (1990); J. Caughie and K. Rocket, ed., The Companion to British and Irish Cinema (1996).; S. Street, British National Cinema (1997); A. Aldgate and J. Richards, Best of British (new ed. 1999).

French Film

In the 1920s there was enormous creative film activity in France led by Louis Delluc and a group of directors around him—Abel Gance, Jean Epstein, and Germaine Dulac. Along with such directors as René ClairClair, René
, 1898–1981, French film director, writer, and producer. Beginning as a film critic, Clair first received international attention in the 1930s with his early sound films, notable for their satirical content and lovely photographic treatment.
..... Click the link for more information. , Jean RenoirRenoir, Jean
, 1894–1979, French film director and writer, b. Paris; son of Pierre Auguste Renoir. He made his first film in 1926. Gathering around him a devoted coterie of actors and technicians, Renoir developed a collective approach to filmmaking, favoring
..... Click the link for more information. , and Carl DreyerDreyer, Carl Theodor
, 1889–1968, Danish motion picture director. He began making films in Denmark in 1919. His Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), widely regarded as a classic of silent filmmaking, made extensive use of close-ups and stark lighting to increase the
..... Click the link for more information. , they created films with an impressionistic and literary flavor. Later French films reflected first the optimism and then the despair of international events, as in Renoir's Grand Illusion (1937) and Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938). In the postwar era H.-G. ClouzotClouzot, Henri-Georges
, 1907–77, French film director, master of the Gallic noir cinema. His career spanned 40 years, but he was plagued by ill health and completed only 11 feature films, beginning with L'Assassin Habite au 21 (
..... Click the link for more information. , René Clément, and Robert BressonBresson, Robert
, 1901–99, French film director and scriptwriter, b. Bromont-Lamottie, France. Bresson's films tend to be austere, unadorned, and concerned more with intellectual and spriritual values than plot or character.
..... Click the link for more information.  directed important films.

In the late 1950s the New Wave of young directors, including Alain Resnais, Louis MalleMalle, Louis
, 1932–95, French film director, b. Thumeries, France. Malle's motion pictures are noted for their nonjudgmental approach to often taboo material, for which he sought to cause the audience to reevaluate its attitudes.
..... Click the link for more information. , François TruffautTruffaut, François
, 1932–84, French film director and critic. Known in his early 20s as a writer for the influential French film journal Cahiers du Cinéma,
..... Click the link for more information. , and Jean-Luc GodardGodard, Jean-Luc
, 1930–, French film director and scriptwriter, b. Paris. He wrote criticism for a number of Parisian cinema journals in the early 1950s before embarking on his filmmaking career. Godard is probably the most influential of the French New Wave directors.
..... Click the link for more information. , made innovations in cinematography and dramatic approach. Their efforts achieved a new cinematic intimacy and a relaxed mood. French film stars who attained international acclaim during this period include Jean GabinGabin, Jean
, 1904–76, French film actor, b. Paris; his original name was Alexis Moncourge. Gabin's work as a cabaret entertainer led to a career in films. He was one of France's most popular actors. In his early roles, he often played the tough yet sympathetic anti-hero.
..... Click the link for more information. , Arletty, Gérard Philipe, Brigitte Bardot, Jean-Paul BelmondoBelmondo, Jean-Paul
, 1933–, French film actor, b. Neuilly-sur-Seine, studied Paris Conservatory. Belmondo made his film debut in 1957, but first gained fame in Breathless (1960), playing a restless, flippant young hoodlum.
..... Click the link for more information. , Jeanne MoreauMoreau, Jeanne
, 1928–2017, French movie actress, b. Paris, studied Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique. She joined the Comédie Française and was a successful stage actress before she entered films, but she is known for working with many of the finest
..... Click the link for more information. , Catherine Deneuve, Yves MontandMontand, Yves
, 1921–1991, French singer and actor, b. Italy as Ivo Livi. His family settled in Marseille when he was an infant. He quit school at 11, held various manual-labor jobs, and was singing in local music halls by the time he was a teenager.
..... Click the link for more information. , Simone Signoret, and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Among the foremost directors of this period were Claude ChabrolChabrol, Claude
, 1930–2010, French filmmaker, b. Paris, attended Univ. of Paris. One of the creators of the French "new wave" cinema of the 1950s and 60s, he and such other future film greats as Eric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard, and François Truffaut wrote film
..... Click the link for more information. , Eric RohmerRohmer, Eric,
1920–2010, French film director and writer, b. Jean-Marie Maurice Schérer. He was a founder (1950) of La Gazette du cinéma, cowrote (1957) a study of Alfred Hitchcock, and edited (1957–63) the influential journal
..... Click the link for more information. , and the Greek-born Costa-Gavras.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, the filmmakers of the New Wave became curiously like the directors they had sought to replace, working on literary adaptations and stories of the occupation. A new group emerged, much more amorphous, concerned with reflecting their vision of present-day France. Among these more recent directors are Jean-Jacques Beneix (Diva, Betty Blue), Luc Besson (Subway, La Femme Nikita), and Leos Carax (Boy Meets Girl, Bad Blood).

