Warner Bros Essay Research Paper The Warner free essay sample

Warner Bros. Essay, Research Paper The Warner household immigrated from Poland to Baltimore in 1883 and for several old ages traveled around the United States and Canada before eventually settling in Youngstown, Ohio. Of the 12 kids, Harry was born in Poland in 1881 ; Jack, the youngest, was born in London, Ontario, in 1892. In 1903 the household purchased the 90-seat Cascade Theatre, a jukebox in Newcastle, Pennsylvania ( where Jack American ginseng for the audience during intermissions ) . By 1905, Jack, Harry, and brothers Albert and Sam were besides in movie distribution, and started movie exchanges in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Compelled to sell out to the Patents Company non long after, they resumed working in exhibition and by 1913 were bring forthing movies with Warner Features. By 1917 they had a hit with the wartime biopic My Four Old ages In Germany, based on Ambassador James W. Gerard s book, and in 1923 they incorporated a company and started a Hollywood-based studio called Warner Bros. We will write a custom essay sample on Warner Bros Essay Research Paper The Warner or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Harry, the president, and Albert, the financial officer, managed the New York central office, while Sam, the main executive, and Jack, production head, ran the California studio. They released over a twelve movies that twelvemonth, and shortly had their first large star: a German shepherd called Rin Tin Tin. Darryl F. Zanuck was skilled at scripting these popular escapade movies, and wrote such Rin Tin Tin hits as Find Your Man ( 1924 ) and The Lighthouse By The Sea ( 1925 ) . He was besides expert at comedy and play, and among his many 20s composing credits are slapstick comedies starring Charlie Chaplin s brother Sydney, including the 1926 hits Oh! What A Nurse! and The Better Ole. Warners besides had John Barrymore under contract and had starred him in Beau Brummel ( 1924 ) and the Moby-Dick version The Sea Beast ( 1926 ) . German manager Ernst Lubitsch signed a five-picture trade with Charles dudley warners in 1924, and made such memorable comedies as The Marriage Circle ( 192 4 ) , Lady Windermere s Fan ( 1925 ) , and So This Is Paris ( 1926 ) . In 1925 the studio acquired the production company Vitagraph along with its web of exchanges. The undermentioned twelvemonth Charles dudley warners teamed with Western Electric to organize a subordinate called Vitaphone, which developed a system of prerecorded sound played on phonograph record, to attach to soundless movies. They tested this technique for adding music and sound effects in some musical trunkss every bit good as their famed escapade characteristic, Don Juan ( 1926 ) with John Barrymore. Sam Warner, who helped contrive this sound procedure, died in 1927, the twenty-four hours before the studio released the first characteristic with synchronised vocals and duologue: The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson. The movie s dramatic success, and the revolution in speaking films that followed, made Warner Bros. one of Hollywood s most powerful movie studios. Charles dudley warners had besides been purchasing up theatres in the 1920s, which gave them control of the market for first-run releases ; by the begining of the thirtiess they were one of the five large incorporate major studios, along with Fox, MGM, Paramount, and RKO. In 1928 Charles dudley warners released the first all-talking movie, the hit mobster film The Lights Of New York, a two-reeler that they had expanded into an hour-long characteristic. Zanuck was appointed studio director that same twelvemonth, and shortly thenceforth became caput of production. Charles dudley warners so farther expanded by purchasing out First National Pictures # 8212 ; and harvesting their huge distribution system and immense studio installation in Burbank. Zanuck stayed at Warners until 1933, when he left to organize his twentieth Century company ( subsequently to unify with Fox as 20th Century-Fox ) ; but during the early 30s he supervised many of the movies that launched extremely profitable genres for Warners. The studio s illustriousness at doing tough mobster films began with the Zanuck productions Little Caesar ( 1930 ) , directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Edward G. Robinson, and The Public Enemy ( 1930 ) , directed by William A. Wellman and starring