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The Hollywood Studio System: A History. By Douglas Gomery. London: British Film Institute, 2006. vii + 333 pp. Index, notes, bibliography, photographs. Cloth, $27.95. ISBN: 1-844-57064-9.
Reviewed by Eric Schaefer
The Hollywood studio system's fortunes have changed greatly over time. In its heyday during the 19305 and 19403, it occupied the same status as a widget factory, churning out a uniform product on a predictable timetable. By the 19605, critics regarded it as an obstacle around which independent-minded directors had to navigate deftly in order to bring their distinctive cinematic visions to the screen. Since the late 19705, film historians have adopted another perspective, reframing the system as a delicate balance between commerce and art. Douglas Gomery's Hollywood Studio System began life as a trim volume published in 1986, at a time when studies of the studio system were reaching maturity. In that form, its pithy studio histories, useful tables, and succinct detailing of facts provided a handy overview of an industry during its golden age. Twenty years later, the author has revised and expanded the book, bringing his account of the studios up to the present. Curiously, his approach is very much rooted in the past. In 1985 Gomery coauthored, with Robert C. Allen, the influential Film History: Theory and Practice, which stressed the use of primary sources. In that book, they advocated "realist" history, an approach that is less concerned with an event itself than with the cause of the event, and that recognizes complexity in the historical explanation of any phenomenon, including "the movies." In its new form, The Hollywood Studio System hardly deals in complexity; instead it largely promotes the thesis...