The stars introduced by these films are notable for affectlessness: Beatrice Dalle, Christopher Lambert, Thierry Lhermitte, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Tcheky Karyo, and Anne Parrilaud, though some have found more range in subsequent works. The most successful star of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s has been Gérard DepardieuDepardieu, Gérard
, 1948–, French actor, b. Châteauroux. He is a versatile, highly successful actor, who has performed on stage and screen in France and also has made a number of English-language films in the United States.
..... Click the link for more information. , who can make as many of five films in a year and is often credited for keeping the French cinema viable on the world market despite strong competition from the American film industry.

Bibliography

See R. Armes, The French Cinema since 1946 (2 vol., rev. ed. 1970) and French Cinema (1985); G. Sadoul, French Film (1953, repr. 1972); E. Ehrlich, Cinema of Paradox (1985); C. Crisp, The Classic French Cinema, 1930–1960 (1993) J. D. Andrew, Mists of Regret (1995); G. Vincendeau, ed., The Companion to French Cinema (1996).

German Film

The great era of German cinema began in 1919 with Robert Wiene's Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It was written by Carl Mayer, who was among the most influential artists working in the German film industry in the 1920s. The films of this era were expressionist in style, paralleling developments in the other arts. Other notable directors, such as G. W. Pabst, F. W. MurnauMurnau, Friedrich W.
, 1889–1931, German film director, b. as Friedrich W. Plumpe. He began directing films in Germany in 1919 and went to Hollywood in 1927. Murnau's films, especially those made in collaboration with writer Carl Meyer, are noted for their fluid,
..... Click the link for more information. , Max Ophuls, and Fritz LangLang, Fritz
, 1890–1976, German-American film director, b. Vienna. His silent and early sound films, notably the iconic masterpiece Metropolis (1926) with its dystopian vision of the future, are marked by brilliant expressionist technique.
..... Click the link for more information. , brought the medium to new heights of imaginative production. A decline set in c.1925 when Hollywood attracted many German directors, technicians, and actors to the United States.

The advent of Hitler drove any remaining top talent abroad, and the industry did not recover its position after the war. Beginning in the early 1970s a group of young filmmakers revitalized the industry, attaining a world audience for their films: Wim Wenders (Kings of the Road and Wings of Desire), Werner Herzog (Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo) and R. W. Fassbinder (over 40 films, including The Marriage of Maria Braun and Querelle) led the renaissance.

Bibliography

See R. Manvell and H. Fraenkel, The German Cinema (1971); H. H. Wollenberg, Fifty Years of German Film (1948, repr. 1972); T. Elsaesser, New German Cinema (1989); T. Ginsberg, ed., Perspectives on German Film (1996); S. Allan and J. Sandford, ed., Defa: East German Cinema, 1946–1992 (1999); T. Elsaesser and M. Wedel, ed., The BFI Companion to German Cinema (1999).

Italian Film

The films of Roberto RosselliniRossellini, Roberto
, 1906–77, Italian film director and producer. He first received international attention in 1946 with Open City, which was made clandestinely during the Fascist period and became the key film of the neorealist movement.
..... Click the link for more information.  in the 1940s gave new impetus to the Italian cinema. Thereafter followed a cycle of exciting, compassionate, grimly realistic films from such directors as Vittorio De Sica, Luigi Zampa, Giuseppe de Santis, and Luchino Visconti. These films, usually concerned with social themes, were successful in Italy only after they had won a foreign market. In the 1950s, in order to win box-office appeal, a tendency to produce marketable and sensational movies diminished the reputation of Italian filmmakers.

