The “big studio era” was a unique period in the history of American filmmaking that started to flourish with the advent of talking pictures in the late 1920s. This system remained dominant for over three decades until roughly 1960; when a series of fortuitous events put an end to this highly powerful and lucrative system. At the dawn of the 1920s the “studio system” had evolved quickly from its humble nickelodeon beginnings at the turn of the century to become a sophisticated, highly integrated system where five studios basically controlled all aspects of film production known as vertical integration.
This integration comprised the production, distribution and exhibition of film in the United States and was almost monopolized by only five studios: Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Brothers, RKO and Fox (later 20th Century-Fox). Universal was a minor studio among these major players largely because it lacked a national theatre chain for its product (a plight also shared by Columbia and United Artists).
It was a curious thing that although Paramount and Universal were the oldest of the above mentioned studios, both founded in 1912; Paramount became a major player while Universal largely plodded along making small budget, lower-half-of-the-double bill pictures that played in the more humble neighborhood cinemas and collected small profits.
It would take Universal five decades to become a major powerhouse equaling and even surpassing other studios such as Paramount in stature. For the time being, anyway; Universal remained a “small” studio because the lack of a substantial theatre chain comprising the big city “movie palaces” was also a major reason it lacked a stable of major, high wattage stars with the level of box office clout that other studios enjoyed.
Another significant reason that Universal languished as a minor studio during it’s early decades was that founder of the studio (German immigrant Carl Laemmle) financed all of his own movies and refused to take on any debt. This would have seemed like a shrewd, laudable plan of action – however it still limited Universal’s prospects for some time to come (and eventually the studio was wrested from his control during a hostile takeover in the 1930s.)
Despite these limitations Universal still produced a few high budget, prestige productions during the 1920s silent era such as the first versions of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1923) and Phantom Of The Opera (1925).
The studio also created quite the niche market with its horror cycle during the early sound era with unforgettable monsters including Frankenstein and Dracula (both 1931) as every film aficionado knows. These movies initially performed well at the box office but didn’t have quite the longevity as a genre that Universal might have hoped for – and certainly didn’t create stars in the glamour mold of MGM or Paramount, which Universal needed to become a major player.
Nonetheless, during the early sound era Universal produced the great prestige hit All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) which was and still is considered to be one of the most sobering and realistic films to depict the horrors of the first world war. It was also notable as the first Universal production to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, was one of the biggest box office successes Universal had during the decade and gained widespread critical acclaim, bringing the studio some much needed prestige.
Overall though, Universal plodded along during the 1930s suffering financial losses (The Great Depression didn’t help) which forced its founder Carl Laemmle out – and the studio into receivership. However, Universal was not down for the count and the outstanding talents of a young soprano named Deanna Durbin would soon rescue the beleaguered studio’s fortunes. Durbin’s first film for the studio was Three Smart Girls (1936) becoming a huge box hit, bolstering Universal’s finances just in time. A string of box office successes starring the teenage singer followed, assuring the cinematic legacy of the studio along with its balance sheets.
Durbin also added some prestige to Universal when Three Smart Girls received three Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Sound and Best Original Story. Despite Universal’s reputation as a “minor studio among the majors” because of the predominantly ‘B’ level nature of its output; the studio did manage to create some other memorable names along with Deanna Durbin.
During this period Universal even had a couple of esteemed directors. James Whale became one of Hollywood’s most noteworthy directors directing Frankenstein and other pictures for Universal during the 1930s along with Lewis Milestone whose direction propelled All Quiet On The Western Front to great critical acclaim.
Universal was also the launching pad for producers Joe Pasternak and Irving Thalberg who would become major Hollywood players down the road. Thalberg in particular would later distinguish himself at MGM as a gifted, prolific director who would guide that studio to numerous box office hits.
Although Universal experienced many ups and downs during the 1930s it closed out the decade on a high note with one of the best films it produced up to this point; the superior comic western Destry Rides Again (1939). This was a banner year for all of the studios during the so-called “Golden Age” of Hollywood with many artistic and financial successes.
The sensational pairing of James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich in Destry Rides Again was Universal’s biggest hit of the year and the film was credited with reviving Dietrich’s declining career. Her image and box office standing had suffered severely of late as her roles at Paramount during the previous four years had left her increasingly mummified and turned off her fan base.
Dietrich’s boisterous role in Destry was a complete image overhaul and during the next four years she starred in several more successful films for Universal. The studio also produced the lavish soaper Back Street (1941) based on a book by popular novelist Fannie Hurst; starring Margaret Sullavan and Charles Boyer who were also popular romantic leads of this era.
However, Stewart, Dietrich, Boyer and Sullavan were big stars originally developed by and borrowed from other studios – not developed by Universal. This would be a continuing weakness for the studio; keeping it a second tier company. Thus, Universal continued plodding along; churning out mostly low-budget comedies, musicals, serials, westerns and “Arabian Nights” themed fantasies of dubious quality.
At least the comedies of W.C. Fields and those of the perennially popular, low-brow duo of Bud Abbott & Lou Costello performed well at the box office keeping the studio ledgers in black ink. In spite of all this lower-half-of-the-double-bill filler, It was still commendable during the 1940s that Universal had the presence of mind to create a few high-quality pictures with top flight directors like Alfred Hitchcock, including Saboteur and Shadow Of A Doubt which hit the bullseye with both the public and the critics.
However, many post-World War Two changes were looming on the horizon which would impact all the Hollywood studios although they were slow to grasp this and each would handle things differently. In 1946, Universal entered into a brief three-way merger with the British film organization J. Arthur Rank, International Pictures, and independent producer Kenneth Young.
Although the Universal brass intended to embark on an ambitious scheme to produce more high profile, higher quality pictures through this merger; the scheme failed in short order barely lasting a year.
The studio reorganized under the new leadership of William Goetz from International Pictures, and became known as Universal-International on July 30, 1946. Goetz also attempted to raise the profile of the newly revamped studio by halting production of its low-budget, standard issue adventure stories, musicals, serials, westerns etc.
Even though Universal would soon revert back to producing much of this typical fare the studio still entered its most significant period since the advent of sound. During the post war period Universal would begin to create many of its most significant A level pictures; its biggest artistic and/or commercial successes. The studio was well on its way to finally joining the ranks of the major players. This period will be covered in more detail in part two.
