This presentation was created for film production classes - it provides a visual accompaniment to a lecture on Film History. This module covers the period from the beginnings of the silent era through the creation of the MPPA and includes a brief side trip to explore the impact of McCarthyism. In 2020 as a result of the Coronavirus Pandemic, I recorded a video of this presentation. Here is the link:https://youtu.be/5BjcJF4XN7c Please feel free to use it in your classrooms.

1. Film History
Lecture prepared
11/28/08 and revised 4/6/20
by John M. Grace
I.A.T.S.E. member
and film instructor
Savannah Technical College
Savannah, GA

2. As the quote suggests, as we
moved into the 1900s, the
influence of film was starting to
be noticed - and condemned.
If nothing else, the fear that
motion pictures would ruin the
country's morals spoke to the
power and influence of film.
Film History
"Films represent this
country's greatest force
for evil and debauchery."
A fundamentalist preacher , 1917

3. Film History
By 1910, Nickelodeons were
attracting 26-million viewers
each week. Just five years later
that number had doubled.
The popularity of films soon
attracted the attention of big
companies that saw the potential
for big profits, and what better
way to insure big profits than to
try to create a monopoly.

4. Led by Thomas Edison, several
companies formed a trust called
the Motion Picture Patents
Company (MPPC). The plan was
to use their combined patents to
control things such as the
production of raw film stock,
projection equipment, and film
distribution and exhibition; in
other words, almost everything in
the motion picture industry.
Film History

5. Independent (nonaffiliated) film
companies tried to compete at
their own risk. MPPC people
raided the independent studios;
equipment was smashed and
employees were threatened.
Their strong-arm tactics aside,
the MPPC did establish standards
and create an international
motion picture industry.
Film History

6. Among the other things that the
MPPC did to hold on to control
(and profits) was to forbid the use
of actor's names in film credits.
It was assumed that if audiences
became familiar with leading
characters that the actors would
achieve a star status and demand
more than the minimal wages
they were earning.
Film History

7. In 1915, one of the most important
films in the history of motion
pictures was released: D.W.
Griffith’s Birth of a Nation.
The three-hour film was made to
commemorate the 50th
anniversary of the end of the Civil
War. It cost less than $110,000 to
make and earned more than $18
million proving the profit potential
of motion pictures.
Film History

8. Even though Birth of a Nation
represented a quantum leap in
film techniques, because of its
racist theme it was highly
controversial. The film was said to
have, "a flawed, sentimental
attachment to the Old South."
(Griffith was from the South.)
Among other things, violent, anti-
Negro Ku Klux Klan members
emerged as heroes.
Film History

9. The showing of the film resulted
in race riots in major cities and
inspired the rebirth of the Ku
Klux Klan in the South. If there
was any doubt about the influence
of this new medium the issue was
settled with Birth of a Nation.
Even today, some colleges that
planned to screen the film have
met with major opposition.
Film History

10. Griffith's second film, Intolerance,
had a message of love, tolerance,
and the futility of war. It cost 20
times as much to make as Birth of a
Nation and was a financial flop.
Not only was it ahead of its time in
terms of technique, but people
didn't want to hear a message
about tolerance - especially when
the US was preparing to go to war.
Film History

11. Films were originally shot on the
East coast of the United States -
and many films were shot outside
to compensate for the slow speed
of the film in those days. The
weather back East often didn't
cooperate, but out West, there
was sunshine and wide open
spaces for making films - not to
mention a very big ocean and lots
of picturesque mountains.
Film History

12. Independent film companies
fighting the stranglehold of the
MPPA trust, moved to the West
Coast - primarily to Hollywood,
where they were much farther
away from MPPA control. Once
the independent film companies
were established in California,
they started turning out films that
were as good or better than films
produced by MPAA members.
Film History

13. Hollywood was named by a real
estate agent who moved to the Los
Angeles area from the East Coast
and who had brought with him a
volume of holly trees. Not being
concerned with botany and
climatic differences, he planted
them, thinking that he would
introduce a new species of trees.
They all died.
Film History

14. Not to be deterred, he still named
the area "Hollywoodland" and
put up a large sign on the side of a
mountain to advertise the area.
Later the name was shortened to
"Hollywood".
Holly trees or no holly trees, the
area ended up being an ideal site
for early motion picture studios.
Film History