James Cagney. Warners celebrity in social-protest play started with Zanuck s Five Star Final ( 1931 ) and I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang ( 1932 ) , both directed by LeRoy. Zanuck besides supervised Disraeli ( 1929 ) , starring George Arliss, which began Warner s successful rhythm of historical biopics, and the authoritative musical 42nd Street ( 1933 ) , starring Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. The offense or gangster image became about a Charles dudley warners signature in the 30s, thanks to stars Robinson ( The Hatchet Man, 1932 ) , Cagney ( Lady Killer, 1933 ) , and, by the mid 1930s, Humphrey Bogart ( The Petrified Forest, 1936 ; Dead End, 1937 ) . As Robinson and Cagney became large stars, their parts became more sympathetic, even in offense movies # 8212 ; with Bogart as the bad bad-guy, acquiring his balls from Robinson in Bullets Or Ballots ( 1936 ) and The Amazing Doctor Clitterhouse ( 1938 ) , or from Cagney in Angels With Dirty Faces ( 1939 ) and The Roaring Twenties ( 1939 ) . Warners grittiness besides paid off in acute societal play, most notably Wellman s Wild Boys Of The Road ( 1933 ) and LeRoy s They Wo nt Forget ( 1937 ) , and in several hard-bitten prison movies, including 20,000 Old ages In Singing Sing ( 1933 ) and San Quentin ( 1937 ) . Historical lifes worked good with Arliss ( Alexander Hamilton, 1931 ; Voltaire, 1933 ) , until he moved on to work at Fox in 1934. The studio kept up its committedness to the genre with manager William Dieterle and histrion Paul Muni: The Story Of Louis Pasteur ( 1935 ) , The Life Of Emile Zola ( 1937 ) , Juarez ( 1939 ) . The 30s besides saw legion musicals from Warners, most notably those choreographed by Berkeley: Gold Diggers Of 1933 ( 1933 ) , Foot light Parade ( 1933 ) , Dames ( 1934 ) , and Gold Diggers Of 1935 ( 1935, which he besides directed ) . Feeling the pinch in the Depression, the studio was careful to conserve in its wages and agendas. Yet its roll of endowment and scope of production expanded over the 30s. Bette Davis became a major star in a series of popular romantic play, including Dangerous ( 1935 ) , That Certain Woman ( 1937 ) , Jezebel ( 1938 ) , Dark Victory ( 1939 ) , and The Old Maid ( 1939 ) . Errol Flynn was embraced by the populace in his bestiring actioners directed by Michael Curtiz: Captain Blood ( 1935 ) , The Charge Of The Light Brigade ( 1936 ) , and The Adventures Of Robin Hood ( 1938 ) . The studio could besides tout a tight brace of horror movies directed by Curtiz, The Mystery Of The Wax Museum ( 1933 ) and The Walking Dead ( 1936 ) ; a fashionable Shakespeare version directed by Dieterle and Max Reinhardt, A Midsumer Night s Dream ( 1935 ) ; manager Howard Hawks play of rival mail pilots, C eiling Zero ( 1936 ) ; and the espionage play Confessions Of A Nazi Spy ( 1939 ) . The 40s brought alterations to Warners intervention of genres. Social play faded with the Depression. The historical biopic trend ended with Dieterle directing Robinson in two 1940 movies, Dr. Ehrlich s Magic Bullet and A Dispatch From Reuters. Crime films were eclipsed by the force of World War Two ; the studio s mobster rhythm besides peaked that twelvemonth with manager Raoul Walsh s High Sierra, in which Humphrey Bogart became a star playing a sympathetic mobster. After the war, the genre had its last hooray at Charles dudley warners with two authoritative public presentations: Robinson in Key Largo ( 1948 ) , directed by John Huston, and Cagney in White Heat ( 1949 ) , directed by Walsh. The war attempt besides transformed Warners musicals, which now tended to be star-filled flagwavers: Thank Your Lucky Stars ( 1943 ) , This Is The Army ( 1943 ) , Hollywood Canteen ( 1944 ) . Even the studio s biopic of George M. Cohan, the authoritative Yankee Doodle Dandy ( 1942 ) starring James Cagney, was portion of the good battle. Bette Davis became an even more formidable star at Warners in the 40s, demanding better functions and acquiring them: The Letter ( 1940 ) , In This Our Life ( 1942 ) , Now, Voyager ( 1942 ) , Old Acquaintance ( 1943 ) , Watch On The Rhine ( 1943 ) , The Corn Is Green ( 1945 ) , Deception ( 1946 ) , and Beyond The Forest ( 1949 ) , her last movie under contract at Warners. Joan Crawford left MGM and signed with Warners, where she d do her finest three-hankie play: Mildred Pierce ( 1945 ) , Humoresque ( 1946 ) , Possessed ( 1947 ) , Flamingo Road ( 1949 ) . After his daredevil