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  • The Rise And Fall Of The Hollywood Studio System – Part 2: Hollywood At WAR! 1939


    Introduction

    In 1939, Hollywood was basking in an almost mythic glow. It was the year of Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Stagecoach—a cinematic apex unmatched in American history. The studio system was operating at full throttle, its stars luminous, its moguls wealthy, its audiences faithful. Then the world changed.

    Cinema Scholars looks back on how the outbreak of World War II in Europe and America’s entry into the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 shifted the role of the film industry from escapism to engagement. The golden machinery of Hollywood became an arm of the American war effort, voluntarily, zealously, and sometimes self-servingly. From 1939 to 1945, the studio system reached both its peak in patriotism and its structural limits.

    Hollywood
    John Wayne as The Ringo Kid in John Ford’s “Stagecoach” (1939). Photo courtesy of United Artists.

    The Studio System: Still King, But Under Strain

    At the heart of the system were still the Big Five—MGM, Warner Bros., Paramount, 20th Century-Fox, and RKO—and the Little Three—Columbia, Universal, and United Artists. These vertically integrated studios controlled the flow of content from the soundstage to the theater marquee. The stars were bound by contract, and the films rolled out on a strict schedule.

    In the early 1940s, despite material shortages and labor tensions, the studios remained profitable. War was good for business. Audiences flooded theaters for both newsreels and narrative films. By 1943, weekly movie attendance in the U.S. reached a staggering 90 million—more than half the country’s population. Yet the pressure to support the war effort, maintain public morale, and adhere to federal messaging introduced unprecedented constraints—and opportunities.

    Washington and Hollywood: A New Alliance

    The U.S. government quickly recognized film’s potential as a propaganda tool. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Office of War Information (OWI), which coordinated with Hollywood to ensure that films aligned with national interests. The OWI issued guidelines: portray Allied unity, avoid excessive gore or defeatism, include women in the workforce narrative, and never glorify the enemy.

    Studios collaborated—sometimes reluctantly, often eagerly. Frank Capra, fresh off his Oscar wins, joined the Army and produced the Why We Fight documentary series. John Ford and John Huston also enlisted, making powerful wartime documentaries like The Battle of Midway (1942) and Report from the Aleutians (1943).

    Hollywood
    Still from the 1942 film “The Battle of Midway” shot by John Ford. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

    Even fictional narratives carried messages. Warner Bros., known for its hard-hitting social dramas, led the charge. Casablanca (1942), though not conceived as propaganda, became a powerful allegory for resistance and sacrifice. Mrs. Miniver (1942), a British-American co-production from MGM, was lauded by Churchill as “worth six divisions.”

    Stars in Uniform—and Bond Drives

    Many of Hollywood’s leading men exchanged tuxedos for uniforms. Jimmy Stewart flew combat missions in Europe. Clark Gable, devastated by his wife Carole Lombard’s death in a war bond flight crash, enlisted in the Army Air Forces. Tyrone Power joined the Marines. Meanwhile, female stars like Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, and Hedy Lamarr toured the country raising millions in war bonds.

    The Hollywood Canteen, co-founded in 1942 by Davis and actor John Garfield, served as a star-studded morale booster where servicemen could dance with movie stars and eat for free. Studios encouraged their stars to appear humble, patriotic, and accessible—a vital part of the war machine’s emotional arsenal.

    Films as War Weapons—and Cultural Mirrors

    From 1939 to 1945, genres evolved. War films surged in popularity, but so did musicals, screwball comedies, and noir. Films like Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) wrapped patriotism in razzle-dazzle. The More the Merrier (1943) explored the housing shortages caused by wartime mobilization, blending social commentary with romantic comedy.

    Meanwhile, the shadow of darkness grew. The trauma of war and global instability helped birth film noir—cynical, morally ambiguous stories often featuring returning soldiers and broken dreams. Films like Double Indemnity (1944) and Laura (1944) spoke to a restless, more jaded America.