15. While the MPPC didn't want to
list the names of actors in their
films, the independent studios on
the West Coast recognized the
advantage in developing popular
stars that audiences would pay to
see time and time again.
One of the first actors to be
promoted this way was Florence
Lawrence who is credited with
being the first movie star.
Film History

16. The fact that this would draw
audiences away from rival MPPC
films didn't escape their notice and
it led to hard feelings between the
two coasts for years to come.
Two other well-known names from
this early era are Mary Pickford,
known at the time as "America's
Sweetheart”, and Charlie Chaplin,
the little tramp.
Film History

17. If you walk along the "Walk of
Fame" on Hollywood Boulevard
in Hollywood, you will see their
names engraved on bronze stars
embedded in the sidewalk.
They are just two of scores of
film, radio and TV notables
spanning almost a century of
history who are commemorated in
this way.
Film History

18. Do the names Harold Lloyd, Ben
Turpin, and Buster Keaton ring a
bell? They are a few of the
comedy masters of the silent film
era and their names are also
honored on the Walk of Fame.
Millions of U.S. immigrants and
people around the World who
didn’t speak English could still
enjoy their physical humor.
Film History

19. The first 20th Century superstar
was Charlie Chaplin, the
undisputed comic genius of silent
comedy. He started out making
$150 a week, and by 1917 was
making more than $1M a year.
His character was first displayed
in the film, The Tramp, in which
he played a vagabond in baggy
pants and a bowler hat.
Film History

20. There was more than just simple
humor in his work; Chaplin used
his films to convey messages
about good and evil in society -
and especially the disparity
between the rich and poor.
Although Chaplin's work was
very popular, some of the rich
didn't appreciate his pointing out
social problems of the early 1900s.
Film History

21. Sometime later, the perceived
threat of Communism would
loom in the United States and
Senator Joseph McCarthy would
capitalize on this fear by initiating
a Communist "witch hunt,"
referred to as the McCarthy
Hearings.
Chaplin, who was born in Britain,
was one of McCarthy's targets.
Film History

22. The threat of Communism was
very real. Communist infiltration
had reached high levels in the
U.S. government.
After months of investigations
and the outlay of huge sums of
money by the U.S. government,
no Communist plot was exposed
by the hearings and many lives
were ruined in the process.
Film History

23. Many people attended the
meetings out of curiosity never
dreaming that they could also be
named as Communists, and that
just being there would land them
in jail or spell the end of their
professional careers.
The fear of Communism was so
great that the individual freedoms
on which the US was founded
were pushed aside with impunity.
Film History

24. McCarthy aimed his investigation
at people in the film business and
everyone feared they might
suddenly be branded a Communist
or a Communist sympathizer.
How did you spot a Communist?
Consider this description:
Communist writers can be spotted
because they portray bankers and
senators as villainous characters.
Film History

25. Studio heads were upset because
they felt that writers and actors
were getting too much power.
During the hearings a Warner
Brothers executive said that when
film writers made fun of America's
politics they were engaging in
Communist propaganda. He
further stated that movies
sympathetic to "Indians and the
colored folks" were also suspect.
Film History

26. Some famous members of the film
community that were under attack
ended up being branded The
Hollywood Ten. This group of nine
screenwriters and one director
were singled out and subpoenaed.
On a matter of principle, they
refused to answer questions about
their political views. All 10 were
given prison sentences and some
were fined up to $10,000.
Film History

27. Studio heads, fearing economic
consequences of using people
tainted by the hearings, blacklisted
214 of Hollywood's most talented
people. As a result, these people
could not work in the industry for
more than a decade.
One of the blacklisted writers
wrote a script under a pseudonym
that won an Academy Award.
Film History

28. Eventually, Edward R. Murrow, a
famous CBS radio and TV
newscaster, did a TV documentary
on the McCarthy-led paranoia.
Even though this resulted in
Murrow being put at the top of
McCarthy's Communist enemy's
list, his exposé (tellingly revealed in
McCarthy's own recorded words)
marked the beginning of the end of
the senator's political career.
Film History

29. It was not until 20-years after the
McCarthy hearings that Charlie
Chaplin - by then recognized as
one of the greatest film talents of
the 20th century - returned to the
US to receive an honorary Oscar at
the Academy Awards Ceremony.
Chaplin received one of the longest
standing ovations in the history of
the Academy Awards.
Film History