The Sea Hawk ( 1940 ) , Errol Flynn kept busy in the 40s with Westerns ( Virginia City, 1940 ; They Died With Their Boots On, 1941 ; San Antonio, 1945 ; Silver River, 1948 ) and war movies ( Dive Bomber, 1941 ; Desperate Journey, 1942 ; Edge Of Darkness, 1943 ; Objectiv e Burma!, 1945). After Warners rewon World War One with The Fighting 69th (1940) and Sergeant York (1941), the studio took on the Axis in such popular combat films as Action In The North Atlantic (1943), Air Force (1943), Destination Tokyo (1943), God Is My Co-Pilot (1945). After High Sierra, Bogart secured his stardom with the classic The Maltese Falcon (1941), an adaptation of Dashiell Hammetts detective novel, and the first film directed by Warners writer John Huston. Bogart went on to star in several first-rate Warners films of the 40s, most notably the classic wartime drama of romance and espionage, Casablanca (1942); To Have And Have Not (1945) and The Big Sleep (1946), both directed by Howard Hawks and co-starring Lauren Bacall; and Hustons classic account of greed and paranoia, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948). The Maltese Falcon had also co-starred the great character actor Peter Lorre with Hustons discovery, stage actor Sydney Greenstreet. Warners went on to team t he pair as leads in several first-rate mysteries and thrillers, including The Mask Of Dimitrios (1944) and Three Strangers (1946), both directed by Jean Negulseco, and The Verdict (1946), directed by Don Siegel. Other important Warners releases of the 40s include the sports biopic Knut Rockne — All American (1940); the Jack London adaptation The Sea Wolf (1941); the dark drama Kings Row (1942); Pride Of The Marines (1945), with John Garfield as a blinded veteran; the espionage film Cloak And Dagger (1946); the drama of a deaf-mute girl, Johnny Belinda (1948); King Vidors adaptation of Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead (1949); and the Danny Kaye comedy The Inspector General (1949). The studios animation department, active since 1930, came into its own in the 40s thanks to such directors as Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, Frank Tashlin, and Chuck Jones, who made Warners the center of the short-cartoon universe with a gallery of beloved cartoon stars: Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Tweety and Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, and the Road Runner and the Coyote. Two major filmmakers also worked at Warners during the 40s. Frank Capra directed a pair of films, Meet John Doe (1941) with Gary Cooper and Arsenic And Old Lace (1941, released 44) with Cary Grant, before leaving to join the military. Alfred Hitchcock began working at Warners after the war with the thrillers Rope (1948) and Under Capricorn (1949); his work there became even stronger in the 50s, especially with Strangers On A Train (1951), Dial M For Murder (1954), and The Wrong Man (1957). John Huston had become an independent filmmaker at the end of the 40s, but returned to Warners for one of his best films of the decade, the Melville adaptation Moby Dick (1956). Elia Kazan directed many of his finest films at Warners in the 50s: the Tennessee Williams adaptations A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and Baby Doll (1956); the John Steinbeck adaptation East Of Eden (1954), which introduced James D ean; and the provocative satire of media manipulation, A Face In The Crowd (1956). James Deans other two films, both released after his death, were also for Warners: the classic drama of troubled teenagers, Rebel Without A Cause (1955), directed by Nicholas Ray, and George Stevens epic Giant (1956), from the novel by Edna Ferber. Warners biggest difficulties in the 1950s were competition from television and the loss of its theater holdings in 1953, when the governments Consent Decree split the company into two entities: The theaters went to the control of Fabian Enterprises, Inc., and production and distribution were to be handled by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. In 1956 Harry and Albert Warner sold their shares in the company to an investment group; Jack kept his shares, becoming the single largest shareholder and president of the company. During these years, singer and actress Doris Day became a star at Warners with such hit musicals as By The Light Of The Silvery Moon (1953), Calam ity Jane (1953), and The Pajama Game (1957). The studio also made several notable Westerns