    Hollywood
    Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray star in “Double Indemnity” (1944). Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

    Cracks in the System

    The war years were profitable, but the old studio machinery was beginning to creak. Labor strikes erupted at Disney and Warner Bros., challenging the studios’ treatment of workers. Independent producers like David O. Selznick and Samuel Goldwyn pushed for greater creative control outside the traditional studio hierarchy. The OWI’s influence, while significant during the war, also opened the door for federal scrutiny. As the Cold War dawned, the alliance between Washington and Hollywood would take a darker turn.

    And looming in the distance was a legal storm: the 1948 Paramount Decree, a Supreme Court ruling that would end the studios’ monopolistic grip over theaters. But the roots of that decision stretched back into the war years, as independent theaters began to question the fairness of the studio stranglehold.

    Curtain Call for an Era

    By 1945, the war had ended, but the world—and Hollywood—had changed irrevocably. The studios were still powerful, but they were no longer unquestioned emperors. Stars wanted autonomy. Directors demanded creative freedom. And audiences, exposed to the harsh realities of war, were growing more sophisticated.

    The studio system would stagger into the 1950s, still producing hits, but its golden age was over. Between 1939 and 1945, Hollywood had become more than entertainment. It had become a national institution—and a battlefield of ideas.

    Key Films and Events, 1939–1945

    • 1939 – Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington were released. Considered the apex of studio-era filmmaking.
    • 1941 – Citizen Kane challenges traditional narrative structures.
    • Dec 7, 1941 – Pearl Harbor attack; U.S. enters WWII.
    • 1942 – Office of War Information created; Capra begins Why We Fight series; Casablanca released.
    • 1943 – Hollywood Canteen opens; record-high movie attendance.
    • 1944 – Noir classic Double Indemnity released; war themes deepen.
    • 1945 – WWII ends; studios begin facing postwar identity 

    Join for the third and final part of our Rise and Fall of the Hollywood Studio System series: The Unmaking of the Dream Machine 1946 – 1950.

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  • The Rise And Fall Of The Hollywood Studio System


    Introduction

    The curtain rose on a new age of Hollywood cinema in 1927, when The Jazz Singer shattered the silence of motion pictures with Al Jolson’s famous ad-lib: “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!” That moment was more than the dawn of the ’talkies’—it heralded the maturation of Hollywood’s studio system. Cinema Scholars looks behind the curtain at the vertically integrated juggernaut that would dominate American entertainment for over a decade.

    “It was a factory, yes. But what a factory—stars for assembly lines, scripts for blueprints, and dreams for exports.”

    — Bette Davis, reflecting on the studio era

    Hollywood
    Jack Robin (Al Jolson) sings ‘Blue Skies’ to his mother (Eugenie Besserer) in “The Jazz Singer” (1927). Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

    Between 1927 and 1939, Hollywood wasn’t just making movies—it was manufacturing a mythology. Underneath the glitter and gloss lay a ruthlessly efficient machine, run by a handful of powerful studios known as the “Big Five”: MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and RKO. Together, these companies controlled production, distribution, and exhibition, ensuring that the stars on the silver screen were as carefully cultivated as the orange groves Los Angeles was paving over.

    Rise of the Studio Titans

    Louis B. Mayer of MGM once quipped, “I don’t make art—I make pictures to make money.” And indeed, the major studios operated like corporate kingdoms, each with its stable of stars, directors, writers, and technicians all under (or handcuffed to) long-term contracts.

    MGM, the undisputed king of the 1930s, boasted “more stars than there are in heaven.” With a house style that emphasized glamour and polish, it churned out hits like Grand Hotel (1932), The Thin Man (1934), and The Wizard of Oz (1939). Meanwhile, Warner Bros. cultivated a grittier image, favoring gangster films and socially conscious dramas like The Public Enemy (1931) and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932).

    Behind every star was a carefully maintained image, orchestrated by publicists and studio heads alike. Judy Garland was the girl next door. Greta Garbo was the elusive goddess. Clark Gable was the King of Hollywood. Scandals were buried, teeth were capped, and waistlines were cinched.

    Hollywood
    Gretta Garbo and John Barrymore star in “Grand Hotel” (1932). Photo courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

    Talkie Revolution and Artistic Shifts

    The transition to sound sent shockwaves through the industry. Silent film stars like John Gilbert and Clara Bow saw careers falter, while new voices—literally and figuratively—rose to prominence. Technological changes forced studios to reinvest in equipment, rewrite production norms, and retrain actors and directors for a medium where voice and dialogue now mattered.