Quality and international acclaim were restored by Federico FelliniFellini, Federico
, 1920–93, Italian film director. After World War II he wrote screenplays for such neorealistic films as Rossellini's Open City and Paisan.
..... Click the link for more information. , Michelangelo AntonioniAntonioni, Michelangelo
, 1912–2007, Italian film director and scriptwriter, b. Ferrara, Italy. In the 1940s he made documentaries that contributed to the development of Italian neorealism. He continued to occasionally make documentaries throughout his life, e.g.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Bernardo Bertolucci. Italian film stars who have won popularity abroad include Sophia LorenLoren, Sophia
, 1934–, Italian film actress, b. as Sophia Scicoloni. She grew up in the slums of Naples. With the help of Italian producer Carlo Ponti (later her husband) she gained international fame as a beautiful and accomplished film actress in both tragic dramas and
..... Click the link for more information. , Marcello MastroianniMastroianni, Marcello
, 1924–96, Italian movie actor, b. Fontana Liri, Italy. Known for his striking good looks and his world-weary introspective air, he was directed by Federico Fellini in such films as La Dolce Vita (1959), 8 1-2 (1963), and
..... Click the link for more information. , Giulietta Masina, Monica Vitti, Raf Vallone, and Anna Magnani. The Italian industry suffered periodic crises from the 1970s to the 1990s, but produced new films by various masters and introduced an intriguing series of comic-centered films inspired by cartoons and clowning. Cinema Paradiso (1989) became the most successful Italian film released in the United States until Roberto Benigni's Oscar-winning Life is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella, 1997), a bittersweet comedy about the Holocaust in Italy.

Bibliography

See V. Jarratt, The Italian Cinema (1951, repr. 1972); P. Leprohon, The Italian Cinema (tr. 1972); P. Bondanella, Italian Cinema (1993); J. Hay et al., The Companion to Italian Cinema (1996).

Japanese Film

Since World War II, films produced in the East have had an increasingly appreciative Western audience. Akira KurosawaKurosawa, Akira
, 1910–98, Japanese film director, scriptwriter, and producer, b. Tokyo. He is regarded as one of the world's greatest directors. In Rashomon (1950), he introduced Western audiences to Japanese film.
..... Click the link for more information. 's films, including Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo, are enormously popular action stories, in effect Japanese "westerns." Kurosawa's many productions, Kenju Mizoguchi's Ugetsu, and such delicately wrought works as Tokyo Story and The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice by Yasujiro Ozu brought worldwide acclaim to their directors and to Toshiro MifuneMifune, Toshiro
, 1920–97, Japanese actor, b. Qingdao, China. Mifune was a versatile actor, noted for a wide range of roles in more than 120 films. He appeared in more than a dozen films for director Akira Kurosawa, including Stray Dog (1949), Rashomon
..... Click the link for more information. , who starred in many of Kurosawa's films. Japanese film became somewhat less culturally hermetic in later years, with directors such as Shohei Imamura (Vengeance Is Mine) and Juzo Itami (Tampopo) introducing a mixture of Japanese and Western influences into their work.

Bibliography

See D. Richie, The Japanese Movie: An Illustrated History (1982) and Japanese Cinema: An Introduction (1990); S. Galbraith, The Japanese Filmography (1996).

Russian Film

Dziga Vertov launched a weekly newsreel in 1922 urging new experiments in film technique, and Lev Kuleshov opened a cinema workshop to explore the psychological effects of film images. The result was the emergence of the Soviet epic films of the period 1925 to 1930. Encouraged by Lenin's belief that the film was of primary importance in the development of Soviet society, V. I. PudovkinPudovkin, Vsevolod Ilarionovich
, 1893–1953, Russian film director. He used new techniques of film editing, particularly intercutting, in his character-centered stories.
..... Click the link for more information. , Aleksandr DovzhenkoDovzhenko, Aleksandr
, 1894–1956, Soviet film director, b. Ukraine. He ranks with Eisenstein and Pudovkin as one of the greatest Soviet filmmakers. Zvenigord (1928), Arsenal (1929), and Earth
..... Click the link for more information. , and especially Sergei EisensteinEisenstein, Sergei Mikhailovich
, 1898–1948, Russian film director. An architect and engineer, he became interested in a theatrical career and worked as a scene designer and stage director (1920).
..... Click the link for more information.  made films based on Russian history. Their superbly photographed, intensely dramatic films are classics of cinematic art.