in the late 50s: John Fords The Searchers (1956), Arthur Penns The Left-Handed Gun (1958), Delmer Daves The Hanging Tree (1959), and Howard Hawks Rio Bravo (1959). In the 60s, many of Warners biggest hits were films with a pre-sold audience, thanks to their genesis as successful plays: Dore Scharys FDR biopic Sunrise At Campobello (1960); the Americana musical The Music Man (1962); Edward Albees Whos Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1965), the debut film of director Mike Nichols; the classic Lerner and Loewe musical My Fair Lady (1965), directed by George Cukor. Other major Warners releases of the early 60s include director Fred Zinnemanns Australian comedy/drama, The Sundowners (1960); the romantic drama Splendor In The Grass (1960) and the immigrant saga America, America (1963), both directed by Elia Kazan; producer/director Robert Aldrichs gothic thriller What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962), with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford; the alcoholism drama Days Of Wine And Roses (1962), directed by Blake Edwards; and two John Ford Westerns, the race-themed Sergeant Rutledge (1960) and the epic Cheyenne Autumn (1964). In 1967 Warners was acquired by the Canadian-based Seven Arts Productions, Ltd., and became Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Ltd.; Jack Warner sold them his shares and became an independent producer, making the flop big-budget musical Camelot (1967). Before the new company was bought out by the end of the decade, it released three of Warners most important films of the 60s: Arthur Penns landmark Bonnie And Clyde (1967); John Hustons drama of homosexual repression, Reflections In A Golden Eye (1967); and Sam Peckinpahs classic Western The Wild Bunch (1969).The conglomerate Kinney National Service acquired Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in 1969, and in 1971 changed its name to Warner Communications, Inc. Former talent agent Ted Ashley was appointed chairman and CEO of the studio (no w reverted to its old name, Warner Bros.) and guided Warners to many of its most successful 1970s releases: the horror hit The Exorcist (1973); Mel Brooks classic Western spoof, Blazing Saddles (1974); the disaster film The Towering Inferno (1974), a co-production with 20th Century-Fox; the Watergate saga All The Presidents Men (1976); the musical remake A Star Is Born (1976) with Barbra Streisand; the Neil Simon comedy The Goodbye Girl (1977), a co-production with MGM; and the action series started by Superman (1978). Actor Clint Eastwood began releasing his films almost exclusively through Warner Bros., kicking off with a string of box-office hits: The Outlaw Josie Wales (1976), The Enforcer (1976), The Gauntlet (1977), and Every Which Way But Loose (1978). Robert A. Daly succeeded Ashley in 1980, with Terry Semel becoming president and COO; together, they brought Warners to such hits as the series launched by Police Academy (1984) and Lethal Weapon (1987); Stanley Kubricks adapta tion of Stephen King, The Shining (1980); Tom Cruises breakthrough film, Risky Business (1983); Joe Dantes horror comedy Gremlins (1984); the Cambodian drama The Killing Fields (1984); and Steven Speilbergs Alice Walker adaptation, The Color Purple (1985). Eastwood continued to score with a range of genres: comedy (Any Which Way You Can, 1980), action (Firefox, 1982), crime (Sudden Impact, 1983; Tightrope, 1984), Western (Pale Rider, 1985), and war (Heartbreak Ridge, 1986). Time, Inc., purchased Warner Communications in 1989 and created Time-Warner, one of the largest communications and entertainment companies in the world. That same year, Warners hit box-office gold again with the series launched by director Tim Burtons Batman. The studios other major hits of the 90s include the drama Driving Miss Daisy (1990); the Kevin Costner vehicles Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991) and The Bodyguard (1992); Oliver Stones political drama JFK (1991); Spike Lees biopic Malcolm X (1992); the C lint Eastwood Western Unforgiven (1992); the television-derived drama The Fugitive (1993); the save-the-whale kids film Free Willy (1993); and the animation/live-action blend Space Jam (1996) which teams basketball player Michael Jordan with Bugs Bunny. With a track record such as this, the studio that was pivotal in bringing sound to motion pictures should continue to hold the ears — and eyes — of audiences for a long time to come.