    Yet the upheaval brought creative breakthroughs. Directors like Ernst Lubitsch and Frank Capra harnessed the power of sound to explore new genres. Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934) helped establish the screwball comedy, while Lubitsch’s Trouble in Paradise (1932) showcased the sophisticated wit that defined pre-Code Hollywood.

    Production Code and the Morality Police

    By 1934, under intense pressure from religious groups as well as conservative watchdogs, the Motion Picture Production Code—commonly known as the Hays Code—was fully enforced. Overseen by Joseph Breen, the Code clamped down on depictions of sex, crime, and anything resembling social subversion.

    Gone were the risqué innuendos of Mae West. In came the moral rectitude of wholesome family fare. Yet even within these constraints, filmmakers inevitably found creative ways to push boundaries. Gone with the Wind (1939), with its fiery heroine and burning Atlanta, danced on the edge of controversy.

    “We had to say everything without saying anything at all. That was the art.”

    — Ernst Lubitsch, on working under the Code

    Hollywood
    Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert star in “It Happened One Night” (1934). Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

    The Star Machine in Full Swing

    The studio system’s most potent invention was the star. The studios discovered talent, gave them new fabricated names (Archibald Leach became Cary Grant), shaped their public personas, and sometimes orchestrated their personal lives. Actors like Bette Davis battled studio control fiercely. Davis once stated:

    “Until you’re known in my profession as a monster, you’re not a star”

    Davis fought Warner Bros. in court for the right to reject roles—though she lost the case, she won something more valuable: respect. Her performances in Jezebel (1938) and Dark Victory (1939) cemented her place among the elite.

    The Business of Dreams

    The Depression did little to stop the march of movies. Hollywood thrived. Films were cheap escapism for the public and big business for the studios. In 1939—the year often considered the greatest in Hollywood history—audiences were treated to The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach, Ninotchka, and Wuthering Heights.

    The year truly symbolized the zenith of the Hollywood studio system. It was the end of the beginning. War loomed. Television whispered on the horizon. And antitrust lawyers were sharpening their knives.

    Hollywood
    Jimmy Stewart stars in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939). Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

    A Machine Facing Its Reckoning

    Though the studio system would survive the next decade, its foundations had been laid bare. In 1938, the U.S. government filed an antitrust suit against the Big Five and the Little Three (Universal, Columbia, and United Artists), challenging their monopolistic grip. The eventual Paramount Decree of 1948 would dismantle vertical integration, but the seeds were sown in the late ’30s.

    Still, in those heady years between 1927 and 1939, Hollywood stood as a glittering empire—a blend of artistry, industry, and illusion. It was a dream factory, yes. But what dreams.

    “They owned everything: the cameras, the theaters, even the lives of the people in the pictures. But they gave us magic, too.”

    — Olivia de Havilland

    Top Milestones in the Studio Era (1927–1939)

    • 1927 – The Jazz Singer premieres, introducing synchronized sound to film.
    • 1929 – The first Academy Awards are held; Wings wins Best Picture.
    • 1930 – Hays Code introduced (but not enforced until 1934).
    • 1934 – Enforcement of the Production Code begins under Joseph Breen.
    • 1935 – Merger of Fox Film and Twentieth Century Pictures forms 20th Century-Fox.
    • 1938 – The U.S. government files antitrust suit against major studios.
    • 1939 – Peak year of Hollywood’s Golden Age with Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz 

    Join us for Part 2, 1939–1945…and Hollywood at War!

    If You Enjoyed This Article, We Recommend:

    The Rise and Fall of the Brown Derby (Click Here)

    Agua Caliente: Old Hollywood’s Mexican Monte Carlo (Click Here)

    The Celebrity-Owned Restaurants of Old Hollywood (Click Here)

    Keep up with Cinema Scholars on social media. Like us on Facebook, subscribe on YouTube, and follow us on Twitter, Threads, Instagram, and Bluesky





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