The Soviet film industry was prolific but aesthetics were usurped by ideological heavy-handedness. Various thaws, however, produced intriguing works, including those by Sergei Paradjanov (The Color of Pomegranites) and Andrei Tarkovsky (Andrei Rublev). The breakdown of the Communist system has left the industry (now scattered among several newly independent nations) in an uncertain state.

Bibliography

See S. M. Eisenstein, Film Form and Film Sense (tr. 1949, repr. separately 1969) and Notes of a Film Director (rev. ed. tr. 1970); J. Leyda, Kino: A History of the Russian and Soviet Film (1960, repr. 1983); T. J. Slater, ed., Handbook of Soviet and East European Films and Filmmakers (1992).

Swedish Film

Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller were the two men most responsible for the first flowering of Swedish films (c.1917–c.1924); Sjöström's Phantom Chariot (1920) was especially notable. When the Swedish film attained success and a world market, Hollywood and the German studios stepped in and hired the best technicians and artists, effectively destroying the industry. After World War II, Gösta Werner, Arne Sucksdorf, and Alf Sjöberg (especially his Torment, 1947) gained international repute. Film in Sweden was brought to unprecedented heights in the visionary works of Ingmar BergmanBergman, Ingmar
(Ernst Ingmar Bergman) , 1918–2007, Swedish film and stage writer, director, and producer. Acclaimed by many as the greatest director of the second half of the 20th cent., Bergman made about 60 films in all.
..... Click the link for more information. , a giant of modern cinema. He retired from filmmaking in 1983. Other modern Swedish directors of note include Bo Widerberg and Mai Zetterling. In 1987, Lasse Hallstrom's My Life as a Dog became the most successful Swedish film released abroad.

Bibliography

See J. Donner, The Personal Vision of Ingmar Bergman (1964); P. Cowie, Swedish Cinema (1966); A. Kwiatowski, Swedish Film Classics (1983); P. O. Qvist and P. Von Bagh, Guide to the Cinema of Sweden and Finland (1999).

Nontheatrical Film

Special types of films include the documentary, the newsreel, and the animated cartoon. The documentary, broadly defined, includes the newsreel, the travelogue, the educational film, and all other fact or nonfiction films, as well as some sorts of advertising. The term also includes artistic, interpretive films of the type that developed out of the work of Robert FlahertyFlaherty, Robert Joseph
, 1884–1951, American explorer and film producer. He was born in Michigan and grew up in Canada. He explored (1910–16) subarctic E Canada and in 1922 completed the first feature-length documentary film, Nanook of the North.
..... Click the link for more information.  (1920s and 30s) and Pare Lorentz (1930s) in the United States and John Grierson (1930s and 40s) in England. The documentary proved its value in the schoolroom and in training programs during World War II and has been widely used as a medium for propaganda since its inception. Documentary films on a vast range of subjects and exploiting every imaginable film technique are a primary staple of television entertainment.

The newsreel, introduced by Charles PathéPathé, Charles
, 1873–1957, French photographer. He was the first to present (c.1909) the newsreel as a regular attraction at a theater in Paris. In 1910 he introduced the newsreel to the United States; thereafter the Pathé News Reel became an international product.
..... Click the link for more information. , was a series of short, generally unrelated films of current events, shown primarily as adjuncts to feature-film programs. The scope of the newsreel was broadened by the historical concept of the March of Time series (begun 1934); the newsreel was superseded by television news coverage in the early 1950s.

The animated cartoon is traditionally defined as a series of static drawings or scenes arranged and photographed and then synchronized with sound. In France in 1905, Émile Cohl produced several films with animated puppets, and in 1907, he made the first films to use animated drawings. American pioneers include Winsor McCay, who made Gertie the Dinosaur (1909); Bud Fisher, who began his "Mutt and Jeff" cartoons c.1918; Pat Sullivan, who produced "Felix the Cat" cartoons (1924); Chuck Jones, who in collaboration with Isador (Friz) Freleng, Tex Avery, and others, oversaw and animated (1930s–1960s) the Loony Tunes and Merry Melodies series (Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, et al.) at Warner Brothers (Jones also created (1949) the Road Runner series and later worked with on Dr. Seuss film cartoons; Freleng subsequently created the Pink Panther); and, of course, the celebrated Walt DisneyDisney, Walt
(Walter Elias Disney) , 1901–66, American movie producer and pioneer in animated cartoons, b. Chicago. He grew up in Missouri, in the small town of Marceline and in Kansas City.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Beginning with the Disney studios' Tron (1982), animation has become increasingly computer generated, largely due to the work of two California-based animation studiosa—DreamWorks and Pixar. Their early computer-made feature films include Pixar's Toy Story movies (1995, 1999) and A Bug's Life (1998) and DreamWorks' Antz (1998). By 2000, traditional cartoons were in decline and most U.S. film animation (with the exception of nearly all the features produced by Disney) was digital, seemingly three-dimensional, and computer-generated. In DreamWorks' Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004) and Pixar's Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), and The Incredibles (2004), computer animation reached new heights of technological sophistication and complexity. Their seemingly real characters, voiced by actors but otherwise completely electronic in origin, interact in an apparently organic environment.

The Polar Express (2004) combined live action and animation, digitizing and transforming the body and face movements of actors into the actions of computerized characters that inhabit a three-dimensional, computer-generated world. The boundaries of traditional animation continued to expand as animation and live action were increasingly merged and the technology employed to combine the two became increasingly sophisticated. These advances are evident, for example, in the processed live action of Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly (2006) and in the motion-capture techniques used to change human dancers into dancing penguins in George Miller's Happy Feet (2006). Pixar's robot love story, WALL-E (2008, Academy Award), is told mainly in compelling digital images.

Although animation has been generally treated as a children's medium, some animators, such as Ralph Bakshi, have aimed their works at adults, and the Disney organization, after several moribund years, began a series of features aimed equally at kids and at their parents, such as The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and The Lion King (1994), which have proved to be extremely successful at the box office. Another notable talent is Don Bluth, who produced An American Tail and The Land before Time, combining old-fashioned full-animation with up-to-date wit.

Late 20th-century Japanese animation, much of it computer-generated, has been extremely influential. By the early 21st cent. some 60 percent of Japanese films and many television programs were in the style known as anime (ä`nēmā) [Jap.,=animation], which usually represents a fusion of Japanese pictorial tradition, particularly wood-block prints, with characters and stories in the American idiom. The style began in the 1950s with the work of Osamu Tezuka, creator of the Astro Boy comic book (1951) and television series (1963). Characterized by somewhat jerky movements and big-headed characters (as in the well-known Pokémon series), these films do not stress realism, but attempt to capture expressive gesture and mood. Anime films range from Disney-style adventures to surrealist fantasies, and many mix genres. Particularly impressive is the work of Hayao MiyazakiMiyazaki, Hayao
, 1941–, Japanese animator. Japan's preeminent maker of animated films (anime), Miyazaki is thought by many to be the world's finest living animator.
..... Click the link for more information. , e.g., the complex and brooding Princess Mononoke (1997) and the later Spirited Away (2001). Other outstanding anime films include Katusuhiro Otomo's Akira (1988), Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell (1996), Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue (1997), and Rintaro's Fritz LangLang, Fritz
, 1890–1976, German-American film director, b. Vienna. His silent and early sound films, notably the iconic masterpiece Metropolis (1926) with its dystopian vision of the future, are marked by brilliant expressionist technique.
..... Click the link for more information. –inspired Metropolis (2000).

Bibliography

See K. C. Lahue, World of Laughter: The Motion Picture Comedy Short, 1910–1930 (1966); R. L. Snyder, Pare Lorentz and the Documentary Film (1968); A. Rosenthal, The New Documentary in Action (1971); J. Lenburg, The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons (1991); M. Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons (1999); S. J. Napier, Anime from "Akira" to "Princess Monoke" (2000); K. Paik, To Infinity and Beyond! The Story of Pixar Animation Studios (2007); D. A. Price, The Pixar Touch (2008).

General Bibliography

See K. Macgowan, Behind the Screen (1965); A. Bazin, What Is Cinema? (1967); B. Crowther, The Great Films (1967); D. Shipman, The Great Movie Stars (2 vol., 1970–72); D. Robinson, The History of World Cinema (1973); J. D. Andrew, The Major Film Theories (1976) and Concepts in Film Theory (1984); K. Brownlow, Hollywood, the Pioneers (1979); D. Cook, A History of Narrative Film (1981); G. Mast, A Short History of the Movies (1986); B. F. Kawin, How Movies Work (1987); I. Konigsberg, The Complete Film Dictionary (2d ed. 1997); D. Thomson; A Biographical Dictionary of Film (rev. ed. 2004) and The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood (2004).

Motion Pictures